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With these tips and tricks, you’ll learn how to improve your follow-up results effectively.

The Insurance Agent’s Guide to Successful Follow-Ups

An insurance agent is nothing without effective follow-ups. Unfortunately, most prospects won’t call back on their own, and those that do are rarely ready to purchase.

But most agents lack an effective follow-up strategy. Sure, they’ll make occasional calls and send some emails, but rarely is their strategy well thought-out or executed consistently.

So in this article, we’ll show you how to take your follow-up game to the next level.

Create a Follow-up Schedule

Establishing a schedule for your follow-up contacts will ensure you never forget about a prospect.

We recommend dedicating at least two hours of your day to follow-ups based on research by the Harvard Business Review. Their study found that salespeople who followed up four or more times were 60% more likely to close deals.

Use automated tools like Hunter to help manage your follow-up schedule. These tools will help keep you organized by keeping track of the people you’ve contacted and when.

Also, set realistic goals for yourself. Don’t try to reach everyone in a day—that’s a recipe for burnout.

Segment Leads

Segmentation is an easy but often overlooked follow-up strategy. It’s simple: group your prospects together based on some common factor and provide a different message to each group.

For instance, you might separate your list into those who purchased a particular policy and those who haven’t. Then, you could send those who already purchased a message thanking them for their business and those who didn’t a message encouraging them to take the next step.

By segmenting your leads, you can easily personalize each message and increase the chances of success with just a bit more effort. For example, if you’re selling car insurance, you might want to create separate messages for drivers under 20, SUV owners, and sports car owners.

You can gather this data using website forms or customer surveys.

Automate Follow-Ups With Outreach Software

Keeping up with follow-up contacts across various channels—email, text, phone, and social media—can be daunting, especially when dealing with hundreds of prospects.

Luckily, you don’t have to do it all yourself. There are dozens of outreach software programs designed to automate the process. For instance, you can use these systems to send personalized emails at scheduled intervals, create drip campaigns, and even provide live chat support services.

When you automate your follow-up processes, you’ll be able to reach more prospects and convert more leads.

Best Outreach Software

Outreach tools we recommend:

• Hunter.io. Hunter features address finder, domain search, and email verifier services, making cleaning and organizing your contacts’ details quick and easy.
• Salesforce Sales Cloud. Salesforce Sales Cloud is the world’s most popular CRM, and it features simple, automated tools for sales outreach, communication, and tracking.
• HubSpot Sales. With HubSpot Sales, you can bulk send personalized emails to prospects, track engagement, and customize your follow-up process.

Convince Prospects You Solve Their Problems

The key to effective follow-ups is showing prospects that you have the ultimate solution to their problem.

Focus on their pain points—their need for your product or service. When they know you understand their biggest issues, they’ll be more likely to take the next step.

For example, say you’re selling life insurance. Rather than just listing the features and benefits of your policy, explain the importance of financial planning and how your policy can help them achieve their goals.

Along with an explanation of the benefits, clearly present the value of your offer. Show them why your policy is better than the competition.

Send Messages at the Right Time

Timing is everything regarding follow-ups (and sales in general).

According to a study from Yesware, the best time to send an email is 1 PM, with the second best being 11 AM. They also found Monday-Thursday to be the best day to email, with Monday being the absolute best.

That being said, you should also consider the prospect’s location. If they’re in a different time zone, send the message at the appropriate time for their region.

For example, if you’re in New York emailing someone in Los Angeles, you’ll want to email them at 4 PM your time, Monday-Thursday.

Don’t Keep Them Waiting

One of the quickest ways to lose a prospect is to make them wait too long between contacts. According to research from Lead Response Management, you’re 21 times more likely to convert your lead by responding to their messages within 30 minutes.

Of course, you can’t respond to every lead within 30 minutes. But you could establish a system that makes it as easy as possible to follow up with prospects as soon as possible.

Here are a few tips for doing so:

• Set up notifications on your phone. Create personalized notifications for prospects and leads. This will give you a push alert whenever you get a response.
• Shorten your message templates. Keep your email templates short and focused on providing the necessary information. The shorter they are, the faster you can respond.
• Schedule follow-up reminders. Automate follow-up reminders and assign them to yourself or someone else. Make sure to customize the message as each reminder goes out.

Choose the Best Channel

When it comes to follow-up contacts, the most important thing is to ensure you use the right channel.

Some people might prefer email, while others might prefer text or phone. And you don’t want to limit yourself to just one channel—use whatever works best.

Calling

Calling prospects (and having them call you) is the most common insurance lead follow-up method—and for good reason.

When you call someone, you show them you’re taking the time to actively care about their needs. That said, you should also show them respect and give them an easy way to opt out of the conversation if they’re not interested

If you decide to call prospects, make sure to:

• Be professional and courteous (don’t get too comfortable)
• Be brief and to the point
• Be prepared with a script
• Practice active listening

Texting

Text messages have open rates as high as 98% (compare to email’s 20% average). But despite these insane numbers, text messaging is severely underrated in insurance.

Text messages work best for short, personal interactions. They’re also a great way to pique a lead’s interest in a policy and start a conversation

In addition to texting for follow-ups, you can also use them for scheduling, reminders, and announcements.

Just be sure the lead supplied their explicit consent to receive texts before contacting them. Violating US spam laws can result in massive fines.

Emailing

Emails are great because they’re fast, effective, and easy to track. They’re also a great way to provide a prospect with a wealth of information quickly and efficiently.

When creating an insurance follow-up email, make sure to:

• Be personal
• Include a call-to-action
• Make sure it’s mobile-friendly
• Include a link to a policy page
• Encourage customer reviews
• Add social media links

Also, automate your campaigns as much as possible. If you send emails in bulk, use a software program like MailChimp, Constant Contact, or HubSpot to handle the process.

Don’t Hesitate to Send Your Quote

When you’ve had a successful follow-up conversation with a prospect, don’t be afraid to send them a quote.

This is the last step in the process and the best way to close the deal. The sooner you can get this out, the better—just make sure it’s accurate and customized for the prospect’s individual needs.

Try to offer them multiple pricing options, too. Not only will this make them feel heard, but it could also result in a larger sale.

Know When to Stop

Sometimes, prospects aren’t interested—no matter how hard you try. And that’s okay; you won’t hit a home run every time.

If a prospect isn’t responding after you’ve sent them several follow-up messages, they’re probably not interested. At this point, it’s best to move on and focus on more responsive leads.

And if they’ve told you outright that they’re not interested, stop immediately. Pestering them further could damage your reputation or even get you into legal trouble.

Timeline Examples With Best Practices

The following examples should serve to get you inspired and spark your imagination. You don’t have to follow these steps strictly, but they can be a good start.

From Week 1 to Month 1

We’ve divided this approach into four weeks, giving you a full month to convert the prospect:

• Week 1. Get in touch 4 to 6 times. Include multiple communication channels to see what the client prefers.
• Week 2. Drop the number of contacts to 2 to 3 touches daily to give a little breathing room.
• Week 3. By now, non-converting leads are old leads. That said, there’s still a chance of converting them, so keep trying,
• Week 4. They’re probably a goner, but enter them into your CRM in case they respond (it happens).

3-Day Leads Follow-up Plan

You’ll have a better chance of getting remembered if you’re on top of your game in the first 72 hours. Aside from the follow-ups below, you’ll want to leave one voicemail a day.

Get future clients interested in several different ways:

• The good news (about discounts, offers, coverage)
• Quick question (about their home, family, health)
• Drop off (educational materials, articles, podcasts, etc.)

How often to reach out:

• Day 1. 3 calls, 1 text, 1 email
• Day 2. 2 calls, 1 text, 1 email
• Day 3. 1 call, 1 text, 1 email

That’s how you’ll get 6 calls within 3 days of speaking with a lead. After six calls, they’ll know who you are, what you offer, and probably buy from you.

Remember, 80% of sales happen in the first 5 follow-ups, but 44% of salespeople give up after the first follow-up. Don’t be among them.

Final Words

Insurance follow-up is essential to closing leads and making sales. But, it can be time-consuming and tedious—especially if you use multiple communication channels

By leveraging an automation software solution, you can streamline the process and respond to leads quickly. And if you follow best practices and use effective techniques, you’ll be able to close more leads and make more sales.

Hungry for even more follow-up expertise? Sign up for our free Insurance Bob course, where we lay out expert follow-up strategies and forge you into a well-rounded insurance professional.