It’s no secret that the insurance industry is highly competitive. Agencies operate in physical and virtual spaces, fighting to land the same clients. Identifying your unique selling proposition (USP) can help your agency stand out in the saturated marketplace. Your USP will illustrate what sets your agency apart and explain why people should do business with you.

Some agencies try to use their excellent customer service as a USP, but that only gets them so far. You need to go beyond excellent service to stand out. Go over some tips to help you identify a unique selling proposition that will wow your target market and turn them into loyal customers.

Brainstorm Ideas

Start by conducting a brainstorming session with your insurance agents. Create a list of reasons that people choose your agency instead of a competitor.

Maybe your agency prides itself in offering 24-hour customer service when the other independent agencies in your market work bank hours. Your insurance agency might give back to the local community, so each policy is an investment in the area. Maybe your agency offers value-added services that protect clients or uses the latest technology to make the entire process easier.

Remember, there aren’t any wrong suggestions when brainstorming. Open the floor to ideas, and then you can narrow them down as you move through the process.

Read Reviews

You should also read reviews and testimonials to identify your USP. Find out what your existing clients like about your agency. People generally only write reviews if they are exceptionally pleased or extremely unhappy. When they are exceptionally pleased, it’s often because your agency does something that other agencies don’t. In addition to reading your reviews to learn more about how your customers perceive your agency, take the time to respond to those reviews (yes, even the negative ones)! The average consumer isn’t expecting perfection from the businesses that they work with, but they are expecting honesty and integrity – they want to work with individuals and businesses who’ll stand by their work and do what they can to make things right if things don’t go as planned.

Identify Pain Points

Identifying pain points is also a critical component of developing your USP. What keeps people up at night when looking for insurance policies? Are they most worried about protecting their families? Are they afraid of writing high premium checks or making decisions without enough information? By identifying pain points, you can begin to consider ways that your insurance agency can solve their problems.

Review Your Book of Business to Get to Know Your Market

You have some ideas for your unique selling proposition, but will they speak to your target market? Review your existing book of business to get to know your target market. Evaluate the:

• Age
• Income level
• Gender mix
• Policies

This will help you create a USP that appeals to your target market. Keep in mind that the right USP can also help you expand past your current market and reach new people, too.

Research the Competition

At this point, you should have some ideas that set your agency apart. However, you won’t know for sure until you research the competition.

Create a list of the competitors in your market and then review their offerings. If something overlaps, you cannot use that as your USP. For example, do you offer quotes in as little as 30 minutes? That’s a great service, but it won’t make for a good USP if another agency does the same.

After conducting some research, you should come up with several things that set your insurance agency apart. Choose one as your USP.

Create Your USP

You can have the best idea in the world, but if you don’t communicate it properly, it won’t land with your market.

You need your USP to be to the point and assertive. Never create a USP that’s generic, such as “We sell the best policies,” or “Our agency offers the top customer service.” Neither example explains what the agency offers.

The USP should also focus on a customer pain point or value that you provide. This will elicit an emotional response that will help you attract new clients while holding onto your existing book of business.

Also, and possibly most importantly, this needs to be more than a snappy slogan. It’s a promise. At the same time, don’t shy away from hyperbole. You can use words like “best,” “favorite,” and “only” when creating your USP.

Write a draft and then edit it until it’s clear, concise, and memorable. As you do this, make sure that it highlights the benefits, not the product. In marketing, this is referred to as selling the sizzle, not the steak. You need to use benefits instead of insurance policies as your selling point.

Always Deliver on Your USP

Once you create your USP, make sure that your agency always delivers on that promise. If anything changes and you can’t deliver, change your USP to reflect your new business model.

Start Working on Your Unique Selling Proposition Today

The sooner you create your USP, the faster you can begin attracting new business. Start working on it today, and once it’s ready, put it on your insurance agency website and marketing materials.

We’ve made a number of changes to both our JenesisNow and JenesisClassic Agency Management System. You can read all about them, below.

JenesisNow

• There is now a marketing campaign for “No Life Insurance.”  This campaign will run for any customer at that location that has an active policy expiring in less than 30 days and no current life insurance policy.

• When on the Agency screen, viewing your agency’s information, click “Edit Default Coverage Options.”  This screen has changed to be more user-friendly and allow you to edit many more coverages.  You can add or delete coverage codes you want to show up on policies and change the values that will populate in their select boxes.  The main difference is that you can also do this for the “objects” on those policies.For example, you can choose CSL (Combined Single Limit Liability) as a default coverage for the policy level of Personal Auto policies while also adding COMP  (Comprehensive Coverage) as a default coverage for any vehicles that I add to that policy.  You can also rearrange the values that will populate in the drop-down boxes created by dragging them around on this edit default coverages screen.  This works the same as the old screen that was here but adds the ability to add default coverages to many more policy types (not all) and the “objects” on those policies.

• When the carrier downloads a cancellation with a future cancellation effective date the policy status becomes ‘Pending Cancel’ automatically.
  • A pending cancel card can be set up on the main dashboard to track policies that are getting ready to cancel. The base card you would choose is the “policy” card and then filter your card from there to show what you’d like to see.

• We have added the ability to change a Policy Type within the scope of the Line of Business for example: Dwelling Fire can change to a Homeowners or an Auto can change to a Motorcycle.

• An employee time clock and administrative abilities have both been added.  The time clock feature must be turned on at the location level and the administrative features can be accessed by users with the permission “Agency Admin.”  Reporting and a way to export data will come with later versions of the software.  Currently, data can be viewed and filtered on the administrative page for the time clock.

• Personal Umbrella has now been added as a policy type in Jenesis. If you have clients who have a personal umbrella policy you can easily track them in the system.

• View your entire book of business by creating a report that shows you the total number of policies each company has and the total premium.

JenesisClassic

• We have added a report in Production Reports on the Quote tab called XYZ. This new report shows the renewal retention success based on the user who originally quoted the policy in Quote Control.

• We added the capability to automatically process the Commercial downloads so you don’t have to manually process them daily. As with the Personal Line of Business, this function is completely controlled by the agency so you can choose if you’d like them automated or not.

• When Jenesis now processes the automated email and text Happy Birthday communication that is set up in Agency Setup on the Communications tab, both the first and second insured will be included when it’s time for them to receive the happy birthday message. In the past, Jenesis only sent this out to the first insured.

For those of you on our JenesisClassic platform, transitioning to our JenesisNow platform will give you access to a number of other benefits and features to help you take your agency to the next level. Interested in learning more? Schedule a JenesisNow demo, today.

Does it seem like your bills get higher and higher each year that you run your insurance agency? You can’t make much of a profit if your overhead costs are too high, so it’s time to make a change. Updating your insurance agency’s methods and practices can help you reduce costs quickly. Evaluate your agency to see if you’re using any of these outdated business models and ideas. If you are, make the change so you can grow your agency.

Prime Real Estate and a Fancy Office

Back in the “old days,” insurance agencies needed prime real estate and fancy offices to compete. If an agency didn’t have the right address and an impressive interior, it would lose out to the competition.

That’s no longer the case, though. Now, your agency can work remotely while providing the same level of service to customers. Remote work can improve productivity and efficiency, especially when you use the proper technology. For instance, Jenesis Software’s technology partners can provide e-signing solutions so you can collect signatures from home.

By switching to a remote workforce, you can save on mortgage and rent payments, electricity, and more. You will also find that it’s easier to find and retain top talent. The best agents want flexibility, and remote work provides that.

Direct Mail to Existing Clients

Years ago, sending direct mail to clients was essential for insurance agencies. Direct mail was used to keep clients updated, notify them of renewals, send bills, and more. You need paper, envelopes, and stamps to send direct mail, and the costs can add up. Fortunately, you can move from direct mail to email in 2021.

Some of your clients might want to stick with direct mail, so you can still provide the option. However, many will prefer email, so you can save money when corresponding with those clients.

Keeping up with direct mail and email preferences is easy with insurance agency management software. Just include the client’s preferred method of contact so you can ensure everyone receives communications from your agency.

Paper

You might not be able to do away with paper entirely in 2021, but you can make moves to become a paperless office. Going paperless will save you money, but that’s not all. It will also improve your office’s security and efficiency. You won’t have to worry about leaving sensitive data on their desks, and you also won’t have to watch agents waste time sorting through files. They can use the extra time to recruit new clients.

The right insurance agency management software will make the transition to becoming a paperless office seamless. You can use the software to create and maintain digital files that can be accessed anywhere. Once you see the results, you’ll realize that going paperless is the right choice for your agency.

Mass Direct Mail Campaigns

There was a time when receiving mass mailers from insurance companies was a weekly occurrence. They would send them out to everyone in the area without any thought on who needed insurance. Many of the recipients weren’t active leads, so the success rates for these campaigns were often low.

Some insurance agencies still use direct mail campaigns, but the process has changed. Now, they qualify leads and send mailers to them. Others have eliminated these campaigns, replacing them with digital marketing.

You can save a lot of money quickly by putting an end to mass mailouts. They annoy people and can hurt your ability to get customers. Plus, they are expensive to run and maintain.

A Full Staff

Insurance agencies used to take care of everything in-house. Now, though, you don’t necessarily need to keep a full staff on your payroll. You can save money by outsourcing some of your agency’s needs. Outsourcing allows you to save money on training and onboarding. It can also reduce staffing costs. You can use outsourced staff members on an as-needed basis and pay them accordingly.

Many insurance agencies successfully outsource accounting, fraud investigation, data processing, and more. Consider your staffing needs and salary obligations. Then identify ways you can save through outsourcing. You can start slowly and add more positions down the road.

Trim the Fat with These Tips

While it will take some time to make these changes, it will be well worth the effort. You can begin by ensuring you have the right insurance agency management software. Your software will help you make many of these changes, from switching to a remote workforce to going paperless. Then you can work your way through the rest of the list. After you make the changes, keep an eye on your costs. You should notice that your overhead costs go down. Plus, you might see a spike in revenue after implementing these changes.