Your primary goal as an insurance agent is to make sales, and of course, you want to avoid cancellations whenever possible. Remember that even if a client wants to cancel their insurance policy, it is not set in stone. You still have the chance to win them back and convince them to stay.

However, you need to have strategies to stop a cancellation. Without a process or strategy, you will have no way to stop clients from leaving and reducing your income. Incorporate the following into your processes, and you should be on your way to reducing cancellations.

Have the Right Person to Handle Cancellations

One of the most important things to do is recognizing who on your team has the skills necessary to stop a cancellation. Some people will naturally be better at this than others, and there is nothing wrong with that. A successful insurance agency will have staff that excels in varying roles; one person may excel at sales while another does great at preventing cancellations. Each of them serves a crucial role in your agency (but don’t miss an opportunity to cross-train!).

But who is the right person to handle cancellations? They should have great problem-solving skills and are empathetic. They can talk to clients over the phone or in person. They can listen and make the client feel heard while providing education and outlining how your agency will address their concerns.

Create the Right Scripts

In addition to having the right person handle cancelations, ensure that they have the right insurance agency scripts to help them succeed. The scripts should ask why the customer is leaving. They should also highlight some of your agency’s stand-out features or services in a way that seems to help the client. For example, try saying something like, “Not all clients realize we partner with several carriers.” From there, you could highlight how switching to a different carrier but staying with your agency would still deliver savings or features without the hassle of working with a new agent.

Have Confidence in Your Ability to Stop the Cancellation

A big part of your ability to handle cancellations is believing that you can stop them from going through with the cancellation. Some insurance agencies mistakenly believe that once a client decides to cancel, there is nothing you can do to stop it. This belief is usually stronger in the case of clients who have already made steps toward cancellation.

Once you believe that you can stop cancellations, you will be able to focus on the strategies and processes to do so. You will then brainstorm ways to get the client interested in your offerings and prevent them from canceling.

Understand Why They Want to Cancel

One of the most important steps to stop a cancellation is understanding why the client wants to cancel in the first place. This will not only help you keep this particular client, but it will also prevent other clients from considering cancellation in the future. After all, if one client had an issue or concern, it is likely that others will as well. Some common reasons are prices, poor customer service, no established relationship, and life changes.

You need to go a step further than just understanding why someone wants to cancel. You also need to be sure to document it. This will help you gain metrics and compare various reasons over time. This documentation will also help you stay focused and remember what the reason was.

As you record the reasons for the cancellations, stick to facts. You also need to make sure to survey the clients you lose. If a client calls to cancel, you will have the chance to talk to them over the phone. But you may still want to send a follow-up survey to see if they have anything else to add.

Get Creative to Address the Concern

If necessary, get creative to address the reason that the client wants to leave. For example, if they had found a better price, see what you can do to match or beat the price.

Or, if they have a change in location or assets and need different coverages, highlight the other insurance policies you offer that may fit their needs. If the reason is a bad experience on the service side of things, you can let them know that you will work on training, but you also need to accept that sometimes this won’t be enough. If they still cancel, don’t worry, as you can always retarget them later.

Remember to Remarket

Even if someone does cancel, that doesn’t mean that they are gone forever. You will need to address why they canceled, but once you do, you can try to win them back. For the best results, create remarketing guidelines that include turnaround times. This will help you win back lost customers without annoying them with your persistence.

You also want to make sure that you have all of their contact information up-to-date. After all, you can’t remarket to a lost client if you can’t contact them. If the client calls to cancel, you can get updated information by asking what number to call them if you get disconnected.