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.