Preparation is key when it comes to conducting a customer insurance review meeting.
To make the meeting valuable to you and your customer, don’t just wing it.
It will be evident if you do.
Failing to prepare results in a sloppy meeting that is not beneficial for the customer and ultimately begins to weaken the relationship of trust you have built with them.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
— Benjamin Franklin
The purpose of the meeting is to investigate where coverage could be improved and educate your clients on their needs and how to reduce risk - but without proper preparation, you won’t know where to start.
Getting to know your client and their policies will make you a trusted advisor.
Today, we’ll detail 5 steps to prepare for each customer insurance review meeting you conduct to ensure a valuable experience for your clients and an efficient process for your agency.
1. Schedule the Appointment
The first step of implementing a customer insurance review program for your customers is setting the appointments.
Setting appointments is the lifeblood of your insurance review program.
If you don’t consistently get customers in your office (or in front of you virtually), you won’t be maximizing the program’s impact.
Agents approach their appointment setting in various ways, but we recommend working through an A-Z list of your customers.
Start with the As, then the Bs, then the Cs, all the way down through the Zs.
This will ensure that you systematically work through your entire book of customers without missing anyone.
Learn more in this blog post: How to Systematically Contact Your Clients for Annual Customer Insurance Review Appointments
2. Have Your Client Complete a Needs Assessment Form
Once you’ve scheduled an appointment with a customer, send a needs assessment form for them to complete before the meeting.
This will help you more efficiently tailor your discussion to their needs and interests.
The needs assessment helps your customers recognize areas of potential risk and gets them in the right mindset to discuss policies with you in the review meeting.
If the client doesn’t complete the assessment before the meeting, start your discussion by doing it together.
The assessment is the primary tool for understanding both their short-term and long-term needs.
Make notes of any concerns or interests your customer has so you can make sure to bring it up again in the meeting.
Learn more in this blog post: 3 Reasons a Needs Assessment Form is One of Your Best Sales Tools
3. Create a Working File for Each Customer
While preparing for and conducting customer insurance reviews, you’ll inevitably be handling a lot of information.
You’ll need to keep track of the customer needs assessment, the customer insurance review worksheet, follow-up information, and any other notes you may take along the way.
You probably have a client relationship manager or digital database, and it’s a good idea to create a working file for each customer review appointment.
This way, you can keep track of where the customer is in their life and what your recent recommendations have been.
Then when the customer comes in for their next review in a year or so, you’ll be able to circle back to what you reviewed last time.
4. Note Current Coverages and Potential Concerns in the File
First, become familiar with the coverage amounts and refer to the needs assessment form to determine if this coverage is sufficient for your customer or if you need to make it a point of discussion in your meeting.
Ensure that you are prepared to bring up other types of insurance they may not have with you but could benefit from.
Next, note expiration dates in your system so you can be sure to renew policies when necessary.
Also, review any recent claims your customer may have had.
Be prepared to discuss them and their implications in your meeting.
This preparation will show the client your proactive focus on them and reinforce the value you provide.
Review any recent changes to their policies.
Take note of any personal information you might be missing.
You can collect this information in the meeting.
You might have to ask the client directly, or you might be able to gather a lot of the information during pleasantries.
Information like spouse or children’s names or employer information might come up naturally in conversation.
5. Make a Reminder Call
Sometimes people forget about their appointments or simply don’t show up, and that’s frustrating!
No-shows are more common when you first start a customer insurance review program.
Once you’ve met with your customers several times, they become familiar with the meetings, and your no-show rate improves.
Making a reminder call has been helpful for many agents to reduce no-show rates.
Call three days before the appointment and review your expectations.
What is the purpose of the meeting? What does your client need to bring?
You can also make another call, email, or text the day before or the morning of the appointment to ensure it doesn’t slip your customer’s mind.
Following these simple 5 steps before each Customer Insurance Review meeting will ensure that you AND your customers get the most out of this important meeting.
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