People Buy Stories Before They Buy Insurance

I had a claim recently and the insurance company adjustor was applying a wind deductible. My former agent was no help, so I advocated for myself. The good news: I know a lot more about the machinations of insurance than most people. The further good news: the insurance company rightly altered my claim adjustment by not invoking the wind deductible - $4,500 in my favor. It's no coincidence that my agent, who had my business for over 10 years, is now my former agent. Sadly, I hear lots of stories like this.

But let's focus on the positive. My new agent who picked up my home and auto insurance and was able to secure flood insurance for me and I still saved a net of $1,200 a year. Guess who has my business insurance? That's a pretty good story. The point is, people buy stories and your agency has them (hopefully all the good variety).

Think about this:

• When did you recommend coverage that the incumbent missed that ended up covering a claim? How about a coverage need that became apparent after an annual review and down the road covered a claim that otherwise would have been denied?
• How often have you saved a customer a significant amount of money because the incumbent missed a credit, discount, or just slept while the insurance carrier jacked rates to make up for poor loss results?
• When have you advocated for a customer on a claim that was legitimately covered but the adjustor had to be reasoned with before coming around to that conclusion?
• Don't name the competitor, but did someone come to you with a horror story about how their prior company looked for ways to not pay a claim or to underpay? Companies that are irresponsible about adequate pricing may be tempted to do this; it's sad but we've all seen it.

Can you get testimonials from these clients? If not, you can still tell the story on your website and occasionally in social media. If that testimonial is actually a review, it has even more power. So what's the difference between a testimonial and a review?

You filter and choose testimonials and most people see those stories as cherry picked. Reviews are perceived to be unaffected by the bias of the business owner because they appear on third party platforms like Google or Facebook.

My new agent benefited from a five star review on Google and Yelp. The Google review alone was seen by nearly 1,000 people in the last three months (Google MyBusiness Insights will tell you that). Your website may get that many or more visits in a similar span of time, but if even your website is really effective at engaging and converting visitors, 40% - 45% of visits will be one page and out. Of the remainder, only 5% to 15% will make it to your testimonials page. You should still add reviews (testimonials) to your website, just don't stop there, and don't stop collecting them - and telling your insurance agencies story.