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9 Tips for Keeping Insurance Sales High During the Summer Slump

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Fran Majidi July 11, 2022
insurance sales tips

It’s that time of year again. The birds are chirping and the temperatures are rising. Who doesn’t love summer? Well, insurance agents don’t -- and with good reason. The phones are quiet, people are less responsive (and responsible). It’s no wonder that you are having a hard time sounding enthusiastic on the phone! Summer (especially July) is notorious for being a slow sales months for people in sales but the insurance industry especially. This summer, we have some tips on how to keep morale high, sales at peak numbers and the future bright.

1. Buy Insurance Leads:

It doesn’t matter if you sell life and health, property and casualty or only commercial insurance, summer is a great time to buy leads. Even though most people are less focused on their finances, some people are actively shopping with the intent of switching carriers if they can get a better rate. While it feels impossible to generate insurance leads during the summer months, lead generation sites like SmartFinancial are still active and they can keep you busy selling policies. It’s advisable that you cut a portion of your advertising budget and put it to work in with this actionable option. Not all leads are equal and no lead is a guaranteed lead, though exclusive ones and live transfer calls are superior than regular leads. Contact an account representative at 877.323.7750 to learn more.

2. Find a New Demographic:

If you’re doing well with conservatives, try for the liberals or vice versa. The best way to do it, again, is by buying leads. This is much cheaper than flying out and staying in a hotel, the way past generations did it. Now, all you need is to buy some leads in a specific area and try to grow your presence there, through referrals. Remember that leads are no different than you meeting someone at local Starbucks who wants to see if you can offer a cheaper alternative to their existing insurance policy. The more affordable your policies are, the more success you’ll have in any demographic so keep that in mind.

3. Don’t Throw Money at It:

Advertising like crazy to offset the lull may work somewhat but it will most likely yield a weak ROI. Unless you’re selling RVs or publicizing yourself in conjunction with car sales, which abound on Memorial Day and July 4th, we recommend other options. If you are going to advertise, do it in publications that are geared at moms, 85% of whom pay the household bills, including insurance.

4. Hold Meetings with Producers:

You’ll want to invite all your producers and have it be a long meeting, possibly with free lunch for the staff. Use this meeting as a way to measure goals and expectations. These meetings will give you the chance to reinforce the good things happening at your agency and to address problems before they fester and blow up in your face. More than anything, you’ll want to hold people accountable for their slackness during these slow periods. It’s understood that summer is not the busiest time for business but sales can’t completely fall off. You need to communicate that you still expect results despite clients taking long vacations and just not being heavily focused on their finances.

5. Schedule Reviews with Clients:

Before summer gets into full swing. Call your clients in early June or even July. You can call them to say happy Father’s Day or happy Fourth of July. You can also get on topic and say you were hoping to take a few minutes of their time to assess their existing insurance policies. If the client has multiple policies for different products, go over the numbers for all of them, checking to see if they are fully covered with the insurance they have, suggesting other products if they have unprotected exposure. Is there a new baby that needs to be insured? Was there a marriage or divorce? A new second home? This is your chance to cross sell. It’s also a great opportunity to encourage your client to buy more protection or to change their limits. Insurance reviews are a great way to get the most out of all of your relationships.

6. Free Educational Workshop:

Offer one each month of the summer season. Get other financial professionals to work with you so you have a whole panel of speakers: lawyers, tax accountants, retirement specialists and whomever else can spend a few minutes teaching existing and prospective clients some great tips for improving their financial profile. If you have any expertise beyond insurance, here’s your chance to shine. You don’t want to make the workshop too lengthy, but it must be full of actionable advice or else you’re wasting people’s time. Invite all your clients and your producers’ clients to the event. Your joint-venture partners will also invited clients. Ideally, you’ll be growing each other’s client base.

7. Use the Time Wisely:

Make peace with the fact that summers will be slow no matter how much you try to shore up on leads before the heat and sunshine slow things down. New business becomes very challenging to procure, except maybe for the ice cream man. It’s just how it is sometimes and there’s not much you can do to change that. However, you can begin to look at these hotter months as an opportunity to focus on the things that fall by the wayside during the months when business is good! Your website, for one thing, needs to be in top shape, meaning it shouldn’t be slow to load and it should be designed for mobile phone viewing. Your website and social media pages are how people are forging impressions you. And they are watching you using their phones and tablets over desktop in most cases. This is also a great time to brainstorm and start up new projects. Even though January is officially the beginning of the new year, you really should start preparing in the summer, before the office gets busy again.

8. Set Appointments Earlier:

People leave the officer earlier during the summer so if you’re trying to get in touch try mornings and lunch time. If you’re contacting prospects using social media, early evening is always a sure thing no matter the season.

9. Work on Vacation:

You’re going to take some time off with the family too, right? Normally, the best advice would be to avoid working while on vacation but we encourage the high achiever amongst you you to stake out the town you’re visiting while away from home. Nice homes, right? The homeowers insurance commission is even nicer! You’re there already. May as well network! Remember, all you need to do is sew a couple of seeds and then follow up regularly with these clients and work towards referrals.