Let's get back to basics. Why should the insurance consumer buy products from an Independent agent instead of a captive agent, a web site, or a telephone representative of a single carrier?
More than ever before, consumers of Personal Lines insurance are bombarded with TV commercials, mailings, and phone calls claiming to "save money", asking the question "are you paying too much" and other catch phrases.
If you only rate one company by web, or even in our Evolution™ product, you are leveling the playing field for the other buying options.
By rating all of your companies and showing the consumer the results you demonstrate to that consumer they can shop for insurance with multiple carries within your agency.
Even if you feel you are sure you know where a particular consumer should be placed, by not demonstrating to that consumer that you have provided the service of shopping for him among your carriers, you have surrendered your advantage.
Put yourself in the place of a typical consumer.
First, by coming to your office, calling you, or emailing you, that consumer has made a choice.
The consumer is testing the waters of a supplier of insurance that can provide them choices among many carriers.
If you only rate one or two carriers, the conclusion the consumer may well have is "Hmmm, this is just like my experience when I visited State Farm or talked to a Geico representitive.
I never heard of Hastings (for example) but I see the other two companies advertising everywhere."
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A much better impression would be made if the consumer thinks "Wow, this is one stop shopping.
I can shop here without all the trouble and effort, and I have an expert who cares about helping me!"
Only with a comparison rating product can you truly give this impression by handing the consumer a printout of all your PL carriers.
You become a helpful consultant instead of a sales person.
Even if you were right, and you saw that your instincts told you a particular carrier would be lowest, you cannot create the impression you are shopping for you customer if you do not truly shop for them.
You might be in for some surprises.
Personal line insurance pricing is more scientific and complex that it has ever been in history.
With complex diagnostic software of their customer base, carriers can target their desired market more accurately than ever before.
You cannot know that target given all the data that goes into the models unless you actually price their products.
Now, tables with literally thousands of factors and hundreds of mathematical computations go into building rates.
Everything is built into these models. If you are off by even the number of family members, you can throw a quote off by hundreds of dollars.
No more is it as simple as an "age of driver factor" times a "base territory rate."
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Our agency clients can add carriers free for 30 days to evaluate them.
See where they fit in your market by rating them all.
Run an experiment in your agency.
Run every carrier and present your prospective client with the full spectrum of your carriers three days a week.
On the other two days use your "gut pricing" instinct and only present one.
Ask your customer how they like the experience of shopping with you.
You might even find yourself selling more coverages and special endorcements thereby better protecting your client and adding premium dollars to your agency.
Compare the closing rate between these two alternate ways of presenting your agency to a consumer.
Not only will your closing rate be higher, but you are creating the right impression, and that consumer will tell other consumers about the dynamic experience with your agency vs. Geico, State Farm and the other single company insurance marketers.
Progressive recognizes your advantage in their direct marketing TV campaign.
They recognize your advantage over direct marketing by tooting "we can compare your rate against other top carriers" and the actress consumer is stunned saying "really?"
Helping your client buy insurance rather than selling only one carrier has always been the best way to acquire and keep customers.
Use your advantage as an Independent Insurance Agency, and market all your carriers.
With Evolution™, rating all carriers is no more trouble than rating just one or two.
Our top PL agencies rerate every renewal through Evolution™ to make sure they can truthfully say to a consumer that they have performed the service of shopping for them.
For all these reasons, give you back the Independent Agent's Advantage, we built our Evolution™ product to be a sales and marketing tool instead of just a pricing tool.
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