More Tips from an ABS Agent

Be Reachable –I think a lot of brokers tell themselves they are doing great but in reality, they have room for improvement. I am not a Monday through Friday 9-5 broker. I tell my clients, call, text, or email anytime. If I am not in a meeting with a client, I will respond immediately. Responding as soon as possible and as late as 24 hours is key. You don’t want to give them a chance to get their answers elsewhere. I have been told by many that it is refreshing to receive that level of customer service. To me, it’s always about putting the customer first and the best way to do that is for them to know they can be heard.

Have a functional system for follow up – I am not saying to build an elaborate system or purchase an expensive CRM, create a system that works for you and use it. You need a place to store all of the client and prospect data, notes on the contact you’ve had with them by date and a “next action” step that actually prompts you to follow-up. Something as simple as Outlook’s Calendar worked fine for me. It allows me to do all of the things I just mentioned and provides reminders when it is time to follow-up. It’s a great tool for staying organized and keeping your clients organized. It helps in multi-client households; one client turns 65 next month but the spouse doesn’t turn 65 for 3 years. Create that calendar event and you have a better chance of being the broker for the household, hopefully, forever.

Be Prepared for some hand holding – While the 65+ community is getting more comfortable with technology we as agents should be prepared to talk them through the process when things go sideways. One easy way to do this is a Zoom meeting with screen sharing capabilities. If that is not available, you need to be familiar with the process and how the forms are laid out. What I have done is gone through each one of these electronic processes myself, printed out each screen the client will see so I can know where they are in the process and help them understand what is needed. I keep the printed sheets or screen grabs in a file so I can be ready to help at any time.

Let your clients grow your business – My main source of new client acquisition is from referrals. All my tips aim to make the client experience easy and stress free. A great client experience will lead to recommendations to their friends and co-workers. Most of the time a referral happens organically but it doesn’t hurt to ask clients either. Staying on top of mind with people but don’t be that annoying over emailing guy. I do a monthly newsletter, kind of like a check in. It aims to remind people; I am still the expert you can reach out to and let them know I offer more than just Medicare.