Insurance Agent Liability: Preventing Common Errors

Posted on: January 26, 2018 by Huntersure

Insurance agents aren’t immune to liability risks. Just as they sell Professional Liability Insurance to their clients, their own practice needs protection. It’s easy to shrug off small mistakes, but one wrong move could land your agency and your reputation in hot water. To avoid liability claims of your own, heed the following advice.

Not asking the right questions.

In order for the listening sales approach to work, you have to learn how to ask a question that tells you more about the prospect’s needs, priorities, and sales objections. Open-ended questions that start with “who”, “what”, “why”, “when”, “where”, and “how” work well. You also need to know how to interject a new question, either to clarify a point, dig down another layer, or redirect the conversation should it go off-topic. This is a difficult skill to master, but an absolute must to work on if you want to see improvement in your sales and client satisfaction, says Aged Lead Store.

This is especially important as asking the right questions means you can better serve your customers. The more you know, the more accurate your insurance suggestions will be. This can save you claims of negligence down the road.

Being too aggressive.

Let your customer do most of the talking. This way, you can formulate your thoughts and potential objections to bring up. You’re the expert and need to acknowledge potential issues and roadblocks, but don’t bulldoze your client. Remember that building rapport with a customer is just as important as closing the sale.

Failing to follow-up.

Customers want to know they feel valued and appreciated. If you say you’re going to check on something and get back to them, do so. Follow through on your word and your customers will be satisfied, and in turn, they’ll be less likely to take legal action should something happen.

Focusing too much on price.

You need to have an honest discussion with the prospect about their budget and their insurance needs. You can offer suggestions that might meet their budget, but be upfront if you’d recommend a more expensive yet better-fit solution. Don’t assume your prospect doesn’t have the means to buy the right product.

Solving a problem or preventing one from occurring is the purpose of insurance, and typically, that solution is worth the bottom line cost for your client. Remind your client that you’re not simply trying to upsell them, but rather you’re focus is on adequately protecting them.

About Huntersure

Huntersure LLC is a full-service Managing General Agency that has provided insurance program administration for professional liability products to our partners across the United States since 2007. We specialize in providing insurance solutions for businesses of all sizes. Our program features can cover small firms (grossing $2.5 million annually) to large corporations (grossing $25 million annually or more). We make doing business with us easy with our breadth and depth of knowledge of E&O insurance, our proprietary underwriting system that allows for responsive quoting, binding and policy issuance and tailored products to meet the needs of your insureds. Give us a call at (646) 751-3030 to learn more.

Posted in: blog Insurance Agent Insurance Professionals Professional Liability