Five ways to set yourself apart from the average agent

They do not cost a bundle of money. They do cost time, commitment and a strong desire to be the best-known agent in town.

Set up customer convenience hours for your office.

Maybe a Thursday evening or Saturday morning. Beef up traffic by setting up appointments for annual reviews with A and B customers during those hours.

Designate one month a year as Referral Month.

Organize a planned promotion with goals and agency performance incentives. Your best customers can become a “second sales force” for you. And most will be flattered that you appreciate their opinion enough to ask them! Another advantage: A customers tend to give you A prospects as referrals.

Create a Customer Loyalty Club.

Offer members specific in-agency privileges. For example, free notary public service, use of fax machine, use of copier, online access to the registry of motor vehicles, et al. Issue a membership card that includes a listing of privileges. Voila! You have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that outflanks your competition, generates positive word-of-mouth advertising (the best kind), and increases referral activity.

Use your business cards as micro-billboards.

Turn your business card into an even more useful sales tool (you should hand out these versatile little cards like they were popcorn). Put your agency mission on the backside. Or a listing of your services. Or your positioning line. Or feature what customers can do on your Web site. Consider adding your photo on the card. Oh, by the way, don’t forget include your Web and e-mail addresses on your business cards. You would be surprised how many agents miss this opportunity to generate inquiries!

Put your picture in front of lots of people.

Buy small-space ads in your local newspaper. By small-space, we mean no bigger than one column by five inches. Feature your picture or a producer picture, a prominent telephone number, and prominent agency name and logo. Set up a regular schedule. Pretend you’re running for political office and name recognition is your number one objective. People like to do business with those who they perceive are successful. Your votes will come in the form of new business!

SEE SMALL-SPACE PRINT ADS IN THE ADVERTISING SECTION OF THIS SITE