In the Buyer’s Head
I recently had to renew my home and auto insurance. Due to a significant increase in the premiums, I decided to shop around for a better quote.
I knew not to enter my contact information into a website to compare insurance quotes. That would result in 100 phone calls from eager insurance brokers looking to find me a policy. Instead, I decided to do some research on my own. I looked at posts in a local Facebook group, asked my neighbor, and conducted a search on Pure Insurance’s website to find a broker. After finding several that looked promising, I went to their websites to do further research. Some of their websites spoke to me, and some did not. I decided to focus on three that had websites that seemed to cater to what I was looking for and what I wanted to insure. I entered my contact information into their respective web contact forms and waited.
Given how competitive the insurance world is, I expected to receive calls within a few minutes. I was terribly wrong. The afternoon passed, and no one reached out. I went to bed wondering if I should keep reaching out to more insurance brokerages. Would the ones that had my contact information ever call me? It was extremely frustrating to be stuck in a state of limbo, waiting for someone to acknowledge that I wanted to give them my money. This was going to be a considerable amount of money (at least to me), and no one else seemed to care. I didn’t even get an automated email from any of the brokerages stating that they had received my contact information.
I woke up the next morning and still had no emails about my insurance quote. I decided that after the kids were off to school, I was going to find more brokerages to reach out to. At 8:30 am, I sat down at my computer and started researching. At 8:41 am, an email came through from a representative from one of the insurance brokerages I had contacted the day before. He asked if I could jump on a call at noon that day. I immediately agreed. At 9 am sharp, another email came through from a different brokerage I had contacted the day before, asking if I could meet at 2 pm. I agreed to that as well, in case the first call fell through. I never received any communication from the third insurance broker I had contacted the day before.
I calculated how long it took for a response, and the quickest to respond took 18 hours and 41 minutes. The next was about 19 hours. It’s quite amazing that it takes that long to get a response when you are a serious buyer. Almost everyone must have home and auto insurance. If a person is taking the time to complete a contact form on a website, they are a serious buyer who is most likely stressed out about the impending cost of insurance these days. To be sitting in limbo for close to a full day after essentially begging an insurance broker to take their money is bad.
We live in a time where everyone wants everything now. That includes insurance. Think about what is going on in your buyer’s head the next time you make them wait for you to respond. They are probably stressed out, unsure of what to do, and looking for help. Be the person who is there immediately. You will have a customer for life.
If you can’t immediately make the call or send the email/text message, find technology that can. Sentient was purpose-built so that buyers aren’t left in limbo. Your buyer gets a response in 5 seconds or less and a meeting booked so they can give you their money. Speed equals success these days. Be the fastest, and you will be the most successful.