About a month ago we sponsored the Alpharetta Chamber’s Thirsty Thursday networking event at Brine Seafood Shack. There were about 50 people that showed up and we had a great time. Towards the end of the night, one of the board members thanked the group for attending and asked me to say a few words. I didn’t have any planned remarks so here’s what I said.
https://www.facebook.com/rhoadsgroup/videos/1919909474930043/
A pretty bold statement for sure but I actually meant it to be even bolder. I meant to say “I’ll keep it short. We’re the best independent insurance agency on the planet.”
So maybe we’re not the best on the planet yet, but I believe there’s nobody out there who wants to be the best more than us and that is why I believe it’s only a matter of time until we are the best.
To create a WORLD-CLASS customer experience in our business you have to dominate in at least 3 areas. If you can do more than the competition in these areas, there is NO competition. The first area you have to dominate is EASE. Now more than ever, you have to make it SUPER easy for the market to do business with you. I HATE playing phone tag and I know that you do too. Unlike most independent agencies, we are offering immediate customer service through our top 7 carriers. This includes after-hours and weekend service.We hope to expand that program to 10 carriers by the end of 2018. Also, we’re one of the few independent agencies in metro-Atlanta that have fully embraced the online quote platform. Our online auto insurance quote tool allows you to get up to 5 auto insurance quotes in less than 15 minutes. Take that gecko! Send me an email if you want to try it out now. It’s pretty cool.
The 2nd area you have to dominate is CHOICE. Have you heard that time is money? Look, do you want to spend 5 hours on a Saturday calling 5 agents for auto & home quotes? Or do you want to spend 1 hour with an independent agent and then take your kids to the zoo? Time. Is. Money. One call; many quotes. Choice. At our agency, not only do we seek out the top A rated carriers, but we also look to gain access to exclusive programs with those carriers. For example, did you know you can get a 12 month auto insurance policy with Progressive? Well, you can’t get one at progressive.com but you can get one at rhoads-group.com.
Moving on to the last area ADVICE. This is the big one. The YUGE one. This is really where a lot of insurance agents fall short. In our defense, insurance carriers have been pushing price price price in their marketing for 15 to 20 years now and the consumer has been trained to think price is all that matters. Don’t get me wrong, price is part of the value equation but it’s just a piece of it. Not the whole pie. Named perils, policy exclusions, coverage limits, deductibles… all this stuff matters. Who cares how much money you save on the front end if you give it all back and more on the back-end?
Don’t be short-sited. The worst decisions I’ve ever made were because I looked too closely at price and not close enough at value. My challenge to you is to try to look at the whole picture. Thanks for reading and I hope you have an amazing week!
Clayton
* rhoads tip: consider increasing your collision deductible from $500 to $1,000 and use those $$$ to finance a $1M umbrella policy.