For some agents they would prefer to make the renewal review call only with the rate in hand. Here are the reasons to make the call without rate.
Congrats! You're making renewal review calls! Woot woot!🎉
If your agency is making the calls based on X days before the renewal date you may run into some circumstances where you are alerted to make a call but you have not received the rate just yet. Your instinct is to wait for the rate, but let's take a moment to review how to handle these scenarios.
Time Management/Organization
Keeping up with making renewal reviews is a new skill for many agents. When we delay making the call for rate we are creating a snowball for the future. This also makes the program rather difficult to track and causes extra steps as you, the agent, are checking for the rate to make the call. We recommend making the call even without the rate to minimize time management challenges.
Tip: Remember we will only speak to 50% of the clients. Look at your odds of reaching them. They may also call you back once you have the rate and you are in the clear!
Rate Actually Comes Up Rarely On The Call 😲
If you are doing your renewal review pre-call work correctly you can, in many instances, predict a rate increase. This can include, claims, driving records, payment history, age etc. When you get in the routine of making the calls (Hint: If you are an Agency Performance Partners Pack member watch the AppX Retention Veteran's Roundtable) you find that few people bring up rate.
This is a common apprehension for team members early on. Once making a few weeks worth of calls you recognize that people enjoy the calls and are more open to discussing coverage.
The Fear of More Work
The common fear in wanting to wait for the rate is it may cause more work. You just reviewed the account and now there is nothing left to do. If you are doing a renewal review accurately often the rate they have enroute to them in the mail is inaccurate. You have made changes to the account.
Your best bet is to tell the client that if they have questions to call you when they see the renewal. Remember your older way of doing things was to wait until they call you. In your newer way you cleaned up the account and if a few people call back we are still ahead of the game!
No Rate Takes Rate Off the Table
Some agencies have actually opted to make renewal calls far away from the renewal date. They want rate to be taken out of the equation. We feel strongly that making them at renewal is the way to go so you can control the conversation. When you make the call without the rate you can alert them that you wanted to review everything before the renewal is issued to make sure it's accurate. Tell the client that you will be looking for it but if they have any questions to call you.
Note: We really want to make processes for the 90% not the 10%. Most of the time you will have the rate for the phone call. Make the calls without the rate and then evaluate after 10 calls what the best plan is. This concern often arises before any calls are made, meaning we are planning for the worst not the best!