Uncover Hidden Sales With An Email Cross-Selling Campaign
Your database of prospects, clients and old Internet leads hold buried treasure. Savvy agents are already using email autoresponders to comb their lists for new apps. But don’t make the mistake of having a one-track mind when looking for marketing angles to increase your revenue.
Cross-selling is nothing new. Retailers and sales professionals have been using this tactic for more than a century. Technology and the Internet allow us to take cross-selling to a whole new level.
Unfortunately, most agents and brokers tend to approach each client with a tunnel vision that ignores the benefits of cross-selling. Here’s how you can use email cross-selling to increase your revenue — with practically no additional costs.
Internal Cross-Selling
Cross-selling success begins with having a variety of products and health plans that you can offer. Use this variety to find additional revenue-generating programs that you can offer to your existing clients.
Here are a few health insurance cross-selling ideas to consider:
- Life insurance and annuities to current health policyholders.
- HSA programs for policyholders with little or no savings.
- Vision, dental or prescription add-ons.
- Medicare supplement plans for policyholders with senior citizen parents.
- Medical plans for policyholders with friends who are uninsurable.
With the right messaging, you can use your existing database to market practically any product in your mix.
However, you’ll need to be careful when marketing to unconverted leads and prospects. Keep in mind that many online insurance shoppers need to educate themselves before making their purchase decision. You’ll want to avoid sending mixed messages or confusing them.
For example, sending life insurance information to your new health insurance lead will cloud your sales message. You can mention it as part of your regular sales message, but be careful not to overdo it.
As part of your customer education process, you should inform your new health lead about both traditional plans and high-deductible HSA programs. Also, as leads get much older and no longer respond to your calls, there’s a chance they may have opted for a different provider. In that case, they may be prime candidates for cross-selling your life insurance and other products.
Lastly, if you need another reason to plan and initiate a cross-selling campaign, consider this: your provider is probably already doing it.
External Cross-Selling
Cross-selling isn’t just limited to your own database. You can and should also consider cross-selling to third-party databases. But cross-selling other people’s databases does come with a price:
- You either have to pay them to email to their database; or
- You’ll have to exchange cross-selling opportunities by letting them email to your database.
If you pick the right marketing partner, the second option is a worthwhile investment. Find a complementary business with a large database and offer to arrange a cross-selling campaign.
For example, if your accountant has a similarly sized email database of clients, he or she may be an ideal candidate for a cross-selling campaign.
You’ll email health insurance marketing pieces to your accountant’s database. In exchange, your accountant can market tax-preparation or accounting services to your client and lead list. You’ll both be able to gain potentially new clients — with little or no cost.
You could even cross-sell your health insurance programs with a property & casualty (P&C) insurance agent’s, mortgage broker’s or a financial planner’s client list. The key is to work with a non-competing business and find client lists that would be interested in your health insurance products.
Making It Work
An email cross-marketing campaign is relatively easy to create and launch, but don’t overlook the need to plan your campaign. Here are helpful guidelines to make sure your cross-selling campaign is successful.
Don’t think short-term.
Avoid one-shot campaigns. Even on your cross-selling arrangement with third parties, arrange a series of regular emails. Your future clients need time to absorb and respond to your initial messages. Educate the client.
Avoid sending empty emails that just shout empty platitudes and generalities. Give facts about what you’ve done; and throw in brief testimonials if you can. Use these cross-selling emails to educate your clients about why they need your products. Focus on the relationship, not the sale.
Avoid going for the quick sale. Although every email should have a call to action that invites ready buyers to immediately jump to your quote engine and e-apps or call you for an appointment, your focus should be on creating a relationship. The best way to do this is to provide a continuous stream of informative and educational materials. Get promoted.
If you’re cross-selling with a third party, keep in mind that your emails will be stronger if that third party actively promotes you and your health insurance products.
Finally, to increase your chance of success, your emails should make an offer. Create a white paper, invite them to sign up for your free health insurance newsletter or give away a downloadable widget that your clients would find useful. This special offer will increase the response rate to your emails.
Even though these cross-selling emails will cost you little or nothing, you don’t want to waste this golden opportunity. Keep in mind that these cross-selling emails will speak volumes about you — so make sure they present you as a caring, knowledgeable and trustworthy professional.
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