I was talking to a friend the other day, explaining what I do for a living, when she interrupted me and proceeded to tell me all about how wonderful her insurance agent was. Her story caused me to reflect on why I left my previous agent. I don’t think my previous agent will be upset by this article, because not only did he not notice me when I was a policyholder, but I’m quite sure he didn’t notice when I left.

When I moved to Oregon from Colorado I decided to stay with the same insurance company I had been with for the last 12 years. I didn’t know any of the agents in my new town (or anyone else for that matter), so I did what most people in my situation would do. I picked the agent with the largest ad! After all, he HAD to be at least somewhat successful to afford an ad like that, right? So I called the agency, got a quote, and bound my coverage’s. A few days later – after I had moved into my new home – I stopped by his office to deliver my initial payment. You’d think they’d be glad to see me. Nope. You’d think they’d say, "Oh! You’re the one who just moved to town! Let me get Bob (not his real name) so he can introduce himself to you. Nope. They simply said, "Thanks for dropping off the check." Now in fairness to Bob, maybe he wasn’t in or maybe he was tied up in a meeting. But the truth is I never did hear from Bob. Ever. Well… that’s not entirely true. I did receive a couple of mailings offering to sell me life insurance. Then one day about 8 months later, I met someone – another agent.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I wanted to tell you about my friend’s insurance agent. She couldn’t stop raving about him and how he had helped her. He learned that she had just moved to town and didn’t know anyone. Not only that, but he learned she was just starting a new business in the area. He started introducing her to various business people in the community. He dropped off literature he thought she’d find useful. He and his wife invited her to join them at various business functions that could be worthwhile. Whenever she’d stop by his office with a questions, his staff (yes, he had a large enough book of business to employ 4 staff members) would always call him out of his office to say, "Hi".

Was it worthwhile to devote that much time, thought and energy to one policyholder? Well, consider this… She had him provide all of her personal and business coverage needs. Additionally, over the years, she has referred about 50 clients to him and continues to endorse him. And here’s the most amazing part. HE HASN’T BEEN HER AGENT FOR OVER SEVEN YEARS! She had to move away from the area and STILL she raves about him! By building relationships with his policyholders, this agent retains his clients who are loyal to him and become referral machines for him. In fact, at no time did my friend mention whether his rates went up or down. The rates became secondary. It was the relationship with her and the interest he took in her success that made all the difference. It was a real testament to the power of building relationships with "A" clients.

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