Acquiring Business from Wealthy Clients as an Insurance Agent
By Jonathan Decker
Selling insurance is your livelihood, and you work hard to deliver excellent service to retain your clients. You also make strong efforts to market yourself so you can attract new clients and grow your business and income.
With the high-value assets of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), there is ample opportunity to earn larger commissions. At the Association of Insurance Professionals (AIP), we want to help you understand the benefits and challenges of pursuing this market and how to sell insurance to high-net-worth clients.
Benefits of Attracting Affluent Clients to Your Business
Here are the advantages of getting high-net-worth clients as an insurance agent:
Higher Value Insurance Policies
HNWIs have a larger quantity of high-value assets to protect, meaning you are likely to earn better commission than if you were to sell regular policies — would you rather spend your energy catching a bunch of minnows or one really large fish? Reaching this market and successfully finding plans to meet their needs can bring enormous financial benefits for your business and, thus, your livelihood.
Additional Products and Cross-Selling
Signing an HNWI client for one policy opens you to selling them others. You can assess the current coverage for their other assets and help them find better policies. By helping consolidate their coverage, you can save them money and build a strong, long-term business partnership as the primary contact for their insurance needs. This strategy also makes it easier to retain their business and earn even more commission.
Boost Your Credibility
Wealthy customers are often careful about who they trust when making expensive purchases, including insurance. They have higher expectations for financial services and solutions than middle- to lower-income clients. Exceeding their lofty standards is how you can make a name for yourself in affluent communities and the financial services sector.
Generating Referral Business
Many HNWIs are friends with one another, and their relatives are usually financially successful, too. Delivering excellent service to an affluent client makes them likely to refer you to people they know, potentially creating a long list of referral leads. Further, the children of wealthy parents have a very good chance of being HNWIs someday, giving you an excellent opportunity to win long-term, generational clients. You can start a referral program for HNW parents whose children are beginning to buy their own insurance policies.
How to Attract High-Net-Worth Clients as An Insurance Agent
Some insurance agent strategies to attract wealthy clients differ from those that attract middle- to lower-income buyers.
To land HNWIs as clients, you should:
- Leverage trust and credibility.
As stated above, HNWIs are friends with other affluent people. If you currently have clients that are wealthy, or at least financially secure, ask them for testimonials and to refer their friends and family to your business. If you do a great job at protecting the valuable assets of someone a prospect knows, they will also feel more comfortable giving their business to you.
- Know where to find them.
HNWIs cannot be found just anywhere. They generally spend time in the same kind of places, and many of them are exclusive. However, some of their hangouts are more accessible, and you can find a way to make connections when executed appropriately, such as:
- Art and culture gatherings – Wealthy people have long been heavily involved in the arts.
- Charity events and non-governmental organizations – Affluent families usually lead in charitable giving.
- High-end sports and exercise clubs – Private sports and country clubs, with activities like golf and tennis, have long been popular in affluent communities, and luxury fitness centers have also grown in popularity in recent years.
- Historical preservation societies – This group has long been interested in historic preservation.
- Professional relationships – Work with financial advisors, attorneys and other professionals who work with HNWIs for referral business.
- Your alma mater’s donor list – Your university donor lists may be public; if not, you can look for similar information at other universities in your area.
- Make a connection.
Traditional marketing messages are not as effective with affluent individuals; you need to find ways to make a good impression and exceed expectations. When networking with wealthy prospects, it’s imperative to make clear that you have value to offer. Refrain from deliberately soliciting them; make genuine efforts to build relationships and understand their needs.
- Offer tailored, flexible solutions.
A good independent insurance agent works to maintain strong relationships with carriers in order to offer clients a wide array of solutions. HNWIs have complex risk portfolios and high expectations; they need flexible solutions to secure adequate coverage. Improving and leveraging your connections with insurers will enable you to shop around and build a robust program for each client.
- Position yourself as an HNWI’s ideal agent.
Wealthy insurance buyers do not seek the same insurance solutions as middle- to low-income individuals and families. Brand and promote yourself as a high-value coverage expert specializing in managing affluent risk portfolios and curating tailored, comprehensive insurance solutions for each HNWI.
Important Consideration: Impacts of Selling HNWIs and How AIP Can Help
If you’re earning and selling more, you take on more risk for your agency and the insurance carriers with which you work.
With a standard errors and omissions (E&O) plan, a high-value liability claim could be more complicated and get you closer to your coverage limits. Consider higher-value policies with larger limits, such as a $2 million per claim or $2 million annual aggregate policy.
AIP's E&O Insurance program is designed to protect Colonial Life agents at a low cost, no matter how high the risk. Our programs offer additional options, including $2.5 million per claim / $2.5 million annual aggregate limits of liability, and click and bind coverage.
Learn more about AIP’s E&O Insurance and included benefits, including free continuing education (CE) and business and personal savings today!
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