The polar vortex blowing through vast portions of the United States may be causing clients to shut their doors, but opening up as an advisor during severe temperatures offers producers a chance to improve client relationships and possibly close
more sales in the future.
Cory Young, chief operating officer with Rhodes & Williams Insurance Brokers, said people are more attuned to insurance needs in cold weather.
“People aren’t really excited about talking about insurance, so it is when things like this happen, they start to pay more attention,” Young said. “It is our job to get the information out to them when we can. We do our best to keep the lines of communication open.”
Young’s brokerage is constantly reaching out through emails and quarterly newsletters, offering links to the company’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
“We want to communicating where they are; that is the social media strategy we have,” Young said. “Our clients are there; we need to be there as well.”
Reaching out through
social media is also a strategy Boulder, Colo.-based producer Julie Metish takes. Metish said her clients have “had their share” of weather-related issues, and she tries to offer tips on safe travel and winterizing homes and automobiles.
“With this type of weather, you run into home insurance claims for frozen and broken pipes, which result in water damage to the home,” she said. “You also run into more frequent auto accidents due to icy and snow-packed roads.”
Doug Johnson, a producer in frigid Fargo, N.D., added that he tries to warn clients against “crazier” methods of escaping the cold.
“Typically the losses that we’ll see in the cold weather are space heater-related, especially in mobile homes rather than your single family dwellings,” said Johnson, whose hometown recently experienced -30 degree weather.“If you’re not used to it, there’s a lot of crazy things people do to try and stay warm.”
Another important tact is to be available in the office as much as possible, Young advised.
“Our office looks at situations like this ahead of time as much as possible to make sure we’re prepared so that we are able to serve our clients,” he said. “Our clients are dealing with the same thing. We try to be here as much as we can, as there is a chance they will need us more than any other time.”
Johnson agrees.
“We still go into the office, we still travel, we still do whatever we can,” he said.
