How Insurance Brokers Can Use LinkedIn for Prospecting- Part I of III

Insurance brokers are always looking for creative ways to expand their network, but many still don’t use the most powerful social media tool of all: LinkedIn.

You probably have a LinkedIn profile already, but did you know that, beyond putting yourself out there, you can also use LinkedIn to connect with prospects and form relationships with agents? Here are three powerful ways to use LinkedIn to locate and network with prospects.

1. Check Your Address Book

Perhaps the simplest prospecting tip of all: Just go through your existing contacts and search for them on LinkedIn. Connect with as many as you can (this will help with Tip #2) and interact. Endorse them, recommend them, and keep the conversation going.

2. Search by Insurance Type

Simply by searching for independent agents that specialize in the type of coverage you offer is a great way to make connections. Log in to LinkedIn and, up near the top of the screen, enter in the type of insurance you’d like to search for.

Then, in the left sidebar, filter by location, individual/company, industry, or other ways to get the best list from which to try to build a new list of connections.

You don’t want to blindly connect with too many people at once as that can spell trouble for your reputation on LinkedIn.

First, see if you share a connection or are in a shared group. If so, then indicate that you’d like to connect with them because you already have a commonality.

3. Search for Insurance Groups

In a similar fashion, start at the top of the LinkedIn page and enter your search term—in this case, ‘general liability insurance’—and from the left-hand side, filter by Groups. This will allow you to see groups where insurance agents might gather to discuss these topics.

You can also broaden your search by searching for independent agent–related groups and joining them, networking within the group itself going forward.

Just be sure not to be too “sales-y” or pitch yourself too hard from within groups, as you may end up getting blocked from interacting by the moderator or kicked out of the group all together. Be friendly and helpful, offer advice, and foster those connections to build long-lasting relationships.

 

Have a tip or an idea for building prospects through LinkedIn? Share in our Comments section below!