Relationships are crucial to professionals in the insurance industry—and that’s especially true for wholesale insurance brokers. For a wholesale insurance business to thrive, it’s crucial to nurture and manage your relationships with markets and with insurance agents. Here are a few ideas for how to do that as a natural and integrated part of your business outreach.
Keep in touch—without asking for anything. It’s easy to reach out when you need something from your connections. But if you get in touch not to ask for something, but to give, you’ll be nurturing the relationship. Keep your most important contacts in mind when you release a new blog post or webinar that might be of particular use to them, or if you come across coverage of an aspect of the insurance industry that is particularly relevant to their business. They’ll appreciate the thought.
In other words, ask not what others can do for you. Ask what you can do for others. It’s a mindset change that makes it easier to keep in touch and keep your business relationships strong.
Remember birthdays and milestones. This could be as simple as setting up an automated reminder about a contact’s birthday, date of hire at their company, or another important milestone and sending a quick note wishing them a happy birthday or congratulating them on their one-year anniversary at their new job. You don’t have to do it for every milestone, but pick one that makes sense in the context of the relationship.
Make connections outside of work. It can be tempting to keep everything professional with your business contacts. But people relate to other people, not corporate representatives. If you have a non-work-related hobby in common with a contact, it’s a great opportunity to connect on a level that’s broader than work—and that can make your work relationship more significant. Get to know your contacts on a more personal level, and that will make your connection stronger.
Listen—and pay attention to the answers. It sounds simplistic, but many people don’t listen to others so much as wait for opportunities to talk. Pay close attention to what your contacts are telling you about their business and insurance needs—and take opportunities to show them you were paying attention.
Nurturing your business relationships doesn’t have to take a lot of time. It can be as simple as tracking birthdays and other important milestones, allowing conversations to touch on non-work subjects every so often to discover common interests, and developing a mindset more focused on what you can do for your contacts when you reach out than what they can do for you. With these tips, you’re likely to have stronger business relationships—and a stronger business.
Leave a Reply