Six Tips For Building Trust With Clients

By Lyle Solomon

Developing and keeping great client relationships is difficult, and one’s level of skill at this can make or ruin almost any business. Businesses benefit from higher performance ratings, lower churn rates, fewer expenses and higher margins when they focus on creating customer trust and loyalty.

This is especially true for insurance advisors who want to build trust with their clients and prospects. The trust factor works in every step of the insurance business, from choosing the best policy to submitting a claim.

It’s important to build client relationships and trust by establishing yourself as trustworthy, reliable and competent. It takes sheer effort, time and resources to build a trustworthy relationship.

The key to your success is that your clients regard you as capable and dependable. You may successfully enhance retention and grow your business by aiming to offer a fantastic client experience across every encounter. Satisfied policyholders are more likely to tell their friends and family about your services, and that can help you grow your business.

Here are six tips to build trust with clients and prospects.

1. Educate your clients first.

You are providing solutions for your clients’ insurance needs. So you must face multiple questions about the coverage you suggest to a client. You must have a thorough knowledge of the policies to respond to their questions confidently.

As you’re selling insurance, explain why it’s important, what it does and how it can protect them. Relate the advantages to their specific situation. Educate them on how different types of insurance function and who qualifies for them.

Make sure that your clients understand the value of your service in a way that allows them to grasp how it relates to their own lives and particular insurance needs. Clients will feel more at ease with their interactions with you if you can display a thorough knowledge of the insurance policies, operations and additional benefits. This way, you build trust with your clients and enhance your conversion rate.

You can ask your clients questions to identify what areas you missed and then provide any necessary additional information.

2. Communicate with clients proactively.

One of the most crucial aspects of advisor-client interaction is proper communication.

Building a trustworthy advisor-client relationship requires effective communication. Being proactive and responsive shows that you care about clients’ needs. By carefully listening to clients’ questions and breaking down important policy concepts, you can focus on having more high-quality interactions. You should be polite, courteous and respectful at all times, and show your clients you’re a person they can trust.

Find opportunities to communicate with your clients that help you improve your relationship with them. You may use billboard advertisements, TV commercials, agency websites, newsletters, social media platforms, chatbots, text messages, emails or any other form of communication to proactively reach out. Determine your target audience and their preferred communication channels when offering appropriate insurance advice.

3. Don’t waste your clients’ time.

Your clients have busy schedules to keep and important meetings to attend, just as you do. So by respecting clients’ time, you will go a long way in keeping their trust.

When you schedule an appointment for a specific day and time, be sure you show up. Always make prior calls to your clients and schedule meetings according to their comfort level. When you say you’ll call someone back, follow through as soon as possible.

4. Show your expertise.

Today’s clients always compare costs, businesses and policy information online to find solutions to their insurance needs.

But that doesn’t mean they have all the details of the policies you offer them. Use this chance to establish trust by exhibiting a thorough knowledge of your products and how they might benefit your clients.

Keep yourself updated with the latest market information on policies and services. Many insurers regularly introduce new value-added services, digital tools and noninsurance items. The more you understand how different coverages work, the better you’ll be able to match insurance to your clients’ needs.

Choose reliable insurance provider companies that you know will help your client. When you can provide several options, you show your clients that you are interested in helping them obtain the best coverage they need, rather than simply selling them any policy.

Only suggest policies that make sense and fit your clients’ demands.

Use testimonials and online reviews to display your expertise and gain trust with new clients. It’s a great way to strengthen your goodwill and get people talking about you.

5. Keep your commitments and don’t make excuses.

You must keep your commitments if you want to earn your clients’ trust. To improve your relationship, focus on input from clients and determine whether you are meeting their needs and expectations.

Errors or problems can occur at any time. But what matters is how you deal with the situation. Keeping a positive attitude can build trust, even if the situation gets critical.

Make no excuses for the mistake. It doesn’t matter what went wrong in most cases. Fix it as soon as possible and move on.

It’s never a good idea to make promises you can’t fulfill. Misrepresenting a policy’s features or promising something you can’t deliver will destroy trust. Keeping your commitments can earn you favorable feedback from clients and increase loyalty. Failure to maintain your responsibilities and making excuses can quickly harm your reputation, as well as ruin the trust between you and your clients.

6. Don’t trash-talk your competitors.

Too often, businesspeople trash-talk their competitors to make themselves look better and close a deal quickly. Of course, it’s easy to criticize your competitors, but that tactic usually backfires. Trash-talking competitors causes clients to view you as petty and untrustworthy.

Don’t engage in negativity. Instead, focus on the benefits you can offer your clients. Describe why what you provide is a better match than what is offered by a competitor.

Finally, to impress your customers, don’t strive to be someone you’re not. Unusual behaviors, aggressive pitching, trash-talking and other negative activities can make clients confused, and you’ll come out as untrustworthy in the end. Instead, be honest with yourself and with the clients. That’s how you can build a strong, trustworthy relationship.

Lyle D. Solomon is principal attorney for the Oak View Law Group in Los Altos, Calif. He may be contacted at [email protected].