Saving Every Penny – Keeping Your EXISTING Customers

I was chatting with a friend the other day and he told me a story and as soon as he finished I said “ooh, that’s good blog fodder!”

He told how he used one company to insure his cars and one company for the household insurance.  He’d been with the household insurance company for several years and never really gave much thought to his coverage.  He had researched companies at the time and felt confident in his choice but never revisited the situation. 

He’d never had a claim and so had never had a conversation with his agent.  No annual follow up calls, no thank you phone calls just the annual mailing to remind him that the year was up and a new year was beginning.

Meanwhile, the insurance agent taking care of his car and those of his kids, regularly calls and asks how she might be of help.  He recently added a new car to his policy and during the conversation the agent asked how much he was paying for his home insurance. 

“I pay $1200 a year,” he said.

“I can save you money,” she replied.

Being the organized soul that he is – he was able to immediately fax a copy of his coverage to her and within a short period of time she responded with a new quote:

“Your home owner’s insurance would be $551 a year with us.”

“What?  That’s less than half what I’ve been paying.  Are you sure I’m getting the same protection?”

“Yes.”

You see, the cost of insurance has dwindled in the last few years and because he’s not in the business – he wasn’t aware of some of the savings he was eligible for.  Additionally, by having his car and house insurance with one agent he was entitled to a discount.  His prior agent never let him know that.

He said to me “If my home owner insurance agent had attempted to have any kind of a relationship with me over the past seven years – I would have felt obligated to call and see if they could also offer a better rate.  But I have never, in seven years, ever had one single conversation with them.”

And then he said something telling:  “I guess they just didn’t really want my business.”

He cancelled the old policy and because he’d just recently prepaid for the entire year – he will receive a rebate check that amounts to more than the entire year of coverage with his new policy.

The economy has us looking at all kinds of ways we can save a few pennies because pennies may be all we have.  As consumers we have to scrutinize every new purchase but we also need to look at the ongoing bills we already have to see if we can save any money there as well.

If we haven’t taken the time to establish a relationship with our customers – what sense of obligation do they have to stay with us?

Can we afford to lose a customer?

Photo courtesy of Digital Photos.