The Electronic Signature Declined Coverage Form
An insurance agency's most important sales and retention tool for current customers.
By Billy R. Williams - President Williams Family Investment Group and Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring Svc.
As an investor in numerous agencies and as a mentor to 100's more, I am often asked: "If there was only one marketing tool you could use in your agency, what would it be?"
Without hesitation, my answer is always the same; an E-Signature based Declined Coverage Form.
In 16+ years of working in the insurance industry as a captive agent, an independent agent, a mentor to 1000s of agencies, and an investor in over 150 agencies, I have never seen one document that served as many purposes or drove as many results as a finely crafted Declined Coverage Form.
To be completely transparent, even a poorly crafted Declined Coverage Form will yield some surprisingly good insurance agency results.
The evolution of the Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring Declined Coverage Form
1. In 2004, when I opened my Allstate Insurance Agency, I started using a Permission to Contact/Optional Coverage Form (Here is a link to the P2C form that is still in use by many of the Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring member agencies - http://bit.ly/IANoptionalcoverageform)
2. While 10 - 15% of customers would complete the form, that still left up to 90% that didn't. Of course, before everything went mobile, I was sending a DocuSign link by email that people would open on their desktop computer.
3. In 2008, I sold my Allstate agency and partnered with a small independent agency. That agency used various declined coverage forms for products such as Flood, Jewelry Coverage, Inland Marine, Loss of Income, etc.
4. We were mainly using it to cover our butts from an E&O complaint. (E&O is still the main reason most agencies use a Declined Coverage Form.)
5. What I noticed right away (and started to track) was how many customers would call back and want to discuss the coverages after they received a Declined Coverage Form DocuSign from the agency. It didn't take long for me to see that the form wasn't just covering our butts, but generating revenue for the agency.
6. In 2010, I created the Declined Coverage Form that the Williams Family Investment Group partner agencies use today. Reducing it to one page and allowing the sales team, account managers, and retention team to list multiple items on one form made it more efficient for the agency and more comfortable for the customer to understand.
7. Active Inspire a Nation Members: Here is our current Declined Coverage Form: http://bit.ly/IANdeclinedcoverageform (Active members MUST log in to see the form)
We see the best response when we send the form:
• As soon as we sign up a new customer
• When we spot a policy weakness on an endorsement request
• When we conduct a Customer Policy Review
• When working a reported claim follow up call
• When conducting a Birthday Insurance Review
In summary, the Declined Coverage Form is a multi-faceted document that should be used to not only cover the agency's butt but to drive new premium, drive cross-sells and up-sells, increase retention, and show the agency's expertise as an insurance advisor.
Do you want to connect with Dr. Williams?
Click on the link below to add Dr. Williams' Electronic Business Card (.vcf) to your mobile device or computer address book
https://www.bit.ly/bw_e_bizcard
"People with a Wealth Mentality find the simple inside of complicated things; People with a Poor Person's Mentality make simple things unnecessarily complicated."
Billy R. Williams Ph.D.
