The Power of Personalization with Kristyn Klaes and Kylie Lowery

Tonya is joined by Kristyn Klaes and Kylie Lowery to explore the power of personalization in the insurance industry, strategies for making every client interaction meaningful, and setting your agency apart from the competition. They discuss how building genuine relationships with clients leads to long-term loyalty, stronger retention, and increased trust—especially in a challenging market. 

IA Forward to can help you take your agency from good to great. Learn more at iaforward.com, and follow IA Forward on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Announcer: [00:00:00] This is IA Forward, your playbook for success as an independent insurance agent. Here to help you knock it out of the ballpark are your hosts, Shane Tatum and Tonya Lied.  

Tonya: Welcome to IA Forward. I am so excited to be joined today by two fabulous women, Kylie Lowry.   

Kylie:  Hello everyone again.  

Tonya: And for the first time, I am proud to welcome one of our Integra sales executives slash sales goddess. Kristen Kleiss. 

Kristyn: Hi, how are you? I am wonderful. We are so excited to have you. It's fun to be here, Tonya. Thank you so much for asking [00:01:00] me.  

Tonya: I wanted to bring Kristen on board with us today because she is in the trenches. She has been through the war of this hard market challenge that we have had for the last two years. 

We're coming out of that starting to see some hope on the other side. Usually our guests have been agency owners or vendor partners, but we'd never really had the opportunity to sit down with you as one of our star sales executives to talk about how are you handling this? How are we handling this as we're moving out of this hard market back into something a little more normal and having a little bit of hope? 

Kristen: We're trying to have a little bit of help. That is the main thing. Right now, it is actually really difficult to have the conversations. And it's one that's a mind block to get Barry to talk to the customer, to relate with them, because we all have insurance. We all [00:02:00] drive something. We live somewhere. We're all going to be having that exact same problem. 

So we try to, try to relate to my customers and let them know that I am with them and try to fit them. You are  

Tonya: one of our trainers that not only helps our retail agency, but all of our partner agents as well. And I know that you have been working very diligently to help our partner agents. Kylie, why don't you share a little bit about some of the themes that you and Kristen have been working. 

With our partner agents on  

Kylie: a few months back, we started implementing classes and I initially wanted to try to pull in these external expert per se, to do these classes and after talking through it with Shane and a couple of other people, it just dawned on me that I did not need to look. Externally, that we had our own internal sales experts, so why not use the resources and the people that we have [00:03:00] here that are great at what they do and can convey that knowledge to our partners. 

And so that immediately led me to Kristen, who has tenure here and has been great at what she's done for several years. And got her to just start conducting regular classes that just get down to the nitty gritty starting from the basics all the way up up the sales process. What does that look like for her and what are the best practices that she uses on the daily that other agents could probably use as well to help not only provide a smooth and efficient sales process but also maintain a great customer relationship? 

So Kristen, tell us, what is the secret to  

Kristen: your success? Making it personal. Every customer that I have, I make it personal with them. I want them to understand that I am not just an agent, but I'm someone that they can trust because that's super important. From the [00:04:00] moment that I talk to them on the phone, I start learning things about them as I'm gathering information. 

What their kids are doing at Barron College, things like that. I've had times with some of these customers where I've put their 16 year olds on a policy, and then years later written a policy for the kiddos family. I try to make sure that I'm with them. So that way that I know what they have, I know what they need, I know what their assets are, how to protect them. 

So that way they know that they can trust me when they do get a new vehicle or when they have a new baby or something like that they need help with. How do you keep it going? To establish it as soon as they call. You start to make sure you're asking questions that they can understand. I do not like to be robotic. 

I don't read things off like it's a list. I ask my questions personally. Not only does it flow, but they also don't feel like I'm drilling them. Um, just like I was just making a phrase, I'm asking them questions. I'm also finding out if they have a home business and if they have people. Farm animals on their property [00:05:00] without even making it seem like I'm again giving them a test And so as I keep going with things through renewals as they have a renewal that is so important That I know I may deal with hundreds of renewals a week, but they have one maybe two renewals a year To them it is all encompassing especially when they're going up 50 Whenever they have those renewals. 

I make sure that we handle them You Personally, because that is a lot of money for them. Six percent can be way more than they can afford. And so I make sure that I take care of them and let them know that I care about their family. I care about taking care of  

Tonya: them. On a recent trip when I was in our home office in Huntington, Texas, it was the end of the day. 

A gentleman came in and you looked up and said, And went over and started talking with them and two or three other people in our office, they were like, Hey, that's a knock and everybody was having a conversation. And it just [00:06:00] seemed so genuine. And there was nothing salesy involved. After this gentleman left, I looked at you and I said, well, Who's Uncle Mike? 

He wasn't really anybody's Uncle Mike, was that? It was just what everybody in the office called him, right? And to find out that this was a guy that stopped by the office and had coffee and just enjoyed conversation, that's the ultimate goal to me of what you have created for ClientPay.  

Kristen: When I first started here, that was the, one of the very first things that I was trained to do. 

Actually, Kylie's dad, it didn't matter who the customer was, He would come and sit in my office with the customer and talk to them like they were best friends and he didn't care if they had a huge account or if they had a single auto with liability on it. It made no difference. And when somebody walks into our office, we ask them if they want something to drink. 

We get up from the desk. A lot of people in Texas are huggers. I wasn't a hugger when I started working here, but I have become a hug receiver. People like it. If [00:07:00] they go by, they like it. Uncle Mike who are there. I have one that's called me Kimmy since I started and he's older And so well, he's very old now and we just I answered a Kimmy when they call me They don't feel like they're calling me to get something sold to them that I had one today That's buying a brand new K& M side by side and he was wanting to know how to protect it before he bought it It ended up becoming a sale But to him it wasn't. 

He was making sure that I was protecting him before he brought that home. I don't sell things, I protect people.  

Tonya: And you had figured out how to become that trusted advisor. What would you say to the agency owner, to the producer, that is all about our mission? That is saying, I don't want to talk to customers, I want customers to be able to go to the website, fill it out, they're going to get a quote back, I don't ever want to talk to them. 

Kristen: And it's great. Automation is meant to help agents. That's what it says. I've been trying to embrace it myself. But they are as loyal to you as they feel you are to them. [00:08:00] So if they don't know who you are, and you don't speak to them ever, then you're just a name that's behind your screen. So whenever their renewal comes up and they go, Oh my goodness gracious, this has gone up 60%. 

They're going to do the same thing they did when they came to you. They're going to get on the internet and they're going to change it over to another company and they're going to leave you. Whereas when you've made it personal and when you wrote the policy, they're going to remember, Oh my goodness, let me call Krista. 

So another thing I do is I let them know that I run it through multiple companies. I try to stop them from shopping to begin with by letting them know I'm going to take care of it for you. Don't worry, once that shop, I'll get you, I named my major companies, I'm going to shop you through though. And that a lot of times will stop people, they're like, okay, that's great. 

I don't have to get online. You've spoken to them, you've helped them. As an independent agent, I tell people that I don't work for the insurance company, I work for you. My, it is in our best interest to get you the best brand of beverage. So they feel like it's personal because it is personal.  

Tonya: I love that you take the time to make it personal [00:09:00] and tell them. 

You've been my agent for a long time. You've helped me. I almost smacked my husband upside the head the other night because he found out how much our insurance had gone up. We just need to call somebody else and see if we can get that any cheaper. And I'm going, do you have any idea what I do for a living? 

And he didn't even know. And I'm like, no, our people have already done that. And they figured out what we need for the coverage that we have. But what do you say to the person that has no idea? What's going on in the market? They just know that they haven't had any kind of claim. They haven't had a ticket and their insurance has gone up three or four hundred dollars a month. 

Kristen: That is a conversation that I have one of and that's not just ones that we already have. That's not retention That's one coming to me from captive agents from other independents different things like that and They do not want to hear the same thing that we've been hearing for the last few years It's been used for the last 10 years. 

Oh, it's inflation. And so now [00:10:00] that it actually is inflation and this is the way the market is and it's gotten so bad, that is being overused. They don't want to hear that anymore. They're wanting to hear, I understand. It's really bad. Let me look at it for you. Even if you can't do anything, you want to look at it, they want to know we've looked at it. 

So when I do that, and I explain it to them, and I tell them I've done this for nearly 20 years. I remember when I would get upset over a 12 percent increase. Now, I'm sitting at 35 percent is normal. I use the example of my own personal auto. It went up 93%. It brought tears, and I am my own agent. I could not fix it. 

I tell customers that, so I relate to them. It doesn't make anything better for them, but I let them know I'm going to look at it, because I am. I want to make a note of it. I want to be able to know what their increase was, and if I can't move them, I prefer not to move people. People don't need to, remarketing and getting those policies shopped every single year or every single six months. 

It can get messy and they [00:11:00] lose longevity discounts and it's not as good as being able to keep them with the company that they have, especially if they have a good policy. So then I go over that policy with them. We're raising deductibles. We're looking at things like, do you really have 20, 000 in buyer arms anymore? 

Things like that. Things that you can take off. Maybe they hadn't looked at the policy and they have scheduled jewelry that they don't even own anymore. So, we're having to change the policies that they have now. We're keeping them now. And they're keeping the visa policies, but we have to work with them. 

They need to see that we're working with them and that we're not just saying, Inflation. That's what it is across the board. I'm sorry.  

Kylie: One reason we have kept her and love her and want to see her continue to succeed. You have to make it personal. Unfortunately, with the automation of things, you're going to get agents. 

You're going to get people that don't want to talk. And if that works for them, that's okay. But making it personal [00:12:00] does allow you the platform to stand apart and to create those relationships like she just said, she can win on other things that when price is a factor, if you can at least gain their trust, they will stay with you or allow you to wrap their business for the first time specifically for those factors, I think generation. 

Play is a major part of that. I think you're going to find your older generations are probably going to be more personal than your younger generations who just want to see it come through a text message. They sign and then they go about their business. I hope, though, as we move forward as a society and we get out of that post cove it. 

We keep a distance from everyone and we continue down that road, that will steadily change and we can see these up and coming generations start to make it even more personal as well.  

Tonya: That's one of the things, Kylie, that I see you doing extremely well is finding a fantastic balance of automation and making [00:13:00] it personal and helping our partner agents find that perfect balance for them. 

That's one of the assets that we truly provide our partners within the Integra Partner Network. Good luck.  

Kylie: Yes, just helping them find that balance. It's hard. Sometimes especially if they are in a bigger city Or their office is located in their home It can be difficult, but that doesn't mean that you can't pick the phone up still that doesn't mean that you can't Send a birthday card or a christmas card You can find ways to make relationships personal without actually having to physically be in front of someone You  

Kristen: I actually use automation to help me make it personal. I have automation sent out for birthday cards. I have customers that will email me back and say, thank you so much. My name is signed on it. I make sure it doesn't sound crazy and it is not failsy. When I send things out on a campaign like that, I do not make them salesy. 

It is literally just happy birthday. Thanks for being with me. The Christmas things, we don't do automated on that. I will send those out. Automation can help me get lists and help me make notes to myself, like the birthday thing. Like different campaigns whenever they are a new customer. I do have things sent automation or sent to me so that way I know you need to do this. 

It can help me make it personal that way. One of  

Tonya: my favorite ways that one of our partners uses automation is he sends out an email two days before his insurance anniversaries. Peace. That says, [00:16:00] Hey, just a reminder, your anniversary is in two days. You may want to pick something up for your wife. That is cute. 

And I think that is a really fun one that I never would have thought of, but works really well for him.  

Kylie: One thing that Kristen has shared with our partner agents in her classes is to. Maintain that the customer is right in that moment, even though you may feel a little frustrated or they're not always necessarily being pleasant You still go through your sales process and your best practices and you don't sway from that you stick to what you know And you maintain professionalism And continue to make it personal no matter if the customer is making it difficult or not It's an automatic  

Kristen: reaction when someone comes at you like it's a personal thing where you woke up that morning and You Increase their insurance rates to take a step back sometimes, especially when we have a bad day in anything. 

You've heard it 25 times that way to tell them this is how it is, or to maybe be snarky [00:17:00] back a little bit, but we can't be that way. And maybe the customer only had a 5 percent increase and you want to say, man, you have 5 percent increase. I had one last week that her insurance went down 2 percent she's shopping and still, and I wanted my first initial thought was, man, you don't know how lucky that you are. 

But she'd had a policy for that many years, but when I re shopped that policy, I saved her 1, 200 because the policy had been around so long. So she was right in that moment. And luckily, of course, I had told her I would take care of it and take a look at it, and that's what I did. The customer doesn't want to call and have you become bad up with them. 

They're already aggravated. When you're working with somebody's pocketbook, that is very delicate. In fact, I tell my customers, it's not anything you've done, I understand. Because that's the first thing of the year. I don't have any claims, I don't have any tickets. I've been paying insurance since I was 16 years old and this is what y'all do. 

And it's y'all, it's not, this is what your insurance company did. This is what you did. Can't take it personal. These people aren't [00:18:00] doing that because they're upset with you as an agent. They're frustrated because this is a hard economy for them, and there's no telling what is going on with them on the other side of the phone. 

You have to have empathy for them, and you have to tell them, I understand. I mentioned that's whenever I tell them about my increase. You don't want to tell someone about something that's upsetting you and have them say, I'm upset about it, too. You want to tell them, At that point, tell them that is a lot. 

I am so sorry. And I apologize. And I, that's when I explain it's not explaining it to them factually where they are. I'm drilling it into them informally and necessarily. I'm empathizing explaining why telling them your record is clean. People love to hear if they have an impeccable driving records. I tell them what discounts that they have. 

I let them know, we are going to look at, again, that goes back to putting it back on, I'm going to help you either take care of this policy, we will find another one, we're going to do something. And you can't do it right [00:19:00] then on the phone with them, but you need to let them know that you're going to take care of it. 

You do not want them to think that you're not taking care of it because they're going to hang up with you and they're going to get on the internet. Or they're going to call an agent that will take care of it. How do you deliver bad news? Very carefully and within a reasonable amount of time. So that is a hurdle, even I have still. 

It is hard to call someone and whether it be a new customer or it is a customer that you are trying to explain that you can't get them another rate, this is what their renewal is. Especially when you get the ones that tell you they're on fixed income. We have social security. I'm a bleeding heart. I would put them all on my tab if I had it. 

It's hard. So what I have to do is the first thing I want them to understand what I have done to make sure that they have the best rate possible. And then I go over their coverages with them because I'm not selling on price. They need to know that there are less expensive policies. We can drop coverages down and that would make it less expensive. 

But I make sure they understand what their policy is covered for. Because [00:20:00] otherwise they're going to go to another company. If they have a great homeowner's policy and they go to one that's just a standard, no coverage policy, it will be cheaper. But I like to make sure they understand the value of the policy that they have and of the agency. 

You don't want them going online and getting a company that's online and not even having an agent sell on the value, not the price of it.  

Kylie: If they leave short term for price, 9 percent of the time they're going to come full circle because they trust you and they know that you truly do care about them. 

Kristen: Even on new business, if I lose the sale, I'm gonna be a quote. I lose the sale. I will explain to them why I could not beat the price If it's just flat price and I can compare coverage, I will tell them that look right now It's not a good time. I have already made it personal. I have all their information I'll have the photo on the house by that point. 

I'll set myself a follow up and catch it Two months before the renewal the next time. Let's say that on their policy their [00:21:00] limits aren't what I feel is adequate. I'll explain it to them. I'll tell them you need to call your agent that you have now. I'd rather you be protected and have a good policy than not. 

And I'll have them check on the policy that they have or I'll give them advice on it. My sales are all based off of word of mouth and referrals. I have people that I have quoted that I was not able to write their insurance that send me referrals regularly. And at some point, I will write their insurance. 

I have ones that leave me short term, like Kylie said, and they do not like it. But if there's another company that makes it less expensive, they are willing to send me the policy because they trust me. And if I'm on price, they know I'm not trying to manipulate them. I'm trying to help. And if I can look it over and I say, this is a really good policy, and it's less than anything I can offer you. 

So let's talk social media. How do you  

Tonya: use socials in order to get clients, keep clients, and keep your name top of mind with them?  

Kristen: I give a little. Personal and I give a little [00:22:00] business. I make sure because I know the pages that I follow when it is constantly How can you lower your electric bill or here's my cable different? 

That's all that it is It gets you're not as interested anymore. But when you have your facebook or your Instagram accounts and you're posting things that you're comfortable with Other people seeing you can control your audience So I post things that i'm comfortable with my customers seeing and I do have my customers Because there's nothing that should be on my social media that i'm embarrassed for my pastor to see Who is also on there and also a customer by the way, so I make sure that I post Personal things but I slip in insurance things. 

I don't just post things for insurance that are Strictly business. I'll put funny, appropriate insurance memes. I share industry things that are happening because I flip in things that I think might help people, whether they're my customer or not. Do you have a new roof? Have you told your agent that you've gotten a new roof? 

If [00:23:00] not, call them, because they'll remember that. I had a gentleman today that messaged me on Facebook, actually, because he knew I was an insurance agent. I saw my friend's list, and he asked me if I could help him with the purchase of a new side by side, and I was able to. I called him on the phone when we were going to make the sale, and he was happy, but it was all very basefoot. 

Tonya: There are lots of agency owners that forbid their employees from being on social media during office hours. I understand where they were coming from, but it feels a bit draconian to me, because we are missing the opportunity to do exactly what you just did by having that policy.  

Kristen: I would recommend that if an agency is going to allow a producer or anyone that they have, Working for them or them themselves, things like that to post on social media. 

There does need to be a social media policy in place and somebody needs to be able to see it. You don't want a producer that's going to [00:24:00] post something that may not be correct. I do not ever post anything that would be company specific. I'm talking to an arrangement of people. I have five bathroom friends on Facebook. 

I don't know whose company they have or what state that they're in. So a lot of times it's just mostly going to be general things. And if an agency does that, they can schedule them during the day. And you don't have to do it where you're physically on social media. I would definitely allow, even if it's just one or two a day. 

You don't want to slam them, but there should be at least one during the middle of the day. And that's really all that's needed. Let's get to know you personally. What are you reading right now? I love to read Stephen King books, Dean Koontz books. Anything that's going to keep me on my toes. Make me look behind my shoulder a little bit. 

Kylie, what have you been reading?  

Kylie: Actually hit my 50th book of the year last week, which was my goal. My genres are all over the place, and my favorite is historical romance or historical drama. The most recent book that I read was All the Colors of the Dark, which [00:25:00] I highly recommend. Kristen, if you like suspense, give it a go. 

Kristen, how have you seen opportunities  

Kristen: for women change over the last two decades? Women are getting into the insurance industry. a lot more than they were before. When I came in, I was the only woman in my office. I had a male agent who I had been doing this longer than he had. He'd just started. But he was the agent. 

They, the company that I worked for didn't have a lot of captive agents that were female. So I worked under him. I didn't have very many co workers that were female, they were all men. And over the last few years, I've been noticing there have been a lot more women that are selling insurance, that are becoming financial advisors. 

People like talking to a female many times because we empathize a lot better sometimes than men do. A lot of times when the women handle things for the family, they prefer to talk to another woman. They don't want to feel like they're being buffaloed by a man in a lot of cases. Or if it is the husband that takes care of the business [00:26:00] in the family, then I have learned to adapt to that and be able to speak to him. 

What  

Tonya: advice would you give to a female thinking about coming into our industry?  

Kristen: As a mom, I have a young son, and with what we do in this type of business, we do not have to be in our seat from 8 o'clock until 5, 6 o'clock every single day. I have so much to do with my kiddo. I'm constantly having to do practices and things. 

You can balance your work life this way. If I need to do quotes in the evenings, that's what I do. But I always make sure I'm available for my customers.  

Tonya: Kylie, from a non sales perspective, what would you say to a female wanting to come into our industry?  

Kylie: Honestly, the sky's the limit. We're seeing it in our own office today. 

You can hold any position that you put your mind to. I would encourage you to educate yourself. There's so much value in education. No matter what society says, educate yourself to hold that power. [00:27:00] Knowledge is power and the more knowledgeable you are, the more school sets you're going to have and take those and use those to your advantage. 

Well, Kylie, Kristen,  

Tonya: thank you so much. for sharing your thoughts with us today. This was really fun. Thank you so much for having me. You think he'll come back on with us again? Definitely will. I will definitely come back. Kristen, I'm going to let you leave us today with your favorite quote.  

Kylie: It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up. 

Very good. I like it. Attitudes of choice make a great one. Bye, y'all. Announcer: At the Integra Partner Network, we understand that carrier access is the key to your agency's success. That's why Integra offers direct access to top rated personal and commercial carriers, ensuring your agency thrives in today's challenging market. 

And with our comprehensive resources, profit sharing, and bonus opportunities, technology, and peer support, all while you retain 100 percent of your book with no penalties to exit, Integra is ready to empower you and your agency. [00:28:00] Find your way to Integra. Visit Integrapartnernetwork. com today. That's Integrapartnernetwork. 

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