--- title: "The referral partner pitch: reaching an insurance agency through a client you already have" status: published date: 2026-10-15T16:20:00Z author: clikiti-research excerpt: "Independent insurance agencies get much of their new business from partners: real-estate brokerages, car dealers, lenders. If you build websites for one of those partners, you are one introduction away from the agency. Here is the ask, the one-page offer and the numbers from 170 agency websites to put on it." featured_image: /research/insurance/2026-q4/scenes/scene-opener-agency-1600.webp featured_image_alt: "An agency owner shows a laptop to the principal of a small insurance agency in his office on a rainy afternoon" featured_image_caption: "The first meeting comes through someone both sides already work with." og_image: /research/insurance/2026-q4/og.jpg category: insurance tags: [pitching, trust] series: pitch-playbooks series_part: 15 type: playbook cites: - insurance/2026-q4#licensed - insurance/2026-q4#carriers - insurance/2026-q4#claims - insurance/2026-q4#reviews summary: - "Only 22% of 170 independent insurance agency websites show a licence number, an NPN or the states the agency is licensed in (Clikiti Research, October 2026)." - "40% name three or more insurance companies they quote, 39% say how to file a claim with a number or a link, and 36% show client reviews." - "A web agency that already serves a real-estate brokerage or a car dealer can ask for an introduction to the insurance agency that client refers buyers to, and arrive with a one-page offer built on these numbers." pitch_line: "A client cannot see from your site whether you are licensed in their state." audio: src: /research/posts/insurance-referral-partner-pitch/episode.mp3 duration: 236 transcript: /research/posts/insurance-referral-partner-pitch/episode.txt --- Insurance agencies are a well-worked market for anyone selling marketing, and a stranger's email about their website is easy to ignore. There is a shorter road for a web agency that already has clients in property or cars. Those clients send their buyers to an insurance agency they trust. This playbook covers the introduction, the one-page offer to bring to it, and the numbers to put on the page. The numbers come from [The State of Independent Insurance Agency Websites 2026](/research/insurance), our scan of 170 independent agency websites against nine questions clients ask. The one to lead with: **only 22% show a licence number, an NPN or the states the agency is licensed in.** It is the least-answered question in the study, and the fix takes an afternoon. ::stat{ref="insurance/2026-q4#licensed"} ## Who do you already know? Go through your client list for businesses whose customers need insurance on the day they buy: - **Real-estate brokerages and agents.** A buyer needs homeowners insurance before closing, and many agents keep one or two insurance agencies they recommend. - **Car dealers and auto shops.** A car can't leave the lot uninsured, and a body shop deals with insurers and their clients every week. - **Mortgage brokers, property managers and builders**, for the same reason as the brokerages. Ask the client one question: which insurance agency do you send people to? If they name one, you have your route in. If they don't, move to the next client on the list. ## How do you ask for the introduction? Keep the ask about the client's interest, not yours. Their buyer's experience with the insurance agency reflects on them. A short note to your client does it: :::copy{label="To your client"} You mentioned you send buyers to the same insurance agency most of the time. I read a lot of insurance agency websites for a study we follow, and the agencies that get recommended most are often hard to check online. Would you introduce me? I'll look at their site first and only bring something useful. ::: Then do what the note says. Read the agency's site before anyone meets. ## What should you check first? Five minutes on a phone, against five of the nine questions. Each line gives the share of the 170 sites that miss it: | The client asks | Sites that miss it | Where to look | | --- | ---: | --- | | Are you licensed where I live? | 78% | Footer and about page: a licence number, an NPN or the states | | Do other clients vouch for you? | 64% | Home page: reviews, a review widget or quoted clients | | What do I do when I need to claim? | 61% | A claims page with each company's claims number or link | | Which companies do you quote? | 60% | Three or more companies named in text, not only as logos | | How do I reach you, and when are you open? | 47% | A tappable phone number and office hours | Two of these matter more in a referral than anywhere else. A referred buyer arrives already half trusting the agency; the licence line and the reviews are what let them confirm it in a minute. And a referred buyer is often in a hurry, so the phone number and hours have to be right where they land. If the site passes all five, thank your client and stop there. Only 2 of the 170 agencies answer all nine questions, so this will be rare. ## What goes on the one page? One page, printed or as a PDF, in the agency's own terms. It has four parts. **1. Where the introduction came from.** One line naming your shared client and what you build for them. It explains why you are in the room. **2. What the site misses, against the study.** The questions the site fails, each with the share of agencies that miss it, so the owner sees a sector pattern rather than a personal criticism: :::copy{label="On the page (an example)"} **What a referred client can and can't check on your site.** We read your website against nine questions clients ask, the same nine used in a study of 170 independent insurance agency websites. Your site answers six of them. It doesn't show your licence number or the states you're licensed in (78% of agencies don't), it doesn't say how to file a claim (61% don't), and it names only one of the companies you quote (60% of agencies name fewer than three). ::: Write that paragraph from your own reading of the prospect's site; the shares stay as they are. **3. What you would change, and how long it takes.** Lead with the licence line and the companies list: both are content the agency already has. Then the claims page. Put your price for the work in this section, as one fixed figure. **4. What it does for the partner.** One sentence: when your client sends a buyer to the agency, the buyer can check the agency and reach it from a phone without calling your client back first. ## What should you leave off? Leave off speed and accessibility scores. 94% of the sites fail the phone load test and 79% fail text contrast, so they make a poor opener: every competitor fails them too. Keep them for the proposal once the owner has said yes. Leave off anything about the agency's prices, cover or advice. The study doesn't judge any of it, and neither should the page. :::pitch{title="How do you pitch it?"} 1. **Ask your existing client for the name.** Real-estate, auto and lending clients already send buyers to one insurance agency. 2. **Read the site before the introduction.** Five questions, five minutes, on a phone. 3. **Bring one page.** The questions it misses with the study's shares, the fix in the agency's terms, one price. 4. **Open with the licence line.** 78% of agency sites don't show it, and the agency has the number in a drawer. ::: The same introduction works in the other direction: an auto shop you meet through an insurance agency has its own gaps, set out in [the four kinds of auto business compared](/research/posts/auto-websites-four-kinds-compared). The full insurance numbers, with the method and the split by kind of agency, are in [the insurance report](/research/insurance/2026-q4).