I was pretty excited about one of Seth Godin's recent posts regarding the differences between workers and entrepreneurs. I found it especially fitting as the InsureMe company has gone through some changes in recent weeks and many of us have faced the challenge of realizing our value in the company and wondering how we're suppose to better ourselves with so many constraints on our time.

Godin says quite aptly:

What happens when your inbox is empty?

What happens when all the agenda items and all the incoming emails are cleared?

Time to go home.

A job well done. Congratulations, you earned your paycheck.

This is the factory mindset that has been drilled into us since kindergarten. You get assignments, you do your best, and you finish them.

It is at this point that we draw the line between workers and entrepreneurs, between people who work in marketing and marketers.

The challenge is NOT to empty your inbox. The challenge is not to get your boss to tell you what to do.

The challenge is to ask a two part question:

What next? What now?

Asking is the hard part.

I suppose we can all be satisfied with the status quo. And I suppose most supervisors in the world can be satisfied with the status quo. But really...why would you want to?

Take some time this weekend to identify how you can go the extra mile in your job. Whether it's coming in 15 minutes early to catch up on a blog or two or reading one work-related book per month, I think you'll find that going the extra mile has equal benefits for you and your clients. And that warrants a big thumbs up.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
 

According to the Insurance Journal, the state of New York is proposing new legislation to keep children under the age of 11 from riding alone on amusement park rides that take them out of the line of sight of ride operators.

Whew. That's a mouthful. And a pretty good indication that this bill is a complicated waste of time, if you ask me.

The legislation, reports the Insurance Journal, is part of six bills resulting from the state's four amusement park deaths last year. One victim, a seven-year old, died during a boat-themed ride when he got out of his seat and fell in a dark tunnel at Playland Park.

Personally, I hate amusement parks. I'll forever be the girl standing down below holding the coats, chapstick and other pocketed contents of friends and family because being whipped around by rickety carnival equipment is just not my idea of fun (although I do like the crazy boat ride shown in the photo...) . But despite my devil-incarnate feelings about amusement parks, I understand that most of the world loves them. And in accordance, parks and rides need to be safe, which I don't think has anything to do with the age of riders.

"Are kids going to have to stand in line with a birth certificate?" wonders Deputy County Executive, Larry Schwartz.

Good point. And besides that, I don't see how a ride can be safer for a 12-year old than an 11-year old. Makes no sense to me. And what if you're a shorty like me? You could be well into your 20's and still slip underneath the safety bar while the Super Nausea 8000 throws you into the stratosphere.

Good try, New York, but this is just silliness. Stick to height requirements, parental supervision and legislation to increase safety measures—not riding age—at amusement parks.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

There's some rather disconcerting news today regarding a jump in uninsured Americans.

According to MSNBC, a new Commonwealth Fund study found that the percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005—up from 28 percent in 2001.

The study illustrates the dire situation for Middle America, as more employers are dropping health insurance coverage or offering plans that are too expensive. The article also points out that the percentage of adults earning less than $20,000 a year without insurance rose to 53 percent in 2004, up from 49 percent in 2001.

While this news is alarming on all fronts, I was especially disturbed to see the stats on preventative care among uninsured adults. According to the study:

• Cost prevented over 41 percent of uninsured adults from seeing a doctor, compared to just over 9 percent of uninsured adults with health coverage


• 51 percent of women without health insurance haven't had a mammogram in two years, compared to almost 23 percent of women with insurance


• Over 76 percent of uninsured men between 40 and 64 years of age haven't had a PSA test (which detects prostate cancer) in two years, compared to over 52 percent of their insured counterparts

Ugh. It's hard to believe that this is the reality of health coverage in this country, but on the other hand, I'm just as appalled by the people who think they're entitled to unnecessary medical treatment (multiple MRIs, for example) because they have Medicaid and the government is footing the bill.

There's got to be some kind of happy medium here. Should every state adapt the Massachusetts view on health care and make it mandatory? Should we adapt a more European style of health care? Obviously if someone had the cure-all, we'd have it by now...but seriously. It's 2006 and this is the United States. Am I the only who's disturbed by these new findings?

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

After yesterday's rant regarding Dave Anderson's article this month's issue of Health Insurance Underwriter magazine, I was happy to rediscover the magazine's more redeeming qualities when I came across an article about replacing pricey direct mail campaigns with online insurance lead generation. The article was written by the marketing director of an InsureMe competitor, but nonetheless, the author's points underscore how agents on all sides of the business can take advantage of insurance leads.

Why should you think about kicking direct mail to the curb? According to author Jeremiah Desmarais, response rates for lead-generation direct mail campaigns are at an all time low: 1.43 percent, down from 2.09 percent in 2004. Still, the financial services industry continues to throw money into the abyss of junk mail.

Desmarais contends that putting your resources toward insurance leads will save you money and yield better results—all with less effort.

Now, because InsureMe sells insurance leads, I'm inclined to agree with Desmarais, except for the "less effort" part. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Everything that you seek to get from direct mail has been made easier by the Internet. Working with a trusted insurance lead service puts you in touch with consumers who are interested in your product, rather than filling the mailboxes of consumers who could care less about what you have to offer. Lead services also let you nail down certain demographics by filtering out leads your company can't write. Makes those downloadable mailing lists seem a little archaic, eh?

Online lead generation also puts the ease of contacting and following up with prospects into high gear. That's because you can contact the prospect almost as soon as he or she has submitted their quote request (being sensitive to early morning and late night hours should go without saying). Many lead generation services also provide management systems to help you organize your leads—helping you cut down on admin work. Admin work=bad. Selling=good.

By and large, insurance leads are more cost-effective than sending out large mailings and you'll always have a stream of fresh prospects who are interested in what you have to offer them. Desmarais is right, online lead generation can cut down on the "grunt work" of insurance sales, but make no mistake—selling insurance leads is still work! Remember, these shoppers are doing exactly that: shopping. They're comparing you to your competitors and looking for the best in service and price. The good news is, lead services can help you to spend more time selling and less time licking stamps.

If you need some more information about insurance leads and direct mail, we've got some information on both:

• What Great Agents Know about Insurance Leads


• Utilizing Insurance Leads


• How to Use Direct Mail to Your Advantage

Ultimately, you'll have to decide what works best for you. If you're not sure you want to completely wean yourself from direct mail yet, try pitting online insurance lead generation against your direct mail campaign next quarter and see where you have the most success. Fill me in on the results!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Nine times out of 10, I love everything that is the Health Insurance Underwriter magazine. In fact, I'll probably be citing some juicy vittles from the May issue in tomorrow's post.

However, I'm making some time this afternoon to take issue with this month's HIU sales column, Fly with the Eagles, which is entitled: Stop Being Interesting and Start Being Interested.

Stop being interesting? I thought as I scanned the column. What an awful idea.

The author, Dave Anderson, sales veteran, speaker and "leader of leaders" says that most sales people "talk too much" when they're with prospects.

"They try to be 'interesting'. I don't know if it's nervous energy, a lack of polished selling skills, or a little of both," states Anderson.

What you really need to do, Anderson suggests, is shut up and listen.

Now, listening to your prospects is absolutely important and Anderson is spot on when he says that everything a prospect tells you is a potential "gold nugget". You're probably well aware that people reveal a lot about their wants and needs through simple conversation—which allows you tailor your sales pitch accordingly, establish rapport with the prospect and nail the sale.

But according to Anderson, successful professionals like doctors, lawyers and CPAs are less concerned about being interesting and more focused on being interested. This is how they gain the confidence of their clients.

"Sales professionals are no different," he says. "Selling is a serious profession."

Beat me over the head with a tack hammer while you're at it, Dave. Sure. Selling is a serious profession. It pays your bills and puts food on the table. But being uninteresting and boring makes you unremarkable. And no one talks about unremarkable people. No one tells their friends and family about unremarkable people. No one writes stories, articles or blogs about unremarkable people.

Remember this story from last week's post?

"Who woulda thunk it?" the post's originator wrote. "An insurance company with a sense of humour? Much respect...!"

It's like I said last week: insurance is boring. But you're not boring. You probably have a sense of humor and a distinct personality. And believe it or not, consumers find that refreshing.

So yes, listen to your prospects. Listen intently and use their conversational clues to your advantage. But don't stuff your personality in the closet and become Mr. or Ms. Serious Insurance Sales Agent between 8 and 5. That might have worked 25 years ago but it's going to take a lot more to stand out from the competition in 2006.

And just think—being yourself is probably going to be the cheapest marketing tactic you've ever employed.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Nice little post from AdJab today (courtesy of James at the InsureMe Affiliate Blog) about GEICO. Apparently the lizard-loving company's pants are in a bunch over a radio ad run by New York's Tri-State Consumer Insurance Company.

[...] the Tri-State Consumer Insurance Company, is running a sixty-second radio ad which features a gecko very similar to the Geico gecko telling listeners about great car rates. Unfortunately, before the gecko can really say anything, we hear the sound of a car running over him and another voiceover telling us that Tri-State has great rates without the superfluous cartoon characters.

Now GEICO has filed a suit against Tri-State, saying that the radio ad confuses consumers into thinking their gecko mascot is affiliated with Tri-State.

Man. GEICO must really think consumers are stupid. Not that we haven't heard the consumer confusion song and dance before.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

There's quite an interesting post over at Stumbling and Mumbling, which asks the same question.

Norm, the author of Stumbling and Mumbling, makes some particularly interesting points regarding adverse selection, moral hazard and our tendency to over estimate small probabilities. It's a great post in my opinion, and presents information from both sides of the fence without necessarily choosing a side. Good brain food for a Monday morning.

I won't reduce the gravity of the post with my ramblings; check it out here and let me know what you think.

[HAT TIP:] The Insurance Coverage Law Blog for the link to Norm's blog.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Alright, this isn't funny so I really shouldn't jest about this in my blog headline.

That said, the Insurance Journal reported today that injuries from lawn mowing are on the rise. According a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomber School of Public Health, nearly 80,000 Americans require hospital treatment from lawn mower injuries every year, with the majority of injuries occurring in children under the age of 15 and adults over 60 years of age.

The senior author of the study, Dr. David Bishai, said that there's no reason anyone under the age of 12 should ever be injured by a lawn mower

"If we would keep the kids off the lawn when mowing and off the riding mowers we could greatly reduce the number of injuries each year."

According to the IJ story, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no one under the age of 16 should use a riding lawn mower and no one under the age of 12 should use a push mower. And based on the study results, Dr. Bishai recommends several safety precautions for mow time, including wearing goggles, long pants and closed-toe shoes, not mowing if you have a history of chest, back or joint pain, and not mowing the yard in high heat.

Seriously, where were these types of reports when I was a kid? Because I was forever at home during the peak of hot, humid Iowa summers, pushing the lawn mower through our big back yard with my twiggy arms, looking a sweaty fright and wishing for the sweet release of an air-conditioned basement.

You know you did the same thing; Dad tells you to please cut the grass tomorrow and you come back at him with a couple of numbers, usually the temperature, the percentage of humidity in the air or how many times you've almost died pushing the mower up the hill behind the garage. Then you start mowing crooked to prove you're no good at it, but it turns out Dad doesn't really care if all the lines are straight. 12 years later, you realize this is a lie and that Dad effectively tricked you into mowing straight again.

Alright. Now Johns Hopkins needs to do a study on the effects on children who shovel snow in harsh wintry conditions. There's no hope now for my brother and I but I think we can still save future generations from near heatstroke and frostbite.

Have a good weekend everyone, and be careful mowing this weekend. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

I could squeeze out about ten blog posts for you today, but sadly my copywriting duties include more than just blogging. :)

That said, I wanted to do a short follow up to the web writing post from a few weeks back, especially after reading this bit from Jakob Nielson.

In a new eyetracking study, it was found that most web users scan pages in a F-shaped manner, horizontally reading the upper most part of the content, then moving down a couple paragraphs and to read a second (shorter) horizontal passage. Finally, the user reads the left side of the page in a vertical movement.

Wow, Megan. Big hairy deal, you say.

Back up the gravy train friends, because it is a big hairy deal.

Why? Well, if you're putting content on your web site to attract insurance shoppers (which, ahem, you should be), you'll want to know how people are viewing your page. And because the implications of the Nielson's new eyetracking study point to the following:

• most visitors won't read your content word for word, especially when they're doing a quick comparison between you and your competitor


• your most pertinent information needs to come across in the first two paragraphs to keep the visitor on the page


• subheadings, increased line spacing and bullet points will draw the readers eye to the left-hand side of the page to complement the "F" reading behavior

Of course, not all visitors will read your content in this manner, but the study further emphasizes the importance of concise writing, bulleted lists and the use of white space to highlight your most important points and keep your visitors from becoming overwhelmed by text.

Check out the study here and other web writing tips from Jakob Nielson here.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
 

I know it's only Wednesday, but this peculiar posting can't wait until Friday.

Autoblog.com offered this pun-intended headline this morning:

Wham! George Michael seen plowing into parked cars with Range Rover

Apparently Mr. Michael took out three parked cars in North London earlier this week with his SUV...all before 8:00 in the morning. He then abandoned his car on the side of the road and fled the scene. According to Autoblog, the singer could face up to six months in prison for failing to stick around and providing his insurance information to authorities. Lovely, dear.

My guess is he'll get dropped from his insurance company around renewal time, but I'm also willing to guess that he's got enough cash to pay whatever a new insurer will charge him.

You're not going to believe this, but George Michael's Praying for Time just popped onto my Yahoo! LaunchCast Radio. What a happy coincidence!

Well...now that you know I listen to Wham! and old George Michael tunes, the readership of the InsureMe Agent Blog is probably going to drop off the face of the earth, eh?

Have a great Wednesday everyone. And you may want to consider putting the car in the garage tonight. You never know when an obscure, SUV-driving celebrity will put a world of hurt on your vehicle.

[Big hat tip to InsureMe's Justin Bregar for bringing this story to my attention.]

Posted by Megan Mahan at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

You'll have to excuse my excessive brain function today, but a thought occurred to me earlier after reading about an Iowa insurance agent who installed a video camera in the ladies room (my home state gets all the exciting headlines, I'm telling you).

My thought was this:

With all the emphasis insurers put on risk models and charging consumers more money based on that risk, shouldn't consumers have something to gauge a company or agent's risk of committing fraud or some other awful offense? Because the insurance industry doesn't exactly have the best reputation out there, thanks to crooked agents, seedy insurance commissioners and weirdos with video cameras. And if you think about it, consumers are taking a risk by trusting an insurer to conduct business truthfully and ethically.

Now I'm sure you're going to come at me with one of two arguments:

1. Consumers can protect themselves from crooked business people by doing their homework through AM Best, the Better Business Bureau and the like.


2. Consumers are free to buy insurance from whichever carrier they choose, allowing them to avoid the bad eggs.

For those of you making a case with point number one, I would say that you're spot on. Unfortunately, insurance education currently leaves something to be desired and steps need to be taken to remedy this—which would help repair the consumer-insurer relationship.

My concern however, is with point number two. Because while consumers can take steps to avoid the bad eggs, it begs the question: what if they're all bad eggs?

I hate to pose glass half-empty questions, but if the insurance industry takes (or continues to take) a dive, consumers will be stuck between a rock and a hard place: they need insurance but don't want to deal with shady professionals. It's a troubling thought. 2005 is a great example. Insurers got a bad rap from the local to the federal level. Not exactly comforting for consumers.

Now, I'm not trying to paint a dark, evil picture of the insurance industry with these types of questions. Rather, I'm trying to open up some discussion about what steps the insurance industry can take to get rid of the rain cloud shrouding the business. Because honestly, a lot consumers look at insurance companies and agents with the same distrust as a used car salesman. Yep. Ouch is right.

I think FEMA is setting a good example, speaking out about past mistakes and plans to rectify their disaster response in the future. And while I think admitting mistakes made and preventing negative behaviors in the future is key to gaining consumer trust, I wonder if there's something more the insurance industry can do to repair the disconnect. Conduct more extensive background checks on employees? Place more emphasis on ethical business practices? Offer (or require) more ethical business courses?

I'm not totally sure what the solution is, but I do know that the good eggs need to keep the bad eggs from spoiling the whole basket. Otherwise everyone's going to be up a creek. And a bunch of eggs bobbing around in the water just doesn't seem right.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

Well, the town of my Alma Mater was decimated last night as multiple tornadoes tore though Iowa City, Iowa. The Press-Citizen has some gnarly pictures of the calm after the storm, although I still haven't seen any good photos of the National Guard patrolling the downtown area. One of the authors over at RiskProf has a couple of neat photos...who knew there were fellow Hawkeyes authoring that blog!

The majority of my friends have solid insurance policies on cars and personal belongings, which has to be comforting after destruction like this. For those who don't, however, I imagine life isn't feeling too sweet right now.

Although, the Unviersity of Iowa cancelled classes today for the first time since Vietnam riots in the 60's, so I suppose students are using the time to get their affairs together. Just, you know, stop looting okay? Because kicking Iowa City when she's down just isn't cool.

The good news is, three counties so far have been declared disaster areas so hopefully the community will get the much needed assistance it deserves.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Back in February we posted about the rather unfortunate predictions for the 2006 hurricane season, and now, two months later, FEMA is promising that it's learned a hard lesson and will be prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.

Today the Insurance Journal reports that R. David Paulison, the acting director for FEMA, spoke candidly before federal, state and emergency officials at the 28th National Hurricane Conference, which is currently taking place in Orlando, Fla.

According to IJ, Paulison promised that FEMA was prepared for this year's active hurricane season saying,

FEMA is preparing with a renewed sense of commitment, improvement and urgency, building on lessons learned from last year's hurricane season, years of emergency management experience and coordination with federal, state and local partners to be ready.

Paulison went on to say that the upcoming hurricane season presented the agency with a "tremendous opportunity to reaffirm the core principles of the emergency management community."

The pressure's on FEMA, that's for sure. It was pretty disheartening to see FEMA in Le Monde's headlines last year; it made it all the more clear that the global community was pointing and staring at the utter catastrophe in the States.

On the other hand, I agree with Paulison's emphasis on the importance of teamwork among local, state and federal officials. Local and state officials could stand to beef up their disaster response a bit more, and residents need to invest in protecting their property, as well as take heed of warnings and evacuations when they're given.

I think it's everyone's hope that we don't get a repeat of Katrina and Rita in '06, but if it comes to it, all levels of government and disaster response will have to show us what they're made of—including FEMA. Because after Paulison's promise of preparation, I'm afraid I'm going to have FEMA to put their money where their mouth is come crunch time.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

I hate to jump on the trackback bandwagon, but there's an interesting post over at RiskProf on the topic of churchgoers getting a lower rate on life insurance.

Citing Actuary.net, Prof reports that there's a positive correlation between regular churchgoers and life span, giving life insurance companies yet another factor by which to determine a policyholder's risk of death.

In light of the GEICO lawsuit, the church-lifespan link pushes me to ask, "how far is too far?" when it comes to consumer rights and insurance. If we dissected risk models too much, we could probably make decent arguments for every risk factor.

I agree with Prof that consumer advocates would be all over insurers if assigning risk to non-churchgoers came to full fruition—even if there was hard statistical evidence to back it. Although...it's hard to imagine a world where non-churchgoers paid significantly more than regular churchgoers. And besides, how could you prove it? And what about those who "attend" church from home (via television)?

I could go on from here, but I have a very active imagination so I'll spare you the diatribe :)

Check out RiskProf's post and let me know what you think.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

I'm not feeling my best today, so I thought I'd give you a couple items to stretch your grey matter, including this post about customer service by Guy Kawasaki. You'll probably find some of his points more helpful than others but it's worth the read—other bloggers also left some good comments so make sure to take a look at those too.

And, from our own library of informational articles for agents, I give you:

Superior Customer Service: The Key that Unlocks the Door to Client Retention.

Enjoy!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

It's back, y'all. Have you signed up?

The How to Write Series, brought to you by the Insurance Journal, kicks off this month with live, interactive presentations to help you strengthen the weaker areas of your business and write more clients.

The goal of the How to Write Series is to give independent agents and brokers the tools they need to run a profitable business—IJ is even allowing indie agents and brokers to attend the events for free. Captive agents shouldn't shy away from the IJ series, however—there's enough interesting material here to benefit any agent.

Best of all, agents can "attend" from anywhere. The presentations are done live and online—allowing you to ask questions and participate in discussions in real-time.

Just think, you can go to five conferences over the next six months—all while eating trail mix at your desk. I like it.

Check out the schedule and register here; I'd like to hear out it goes, so be sure to post your thoughts via comments for everyone to see.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

It's Friday and James from the Affiliate blog is out snowboarding in Vail with some folks from Yahoo!...

Translation: time for some InsureMe office fun.

This time around, the office fun consisted some photos of James, Adobe Photoshop, a Xerox machine and a box of bent paperclips. Oh, and the office plants. Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself. It was a little like Christmas, which was nice for me because I didn't decorate a tree this winter.

Special thanks to [one of] our designers, Marina, our staff accountant Eric and Jack, one of our Affiliate managers, for helping out with this special project. And you know, after surveying the final result, I think this is better than the time Marina and I velcroed everything in his cube to the desk.

Have a good weekend, everyone. If I don't post on Monday, you can bet James read this over the weekend and moved my desk into the storage closet. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

There's a brief post over at the Specialty Insurance Blog about starting up an insurance business, citing this Forbes article about reducing your start-up expenses.

If you're thinking about starting your own business or know someone who is, be sure to have them check it out. And, for good measure, here are a couple of our articles on starting up an insurance agency:

• Starting Your Own Insurance Agency: Setting Out on Your Own
• Jumpstarting a New Agency: Your How-to Guide

Posted by Megan Mahan at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Oh, Lord.

I'm sure you've all seen or heard about this, but just for effect here's the headline: State Farm has announced that it is the first P&C insurer to help sponsor a "major film promotion".

CARS is the latest Disney-Pixar flick, which will hit theaters this June. State Farm's CARS promotion is officially underway this week with the launch of the "State Farm Countdown to CARS" giveaway.

Participants can go to the State Farm website and enter to win one of 25 Red Ford Mustang Coupe Deluxe cars. The company has a couple other promo gigs (as they say in the business) coming up, including some TV ads and the "CARS Road Trip '06" tour, all of which you can read about here.

"We are thrilled to have State Farm as a promotional sponsor for Disney and Pixar's CARS," said Cherise McVicar, senior VP of Buena Vista Pictures Marketing. "They have a passion for this film and their philosophy of keeping drivers and passengers safe is a great message that will resonate with consumers."

Well done, State Farm. I'm much more excited about this than I was about the GEICO Gecko hitting the silver screen. I think this all leads to a very obvious next question, which is: When will InsureMe get in on the film glitz and glamour?

And to that I say, in due time, friends. Good things come to those who wait. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

James over at the InsureMe Affiliate Blog sent something my way this morning (I say "over" like he doesn't sit across the hall from me) and it's exactly the kind of thing that insurance agents should take note of.

Here's the deal. Listen up and listen closely.

Seth Godin, "agent of change" and marketing extraordinaire got wind of this [true] story, where a guy did some off-roading in his little Citroen C2 and had to file a claim with his insurance company.

In return, his insurance company sent him a toy SUV and told him he'd probably have better luck in his off-roading endeavors in a different vehicle.

The story's originator had this to say about it:

"We laughed out loud. Who woulda thunk it, an insurance company with a sense of humour?"

The point is this: insurance is inherently boring. It will never be exciting or funny or sexy or any of the things that make consumers go wild. But you're not boring. I'm willing to bet that you have a personality, a soul and a sense of humor. And the more evident you make this, the more you stand out from your competitors and the more your existing clients are going to talk about you to their friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

The world is full of wallflowers. When it comes to business, the last thing you want to do is blend in with the crowd.

So get out of your box. Stand up and stretch a little bit. You'll find that it feels pretty good. And it may bring one heck of an ROI.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

I've got two juicy tidbits for you today. Well, "juicy" is probably the wrong word here, but they're both helpful reminders (accompanied with sound advice) for all insurance professionals.

Up first is this post from the Specialty Insurance Blog, regarding the recent reports of the potential for major hurricanes on the East coast. In light of these predictions, the blog highlights some questions for both insurance agents and underwriters to consider as we head into weather-active seasons. This is a good read for all agents and should be reviewed by more than just the folks on the Eastern seaboard.

Next up is a little something from the The Sales Blog on the topic of badmouthing your competitors.

Author S. Innarino is right—openly bashing your competitors (especially in front of a client) is tacky. I'm not going to preach about it because Innarino gets the point across in this post. He also gives some wise words about discouraging prospects through differentiation—not the dis.

Alright. Bad use of "dis". Please forgive me.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Outsourcing is becoming prevalent in the business world and the insurance industry is no exception.

According to the Scotsman, Aviva, the UK's largest insurance group (which also provides insurance and financial services in countries around the world), expects to outsource more of its customer service and software development work to India; the mega-insurer already has 7,000 customer service and IT employees working there.

The outsourcing has been the product of enormous growth in Aviva; the company increased their operating profit by 29 percent in 2005.

Aviva president and CEO, Richard Harvey, said that the company could not "carry on" without help from India and that the capability to outsource is a "significant competitive advantage" for them.

Now, there are other important details to this story, but the question I have has little to do with developing additional markets in other countries (as Aviva has done)—rather I'm a little struck by the idea that big U.S. insurers have and/or will outsource these jobs to other countries.

Because while I recognize that outsourcing has become the new face of business in recent years, I can't really imagine calling to file a claim and being directed to a customer service rep thousands of miles away. In my mind there's a huge disparity between calling a rep from my insurance company in Colorado and speaking with someone in Mumbai.

Of course, there are controversial, even political opinions that can be thrown into the outsourcing debate, but that's not what I'm trying to get into here. My point is that these outsourced customer service centers seem impersonal to me, almost like it takes the service out of "customer service." Really, I think this all goes back to being human. And from my experience, these types of call centers seem like script-fed employees who are instructed not to deviate from their handouts.

And let me tell you, when I was directed to an outsourced call center last month I was absolutely dying for the woman on the other end of the line to stop saying, "Ms. Mahan" after every instruction. It was an incredibly sterile and unrewarding phone call and will I quite certainly avoid calling with questions in the future. And I'm sure big companies like Aviva might not care if a handful of consumers are turned off by this type of thing, but maybe they should be.

Conversely, I'm encouraged by the rapport that's built between our customer relations managers and consumers that phone InsureMe. When I hear them talking candidly with people and answering their questions, I can't help but think that, even in the shadow of powerhouses like Aviva, we're giving consumers what they need and want—actual service from someone that's right here in our building.

One thing's for sure: this is heavy rhetoric for a Monday. If you any of you insurance folks have any thoughts on the subject(s) addressed here, I'd love to see your comments. Did I mention I love comments?

Posted by Megan Mahan at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)