Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

Earlier this week, Riskprof provided some commentary about the issues facing the New Jersey auto insurance market and the serious savings NJ drivers have reaped as a result of the deregulated market.

The post provides some context via this article from The New York Times, part of which reads:

Some of New Jersey’s worst drivers are paying more than before and some drivers have experienced little, if any, change in their premium costs. But agents around the state say costs have fallen for most of their customers and many are paying as much as 30 percent to 40 percent less. Even some drivers with poor records are saving money. Over all, state regulators say, drivers have saved more than $500 million since the regulatory controls were relaxed.

Check out Prof’s post here and see if you can note the similarities between the New Jersey auto insurance market and the Florida home insurance market. Interesting indeed.

I was really excited to read this latest post over at Make Marketing History, where author John Dodds answers the question, “Why do so many companies treat potential users so much better than existing users?”

Because let’s not forget, he says, that word of mouth marketing goes both ways–customers who were treated poorly during their interactions with you are just as apt to spread that message as they are to share the positive experiences.

Maybe the reasoning is connected to what I see as the totally misguided belief that once you hook a customer (and this also erroneously is assumed to mean a young one), then their loyalty is assured. Companies know it is cheaper to keep a customer than to capture a new one, so the financial logic of chasing new prospects rather than growing more profitable existing ones must surely be predicated on some such falsehood.

I’m particularly interested in Dodds’ post because I had a rather off-putting experience at a 24-hour Denver diner this weekend that aptly illustrates his point.

To make a long ordeal short, my friends and I received poor service at said diner (exceeding one hour without apology or appeasing) and when our food finally did arrive, it was severely overcooked. We got our bill to find that no discount had been given to compensate for the unsatisfactory circumstances.

I took the ticket up to the counter to negotiate.

“I’m really sorry,” I said, “but we waited for over an hour for our food and it was pretty overcooked. Is there anyway you can give us a discount, maybe 20 percent, to compensate for this?”

The cashier, who also happened to be our waitress, was terribly rude and explained that I would experience a lengthy wait at any diner at this hour.

Overlooking the fact that it was after 3AM and the place was half empty, I conceded her point, but reminded her that the food really wasn’t good. I got nothing but rudeness in return and made an executive decision to leave her a pretty minimal tip.

On the way out the door, the waitress verbally berated us from behind the counter.

Wow. Way to kick a girl when she’s down. And the thing is, not only did she permanently lose four patrons but we’ve been sharing the diner story with just about everyone we know. I’m talking the name of the establishment, the address, the whole nine.

Why am I sharing the diner story with you all?

To illustrate Dodd’s point that exiting customers are not docile. And while it’s true that today’s consumers are shopping their insurance more than ever–and that more of your clients may go with the cheaper rate offered by your competitor–it’s important to remember that leaving a bad taste in an ex-client’s mouth will cause them to “notice, talk and walk.”

So be gracious, be kind and be thankful to departing clients. And you never know, the next time the shop, they just might be back to see you.

Looks like one South African insurer is taking the word “niche” to new heights. Enter 1st For Women, an insurance brokerage for women only. AdFreak has the story, along with some of 1st For Women’s print ads (click the photo to enlarge).

The South African insurance company, which offers coverage only to women, is under the impression that women are a safer bet, insurance-wise, because they don’t put one another in senseless danger.

They raise a good point. You surely won’t see my friends and me practicing any ridiculous stunts (other than walking in higher-than-high shoes). But in all seriousness, the insurer is accomplishing a couple of rather large feats:

1. Targeting and catering to a highly lucrative demographic
2. Developing a strong sales niche
3. Becoming the first of their kind to do so
4. Creating remarkable marketing campaigns to distinguish themselves from the crowd

I’m sure someone could play devil’s advocate and tell me why singling out the men isn’t a good idea…but I for one am impressed. Very innovative indeed.

[Thanks to the talented Jeb Foster for the link!]

Fellow InsureMe blogger, Jeb Foster, recently posted some good news over at the Insurance Blog: 90 percent of homeowners in Louisiana and Mississippi are satisfied with how their insurers handled their post-Katrina claims. Furthermore, only two percent of post-Katrina claims are in dispute.

According to a press release from the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), other positive highlights include:

• Insurers have paid out over $15.5 billion to homeowners in Mississippi and Louisiana
• Claim settlement rates are over 94 percent in both states
• Claim payments equal 11 percent of state income in Louisiana and 10 percent in Mississippi.

In his post, Jeb hits on three significant takeaways from the I.I.I. report, one of them being that insurers should consider throwing some of their huge profits at PR campaigns to negate negative media coverage and highlight their Gulf Coast successes.

I have to say I’m in agreement here. And while I also think there’s something to be said about being humble and having the integrity to realize that doing the right thing doesn’t always mean receiving over-the-top recognition, I think the industry would do well to stand up to negative media attention and remind people of all the good that’s happening. How will consumers learn otherwise?

I’m anxious to get an insurer’s point of view here. Leave your thoughts via comments and let the discussion begin!

[Related post]:
Can The Insurance Industry Turn It Around?

You’ve gotten your insurance license. You’re getting tips every day from the InsureMe Agent Blog and Resource Center. You’re closing InsureMe insurance leads left and right.

You’re enjoying a successful career and you need a classy wallet in which to store your earnings.

Why not try out this replica bacon wallet from Archie McPhee? It’s sleek, it’s hip and has lots of room for goodies.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

A quick scan of today’s insurance news revealed unto me this shocker: “Many New Orleanians Unable to Find Affordable Insurance.”

The story, presented by IJ, gives a couple anecdotes of distressed homeowners, including that of a successful personal injury lawyer who had a hard time paying for the insurance on her dream house–a 130 year-old Victorian home in the French Quarter–with a price tag of a half-million dollars.

The best quote she got from a private insurer was nearly $10,000 per year, or over $800 a month on top of her monthly mortgage – far more than she had budgeted and enough to price her out of the house.

Indeed, high insurance rates are much to blame for Gulf Coast homeowners having to sell and move inland, but I’m afraid I agree with the lone commenter to the IJ article (at the time of “press,” ha) when he says that insurance shouldn’t be looked at as the “lone exodus” of coastal homeowners.

There are a myriad of reasons why insurance companies are increasing premiums, the largest of which, high-risk weather, is of little surprise to residents. But aside from risk of catastrophe, let’s not forget that property values in these regions have been escalating in recent years–as shown by the abovementioned $500,000 house. That’d be a hefty claim to pay if the house sustained significant damage.

It seems to me that there’s a delicate balance to the co-dependent relationship between insurer and policyholder. It’s true, they need each other. But how do you protect consumers while simultaneously protecting insurers? And how do you keep insurers from becoming the scapegoat of bereft homeowners along the coast?

Check out the IJ article here, along with the reader responses…and feel free to post your thoughts, ideas and opinions here!

Sounds like some interesting discourse will be had at the annual Society of Insurance Research (SIR) Conference this year.

The conference, which will be held in Charleston, SC, October 22-26, will include an open forum consisting of several insurance commissioners, according to PR News Wire. Attendants will tackle issues related to heightened catastrophe risk, avian flu and other pandemic exposures, the impacts of illegal immigration on demographics, niche marketing to Baby Boomers, the implications of increased lifespan, and more. And, excitingly, they’ll discuss these issues as they relate to both P&C and Life and Health insurance carriers. Very cool.

SIR is a non-profit organization geared towards using research to develop new solutions to combat the insurance industry’s current and future problems. As far as innovative organizations go–and as far as innovative insurance-affiliated organizations go–SIR fits the bill.

Check out the full conference blurb courtesy of Insurance News Net here; full conference details (including the goods on registration), visit http://www.sirnet.org.

Read and loved this recent article by BusinessWeek Online. The article, entitled “How to Hit a Moving Target,” has some great advice for business folks in any trade, though I think some points could be particularly well-absorbed by the insurance industry (for example, “Don’t Just Get Bigger, Get Unique”).

I could paraphrase for you, but to the detriment of the article. Check it out here, and prepare to be inspired.

[Related post]: Ignorning the Competition

Can spending some extra time in dreamland help you improve your sales? You might be surprised.

These are just some of the observations made by our own Jeb Foster, who recently had his article, “Snooze Your Way to Success” featured in Insurance News Net. I highly suggest checking out this entertaining piece to learn how a lack of sleep could be affecting your sales–and how to maximize your slumber time.

And for you particularly restless sleepers, I’d suggest checking out the Metronap Sleep Pod (seen right) to help you catch a nap before making that important sales call.

Here’s hoping you all have a good weekend…and that you catch up on your Zzzz.

I’ve got a quite a few meetings today, which are leaving me little time to blog.

Oh, meetings, you might be thinking sympathetically, don’t they just eat up your day?

Sure, meetings might mean less blog time for me today, but trust me when I say that meetings aren’t keeping me from getting any work done. Quite the contrary in fact; I come out of most meetings energized, with a renewed sense of purpose.

A few months ago, Seth Godin posted about meetings, namely how to make them work you. Here’s my favorite passage:

When you go to the presentation in the auditorium, don’t sit in the back row. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like sitting in the front row, you should. The presenter will do a better job. And if you’re tired, work hard at smiling and making contact. The presenter will do better, especially if he’s particularly boring and nervous.

Don’t bring a bag of Fritos. Don’t sit back. Don’t close your eyes.

Seriously, it’s not study hall. Rather than lying your head down on the desk, focus your attention and see what you can learn–and what you can lend to the meeting. Sure, it might take a little effort on your part…but they don’t call it “work” for nothing.