Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

I received some pretty great feedback via email regarding yesterday’s post and thought I’d use my blog time today to share with you some of that feedback, and clear up any misconceptions that may have arisen.

Firstly, when it comes to the agents on the InsureMe network, I should tell you that we work with both captive agents and independents, as well as with brokers. I can also tell you that we tend to look at our agent base as, well, our base, rather than divvying it up into “captives” and “non-captives”.

Do special accomodations need to be made once in a while? Sure. And that’s just the shape of things. At the end of the day, we’ve got about 60-odd people here who genuinely appreciate our agents and strive to give all of them the best possible experience. Definitely no red-headed stepchild syndrome going on here.

But enough about InsureMe.

I also received a great email from Ryan today (who prompted me to give my two cents about captives and non-captives last week), and thought I’d share an excerpt (with his permission of course):

…Read the rest of this entry »

As I mentioned in yesterday’s quickie post, last week we received a comment from one of our readers, Ryan, asking about the future of captive insurance agencies. Namely, would they be able to compete against independent agents offering a range of products and services from different companies?

While I covered the basics of captive and non-captive agents in an article for the InsureMe Agent Resource Center, let’s quickly recap:

Captive insurance agents: work exclusively for one insurance carrier and are obliged to give business to that company only. While some captive agents belong to affiliated groups of their parent company, a captive agent’s priority lies in developing and business for the parent company.

Independent (non-captive) insurance agents: represent multiple insurance companies and work on behalf of the client to find them a policy. The majority of an independent agent’s earnings come by way of commission of policies sold (as opposed to the predominately salary-based captive agent).

At first blush, it may seem as if independent agents have the advantage when it comes to clientele, as they’re able to offer an array of products and services from various companies–while captive agents tend to be restricted with their offerings and may not be able to cross-sell into other areas.

The truth is that there are advantages and disadvantages to both. I chatted with InsureMe CEO and president (and licensed insurance agent),  Tim McTavish this afternoon and he pointed out that one major advantage of captive agencies lies in customer service.

…Read the rest of this entry »

Today has slipped right out from under me!

I’m back and ready to blog, however time has been hard to come by today. While I was gone last week, we received a comment on the blog from Ryan who was curious to know the advantages and disadvantages of captive and independent agents.

I’ll be formulating a longer post on the subject tomorrow, but wanted to let Agent Blog readers weigh in ahead of time: Are captive agencies becoming a thing of the past?

Leave your thoughts via comments and let’s discuss this more in depth tomorrow.

[Related article]: Captive Agents versus Non-Captive Agents: Finding Your Niche

Dear InsureMe Agent Blog Reader:

In lieu of our normal weekly Wrap Up, the InsureMe A/V Squad is offering a Thanksgiving Day special.

The video features InsureMe employees giving thanks for many things, from family and friends to bushy beards and the Geneva Conventions.

It’s heartwarming, funny, and because of the royalty-free soundtrack, a little cheesy. (We couldn’t get the rights to any Vince Guaraldi songs.)

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the video, and from the InsureMe team, we wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Cheers,
The InsureMe Team

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving always gives me the rush of the oncoming swirl of activities. I can handle the earlier sunsets and colder weather during this coming season of good cheer. (January and February are a bit tougher.)

So, today I feel really thankful that InsureMe has such good bloggers, normally.
And such creative employees. Work is so much fun here.

But back to marketing for a bit.

I started a thread yesterday about how insurance agents get their information. And ended saying that is was not through advertising. We have really learned that at InsureMe. The response we get from ads or email campaigns is pretty slight. We truly have found word of mouth to be the best marketing ‘campaign’.

But aside from having a great product and making it easy for people to spread the word, what else is happening in marketing? So on the day before a holiday, I thought I’d post a few interesting marketing Web sites for you to peruse.

I attended the Forrester Consumer Forum and heard from McDonald’s, Neiman Marcus, the ad agency for Burger King (think Subservient Chicken or the King commercials), NASCAR, Discover Financial Services, as well as a host of interactive Web sites where consumers post their own content (travel, blogging, pictures ). The whole focus was on humanizing the digital experience. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn’t it? The marketing dollars going into those activities are being taken from more traditional commercials and ads. McDonald’s is reducing their TV commerical ad funding by 15 percent and applying it to interactive ‘fun things’ on their Web site.

This is what the analysts and experts were saying about marketing:

• The future of advertising isn’t. …
• It is no longer marketing interruptus; didn’t we all learn that it is totally impolite to interrupt someone with your message when they are busy doing something they like to do?
• Marketing has to work on an invitation basis; what you are saying has to have enough value so that the audience asks to receive your message.
• Taking that a step further: the message should fall in the ranks of ‘worthy of publishing’ – like a song, a lyric, or at least a You Tube video. Check out this Microsoft Web site.
• And just in case you haven’t seen the Diet Coke and Mento video, check this out. It was reportedly worth $10 Million in traditional advertising dollars, but didn’t cost either company a dime.

Happy Thanksgiving and hurry home, Megan.

Megan is off galivanting and celebrating turkey time so I thought I’d take this chance to share what I’ve been hearing about insurance and marketing.

I just returned from the very first AM Best Insurance Marketing Summit In addition to the fun of it being held in the tony University Club in NYC, the content was also quite interesting. I listened to how the professionals plan to market to insurance agents. And I thought you might be interested as well.

The speakers were stalwarts of the insurance marketing industry and were more than willing to share their great marketing research.

I loved hearing that the number one way agents get information is from their peers. And that is the information they trust the most. You can call it what you want – word of mouth, viral marketing or WOM – they are just references, plain and simple. That being the case, the best way to market is still to have the best product around. Given the ease of passing along a reference with the click of a mouse, information can and does spread like wild fire.

News? Probably not to you. But expect marketing dollars to shift in that direction. Commercials should become much more entertaining; between Google and YouTube, who knows what to expect. I, for one, am still waiting for my Yellow Ball time. And we are all hopeful it means advertising dollars will move into making product improvements, rather than perfecting a pithy phrase to make a product seem more desirable.

Just in case you’re interested, the other ways insurance agents glean information is through:
1) Trade publications
2) Industry conferences
3) Newsletters

….but NOT advertising.

Given the lack of trust people have in some of the larger American corporations today, I guess that is not surprising.

Insurance isn’t terribly exciting. Or sexy. Or cool. But we’ve discussed all that before. And because it’s not exciting, sexy or cool, people don’t really spend much time learning about it. Even though they’d be much better off (financially, healthfully, etc.) if they did.

But I happen to be of the opinion that the insurance industry, as a whole (there are most certainly exceptions), could do a little bit better when it comes to teaching consumers about insurance–or more importantly–why they should care about it.

I must have cited this article a hundred times by now, but it proves my point that the insurance industry is not exactly the most innovative out there. It’s a bit stodgy, a bit conservative by nature, and hasn’t exactly gotten the best rep from the media in recent years (no thanks to those few insurance professionals who, for some reason, decided to check their scruples at the door).

Taking these things into consideration, it’s not a huge surprise that people have a bit of an aversion to the insurance industry. I was surprised, however, by a fellow insurance blogger’s post, which regaled in the ignorance of insurance prospects and policyholders everywhere.

A woman calls looking for health insurance with an immediate maternity benefit.

How immediate? Most policies have a 9 – 12 month wait but I do have one policy with no waiting period.

That’s the one she wants. The one with no waiting period.

Fine. You can get this as long as you are not pregnant now. If we apply now you can have coverage in place by the first of next month.

Oh, well. That won’t work.

Why not?

I am due next month.

Click!

Ouch.

…Read the rest of this entry »

Busy day at InsureMe today. We received yet another best place to work award (we were recognized as the number two best place to work by the Denver Business Journal!), gave thanks with a company Thanksgiving potluck, and debuted our new mascot in the InsureMe Insurance Blog Wrap-Up.

I’ll be out most of next week (making the insanely long drive back to Iowa), but that doesn’t mean the Agent Blog is going on hiatus. Our Director of Marketing, Lori Reed, will pop in with a couple of juicy tidbits. Lori’s been on the marketing scene for a long time (but not before dabbling in geology) and she’s done great things for InsureMe’s agent base.

So check in with us next week and keep an eye out for Lori’s posts. Should be good stuff.

And now, to help you slide into the weekend, I present you with this week’s InsureMe Insurance Blog Wrap-Up. Enjoy.

[Bonus link]: Check out some extra footage of our dancing mascot. You won’t be disappointed!

Good post today from Stephanie Diamond over at the Marketing Message Blog, where she talks about the revenue-driving importance of a strong website. This subject isn’t exactly new here at the Agent Blog, but it bears repeating.

People are not only looking at your website, they’re depending on it. They’re counting on the fact that it’s functional, answers their questions, and can put them in touch with a human if necessary. And the presentation matters.

So yes. Be proud if you have a website (that’s half the battle!). But keep in mind that a site is not like a book, presentation, or film. There is no definitive ending; it needs continual work and improvement.

Take a look at Stephanie’s post to see why your site is the “welcome mat” of your business.

[Related posts]:

Insurance Industry Lags in Website Performance, Says New Study

Increasing Your Web Presence: Distinguishing Right from Wrong

Web Writing Blunders: Megan’s Top Five

Marketing Profs Daily Fix blogger, CK has a mantra: May all leads be inbound. Simple, yet prophetic, as her post proves.

Honestly, I don’t understand the value of cold calls when hot opportunities are what I seek (which means they’re calling me). And when the phone rings, I’m intent on that conversation being a negotiation, not a pitch.

CK goes onto say that when a prospect calls her, she can skip the “who we are” and focus on “what we’ll do for you”. And that means you spend more time having a conversation with the prospect…which builds a relationship and increases the chance of landing them as a client.

So what you should probably start doing, she says, is focus less on selling (seeing how many prospects and clients you can find) and focus more on marketing (finding programs that help people find you and your product).

Sales is reactive, marketing is proactive. [...] With sales you’re centered on volume, with marketing you’re centered on value. Sales is short-term thinking since it focuses on how to move the most merchandise in the shortest timeframe, whereas marketing is long-term thinking centered on engaging a lifetime of brand loyalists.

It’s so basic, so elementary, and yet it seems completely revolutionary! Especially in context of the insurance industry where most insurance professionals do all they can to find new clients but spend, by comparison, far less time trying to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack and earn brand loyalty.

At the end of the day, CK puts her proverbial eggs in the basket of lead generating programs. And I have to agree with her. Focusing your efforts on avenues that bring interested people to you–rather than vying for the attention of countless folks who could really care less about what you’ve got going on–will help you develop lasting relationships with people rather than exhausting yourself with a sales pitch.

Translation: less effort, more reward.

Take a look at CK’s full post here and learn how putting marketing in the driver’s seat can increase your sales.

[Related posts]:

Direct Mail: 0, Insurance Leads: 1
Why I Think Teleprospecting Is Mostly Fooey

[Shamless plug]:
All about InsureMe leads!