Recently, Jeb posted a couple reminders on good customer service—which includes keeping your customers informed of changes and owning up to mistakes when they happen. (Check them out here and here.)

The recent Menu Foods debacle is a great example of how not to handle a screw-up. I myself was a little shocked at how difficult it was to find information about the recall—including what brands I should avoid—on their web site.

Marketing Profs posted a great article on the subject today. Contributor Jeanne Bliss points to the Menu Foods saga as a missed opportunity for a number of reasons. Here's the redux:

1. Too little, too late. The recall announcement was made on March 16th—and they waited a full week before contacting customers.

2. No apology. Jeanne's right—I've seen no great public apology or outpouring of support to Menu Foods customers since this happened. Their recall FAQ page is a great illustration of that.

3. Skimping on customer service. Rather than putting enough humans in the call center to deal with their customers, they instruct customers, via the abovementioned FAQ page, on when to call...when call center volume is lowest.

4.-10. A decided lack of emotion. "People want to see a dog and cat food company share the emotional connection and emotional journey that they are going through as a result of this situation," said Bliss. "This is an opportunity to embrace and guide their customers through this tough time with action and humanity. Instead, customers are experiencing an orchestrated set of antiseptic-feeling actions that seem to have gone through the legal review process ad nauseum before being released for public consumption."

I could agree more with that last bit. When screw-ups happen and bad news must be delivered, empathy is key. Treat your customers like your own family. They're helping you feed yours, after all.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

You've got to read this article. It’s about the tens of thousands of young adults—or, ‘young invincibles’—living in New York City without health insurance. It’s a harrowing story.

It’s also great journalism. Few magazine or newspaper articles come as close as this one to presenting the complexity, convolution, and human and economic toll of our broken health care system. It does so by focusing on a group that typically goes without insurance—an uninsured group that has very few advocates: young adults.

Here’s the nut of the story (I know this is a huge blockquote, but there was nothing I could cut from it).

Compared with small children, uninsured young workers are generally ineffective as political sympathy-generators and are therefore typically viewed as a footnote to the debate. But health-care analysts will tell you that insuring children, while certainly noble, is a relatively easy goal. “What a lot of people don’t realize,” says Peter Cunningham, a researcher at the Washington, D.C.–based Center for Studying Health System Change, “is that most children are already eligible for some form of care. They either qualify for Medicaid or can be insured under their parents’ plan. So in many respects, it’s a matter of making the paperwork clearer, not overhauling the system.” The young invincibles, on the other hand, are an example of how the system bypasses some groups altogether. In this they are not alone—the poor have a long history of inadequate care, and increasingly, middle-class families are finding themselves priced out—though to understand their bind is to see just how ineffective the current system has become.

Many people in the insurance industry gripe about media coverage of insurance issues. And occasionally they have a point. This article is an example of the kind of reportage the insurance industry should champion.

Read the article.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

As you know, InsureMe was at the annual AMSUG conference in Orlando last week. Having been back for a couple days now, I've been able to reflect on our experiences there—pinpointing what worked, what failed miserably, and how we can do better at the next trade show.

So for all you insurance folks who are going to be manning the exhibit hall at future events, this post is for you.

7 Considerations for Trade Show Success:

1. Make sure your team is on the same page. I'm all about personal accountability, but it's a good idea to get your conference team together beforehand to make sure everyone's clear on exhibit hours and guidelines, hotel check-in/check-out times, etc. I realize this seems to be a no-brainer, but I assure you it is a necessary step.

2. Get some extraordinary swag. If you're heading to a big industry function such as AMSUG, you can bet at least one of your competitors will be on hand. Accordingly, your goal is probably to divert attention from their booth to yours. And let's face it: people love their free stuff. If you can give attendees something fun and different, you'll stand out. We learned that with the InsureMe stress balls; they've been a hit at every convention we've taken them to.

Tip: Look for promotional items that are action-oriented. They'll catch the eye. And don't forget to print your company's web site and phone number on the goods. We totally dropped the [stress] ball there. Doh.

3. Try a give-away instead of a drawing. Nothing satisfies a person's desire for immediacy like a good give-away. Drawings on the other hand, require the attendees to hang around for three days to see if they are the lucky recipient. And, as we learned from the booth next to us, at a big conference, it can be a real pain in the neck to track down the lucky winner.

4. Let prospects answer their own questions. The same staple of good web design also applies to exhibit halls. Have creative, informative literature readily accessible for those that don't want—or don't have time—to stand around and talk.

5. Appear accessible. At AMS, we had a number of people remark that Maribeth and I were well-dressed without looking corporate. Our team also didn't color-coordinate (which can seem a little intimidating when there are more than four people manning the booth). In essence, we fit in with the rest of the conference-goers and appeared approachable.

6. Be prepared to make a contingency plan. It's imperative to be receptive to what's working and what's not. Whether it's your marketing plan, your opening sales question, the pitch itself, or your promotional tactics, when something's not working, you've got to change it—fast. Sometimes this means throwing your own money at the problem, or making a snap decision...and later phoning your boss from the ladies' room to tell her about it.

7. Have fun. Yes. You're at the expo hall to network with other people, find new prospects, etc. But being Serious Smee about your goals won't be too attractive to said prospects. Smile, relax and watch them come to you. Remember, the insurance industry might be boring—but the people sure aren't.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Last Friday I posted about the importance of not leaving your clients hanging. The reason—beyond that it’s just a nice thing to do—is that it generates goodwill and often inspires more patience on the part of your customer.

The image to the right depicts a perfect example of exactly what you should be doing for your clients. (Sorry for the poor image quality—it was taken with a cell phone camera.)

Recently, the owner of the building that houses the Agent Blog world headquarters decided to do some remodeling.

For the past week or so, teams of construction workers have been tearing down drywall, ripping up carpet, and in general creating lot of dust and noise. Even through my enormous headphones, which engulf my entire head, I can occasionally hear the sounds of demolition.

Each morning I walk into the lobby of the building to see a new message posted on a dry erase board (the one pictured). The message describes what day will bring—loud demolition, quiet construction, dust, ceaseless banging, etc.

It’s a small courtesy, but it’s one that goes a long way toward building goodwill.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

We're back from AMS!

I apologize for my lack of posting last week; I couldn't find a strong wireless connection to save my life! But we had a great time in Orlando—talked with plethora of great agents and industry gurus, improved our hand-eye coordination with the awesomely awesome InsureMe stress balls, and became well-acquainted with other vendors and exhibitors. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to say hello!

I hope to post a recap later this week, but for now, enjoy this fun tidbit from Landing the Deal, entitled, "Honking in the Tunnel."

Because if you can get your prospects to have fun, you will enjoy great sales success. And that's a fact. We've got a quite extensive prospecting list from AMS to back it up. :)

Until next time, how do you get your clientele honking?

Posted by Megan Mahan at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Tip of the day: If a client is waiting—on the phone, in the waiting room, for documents to arrive in the mail—it helps to check in and update him or her on the progress of things. They’ll appreciate it and will likely wait longer (and with more patience) than they would otherwise.

If your reaction to this tip is "Duh! Who doesn't do that?" then good for you. Keep doing what you're doing. However, if my experience as a consumer is any guide, many of you probably need to be reminded.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

1. Be gruff and authoritarian. You’re trying to sell a policy here, not make a friend.
2. Use high-pressure sales tactics. Be aggressive and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
3. Make sure your prospect knows how busy you are—and that he/she has already taken up a lot of your time.
4. Don’t actually listen to your customer. Pretend to listen by throwing in an occasional “m'kay.” And if you can get some other work done while they drone on, go for it.
5. Interrupt. Often. Finishing his/her sentences is also encouraged.
6. Tell the customer—whether it’s true or not—that they won’t find a better price anywhere else and that they should stop shopping around and just buy from you already.
7. In order to get things rolling, repeatedly ask for his/her bank information.
8. Question a male client’s masculinity when he doesn’t want to commit to buying from you.*
9. Assume that a reluctant prospect wants you to “take charge” and tell him/her what to do.
10. Act put-upon when your prospect doesn’t want to decide right away. Make sure they know how much time and effort it took you to generate a quote.

* This actually happened to an InsureMe.com visitor recently.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Get excited—we're heading down to Orlando this week to attend the annual AMSUG conference!

And, in case you didn't catch our nifty email last week, we'll be running a contest Thursday and Friday.

Here's the scoop:

Our mascot, the I-Guy, to whom you've been introduced in past InsureMe videos, has gone AWOL. The first 50 agents who locate the I-Guy will receive $100 in free InsureMe leads.

As you can see from this video, he's a rather squirrelly fellow and we look forward to his safe return. :)

So, if you'll be at AMS this week, please stop by booth 426 and say hello! I'll be there with fellow Agent Blog contributor Maribeth Neelis and we're looking forward to shaking many-a-hand.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

You're about to embark on part two of Revamping Your Web Site: Dog Food, Welcome Mats, and More, as published in the January issue of the TAAR Report. To read part one, just click here.

Improving Your Web Site: Three Areas to Consider

Improvement #1: Content

Content is quickly becoming the staple of a reputable insurance site, and for good reason. Well-written, topic-focused content allows insurance shoppers to answer their questions quickly and independently, while simultaneously positioning you as an insurance expert.

High-quality, relevant content is important to search engines like Google, too. When Jane Consumer enters a search term like “health quotes,” search engines like Google scour those 8 billion web pages in search of content that is relevant to Jane’s search request.

Adding great content to your site is one way to gain recognition from search engines and position your site in front of prospects that are looking for what you have to offer. And with more than three out of five people using the web to find information, this is one area in which you don’t want to be lacking.

About Us with Flavor

Even if you’re a one-agent operation, you shouldn’t skimp on the “About Us” section of your web site. According to a July 2006 case study from Marketing Sherpa, a personable “About Us” page lifted ecommerce conversions by 30 percent.

Give your “About Us” page a makeover by scrapping the corporate (read: robotic) speak and incorporating photographs and interesting biographies of the people behind the agency curtain—and give the stuffier corporate information like mission statements and privacy policies their own separate web pages.

At InsureMe, we recently revised our “About Us” pages and received some pretty great feedback as a result. You can get some ideas for your new “About Us” section by checking out the bio page for the InsureMe leadership.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

An FAQ page helps visitors quickly answer their questions, freeing you up to follow up on leads and build relationships with existing clients. Make sure your FAQ section is easy to find, and keep it updated with helpful and timely facts.

Improvement #2: Fonts

It may seem trivial, but the type of font used on your site can be the difference between a visitor thinking your page is a cheesy promotional site (only $19.99 for a limited time!), and a reputable site from a firm they can trust.

But before you go crazy with the plethora of fonts offered by Microsoft Word, bear in mind that best web site usability practice calls for using an 11- to 12-point Arial font. This will help keep your site clean and professional looking and can be easily read by visitors with various screen resolutions and web browsers.

Improvement #3: Contact Information

Have you ever exhausted yourself trying to find a business’ contact information? Frustrating, isn’t it? I recently mulled this point over with fellow InsureMe copywriter, Jeb Foster, who said, “I hate when companies seem to be hiding. I read a great article in MSN’s Slate about a guy who tried to call iTunes. I think it took him a week.”

You can be sure that a prospect who comes to your site won’t try for a week to locate your contact information. So take a good, hard look at your page. Is your phone number and email address easy to find? Do you encourage visitors to phone or email you? Do you readily provide your agency’s address and fax number for those who need it? Take some time to revamp the ways in which you display your contact information.

A Word about Layout and Design

If you're a small agency or independent broker, it can be tough to poor time and money into revamping a web site. So if you’ve read this far, you might be thinking, “This sounds great…but I have no idea how to implement these kinds of changes,” then you need to bite the bullet and hire someone to do it for you. Take some time to shop around; there are plenty of freelance designers out there who will work with you to achieve the vision you have for your site. The great thing about the internet is that a good web site invariably pays for itself and is fairly easy to maintain.

If your budget truly leaves little room to maneuver, make sure you look into simple publishing platforms for web sites and blogs. The majority of search engines (like Yahoo, Google and MSN) offer free web hosting; Blogger.com also offers free blog hosting. (Need a little inspiration to get the design ball rolling? Take a look at the site for UK insurer, Ecoinsurance. As insurance sites go, it’s pretty innovative.)

Put Out the Welcome Mat

For those of you who have read this article and checked out InsureMe.com, you’ve probably noticed that we’re not exactly the best and prettiest insurance site out there. Not yet, anyway. But we’re working on it day in and day out.

I think Stephanie Diamond of the Marketing Message Blog said it best when she stated that a web site is the “welcome mat” for potential customers. And as the Keynote Systems study demonstrated, insurance professionals will need to pay closer attention to the effectiveness of their web sites—not just their pricing—in order to enjoy optimal sales growth.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

One of the great things about uber-successful blogger Seth Godin is his ability to draw marketing lessons from the unlikeliest of sources.

His latest insight comes from listening to Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall album. Godin observes (1) that the crowd cheers the loudest when Neil sings the oldies and (2) that Neil strains more and sings louder to make the crowd like his newer tunes—but to no avail.

No surprise, the crowd likes the old ‘crowd-pleasers’ more than the new stuff, which hasn’t been vetted by the test of time. No amount of extra stage effort, Godin says, will make the crowd instantly come around to the new songs. That’s true. But the lesson Godin derives from this fact is counter-intuitive, and I’m not sure I agree with it: “It's what you say, most of the time, not how you say it.”

Ok. I’ll concede this to Godin: In terms of exposing your fan base to new songs (or your customers to new products and ideas), maybe you’ll never instantly win them over, even if it’s a great song/idea and you pour every ounce of your soul into the performance/delivery/marketing. The crowd will still get more excited over even a half-hearted replay of an old favorite.

Godin also acknowledges this truism: the oldies weren’t always oldies. All of the classics were once played to skeptical audiences who would’ve rather heard the old standbys. Truth is, innovation scares people. They will resist it. They won’t cheer loudly for it at first. But if the innovation is something you really believe in and you're passionate in your delivery, then they’ll probably come around.

Back toGodin’s lesson: “It’s what you say, most of the time, not how you say it.” I still don’t know if I agree with that. Sometimes it really is all in the delivery. If you’re not passionate when you belt out the new tunes, the chances that they’ll catch on and become classics are even smaller.

[Photo from Flickr]

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Standing in the inert line at Kinko's, the woman in front of me started making what I thought was idle conversation, finally saying, "You have great skin. What do you use on it?"

What a compliment! So I spilled my daily skin regimen—product names, everything.

Then, as she was pouring over my pores, she said:

"I'd love to give you my card. I'm a Mary Kay representative and I think you'd really love our products."

Admittedly, I felt like I'd just gotten the old bait-and-switch. But before I knew it, the woman—Dianne—was handing me free samples and goody bags, all of which she kept handy in her purse.

"Would you be interested in attending a Mary Kay makeover party?" she asked.

I responded with an honest "No." I did that once in college with a bunch of co-workers; I walked out of that place looking like, well... you get the idea.

"Would you be interested in selling Mary Kay products?"

Again, I told her no. And I was starting to get a tad uncomfortable. But, for blogging purposes, I let her keep on.

"Okay, that's fine. Why don't you give me your business card so I can follow up with you next week?"

A-ha. The assumptive close. Valiant effort, but I wasn't comfortable giving my contact information to a perfect stranger I just happened upon in a Kinko's line (which still wasn't moving, by the way.) As it turns out, I'm pretty bad about keeping business cards on me, so I didn't have to fib to get out of giving her my info.

"Well, my business card is in your goody bag so give me a call next week if you want, and be sure to check out my web site. You can order anything right online."

Now that I can handle. Put the ball in my court. Let me call the shots.

I checked out her web site last night, and while I haven't purchased anything yet, the fact that I bothered to look at her site at all should be considered a small win.

What tips should you take away from my encounter with Dianne?

1. Use casual, genuine conversation to attain clues about the prospect's buying habits and preferences.
2. Keep it casual. I would have felt much better if Dianne wouldn't have pushed me with questions about attending a make-up seminar or selling her products.
3. Have swag on hand. Keeping a plethora of lip gloss samples probably won't work for the average insurance agent, but a cool pen or goody bag holding your business card and a $5 Starbucks gift card will make the prospect feel spoiled and give the prospect a way to contact you.
4. Be careful with the assumptive close. Prospects will be nice to you because their mothers have taught [most of] them the importance of being polite. But Dianne should have taken my "Nos" to heart instead of asking me for my contact information. Had I been more receptive to her offers, asking to follow up with me would have been perfectly acceptable.
5. Get your [web] act together. I loved that she left me with her web site URL where I could look around all I wanted. Lucky for her it was a good-looking, easy-to-use web site, or I would have bailed within the first 10 seconds. Having a great web site will encourage me to stop back—which increases the chances that I'll buy something.

There's my two cents on the encounter. Leave yours via comments!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

Now for some old news that bears repeating: the internet has empowered consumers. Big time.

No one better represents this new empowered consumer than disgruntled Jet Blue passenger-cum-blogger Genevieve McCaw.

McCaw and her boyfriend were among the unfortunate people held “hostage” in a grounded Jet Blue plane for 11 hours last month.

While most angry consumers complain in a low-profile way, McCaw took her beef with Jet Blue online. She created a blog called JetBlueHostage.com. In short order (it took only a few weeks), the blog became a popular clearing house for people who got snared in Jet Blue’s Valentine’s Day disaster.

So what’s a CEO (or anyone else) to do in this age of internet-empowered individuals? What if you’ve got a rabid blogger on your tail—one who’s making a cottage industry out of reopening your self-inflicted wounds?

If you’re David Neeleman and you’re interested in protecting your hard-earned reputation as a customer-friendly operation, you arrange a meeting with that rabid blogger.

Now, it’s important to note that you can’t make everyone happy. Some consumers are intractably angry and will just suck you dry if you attempt to placate them. But you can’t and shouldn’t ignore all unhappy customers. Particularly the ones with wildly popular blogs.

So what happened at the meeting? Well, it seems that Neeleman didn’t do enough to mollify McCaw, who says she left the meeting with less inclination to fly Jet Blue again.

Want to know my cynical interpretation? The popularity of McCaw’s blog gives her no incentive to bury the hatchet. I think she’ll fume away until there are more people saying “get a life” than “you go, girl.” But how long will that take? And what will be the cost to Jet Blue?

I think Neeleman was bold to meet with McCaw. What do you think? Leave a comment with your $.02 below.

[Hat tip: Micropersuasion]

Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

There's a thought-provoking post over at Wisdump entitled "Web 2.0 Quote." However, I think it's good fodder for those in the insurance industry where policies and companies appear to be a dime a dozen:

When all you do is copy others, you copy their mistakes, too.

It's easy to look at another sales professional, or on a larger scale, another insurance company, and adapt similar features and strategies. It's part of making good business decisions.

The caveat: Saying, "Okay. But will that work for us?

For example, for a time we sent out various newsletters to our customers—for affiliates, agents and consumers. Typically newsletters are considered best practice. In theory, they provide valuable content for the recipient and create yet another touchpoint between the business and the customer.

But truth be told, it didn't appear that anyone was reading our newsletters (which were sent via email). I say this because we were offering some pretty awesome prizes via the affiliate newsletter. We're talking cash, iPods, etc. All the reader had to do was email us to win the prize. We never received any emails.

We had countless discussions about whether we should discontinue the newsletters. After all, newsletters are best practice. And our competitors were sending them out left and right.

In the end, we lessened the frequency of our newsletters and put them out only when we had something particularly important and valuable to communicate with our customers. Our competitors still send their newsletters and because of that, we sometimes feel compelled to drum up another.

But the reality is, what works for someone else might not work for you. Yes, you should keep on top of your competitor's business practices. Web site features, product offerings, etc. But don't copy for copy's sake. Do it when you know it'll augment your business. And when you know you could do it 10 times better than your competitor.

For more fodder, check out the Wisdump post. It's getting some good comments. Of course, feel free to leave your two cents here at the Agent Blog.

[Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons]

Posted by Megan Mahan at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Interesting spot by Springwise today about PairUp—an online networking service matches business travelers with others traveling to any destination.

How it works:

1. You upload your contacts from Outlook (or any similar program)
2. When planning a trip, input your travel details into the program (the event, location, when you're arriving, etc.)
3. Select the contacts you'd like to track or meet up with—at the event itself, on your flight, or anyone hanging out at your particular destination

Here's a great example from Springwise:

For example, if a member is flying out to Houston, PairUp will display people that he or she might want to meet face-to-face. Either existing contacts that will be in the city at the same time, or people who work in the same industry or are attending the same event. PairUp also makes it easy to share travel plans with colleagues and coordinate meetings with new contacts. A memory-jogging trip history feature keeps tabs on past business trips, meetings and contacts made at trade shows, conferences, etc.

Like any social networking site, it's going to take a little time to build up members. But I could see PairUp enjoying similar success as MeetUp.com, which helps people with similar interests get together in the same town.

Maybe we should give it a go to connect with agents heading to the AMS conference later this month. I'll give it a shot and let you know what I think. And stay tuned for more details concerning InsureMe at AMS!

Happy networking!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

The Insurance Journal’s readership engages in a Cold War-era battle of ideas, complete with red-baiting!

The battle started yesterday when the Journal ran a story on State Farm chief Ed Rust’s 82 percent pay raise.

The reader comments that flooded in were what you call flaming. Some expressed moral outrage over inflated executive salaries while others offered a spirited defense of our free-market, “greed is good” capitalist system. And a few commentators simply lamented the possibility that the pay raise would damage the insurance industry’s already injured reputation.

Here are just two of the many white-hot comments:

This is sick. State Farm is rasing rates across the board because of increased risk, however, even when they paid all the hurricane claims they still made 3 BILLION DOLLARS.

SICK. SICK. SICK. IT IS CRIMINAL. [Posted By: Angry]

Don't try this, Rust has put out the goods, He deserves what he is paid. No Apologies. Welcome to the free market system, not the Free Ride system. If you want socialism, move to another country, get your commie butt the #### our of here! [Posted By: Rocket Man]

Read all of the comments here. And feel free to flame away in our comments section below, but keep it PG-rated please.

(For a definition of flaming, click here.)

Posted by Jeb Foster at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

You're about to embark on a recap of Revamping Your Web Site: Dog Food, Welcome Mats, and More, as published in the January issue of the TAAR Report. This is part a series of posts recapping my TAAR articles. (Or, as Jeb likes to call them—and me too— the "TAarticles.")

The good news: you have a web site for your agency or business. The bad news: it hasn’t been updated since Dolly the sheep was cloned.

It’s not uncommon knowledge that the insurance industry as a whole has room for online improvement. The latest Internet Standards Assessment Report (ISAR) found insurance web sites to consistently “underperform.”

But aside from the industry’s “conservative nature” and “lack of innovation” (cited in the ISAR), it seems as if many site owners treat their web sites like a novel or film—ignoring the fact that a revenue-earning web site has no definitive end and should be in a near-constant state of evolution.

But your web site matters. Here's five reasons why.

Your Site Matters: 5 Reasons Why

In the hustle and bustle of every day business, it's easy to overlook the importance of your site. Here are five reasons why you should take it off the backburner:

1. Prospects assume you’re on the web
2. Competitors hope you’re not
3. A web site ensures that you’re open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week
4. Combined with targeted online marketing campaigns, you can drastically reduce prospecting efforts while bringing in more clients
5. You can better establish yourself as a trusted, knowledgeable insurance source

And while all of those are grounds for web site improvements, item number one on that list should have you standing at attention: Prospects assume you’re on the web.

In fact, a recent study by Keynote Systems found that 72 percent of auto insurance shoppers use the web to shop for a policy. That’s a five percent increase from last year. Furthermore, the study found that people using the phone to shop for auto insurance dropped from 55 percent to 49 percent.

The Keynote study also found that web site features and ease of use are gaining traction with consumers: 64 percent of shoppers said that a site’s ease of use was “extremely” or “very important” in their selection of an auto insurance policy.

So how can you improve your web site to enhance your competitively priced products and superb customer service?

First, you’re going to have to eat your own dog food.

“Eating Your Own Dog Food”

Recently, the author of one of my favorite technology/design blogs (Wisdump.com) wrote about the importance of web site improvements in a post entitled, “Eating Your Own Dog Food.”

I’m sure most of you have heard the expression before (which shares familial ties with “You’ve made your bed, now you have to lie in it,”), but the gist of the post was this:

How often do you use your own site? Is it easy to use? Does it have valuable, educational information to help visitors answer the burning questions that that keep them up at night?

Wisdump’s head blogger challenged his readers to use their own sites for a few days.

“Follow up on old comments if you have them, go looking for old content and just see where the site takes you,” he advised.

If using your site for 15 minutes makes you want to tear your hair out, he said, it’s time for some improvements. And with over 8 billion web pages floating around cyberspace (this according to recent B2B Marketing estimates), you’re going to have to find away to make sure those improvements differentiate you from the pack.

Once you’ve eaten your own dog food (and spit it out in your napkin), you may feel overwhelmed, not knowing what to improve on your site or how to start. This is normal. So before panic sets in, breathe deep, take a look at these following three suggested areas of improvement, and go from there.

Now that you know why web site improvements are important, stay tuned for part two of Revamping Your Web Site to learn how and where to begin!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Last week, Aaron asked us about any other insurance-related blogs that we agent bloggers frequently visit. Since I know the three of us have a love affair with our [RSS] feed readers on a daily basis, I thought it would be beneficial if we compiled a list of our current favorite insurance/sales/marketing-related blogs for your perusing pleasure. (Presented in no particular order.)

Megan's Top 5:

1. Creating Passionate Users [Fodder for the present-day intricacies of customer-first sales and marketing]
2. Seth's Blog [Purple Cow Seth Godin on business, life and everything in between]
3. Copyblogger [Tips for online marketing success]
4. Marketing Profs Daily Fix [Marketing tips, commentary and news]
5. Springwise [New business ideas from around the globe]

Next up, Jeb's Top 5!

Jeb's Top 5:

1. Creating Passionate Users
2. Lifehacker [Tips and tricks to increase your productivity]
3. Seth's Blog
4. How to Change the World: Guy Kawasaki's Blog [Tips, commentary and various business-related musings]
5. Presentation Zen [Professional presentation design]

Jeb's honorable mention: Puck the Jack Russell Terrier [The photo stylings of Puck, Jeb's Jack Russell Terrier. We're all fans of this one!]

Maribeth's Top 5:

1. Landing The Deal [Sales tips and commentary]
2. Brand Flakes For Breakfast [Commentary on news, design and branding]
3. Presentation Zen
4. Small Business CEO [Tips for small businesses]
5. Brand Autopsy [News and commentary on marketing and branding]

In addition to these greats, we also have a handful of insurance-related blogs that we enjoy. We think you will too.

Agent Blog-Approved Insurance Blogs:

1. Insurance Coverage Blog
2. Insurance Scrawl
3. Re-Risk
4. RiskProf
5. Specialty Insurance Blog

Honorable mention in this category goes to Project Big Blue.

What are your favorites? Tell us about them via comments!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
 

Industry changes have only just begun, according to Allstate Chairman Edward M. Liddy. Liddy, who spoke at a recent AM Best conference in California, identified some key changes that will drive industry going forward.

Of these key changes, I was most struck by the following:

• The continued move toward "tiered pricing," which would give insurers the ability to differentiate between their best and worst risks, and price them accordingly.
• A larger emphasis on marketing and advertising. Branding and communications can help give insurers the edge when they can't compete on price alone.
• Servicing aging Americans. "This places a premium on the trusted advisor role," said Liddy.
• Providing greater consumer choice by increasing the flexibility of insurance policies.
• Using technology to enable distribution and compete locally.

Judging by the overview, Allstate's getting the idea. I'm curious to see if competing insurers will act nimbly enough to do just that—compete.

Check out the full story courtesy of A.M. Best or Insurance News Net (article access is subscription-based; apologies!)

(Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

For better or worse, we live in an age of passwords.

And with the increasing sophistication of just about everything (banking, renting movies, buying corduroys, etc.) these passwords must protect ever more important information.

Insurance agents, you have more than your own personal information to worry about—you’ve got clients who depend on you to protect their vital data.

Passwords are important, needless to say. But despite their importance, there are still hordes of people out there who punch in their name followed by ‘123’ to access their computer or e-mail account or Amazon.com profile.

Savvy, alert people, on the other hand, create passwords that include a hacker-safe assortment of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, odd word combinations and crafty neologisms. More importantly, though, they change these regularly.

So how does a smart-password-creating insurance agent keep track of his or her many rapidly changing and convoluted alpha-numeric passwords?

Should you write them down?

There is a lively debate surrounding this question. Many technophiles loath to write anything down, and they believe (of course) that there is a technical solution to the lost/hacked password problem. They often advocate using web-based password storage facilities that encrypt your many access codes.

Recently, the people at Apple created a stir in the nerd world when they advocated writing down passwords. (They were quick to remind people to put the password key in a safe place—like a safe.) CNET covered the controversy, and you can read the original story here.

I, for one, write passwords down. Call me crazy but I know I’d forget them otherwise.

What do you do? Write them down? Memorize them? Maybe all of your passwords are ‘fluffy123,’ after you pet pit bull. If you’ve got a system that works and you think it would work for others, drop us a line…

Posted by Jeb Foster at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
 

Time for another killer InsureMe Wrap-Up. Make sure you enter the contest by sending your answers to the three questions in the video to mmahan(at)insureme(dot)com!

Posted by James Omdahl at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

I don’t know about you, but the health care debate usually leaves me with a little dizziness and a lot of pessimism.

There are so many moving parts, interested parties, hitches, glitches, consequences foreseen and unforeseen, and catch-22s inherent in any proposed solution to our woes.

Of the health care reform bills that see the light of day, most require at least a thousand pages to describe a solution that either does nothing much or promises to piss off every conceivable stakeholder.

So it was a breath of fresh air to read about a new bill from an Oregon senator that is only 166 pages in length and has the support of many usually conflicting parties.

The bill is the brainchild of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The elements of the plan are described here, with more eloquence than I could muster, by Slate’s Jacob Weisberg: (the quotes are direct, but I’ve organized them into a list):

Under Wyden's plan:

1. “Employers would no longer provide health coverage … they'd convert the current cost of coverage into additional salary for employees.”
2. “Individuals would use the additional salary to buy insurance, which they would be required to have.”
3. “Private insurance plans would compete on features and price but would have to offer benefits at least equivalent to the Blue Cross "standard" option.”
4. “Signing up for insurance would be as easy as ticking off a box on your tax return. In most cases, insurance premiums would be withheld from paychecks, as they are now.”
5. ”Getting rid of the employer tax deduction, which costs a whopping $200 billion a year, would free up funds to subsidize insurance up to 400 percent of the poverty line, which is $82,000 for a family of four.”

The most radical aspect of this plan is that it severs the connection between health care and employers—a connection that Weisberg says has been around since WWII. Unlike other plans for universal coverage, however, it still has private health insurers playing a leading role.

So what do you think? Could this thing fly?

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

How do you make it up to your customers when making a boo-boo?

Yesterday morning at Caribou Coffee, the happy, highly-caffeinated employees gave my drink to the wrong person. Ultimately, I ended up waiting for 10-plus minutes (in a quite empty coffee house) and was late for work.

"We're so sorry," one of the employees said. "Please come in tomorrow and drink coffee on us."

Sure, I thought as I walked out. They're not even going to remember who I am if I come in tomorrow.

But then I realized this could be good fodder for a blog post, so I went back in this morning. To say they remembered me was an understatement.

"We were just talking about you!" exclaimed one of the employees. "We're so glad you came back. We were such idiots yesterday. Your coffee is totally on us."

Long after they'd handed me my hot and tasty beverage, I was still standing there talking to all four of the employees. They now know my name, what I do for a living, and have properly identified which car is mine for future drive-through purposes.

As I was leaving, I thanked one of the employees again and told her I was impressed with how they handled the situation.

"It's really no problem," she said. "I mean, how often is it that you have a good customer service experience? It seems like that doesn't even exist anymore."

Amen, sister.

Stories of bad customer service spread like wildfire. That's because in this day and age, we just can't grasp the amount of social and moral indecency flying around. But I'm here to tell you that a good customer experience can be just as viral. I shared my experience with a handful of co-workers this morning who were also impressed with Caribou's stellar customer service.

As the four Caribou employees wished me a good day at work, I heard one say, "We really hope to see you soon, Megan."

Indeed. Not only do they have a loyal customer on their hands—they've got one heck of a product evangelist.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)