Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

I dug through my feed reader this morning for something to tell you all, but this is the jist of today’s news:

Happy weekend, all!

via | source

File this story under: ‘Doh!’

Word has it that a few years ago the COO of Verizon turned down an offer from Steve Jobs to partner on the iPhone.

Seth Godin thinks most of us in his position would have done the same, because the default answer in most organizations is no–particularly when it comes to taking risks that may change the status quo. The higher one climbs on the corporate ladder, the less likely one is to take risks.

Is Godin right?
Keep in mind this question is predicated on ignoring what you know now. Of course you’d jump on the iPhone bandwagon now. But would you have done it when the iPhone was just a collection of loose sketches?

The underlying question for you, blog reader, is this: Are you receptive to innovation? Is no your default answer?

Even if it’s not good news, it’s good news to know. That’s the jist of Google’s slogan for its infamous analytics application. I couldn’t agree more, especially when it comes to the quality and findability of your web site.

Yesterday I stumbled upon WebSiteGrader.com and with some trepidation, entered our main site URL (InsureMe.com), a handful of keywords related to our site (insurance quotes, health insurance, car insurance, etc.) the site URL of one of our competitors, and my email address.

Within seconds, I had a [free!] fairly meaty analysis of InsureMe.com, including:

…Read the rest of this entry »

Consumer Reports‘ web site has a cool feature wherein you can select a car make, model and year, and see video of its frontal offset crash- and side-impact crash tests.

With somewhat morbid curiosity, I watched footage of my own ride smashing into an offset barrier at 40 mph and getting t-boned by a SUV going 40 mph.

The good news was that the crash-test dummy fared rather well. My car got ‘good’ ratings (the highest) during both the frontal offset crash, which shows overall structural integrity, and the side impact crash, which shows how it fares when struck in the side by an SUV or pickup. (Thanks, Subaru, for making a safe car!)

Another takeaway: the Scion XB (that boxy mini-minivan) is the last car you’d want to be in during a side-impact crash.

The annual National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) is holding its annual conference here in Denver this week, and this morning Maribeth and I had the opportunity to chat with various conference attendees in the exhibit hall. (Yes, we’ve still got the infamous stress balls left–stop by tomorrow if you haven’t yet gotten one!)

While we keep up with industry happenings each day, it really doesn’t compare to getting out and talking with all of you guys and gals. It was specifically eye-opening for me to see the private health insurance industry react to Michael Moore’s upcoming movie, Sicko (which examines the problems with U.S. health care), as well as the government’s role in it.

In fact, NAHU President David Fear used his farewell address last night to sound off on Moore and the government’s role in health care, vehemently declaring that the government need not intervene to provide health insurance to all Americans.

…Read the rest of this entry »

If you have a big outfit, you may have thought about doing a little outsourcing where your customer service is concerned. Which is funny when you consider that nearly all of us have had to jump through hoops when dealing with an outsourced call center. Yet, as much as we complain about it, companies keep outsourcing their customer service.

This week, my boyfriend’s cable box seemingly broke for no apparent reason. When he called the service number, it was evident that the outfit was somewhere overseas. On two separate occasions the service center couldn’t even pinpoint Boyfriend’s location.

Here’s the written [and comical] description I received of last night’s debacle:

…Read the rest of this entry »

And what you can learn from their example

Sick of cramping on long bike rides, I recently went online and ordered some electrolyte pills.

(My girlfriend helpfully pointed out that my cramping probably stemed more from lack of fitness than a lack of electrolytes. But I digress.)

I bought the pills from a Whitefish, Montana-based outfit called Hammer Nutrition. In short order they won my loyalty and inspired this blog post.

Here’s what they did:

1. They said thank you. In addition to getting an e-mail confirmation that my order was successful and was already in the mail, they called to thank me for buying. A nice-sounding woman left a brief (learn about the importance of brevity in voicemail here) message thanking me for my patronage. A nice touch considering most online commerce is quite sterile and impersonal.
2. They added a bunch of extra products to the shipment, including energy bars, gels, drink mixes and even a little pouch thingy to hold change while I run or bike. This was both generous (most companies merely throw in the catalogue and hope you buy other stuff) and shrewd (I ate the bars and energy drinks and gels, thought they tasted great and will likely order some in the future).
3. They wrote me a letter. Yes, it was a form letter and, yes, it mentioned welcoming me to their “family.” I know it sounds cheesy. They even wrote, “I know it sounds cheesy, but…” The letter felt real nonetheless. Strange as it sounds, I felt like a new member of this family from Montana.
4. They gave me another free prize. They included a hefty newsletter that was full of great nutritional and recovery information. Sure, most of the info was better suited for the avid racer than the wannabe (yours truly), but I admired that they put so much effort into giving away free information that wasn’t directly tied to their product. (Their diet tips didn’t simply advocate eating their stuff–it was more general.) It showed integrity.
5. Finally, I was impressed with the product. But frankly, they had me before I popped the first electrolyte pill.

What you can learn from Hammer Nutrition:

…Read the rest of this entry »

Today Seth shared a great trade show tactic, which actually reminded me of the insane popularity of the InsureMe stress balls at AMS this past March.

I won’t bore you with a synopsis; read the full post here–and learn how to take over your next trade show.

[via]

[Previously]:
Lessons from AMS: How to Ensure Trade Show Success

11 Tips for Voicemail Greatness

Leaving an effective voicemail message isn’t hard, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. Here are a few tips that may increase your callback rate.

1. Perfect your tone. You want prospects to know that you respect their time. You also want to convey that you’re not a cyborg. Maintain a tone that’s both businesslike and warm:
   • Be upbeat (but not disc-jockey upbeat)
   • Be professional (but not stuffed-shirt professional)
   • Be friendly (but not Velveeta-cheese friendly)
2. Develop a script. But don’t practice it on prospects. Deliver it in front of the mirror and/or coworkers until you can recite it with calm, natural ease. (In other words, make sure it doesn’t sound like you’re reading a script.)
3. Keep it short. We all hate voicemail ramblers. This is what a ramble says to a prospect: “Hi, I’m disorganized and flaky and don’t care that I’m wasting your time with this message … Howzabout giving me your money!”
4. Speak slowly and clearly. You may be in a rush. You may have a thousand calls to make today. Nonetheless, slow down. You want to convince your prospect that he or she is the most important person you’ll call today–not that they are just another name on your call list.
5. Include the relevant information. State your telephone number twice–at the beginning and end. And do it slowly. We’ve all had to listen to a message six times in order to finally get the number. Annoying, isn’t it? Also, give your first and last name and tell them why you’re calling.
6. Don’t be mysterious and skip the gimmicks. There’s no silver bullet for getting your calls returned. Some so-called cold-calling experts suggest piquing curiosity by leaving only a name and number or using canned phrases like “This will be the most important call that you return today.” One word: lame.
7. Be yourself. (Unless you’re a cyborg, wannabe disc jockey, stuffed shirt, or cheeseball.)
8. Don’t expect a call back. One option is to leave your number and also let the lead know that you will call him or her back. This takes the pressure off the lead and gives you the green light to be persistent. It also gives the consumer the option to call you.
9. Listen to this podcast from 43 Folders. Good information and funny.
10. Don’t get into your sales spiel. The first goal in leaving a voicemail message is getting a callback, not selling a policy. And by delving into your sales pitch you will inevitably violate the ‘keep it short’ rule.
11. Create a great outgoing voicemail greeting. If a lead calls and gets your voicemail, what will he or she think? Does your greeting help or hurt your cause? Tone, brevity, clarity and relevance matter as much in your voicemail greeting as they do in your voicemail messages. [Follow tips 1-7, 10]

The Future of Online Advertising (FOOA) took place in New York City last week, and Markus over at AU Interactive recently shared his takeaways from the conference.

My favorite notation was one that I think applies to insurance agents using the web to reign in sales leads:

Ryan Carson [founder of Carson Systems, which put on FOOA] gave a great real world presentation on how he advertised the Future of Online Advertising conference and what worked (and didn’t work) for them across many different channels. Cross-promotion with other sites and bloggers worked far better than advertising on high-traffic advertising industry sites. This sort of solidified the point that leveraging personal relationships with people you know and cross-promotion are far better strategies than throwing money at mass advertising channels.

Leveraging personal relationships is something James and I will touch on at HIGH TECC next month, so be sure to tune in. In the meantime, catch Markus’ full FOOA recap here.