Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

E-mail is an imperfect medium. Our inboxes are full of both important messages and ads for spurious herbal remedies. And the tedious and time-consuming process of sorting the wheat from the chaff can result in accidentally deleting something important (such as that letter from your old college flame an InsureMe lead or other business-related message).

One imperfect but helpful method is to set up two e-mail addresses–one that you use for purchases and signing up for newsletters, the other for business and personal correspondence. Why do this? Well, because not everyone has a privacy policy that’s as good as InsureMe’s; when you sign up for a newsletter or buy something online, many will turn around and sell your address to a third party, which then often sells it to another, and so on. Pretty soon, everyone on the intarweb has your address and you’re up to your eyeballs in strangely worded offers for ED pills.

The two e-mail address approach can help in other ways, too. Some online services (like InsureMe’s) ask customers for a backup e-mail account, in the event that their primary one flakes out. (Known to happen; in fact, many InsureMe agents who use Yahoo free e-mail know first-hand the importance of having a backup e-mail.)

I came across an article by way of Lifehacker this week, which detailed the value and how-to of starting meaningful conversations.

In life you have to do this a couple times a month, maybe. In sales, you have to do this a few times a day.

And whether you’re following up on an InsureMe lead or talking to someone on the metro, the opportunity for these conversations are everywhere.

Here are some tips for getting off on the right foot:

Don’t be Negative Nancy. Sure, negative comments can break the ice, but given in a positive atmosphere (like a party or networking event), they can be a real turn-off. Even if the event is pitifully lame, a positive comment can improve the mood of the person you’re talking to–and yours, too.

Ask the right questions. Asking questions is a great way to get people to open up, but no one likes a question master. Keep questions contextual and outside of the normal, “So, what do you do?” Author Ralph Jean-Paul suggests asking questions related to:

• Thoughts on the event or occasion
• Reasons for attending
• Who they are associated with (at the event) and how they are acquainted
• Past experiences at similar events

Asking interesting, witty, and open-ended questions will entice the other person to respond in a similar fashion. All the makings for a meaningful conversation.

…Read the rest of this entry »

Spared the wrath of Dean and Felix, the U.S. squeaked through another hurricane season without a major calamity. (Well, that’s assuming no storms make landfall before Friday, the official last day of the season.)

But, as Claire Wilkinson of the III’s Terms and Conditions blog reminds us, while we can breathe a sigh of relief, there’s no cause for optimism. Hurricanes–including ones as devastating as Katrina and Rita–will be a routine part of the national drama for generations to come.

…Read the rest of this entry »

James is right: One of the hardest parts of learning search engine optimization (SEO) is wading through all the information on the internet and figuring out if it’s current or even correct information.

Thankfully, eVisibility Insider compiled a list specifically designed for SEO newbies to help you navigate the ever-changing landscape that is the internet. Check it out to learn which SEO-themed sites with which you should become familiar, which podcasts and videos can help you cut down your reading material (though don’t think you’ll get off scot-free here!), and which tools and plugins can help you on your quest for SEO greatness.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that free web traffic is better than the stuff you pay for. And while you may have to invest some time, the benefits should be two-fold: Your stretched grey matter and better web visibility.

And don’t forget to stop by the InsureMe Affiliate blog for more online marketing tips, news and commentary!

The HSA honeymoon phase is long over. Even the most enthusiastic of initial supporters–the ones who thought they, coupled with high-deductible health plans, would encourage patient responsibility and subsequently cure our national health care ills–can’t find too much to be excited about these days.

And HSA critics are taking ever tougher stances. According to the Wall Street Journal, Democratic presidential candidate (and current governor of New Mexico) Bill Richardson would abolish them altogether if he got the opportunity.

“These are a step backward,” he said at a Kaiser Family Foundation forum yesterday. “They put working families at risk. Most families cannot afford to pay the … out of pocket costs.”

While other Democratic candidates have not, to my knowledge, come out in favor of an outright ban, HSAs don’t figure prominently in any of their proposed health care fixes.

So is this the beginning of the end? Can HSAs ever live up to their promise?

If you haven’t noticed, we’re big fans of Lifehacker around here. That’s because, from keyboard shortcuts to work productivity, this blog consistently delivers tips to help us do things faster.

So when they pointed readers to an article entitled “How to Shave 10 Hours Off Your Work Week,” (written by Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) you better believe I got to clicking.

Here are a few of my favorites from the list–which, coincidentally, are the ones I find the most challenging:

Touch email messages once only. The information hasn’t changed–read it thoroughly and then take the appropriate action: “do, delegate, defer, file or delete it.” (Read more on this.) My inbox would be a lot nicer to look at if I could get a handle on this.

Stop attending low-impact meetings. Low-impact meetings include those where the organizer isn’t prepared, the topic isn’t defined, or you yourself have no effect on the outcome. If the subject matter is irrelevant to you and your position, ask to be excused.

Try not finishing. Mama didn’t raise no quitter, but Hyatt’s got a point with this one: Not every project is worth finishing. If you get into something and it doesn’t seem worth it (contacting a prospect who’s playing hard to get, etc.), give yourself permission to throw in the towel.

Once you’ve cut the extraneous stuff out of your day, you’ll have more time to do what you do best: selling policies.

Consider this an addendum to Megan’s post on the futility of Yellow Page advertising and the promise of online marketing:

Agents who incorporate new technology into their existing businesses will remain competitive. Agents who use the Internet to market their products will reach a broader client base and expand their businesses, but because most clients value their relationship with their agent, the Internet should not threaten jobs, given that many individuals still prefer discussing their policies directly with their agents, rather than through a computer.

That’s from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is published annually by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, a branch of U.S. Department of Labor.

We harp on the importance of online marketing quite a bit on the Agent Blog, but it’s not out of simple fascination with the new. (We’ll be the first to admit that some of the old-school methods can’t be beat.) We advocate using new technologies because, well, they usually work.

And the best kind of technology is the kind that helps deliver better customer service:

Agents who offer better customer service also will remain competitive. Call centers are another important way carriers and agents are offering better service to customers, because such centers provide greater access to their policies and more prompt services.

Source

Yesterday afternoon as I filled up my coffee cup, a colleague said to me: “You won’t believe what I was on my doorstep when I got home yesterday. Another phone book. For the third time this year!”

The conversation grew to include four people and I listened as each of them complained about the frequency of deliveries, the bulk of each new phone book, the complete waste of paper, etc. Soon, the conversation turned to our customers–insurance agents–and why many of them were still wasting money on Yellow Pages ads.

“We use the internet to find everything,” one colleague said. “And who’s going to pick a random insurance agent out of the phonebook and give them their business? Whenever I’ve moved, I’ve asked for agent referrals from friends and coworkers.”

She’s right. So why are insurance agents still dumping money into the Yellow Pages? As far as I can tell, it’s out of habit. It’s been done for years and years and, come on, it’s not that expensive.

…Read the rest of this entry »

Productivity blog Zen Habits has an inspired post on reducing stress. The key? Get one important thing done per day:

[Do] less but do more important things. When I say important, I mean things that will have a huge impact on your life (personally or career wise) over the long run. Not things that need to be done today or else. Here’s why: If you get something important done, something that will help you in the long run (even if it’s only a step towards a major accomplishment, it’s important), you will feel great! You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment. That makes any day a great day.

Is your daily to-do list of Manhattan Project proportions? Is it chock-full of soul-sapping minutiae? Cut that sucker in half!

“If you cut your list down and do only half the things you want to do for today, you’ll have a much better day,” says Zen Habits author Leo Babauta. “You’ll thank me.”

Let that message soak in, Agent Blog reader. This is subversive stuff, but it’s the most important thing you’ll read this week.

When it comes right down to it, much of our stress can be eliminated through simple accounting and proper perspective. If you’re perpetually not getting things done that you set out to do, you’re probably trying to do too much. Or you’re stressing over little things that won’t matter in the long run.

This isn’t rocket science here, folks. Sometimes increased productivity isn’t the answer. (We can only be so productive.) Sometimes doing less is the answer.

So do less, do it better and be happier.

Link: 10 Simple, Sure-fire Ways to Make Today Your Best Day Ever
Via: Lifehacker

Grim news regarding California’s top insurer, which set financial goals and bonuses based on money saved from dropping individual policyholders.

The LA Times reports that Health Net, Inc. avoided paying over $35 million in medical expenses by rescinding roughly 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. Documents disclosed on Thursday, November 8 also revealed that Health Net paid its senior analyst $20,000 in bonuses, which were tied to her meeting or exceeding annual goals for policy revocation.

The information regarding bonuses was uncovered in an arbitration hearing brought by Patsy Bates, a hairdresser whose coverage was rescinded in the middle of chemo treatments for breast cancer. (Bates is suing for $6 million in compensation, plus damages.

Big stories like this aren’t good for the health insurance industry, especially in an election year. If Americans can’t trust private health insurers to look after their well-being, they’re going to gravitate to other alternatives, such as the universal health care some presidential candidates are encouraging.

What’s the solution? How do you as an agent quell the fears of individuals who are on the fence about private health insurance?

[via]