When I woke up at 6a this morning, a blog post topic popped into my head. It was a euphoric moment, since the only thing that's ever in my head when I wake up is an annoying song (yesterday it was Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone;" the day before that it was Whitney Houston's "So Emotional").

It's 2:45 MST and I have totally forgotten the topic.

So, keeping in theme with awesomely bad songs, here's one of my favorite InsureMe videos of all time, Aurora Borealis' "Stardust Wishes."

Of course, Aurora Borealis is made up of InsureMe's James Omdahl and Jeb Foster. And those scenes couldn't have been funnier to shoot.

And, speaking of Jeb, he's recently been promoted to lead copywriter. It's a well-deserved accolade and you should all wish him a hearty congratulations. He'll be heading up the blogging efforts here so stay tuned from more bloggy greatness from Jeb!

Until next time,
Megan

Posted by Megan Mahan at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Oh, this was another fun video. For this installment, we went to my apartment to film the agent training segment: The Dos and Donts of Selling Insurance.

We've given a bunch of insurance sales and marketing tips on the Agent Blog over the years, which have started some good conversations. Here are some of my favorites:

Marketing is like Dating
Tacos, Burritos and the Importance of Listening to Clients
Always Be Prospecting
Is Your Netiquette Turning Customers Off?

Posted by Megan Mahan at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Seth Godin recently observed a handwritten note scotch-taped to a cash register at a souvenir shop. Here’s what it read:

You’re the boss. All sales are …

• Returnable
• Refundable
• Exchangable (sic)
• Even by mail
• 30 days from purchase

“[Rather] than taking the posture of ‘I hate you and I don't trust you,’ why not start with this one?” Godin asks.

It’s a rhetorical question: There’s no good reason to antagonize your customer, and there are a million good reasons to treat them with high esteem. But let’s just focus on two of them:

1. The world has enough suspicion and curmudgeonery [my word].

2. Godin: “Just down the street, the proprietor yelled at us for taking a photo. At a t-shirt store. Sheesh. Wanna guess where we bought our overpriced souvenirs?” [Emphasis mine]

There you have it. Treat your clients like the boss, and they'll become your best customer—and maybe they'll blog about you!

Posted by Jeb Foster at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Sometimes we cast too wide of a net. Divide and conquer by carving out a niche for yourself, whether it's servicing boomers, college kids, women—or selling only certain types of policies. Try pouring your time and energy into a niche group and see where you end up. You might be happily surprised with the results.

Stephanie Diamond: Not Everyone is Your Customer

Related Agent Blog posts:
How Pinko Marketing Can Help Your Insurance Business
Women-Only Insurance: A New Niche?
13M Gen Y'ers without Health Insurance

Posted by Megan Mahan at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

This Friday marks my last day as lead copywriter for InsureMe. Next week I'll be leaving Colorado and relocating to Washington, DC.

Of course it's bittersweet to leave InsureMe, but I feel good in that I've made some lifelong friends and gained some trusted mentors. I'll probably be doing some freelance work with InsureMe (including some blog posts), but being out of the office will be a change. So I thought I'd go out on a high note and repost some of my most-read blog posts.

Then I realized I've written nearly 500 of them since January 2006, and it would take me until Friday to figure out which ones to repost.

So, I'm just going to post whatever I feel like, mostly in the form of favorite InsureMe anecdotes, videos and photos. That's more fun for everyone anyway, right?

See one of my favorite videos (and learn why) after the jump.

In case you never noticed, we like playing dress-up around here. From wigs to mustaches to cut-off denim shorts, we like it all.

In last year's holiday video, various InsureMeans proudly displayed various wigs, hats and mustaches. Except for our CEO Tim. He actually took off clothes. It was fun to see everyone's artistic side.

I can tell you that that video was a nightmare for James to edit. But I think it turned out well.

Of course, James + video editing reminds me of this video, which we had to shoot and edit without James' guidance. Peter and I sat together and edited this thing for a solid five hours (and it still doesn't look that good.) But to this day Peter and I reminisce about what a tense afternoon that was and how our working relationship is better because of it.

Suffice it to say, the snowball fight was the best part of the day. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
 

We celebrated InsureMe's 15th birthday today, by throwing a little surprise party for founder and CEO, Tim McTavish. Obviously InsureMe has had quite the year (already!), but Tim got the company through some most humbling times back in the day.

It's safe to say that Tim has been a great role model for everyone here, both in business and life. Which makes this video of the company shaving Tim's head for charity seem very anniversary-appropriate!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

You don’t have to be in the Michael Moore camp to see the truth in this argument put forth by liberal writer Ezra Klein. You just have to have an understanding of what motivates corporations in a capitalist system—profit.

And the bottom line is that it’s more profitable for health insurers to insure only healthy people, and to fight tooth and nail to avoid insuring unhealthy people, who, after all, will end up costing them more money. If you disagree with this premise, you might as well stop reading.

This is not a criticism, rather it's a statement of fact. Whether your inner economist is Karl Marx or Adam Smith, that's just how it is.

That’s why it’s silly to be shocked or outraged by the recent actions of California insurers, who are in the hot seat for rescinding tons of individual policies. They’re just doing what they can only be expected to do. To get mad at them is as pointless as getting mad at cows for overgrazing a field. Vilification is not the answer.

I’m not for getting rid of private insurance. In general, I agree with the notion that markets are better than governments at delivering goods and services cheaply and efficiently, and there’s no reason why we can’t have universal coverage via private insurance. I also believe that the quality of our health care, for those who have access, is among the best in the world.

But there will have to be many tweaks, lots of cajoling and some tough legislation to make private insurance available to all. And if there isn’t a way to create incentives for insurers to cover everyone—healthy and not—then more forceful approaches may be in order. There may be some growing pains after reform, but before you can snap your fingers, insurers will be back to doing what they do best: delivering their service in the most efficient and profitable way possible.

Ready. Set. Discuss!

Posted by Jeb Foster at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Am I the only one who’s a little insulted by Allstate citing global warming as the reason for their rate hike proposal?

I mean, insurers have been pulling out of hurricane-prone counties and states since Hurricane Andrew. We know why: it’s risky to insure property on the coast. And even though I find it sort of ridiculous (hey, what are premiums for? And, also, what about those billion dollar profits?), it’s every private insurer’s right to write coverage where and how they see fit.

But raising premiums under the guise of global warming feels somehow patronizing.

I personally like Derek’s take. If Allstate is that concerned about global warming, if they’re so affected by it that they can’t afford to sell policies, why don’t they donate some of their profits to help clean up the earth?

What if Allstate, out of benevolence, and contemporary thinking, starts to invest some of their profit into Florida's Hurricane Grant project and helps all of the low income properties that are not financially capable of bringing their homes and buildings up to current hurricane mitigation standards? Then, when all of the extra globally warmed hurricanes hit the peninsula, maybe the tallied losses wouldn't be so catastrophic.

Obviously Allstate is not the only insurer proposing rate hikes and pulling business out of certain areas of the country. But doing so under the guise of global warming in an economy where people already feel like they’re being kicked while they’re down in out feels, in a word, shady.

[Related reading]:
Global Warming Ate My Insurance Policy
Allstate + Global Warming = Increase
Allstate Policy Cuts Get Scrutiny

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

“Why do I hate door-to-door salesmen?” my friend asked me yesterday.

Hate is a strong word, and maybe she used it more for emphasis than accuracy, but it seemed like she sort of meant it and was unsettled by the intensity of her feeling.

Earlier in the day, she’d been approached by someone selling a subscription to some kind of art magazine or newsletter. And as a full-time artist and an avid reader, my friend was an ideal prospect, someone probably more receptive than most.

(Keep in mind, though, this is an urban setting, and there was probably the natural apprehension that accompanies opening a door to a see stranger selling something.)

This particular person proceeded to recite a canned spiel in a tone that was both dogmatic and lazy. Put off, my friend tried to halt the monologue and say thanks but she wasn’t interested.

Bowling over her attempts to interject, he kept going with his routine. His lack of originality was impressive, and she would have felt sorry for the guy had his delivery not been so arrogant at the same time.

She firmly stated her non-interest.

He kept going, offering more of the same prefabricated claptrap, now in a raised voice that evoked a talk-radio bully.

She then made it clear that the conversation was over.

Realizing it was a lost cause, he testily strutted away without offering another word, presumably because saying “thank you for your time” would’ve taken precious seconds away from his efforts.

“Maybe it’s because I wasn’t being treated as a person,” my friend said, trying to understand why the experience was so upsetting.

Indeed, she had been the casualty of a long-ago discredited but still common method of selling—the top-down, one-way monologue.

To start a conversation is to engage a fellow sentient being. To talk at someone is to deprive them of their voice, their humanity. Not only is it demeaning, it’s ineffective.

P.S. My use of guy in this post's title was intentionally chauvinistic. In my experience, most (if not all) annoying sales people are, in fact, men.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

We've all got customers that make our jobs harder—particularly when we have to deal with problems that arise from that business relationship.

But as Best Buy has recently shown us, ignoring the problem and the customer don't work. In fact it can land you in a serious amount of legal trouble, with bad PR to boot.

If you haven't heard, Raelynn Campbell filed at $54 million lawsuit against the mega electronics chain for giving her the run-around about her laptop computer, which she turned in to be fixed under her warranty. But after six weeks the machine still wasn't ready—three months later, Best Buy finally admitted to Campbell that they had lost her computer (and all the personal information contained therein).

From Yahoo Tech:

Ultimately, Best Buy offered to pay her $900 for losing the machine... as a gift card. She countered that it had originally cost over $1,100, not to mention all her data that was now gone for good. She demanded $2,100, and Best Buy simply ignored her.

At this point, Campbell was made aware that all her personal data on the machine could lead to a major identity theft issue, though Best Buy never filed their legally required notice that she was at risk. That was the last straw, and she filed suit for $54 million, representing herself.

In case you haven't noticed, consumers no longer tolerate being walked on by businesses big or small.

When it comes to insurance, there's a real benefit of being an agent (instead of being involved with online policy purchases), because you can give the kind of personal attention that keeps customers from feeling neglected and abused—which can keep you and your agency's name out of the mud.

As for Best Buy, I'm sure they're wishing they'd have dealt with the problem instead burying their heads in the sand. I can't say I'm surprised—their lack of customer service is one of the reasons I don't shop there anymore.

So, how does your customer service stack up? Don't stay in the dark about it—survey your current customers and see where you need to improve. The results might not be pretty, but they'll help you improve retention in the long run.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
 

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs written by economists recently, and their manner of looking at the world is starting to influence mine.

In Econ 101, we learn that the best way to steer individual and collective behavior in a capitalist system is to offer incentives (carrots) and/or disincentives (sticks).

Here is the current incentive structure as it pertains to health care. As you can see, it’s a mess:

People: Incentives to be overweight and unhealthy
The Uninsured: Incentives to stay uninsured
The Insured: Incentives to get every treatment in the book
Doctors: Incentives to provide more health care rather than keep people healthy
Insurers: Incentives to insure only healthy people, drop unhealthy ones
Pharmaceutical companies: Incentives to sell, um, pharmaceuticals, regardless of their usefulness, cost, efficacy
Lawyers: Incentives to file, um, lawsuits
Politicians: Incentives to fund campaigns with money from special interests (insurers, trial lawyers, etc.)

It seems, then, that to heal our broken health care system, we need to create the right incentives for each of the above stakeholders.

There. Problem solved. :)

Posted by Jeb Foster at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

I used to have a pretty serious problem with insomnia, which, thankfully, I've nearly nipped in the bud in my adult years by exercising five times a week and donning ear plugs (...and tossing out my alarm clock).

And, as we've recently learned, sleep deprivation can cause some serious problems, from productivity loss, to immune deficiency—it can also put you at risk for physical harm.

To avoid that groggy, brain dead feeling after a night of bad sleep, hack your way to a restful night with these tips from Lifehacker.

Among the list of tips (including alarm clock adjustments), the following have worked for me:

• Reading before bed
• Writing out tomorrow's to-do list before leaving the office (then I don't think about work for the rest of the night)
• Consuming low-cal foods before bed
• Sleeping and waking at the same time every day

If I'm really in a jam or need to make sure and get a good night's sleep, I'll take some Simply Sleep for good measure. What helps you get your Zzzz?

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Wall Street Journal reporter Joseph B. White sees a growing tension between the insurance industry’s desire to stem losses and the car industry’s desire to give their consumers ever more horsepower and performance.

Consider that a 1981 Honda Accord had a 75 horsepower engine. Today’s Accord packs 177 horses.

Not surprisingly, with faster cars has come more speeding, and with more speeding, more frequent—and heftier—insurance claims.

The Highway Loss Data Institute recently released the results of a study that compared the collision losses from a 140-horsepower Pontiac Grand Am to a 260-horsepower Nissan Altima. The losses for the Altima were 20 percent higher than for the Grand Am.

The unfortunate result of increasing horsepower has been higher insurance premiums for everyone (not to mention dangerous highways).

Is it time to reign in the muscle car?

Hat tip: Autopia

Posted by Jeb Foster at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

It's true, according to Finnish researchers who have compared a speeding ticket database with that of all the trading portfolios in Finnish households. From the Consumerist:

Their findings suggest that for these speeders, a sensible long-term investment strategy simply isn't interesting enough for them. They crave the thrill and excitement of churning over their investments more frequently. Each successive speeding ticket and investor received correlated to an 11 percent increase in their portfolio turnover.

According to the findings, people sporting sensation seeking traits can generate behaviors including risky sexual behavior, frequent career changes, drug and alcohol abuse, gambling, and participation in extreme types of sports like bungee jumping or sky diving. Which kind of implies that speedy motorists—at least in Finland—may be of greater risk to insurers than originally thought. :)

Sensation Seeking, Overconfidence and Trading Activity

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Back in 2006, Jeb reported that Mariah Carey took out an insurance policy on her legs:

The thing that lends the body-part-insurance publicity stunt a modicum of credibility is that these stars really do owe a chunk of their paychecks to certain anatomical assets. Although it smacks of self-promotion, the practice has a certain amount of logic behind it.

Which is interesting considering that I've just learned that Tom Jones recently insured his chest hair to the tune of $7 million.**

For a second I wondered how Tom Jones's chest hair positively impacted his timeless career. Then I quickly turned my attention to more important things, like this compilation of Carlton Banks dancing to Tom Jones.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

**This Friday Fun fact was brought to you by holycrapfacts

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Everyone is talking about the recent Dutch study showing that overweight people and smokers are cheaper to treat in the long run than are healthy people.

The reason?

Healthy people live longer. Longer to rack up more medical bills. Obese people and smokers die earlier.

Responding to the survey, Atlantic Monthly blogger Megan McArdle wrote:

Dying young, even of an expensive disease, turns out to be cheaper than living a long, healthy life. If you really want to save money, you should probably start taxing fitness club memberships.

But is it really wrong-headed? Should health insurers start offering discounts to people who smoke a pack a day and dine only at Hardee’s?

It’s depends, as McArdle points out, on who’s paying for the health care.

“Dying young is expensive for [health insurers],” McArdle writes. “People who live a long time die on Medicare's dime.”

So, health insurers, take note: It’s still in your best interest to encourage people to quit smoking and lose a few pounds.

Via The Consumerist

Posted by Jeb Foster at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Big, BIG news for InsureMe this week. Yesterday, InsureMe Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bankrate Inc.

Needless to say, everyone at InsureMe is very excited to be teamed up with such well-known and respected powerhouse, and we're looking forward to using our combined talents to create major waves in the insurance space.

You can read the official press release here (if you're into that sort of thing), and stay tuned for more news from InsureMe!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Between the high political tide and Jeb's thought-provoking posts on U.S. health care, I've been paying more attention to related tales and tidbits.

Here's the stuff I've been pouring over today.

Forcing Young People Into the System Powerline

The least-acknowledged fact in the present debate over health care is that many millions of Americans have no good reason to buy health insurance. This is especially true of single young people, above all single men. ... Thus, the crocodile tears that are shed over "the uninsured" are by no means entirely genuine. One of the basic purposes of just about anyone's "health care plan" is to find a way to force those millions of young, single people to pay for the health care required by their elders.

Try Living Uninsured LA Times

[B]eing uninsured is these days -- a character flaw. It's how you can pay taxes, volunteer, donate to public radio and still be considered a drain on society.

Doyle's Idea: Equalized Insurance Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The proposal hinges on prohibiting health insurance companies from setting rates for small businesses based on the health of their employees. That could lower costs for businesses with older workers or workers with medical problems, while increasing costs for those with healthy, younger employees.

Employer-Linked Health Insurance—Time to Go? InsureMe Agent Blog

Many businesses, particularly the very small and the very large, have the most to gain from being released from their insurance obligations. Without having to pay health care costs for aging workers, they would have more cash on hand to compete with overseas companies, which have never had to provide coverage for their workers.

Lots of health insurance goodness on this Monday afternoon, something I suspect will be the norm throughout the year.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)