Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

Do you know how most politicians win elections? They ask voters to vote for them.

Seriously. I’m no Karl Rove or David Plouffe, but I can say with confidence that asking for votes is a winning campaign strategy.

Ok, candidates must also give voters reasons to vote for them, but there’s an important point at which the candidate has to stop giving reasons, ask directly for votes and then hope for the best.

The same holds for insurance agents. Do you want the sale? Make sure your prospect knows it and tell him or her explicitly. It usually makes for a nice closing statement: I would love to provide you with insurance, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, etc., etc.

By stating your own wishes, you add an important layer to your prospect’s thought process: When it comes time to buy a policy, he or she will compare prices, name brands, coverages, etc. But that person will also do a quick calculation: Which agent asked for my business? Which agent wants me?

In a world of infinite choices, most of them indistinguishable from each other, many consumers just want a reason, however small, to pick one or the other. That way they can move on. Ask for their business and you give them a reason.

Somewhere in the transition from adolescence to adulthood we lose the instinct to make things simple: we forget to make plain our desires.

To be sure, you won’t always get what you ask for. But you’ll increase your odds greatly if the world knows what you want.

You may have noticed lately that posts have slowed to a mere trickle. Not to worry—the Agent Blog hasn’t dried up. In fact, behind the scenes we’ve been furiously preparing for the launch of Agent Blog 2.0.

In short, the future of the blog looks pretty bright.

While the focus will remain—daily sales and marketing tips—we’ll soon be sporting a new design, blogging platform (Wordpress) and hosting provider. Those last two things probably don’t excite you, but we’re pretty stoked. So keep checking in … we hope (fingers crossed) to roll it out next week.

In the process of preparing for the transition, I’ve been combing through posts of yore, back when Megan Mahan ably helmed the Agent Blog. I recommend poking through the archives—there’s good stuff in there! And maybe it’s just me, but I think we made some pretty memorable videos.

Since it’s Friday, I’ll leave you with something to get you into the weekend mood. Something … provocative:

CLICK HERE

Have a great weekend.

1. Don’t pitch. At first, strive to have your prospect do most of the talking. By asking questions and taking a low-key approach, you can quickly glean your prospect’s needs and wants and tailor your sales approach accordingly.

2. Keep it short. Try out this analogy: Prospects are like paper bags. Your pitch is water. Pour too much into the bag, it will break and the contents will end up in a puddle on the floor.

3. Emphasize substance over style. Too much polish can arouse suspicion and cynicism. Convey your key points clearly and with confidence, and don’t worry if your delivery doesn’t have the smooth baritone of your local used car dealer (in fact, rejoice that it doesn’t). Be yourself.

4. Tailor your delivery to each prospect. Each prospect is unique, with a varying financial situation, as well unique motivations and buying patterns. They have different levels of insurance savvy. Some want to buy a policy quickly, while others want to take their time. Since there are no generic prospects, there should be no generic sales presentations.

5. Keep it conversational. People retain information more easily when it’s presented in conversation than if it’s given through a one-way lecture. It’s also easier to forge a real relationship with someone when you talk like regular person.

With financial panic spreading every day, it’s tempting to tense up and move toward the safe, tried and true. That nervousness is contagious. Resist it!

The irony, of course, is that the financial crisis is itself partly the result of people tensing up and moving toward the safe, tried and true.

As an agent you may have, aware or not, become a little bit more guarded, little bit more short-sighted in your thinking, a little more tense. Indeed, you may have lost a bit of the carefree attitude that you had when times were bullish. Perhaps your former inclination to play at work may now be out of the question in these serious times. By play I mean explore possibilities from a standpoint of abundance, as opposed to scarcity.

The problem–one of the problems–is that tension, fear and seriousness are antithetical to creativity and innovation. And innovation and creativity are what you need to thrive, no matter what line of work you’re in.

This post was inspired by this presentation at last year’s TED conference. Check it out and be inspired.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Starbucks’ service, but there was another admirable thing I forgot to mention: they don’t assume they’ve earned your business the second you’ve walked in the door.

Contrast that with how most businesses operate: they figure if they see you at the door (or hear you on the other end of the line), you’re already sold, no extra effort on their part required. The customer came to me, the misguided thinking goes, now it’s just time to efficiently take their order and shoo them away to make room for the next guy.

Back to Starbucks. For one thing, you can usually count on a greeting when you walk in the door, not just when you approach the cashier. When you leave, coffee in hand, you often get a parting thank you. It’s fast-food expediency minus fast food indifference.

In essence, Starbucks treats their customers like perennial prospects–people who aren’t sold once, but rather, must perpetually be sold, day after day, morning after morning. It’s the mentality that acknowledges that customers are indeed a scarce resource.

A week ago, a reader poll on the Insurance Journal’s web site showed that McCain had the overwhelming support of the Journal’s readership. It’s likely that support is representative of the insurance industry at large.

Indeed, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) has already issued a white paper that frets about the next four years under President Obama and a resurgent Democratic Party:

At the federal level, yesterday’s elections produced big victories across the board for the Democratic Party, which will have complete control of the federal government for the first time since 1994. These results will create new and sizable challenges for the insurance industry and for the business community in general … PCI anticipates that it will be far more difficult to stop several possible anti-industry moves in 2009.

Those anti-industry moves might include:

• Adding windstorm coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program
• Creating a federal natural catastrophe backstop
• Banning the use of credit based insurance scores

But it is perhaps the health insurance industry that has the greatest reason to be apprehensive–not necessarily because of anti-industry legislation, though that is a concern, but simply because of the potential for radical, disorienting change from the long-enduring status quo.

Obama’s health care plan is far from socialized medicine–private insurers play a front-and-center role–and it is not the revolution that McCain promised (his plan would’ve effectively severed the employer-health insurance link). But, if passed, it would bring about significant changes to the industry, many of which are not welcome.

For example, dragging the health care industry into the digital realm, one of Obama’s primary goals, will not happen without major investments (aka costs) and bumps along the way.

But insurers aren’t the only players in the health care system who will see some changes. An improved incentive structure will have payment to Medicare and Medicaid doctors based on the health outcomes of their patients rather than the treatments they provide. This cost-reducing initiative is great news for everyone–well, except doctors.

It’s likely that a McCain presidency would’ve been a boon for insurers–likely but not a sure thing. While we’ll never know, I suspect the Teddy Roosevelt-style reformer in McCain certainly could’ve thrown the industry for a few loops.

Jackie Huba, of the Church of the Consumer blog, noticed a while back that restaurants in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, generally employ one of two (very distinct) marketing strategies. “Barking” and “attracting.”

The typical barker: Host as shill, interrupting passersby with “Try our steak!” “Drink specials!” “Happy hour!”

The typical attractor: Hosts as figure head, calmly standing next to a good looking menu and a restaurant with pleasing décor and atmosphere.

You can guess which restaurants were packed.

“Barking as a customer acquisition strategy is a relative affair, whether spamming bloggers with press releases, peppering a neighborhood with door hangers , dressing up a mascot to stand on a street corner, or pimping a new website on Twitter,” says Huba. “Real marketing is designing elements into a business that will get the attention of customers so you don’t have to yell.”

It’s a fresh take on what Seth Godin has been saying for years: being remarkable means never having to engage in marketing.