The Ultimate Insurance Marketing System

24 years in the insurance business and I feel like I’ve been chasing a Unicorn for all these years.  The Ultimate Insurance Marketing System … does it really exist?  Can it really exist?  If it did exist, what would it be like?  What would it actually do?  I mean if you’re going to stick the word "Ultimate" in front of something, it had better be pretty darn fantastic … Right?

Not meaning to provide more questions than answers – so I’ll stop asking them and relate a mental exercise I recently went through to get these answers.  If I could design the Ultimate Insurance Marketing System, what would I have it do.  Here are a few of the things that my mind came up with – as a P&C Broker focused on Commercial Insurance.  These are some of the "attributes" I desired.

• Affordability – a key component in this tightening economy
• Ease if Use – used a CRM App lately?
• Adaptable – it’s got to be multi function and flexible
• Web Based/Hosted – I’m tired of Remote Access and Database management

Following are several of the Functions I wanted it to be able to perform – Tasks I wanted The Ultimate Insurance Marketing System to Perform for me :

• Client Nurturing
• Prospecting
• Lead Warming / X-Date Follow Up
• Automated Campaigns
• Cross Selling Campaigns
• Testimonial Request Letters
• Claims Follow Up
• Thank You / Appreciation to New & Renewal Clients
• Referral Marketing / Referral Contests

I had a few more but, I don’t want to appear greedy …

So why was I going through such a mental exercise in the first place?  Well, I must admit, I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted after putting in a significant amount of time and effort into a certain "nameless" CRM app that gave me the SHAFT and not the GoldMine I was after.

I was seeking more Referrals … and from the reading I was doing, I needed to be building Better, Stronger Personal Relationships with my clients, prospects and referral partners.  Sending out some letters in A10 Window Envelopes with Metered Stamps just wasn’t getting the deal done – for me.

This is getting long, and I know I’m no Shakespear so I’ll Cut to the Chase.  I believe I have found my Unicorn of Insurance Marketing. A system I will confidently stick the label Ultimate in front of.

In fact I’ve made a little 5 minute video for you – as a form of Social Proof.  Seeing is believing.  Watch it and see how in 5 short minutes [could have actually done it in 3 mins.] I demonstrate the following attributes of an Ultimate Marketing System.

• Affordability
• Ease of Use
• Web Based
• Flexible
• Client Nurturing
• Thank You / Appreciation
• Referral Generating

 You can watch the video by CLICKING HERE.  I call it …

How To Go From "Policy Peddler" To

Trusted Agent / Friend / Referral Magnet

Pay Close Attention at about the 2:55 minute mark – I show you how I looked before I found this system, then at about the 4 minute point, you can see how I look AFTER I found The Ultimate Insurance Marketing System.

I’m working on the video right now where I show you how you can put lost clients on an automated Client Win Back Campaign in under 3 minutes! 

Until next time.

Shared by Steve
So – with this gem in mind – it’s obvious where to focus our referral marketing rewards and customer service satisfaction efforts – no?

The more I read from this guy’s blog - the more I like it. Hope you all enjoy.

All the best,

Women are responsible for countless purchases, but they need help to create efficiency in their buying decisions. So what they tend to do is find a person who they can really trust, and then use that person as a filter when making specific decisions.

Take for example, someone with a legal issue. If they have someone who’s been doing great legal work for them, they will go to that person every time for legal issues, either for direct help or trusted referrals.

So you need to not only understand the core services you provide, but the appropriate referrals around your industry – how people find you, who they ask first for help, why people trust others in the professional world. This is especially important to do with women, because they have been found to refer business services at twice the rate of men.

On average, a woman will refer a person that she is pleased with 26 times, while men only refer about 13 times. It might take longer to get a woman as a client because she does two things more than men. First, she will rely on more peer and expert recommendations. Second, she’s going to ask around more and do research on the Web about your business.

The good thing is, once a woman finds the right candidate to serve her needs, she tends to stay loyal longer because she’s already invested a lot of time in finding the right one. And was mentioned, she’ll refer your business twice as much as a man.

These numbers should also encourage you to take extra good care of your female customers. Because if you don’t, then that means they’re handing off a negative message about your business at least 26 times.

Original Article link back here

Next in this series: What women want

This post is the second in a series of excerpts from OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with Lisa Johnson, CEO of ReachGroup, formerly ReachWomen, an international marketing consultancy. She also co-authored: Don’t Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy and How to Increase Your Share of this Crucial Market.
By OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with Lisa Johnson, CEO of ReachGroup)

This is an issue I have been sensing for quite sometime, especially as a 2nd Generation Insurance Broker who was force fed the mantra of the good old days … “Just Get Out There and Walk Into Businesses”.

Yes, action is critical, massive action is paramount for some.  The fact is now you can no longer – as in the old days  – merely Hang Your Shingle Out There and survive on sheer persistence.  You have to work both Hard and Smart in this economy and IMHO for the last several years.

The Insurance agency model has become much more complex.  Demanding volume commitments to obtain and maintain quality carriers [ for us Independent agents ], Loss Ratio requirements, and now more than ever the tremendous expense of Insurance Specific Technology and Training.

I feel the complexity of owning and running a small to mid-size agency has exponentially increased in the 24 years I’ve been involved in the industry. Staggering really, when I reflect back on our first FAX machine   Our first IBM PC with dual 5.25″ floppy drives.  WOW!

Tying in the timely piece below from Brian Tracy … We can No Longer as agents, expect to remain viable with the age old activities of sending our clients a bill at their annual renewal, and hope to survive.  Excellent service is the expected Norm.  Lightning speed and turnaround, and instant gratification are as well.

With the difficulty we go through just to obtain clients, shouldn’t we do everything we can to RETAIN them?

Is your retention strategy a nice smile, a few kind words, and a billing statement at renewal? If so, you better re-think that strategy, else your carrier field rep might be on his way with a form for you to sign … that you acknowledge you’re being terminated.

Develop a plan and a strategy today! I encourage you to consider the one I deployed.  One that is turnkey, cost effective and can start having an immediate positive impact. The Ultimate Retention and Referral System.

Take Action – Implement!

I wish you all the best,

The Complex Sale Today

By: Brian Tracy

The Sale is More Complex Today

The entire process of selling today is more complex than it has ever been before. It used to be that we would make a single call on a single buyer who would make a single decision on our product or offering. In this simple form of selling, we used the attention/interest/ desire/action (AIDA) model of sales presentation and focused intensely on numerous different ways of closing the sale. Then, once we had made the sale, in many cases we never saw the customer again.

Everything Has Changed

Today, however, everything is different. Today we must make multiple calls, an average of five or six, in order to make the sale. We deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can influence the purchase. Much of the sale takes place when we are not present. Sometimes we never even meet the final decision maker who signs the check. And it is not unusual for a sale to be derailed at the last minute by something completely unexpected.

The Competition is Fierce

If that weren’t enough, there is more competition than ever before and it is more determined and resolute than it has ever been in the past. Not only must we compete on the basis of price, quality, services, capabilities, financing and warranties with many other vendors of our product or service, but we must also compete with every other vendor of every other product or service who is striving to get the same customer dollar that we are after. Our competitors are extremely determined, driven the same as we are by tight markets and careful customers. They are committed to starting earlier, working harder, and staying up later thinking of ways to take our customers away from us.

Customers Are Overwhelmed

Our prospective customers are beset on all sides by every conceivable sales offering. Because they are drowning in details, options and choices, they are in no hurry to make up their minds. With markets changing and contracting, the amount of discretionary funds they have available has shrunken and they are more careful today than they have ever had to be in the past.

The Key to Profitability

The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business does this in sufficient quantity and with proper cost controls, it will make a profit. The profit is the result of creating and keeping customers efficiently.

Create and Keep Customers

As the president of your own professional sales corporation, your job is to create and keep customers as well. And just as a company must continually restructure and redesign its product and service offerings to satisfy the changing tastes of a demanding and competitive customer marketplace, you as a salesperson must constantly upgrade the quality and sophistication of your sales procedures and approaches if you are going to create customers in sufficient quantity.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action. First, be prepared to make multiple calls on a customer to close a large or complex sale. Plan your sales work systematically so you always have a new reason for calling back. Second, think continually about how you have to change and improve your selling and your offering if you want to succeed in a tough market. Work on yourself every day and never stop getting better.

Brought to you by World Class Sales Trainer - Brian Tracy |  http://www.briantracy.com