​Data is king.

Let me repeat that.... DATA IS KING!!!

If you’re spending $1k... $2k... $3k a month on leads and only focused on writing the business immediately and then plugging that into your carrier based system for x dates, you’re pissing away thousands of dollars of commissions sitting there for leads you already paid for.

Let me fill you in about how carriers work. I’ve spent many hours on the phone with CEO’s, heads of marketing, heads of product distribution and many others on the corporate level in regards to why what they are doing on the marketing side isn’t working.

Follow along with me, it’ll piss you off.

In order for a carrier to make a move to where changes are made, it’s a slow and dragged out process.

- Someone brings it up in a meeting.
- Next, that gets taken to their superior.
- Then, that manager waits until the next meeting to discuss what has caught their attention.
- If they do a good enough job explaining it, it then gets taken to the executive level.
- They then want to hear it first hand.
- If they like it, they pass it off to other departments.
- Marketing gets involved.
- Compliance gets involved.
- They take their sweet time and if they don’t understand how something works, it’s shot down.
- If they DO like it, it gets passed back up and approved.

BUT that doesn’t mean anything just yet.

They THEN Beta test it with X amount of agents, wait for results, analyze everything and then maybe come up with a game plan. By this time, in most cases, whatever they were originally considering in the first place is outdated and there’s a newer and better way. So they finally roll it out and guess what? You get some new “tool or feature” that is behind the times, yet again.

“But Taylor I’m a 1099 contractor. I decide what I want to do as I’m my own boss!”

BULLSHIT!

If you have to wait for approval or if you're told you can’t grow your business because they simply don’t understand how you’re doing so, you’re under their control.

We talked with one of the largest national carriers a couple years back about bringing all their agents the CAC marketing education. It would have been a multi million dollar a year contract and we walked away. They wanted to tell us how to structure it, how to teach it, and what to and what not to teach agents so that they had control.

We aren’t about being told what to do and especially with our own company and reputation. So we walked.

The day you decide to take the reins and control your own fate is when you’ll finally have someone who’s looking out for YOUR best interest. Until then, you’ll always be relying on someone else who’s got their interests in mind before yours.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
​
PS: According to your carrier, the pipe you chose is non compliant so please choose your pipe appropriately.

Social Media has changed the game for everyone on both personal and professional levels and the insurance industry is no exception. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Twitter have turned marketing on its head by allowing customers to interact with an insurance agency’s brand in ways like never before. Engagement is key in helping to build brand awareness among new followers and to create loyalty in existing users. It helps grow your agency when your customers and peers engage by sharing your social media posts with their own business network, friends and followers.

Don't worry if you feel like you're late to the social game. Social media is always evolving and so it's never a bad time to start getting active online. Here are some helpful tips for insurance agents to get started and get social as a way of generating leads.

GOALS! GOALS! GOALS!
What would you like your customers to gain by following you on social media? Are you trying to generate new leads, increase your brand’s awareness, or establish yourself as a thought leader? There’s no right or wrong answer, but you do need to ask the question.

HAVE A PLAN
If you aren’t posting regularly, you risk being crowded out by your competition. Create a monthly calendar for your social media posts to ensure you stay top of mind with your audience. The next time they have a question about insurance, they will think of you.

CHECK OUT WHAT YOUR PEERS ARE DOING
Which types of posts are getting high levels of engagement? Which posts are falling flat? Seeing what is, or isn’t, working for your competitors will give you a jumpstart on your own success.

GET YOUR CONTENT READY
If a single hashtag is worth a thousand words, a poignant image, video, or infographic can be doubly so. According to marketing giant, Hubspot, social media posts that feature media garner twice the engagement of posts that are text-only.

GET OUT THERE AND MINGLE!
The only thing worse than not posting on social media is not responding to your customers’ feedback. There’s a reason it’s called social media “engagement”. So engage!

MAKE SURE YOU'RE BRANDING CORRECTLY
By serving as an accompaniment to your company’s website, your social pages are an extension of your online brand. Use colors and graphics that are professional and consistent with your website to create a cohesive marketing statement.

ASK FOR SOMETHING
With over 3 billion users and a low cost per click rate, Facebook advertising is the most cost-effective way to get your brand in front of your target audience.

KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND A FACEBOOK AD
If you don’t ask your customers to visit your website or give you a call, they’re probably not going to do it. Whatever it is, make sure the action you want your followers to take is clear and unmistakable.

PAY ATTENTION TO HOW YOU'RE DOING
​The only way to truly know if you are hitting your goals with social media is to measure your performance. However, don’t be satisfied with merely reaching your goals. As your agency grows, push yourself and establish new goals to increase your audience and engagement.

Insurance agencies sell product that make it difficult to differentiate from their competitors. This means that insurance agents and agencies need to lean into their customer service and client experience to help them stand out from their competitors.  As a result, it's extremely important that agencies are measuring the performance of their agents and their overall client satisfaction.

​Customer satisfaction surveys haven't gained major popularity in the industry yet. Agents and owners are too concerned that the results will be negative and they won't know how to respond. But customer satisfaction surveys are the most effective mode of finding out clients and prospects really think about your agency, the people working for you and the products your offering. 

Here are a few things you need to know about conducting customer surveys in your agency.

MAKE IT QUICK AND TRANSPARENT
​No one, not even your best customers, want to spend an afternoon filling out a long, drawn-out, confusing survey about their experience buying insurance, so while you're setting up your survey, make sure you're being mindful of how long it will take them to complete.

If you’re having trouble getting people to start or complete your survey, run through it and see how long it takes to complete. A survey shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to finish—and ideally it should be five or less. Shorten your survey and state up front how long it should take them to complete. Include a progress bar so people know when they’re getting close to the end.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
It's important to make sure that the questions in your survey are tailored for your specific type of agency and are designed to illicit customers true feelings about your organization. Some of the categories covered in the survey are.

1) Delivery of services
2) Dependability and accuracy
3) Perception of individualized services
4) Employee knowledge
5) Promptness of service
6) Employee empathy
7) Perception of the agency’s physical appearance

Avoid asking multi-pronged questions that try to get at multiple points. Ask one thing at a time, and avoid over-complicating.

STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR WHY
Do customers like your service? What aren’t you doing that they want you to do? What insurance products are they most interested in? Know what you want to find out, and don’t gather extraneous data. If it doesn’t matter how the customer found your survey or what their last name is, don’t ask.

RATINGS MATTER - MAKE IT SIMPLE FOR YOUR CLIENTS
For example, you might be asked to rate your answer on a scale of 1-5: with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree.” In another question, you might be asked to rate on a scale where the 1-5 is reversed, and 1 is “most important” while 5 is “least important.”

To avoid confusion and false answers, try to keep your scale the same or as close as possible throughout all your answer. If 1 is the most negative answer and 5 the most positive on one question, it should be on all questions that use that scale.

DON'T BE A LEADER
What makes a leading or loaded question? Any negative or positive language that might affect someone’s thinking one way or another.

For instance, “We’ve recently made some exciting changes to our product lineup! What are your opinions on these new options?” is a leading question, because of its positive language.
A more neutral option would be “What do you think of our new list of products?”

Not all surveys are created equally. It can be challenging to get accurate responses, or any responses at all. But with these tips, you should be able to improve your survey results—and get data you can use.

One of the things that always makes me scratch my head is the way the typical Agent responds in times of financial hardship. They start to look around at all their bills and eliminate tools, resources, employees, and more all in the name of saving a few bucks.

I'm not going to lie. Over the years we have dealt with a few "I'm broke can I bail on CAC before it's paid up" Agents. Did you know that active Agents in CAC see 3, 4, 5 referrals a month that come out of that group? Independent of sales generated via strategies learned within the course and mastermind? But the Agent in panic sees a payment of $199 a month coming out and says "Shit, this isn't making me money."

I always dig a little when I see this because honestly the Agent's that do not claim ROI are the ones that are literally not doing the work. You are sitting on an education that is making thousands of Agents big money. You are sitting in a Mastermind that active members secure 3-5x the monthly cost in referrals. And the choice is to save $199.  What are you doing with that $199? Buying leads? Walking away from free or inexpensive, exclusive, targeted opportunity for shared, untargeted, often not even real leads?

If that money is coming home to pay bills, you've already gone under. You may not realize the ship has sunk because you're standing in the crows nest, but the ship sank.

You will not get out of a tough time in your Agency by reducing yourself down to nothing. Your sales which already have to not be up to snuff to be in this position are not increasing by cutting tools. Your morale is not getting better having to do things in less efficient and more expensive ways. 

If you are at the point where you are getting rid of tools and networks that make you money, it's time to bail on the industry. You ain't digging out of this hole with a phone and a phone book. Not if you're already in over your head and drowning.
​
Financial hardships in this industry require you to lean in and sharpen your skills. They require you to acquire more business. They require you to utilize your networks more than ever before.

Over the years we have seen SOOOOOO many Agents that are struggling respond to their situation. By and large the ones that make it aren't the ones trying to save a few bucks. They're the ones focused on driving more traffic, driving more sales, and driving more opportunity.

If you are reading this and you are trying to figure out how to navigate your financial situation in order to stay in this industry, ELIMINATE the nights out. ELIMINATE your $4 coffees. ELIMINATE your silly Amazon purchases. Bring lunch. Cut out the BS you spend money on that you convince yourself you NEED to get by.

You don't grow or save a business by shrinking your business, not when you barely have any residuals.

If you are a $5 million Agency and your overhead is too high, you can reduce a team member or two and still function and run, but the morale, work ethic, customers, and books size will all suffer.

When you are an Agent with a book at $1 mil or less, your'e just surrendering without actually declaring it.

Evaluate your situation.

When you're starving you don't throw away your rifle because ammo is expensive. You buy more ammo and get out there and bring home more meat.

Choosing a career in insurance means making a commitment to hard work and doing what needs to be done to bring yourself a certain level of success. Whether you’re pounding the pavement and meeting with clients or sitting at your desk doing all of the administrative things that come with the job, you’re likely to be ALL IN in order to make it work. And as with success of any kind, this usually means some things have to be sacrificed and our personal lives are usually the first to take a hit. 

But there are ways to give yourself more balance when it comes to tackling your career while still making time for family, friends and the things that really make your life whole. It’s just a matter of taking action to insure that you maintain that  balance. For many insurance agents who enjoy their version of a healthy life balance, it began by making just a few small changes. Here are few suggestions that we’ve learned can make a big difference.

MAKE A PROMISE TO MAKE IT WORK
Imbalances between work and life will occur. However, committing to finding your life balance is a tremendous first step in reducing stress and enjoying the fruits of your labor. Let your partner know about your goal to seek balance and let them hold you accountable. 

BE SERIOUS ABOUT BOUNDARIES
Clients are demanding, and so is your family. It is important to understand your personal limits and project how the commitments made today could affect tomorrow. Life balance begins with daily balance. Let your clients and prospects know ahead of time what they can expect. Many successful agents will use their outgoing email and voicemail message to let others know they will return all messages after a specific time in the afternoon. 

LET GO AND LET OTHERS DO FOR YOUR
Insurance agents who learn how to delegate responsibilities are able to free up more time both personally and professionally. Seek to delegate routine office tasks as well as household chores. The additional time added to your day can be used to prospect for new business and spend more quality time with your family. 

How you delegate is entirely up to you. For household chores, consider hiring a cleaning service or enlisting the help of your children in exchange for an allowance. At work, use technology to delegate and monitor workflow between you and your employees for daily operational responsibilities. 
​
STAY CONNECTED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
Between work, family, and taking care of yourself, it may seem there is no time left over for socializing. But socializing is very important in maintaining a healthy life balance. Visiting with friends in social settings allows you to drop your guard and share experiences. 

Spending time with your social group also serves as a reminder you are not alone in the pursuit of balancing a career with your family. If you believe you do not have time for a neighborhood barbecue or a night out on the town, think again. Like anything else, make social time a priority in your monthly calendar and never miss out sharing the journey of life with your closest friends. 

DON’T FORGET YOURSELF
Life balance is often thought of as a two-part equation: family and work. However, a very important third pillar exists that requires attention – yourself. Your mind and body need the opportunity to rest and recover. Perhaps the most important step in achieving life balance is to set aside time for yourself every day.

Close yourself off from family, work, social media, and the rest of the outside world for as little as 15 minutes and find a renewed self. Use this time to meditate, stretch, or any other activity that will allow you to stop and de-stress. 

​These are just a few of the ways agents can take control of their work-life balance to ensure they aren't tipping the scales too much one way or the other. Staying on top of the things that can pull you away from your loved ones and your personal life will help you create a balance that works for you in and out of the office.

Just recently, Mike McCormick made an important announcement in our private Insurance Soup Facebook group (click to join if you haven't already) about Career Agent Concepts. If you're new to everything Soup, then you should know that Career Agent Concepts is our  education program that teaches insurance agents the newest and most complete guide to social media marketing strategies, lead generation and agency automation.

​Check out Mike's news about CAC below!

"We have been getting a LOT of messages in the general inquiries email about where Career Agent Concepts has been the last 2 months.

People want to join. They waited months to save up or get the bosses permission or to make a decision because they research and think things over a bit before doing anything... and were just not available to purchase.

Frustrating I know.

While its already been the most popular, successful, and longest running education and mastermind for Agents looking to learn automation, lead gen, and referral partner growth... we decided to shut it down.

Career Agent Concepts is NO MORE.

It is getting updated and upgraded with all new strategies and ads and approaches....

Rebranded...

And incorporating every and ALL aspects of Agency life.

Its now an Agency Mastermind with a FOCUS on marketing and automation, but covering everything else such as hiring, firing, office culture, comp plans, carrier tips tricks and hacks, compliance, tech, sales, increasing profitability, and a slew of other conversations.

We took a step back and looked down Soup highway. Looked at what we offer. What the industry offers. What the audience wants. And once again, we put it together.

So all the marketing stuff you love from us is all STILL going to be very much available. Bigger, better, faster, and more in fact. But as a PART of an Agency Mastermind where our members will also be taking a more active role in sharing, participating, and in some cases even presenting.

We are retiring the Guru model and moving to a Mastermind model. We know a lot but, we don't know it all. Together, we get closer to knowing closer to it all. Or to having someone in our network that has the answer we need.

Keep an eye out shortly for presales and webinars. We will be offering the Mastermind at a less expensive price point prior to launch for the early action takers. Unlike CAC, this will give you an opportunity to bring your whole Agency in if you'd like.

CAC is rebranding, expanding, and evolving.

It will be back shortly. New name. Logo. Fonts. Colors. All the rebranded things.

Keep an eye out for presale webinars coming to a SOUP near you... SOOOON."

Businesses, especially small businesses like insurance agencies, need to have real insight into who their customers are. There are many different types of customers needing to be served —from companies that need large health insurance plans for a huge employee base to individuals of all income levels who need health, life, auto and property insurance policies. However, each of those potential customer groups have their own needs, their own insurance requirements, and their own languages—and there's not real way to target everyone at once.

The surprising thing for most business owners to learn is that the more specific you get about your target market, the more business you’ll attract. This can seem counter-intuitive—after all, you’ll have to stop targeting some businesses and markets that don’t fit your focus. But if you appear to be focused on the targeted needs of a very narrow client niche, you’ll have fewer competitors—and be seen as the expert in that area.

Check out some very important questions that you can ask yourself to help identify your own target audience.

Do you have a natural connection to a certain industry?
Maybe you worked in the IT industry for many years before starting your own insurance business. Why not specialize in selling life insurance products to employees of tech firms? Or maybe your spouse, sister, and father are all teachers—and you have strong connections that would help you market health insurance policies to school districts. The more specific you can be about the industry you specialize in, the more business you’ll have.

Does the cost of your products eliminate some customers?
Maybe you specialize in selling auto insurance policies to the luxury market—in that case, you shouldn’t target your marketing efforts to a broad consumer base. Your messaging and marketing should be aimed at high-income prospects with a clear interest in luxury cars. If your selling point is affordability, however, you may do better marketing to lower and middle-income prospects.

Is there a concentration of opportunity in your community?
For instance, does your town frequently appear on “Top Ten Places to Retire” lists in national magazines? If so, there are probably plenty of retirees in your area—and you could do well selling Long-Term Care insurance to a local market. If you have a big manufacturer in your area, find out what their insurance needs are—and see if you can make your offer more attractive than the current provider they’re using. Being local gives you an advantage in your community—if you can find the right areas to target.

Is there a group your competitors aren’t targeting? Research the type of marketing your competitors are doing—in your community and in the types of insurance you specialize in. Who are they targeting—and who are they not talking to? It’s possible that if your competitors are only targeting a certain segment of their market as an afterthought, you could have an opportunity to move in and attract their potential customers—by being the insurance agent who specializes in what they need. 

Insurance agents who can develop a highly-focused marketing plan targeting one specific, lucrative market are likely to do well. Do your research in determining the best way to position your business. Some agents have easy, natural connections to a certain industry—from a previous career or through family or professional relationships. Others may have to work a little harder to find the perfect market niche. But once you’ve identified yours, your business is likely to benefit from it.

This piece originally ran on Contactability.

The very best insurance agents know what it takes to sell insurance.  The best insurance agents and agencies achieve superior performance because they follow the 8 secrets below.  It doesn’t matter if you are an exclusive or an independent agent, as long as you follow these rules, you too can be a success selling auto and home insurance.  

1. Be aggressive in everything you do. 
Selling home and car insurance is hyper-competitive.  If you and your team are not going to be aggressive in your sales, managing your team and relentlessly pursuing of new policies, you will not succeed.  Being aggressive means having high energy everyday.  It means not accepting the status quo and trying new strategies to drive your sales.  Being aggressive means never accepting that things are “ good enough”.  Being aggressive means buying insurance leads and calls so that you and your agents have zero downtime during the day, evening and weekends.

2. Outwork the competition.
If you and your team do not get the sale, it is going to your competition.  To be successful, you and your team need to work smart and hard everyday.  Get up early, work relentlessly through the day and into the evening.  Consumers shopping for insurance have many more options than ever before, especially the most desirable ones.  If you don’t reach an auto insurance lead on the first attempt, try again, until you reach them, email them or even send them a text.  The days when insurance buyers had few options are gone forever.  Remember to follow-up, follow-up and follow-up again. 

3. Hire, delegate and hold accountable for results.
If your goal is to build a self-sustaining agency, that can out last any one individual, you need to hire staff, train, delegate and hold them accountable for achieving results.  You can not do it alone.  There is too much to do and too little time.  When you have the right people, in the right jobs, you will achieve your desired results.  Too many agency owners will hire their friends and/or family for open positions and then not hold them accountable for results.  Doing this is a mistake.  Set sales targets, revenue goals and relentlessly pursue them.

4. Focus on customer needs and wants.
Some agents try to “sell” a consumer what is best for them, rather than what is best for the customer.  They will try to “sell” the policy with the highest commission and what they believe will make them the most money.  This is shortsighted.  Consumers may buy because you “sold” them, but they won’t stick around.  You will make less money in the long run because they will switch agents the moment they find a better deal.  Always remember to focus on the consumer and that will be rewarded with more sales and longer retention.

5. Have a roadmap to where you are heading with your agency.
It is critical that you have individual, team and agency daily, weekly and monthly goals.  These goals should be for both new sales and retention.  You need to tie your compensation and rewards to achieving these goals.  Goals need to be adjusted from time to time and should be achievable, yet also something that you have to push yourself to achieve.  If you are over achieving your goals on a regular basis, the goal might be set too low.  If you are not achieving it, it might be too high or you might not be working hard enough.  Before lowering your goals, you should try harder to see if that makes a difference.

6. Invest in your sales.
How do the most successful agencies grow and make money?  They are not afraid to invest resources into performance based marketing.  They invest in programs that have direct measurable results.  They buy car and home insurance leads and calls from leads companies that pre-quality the consumer.  They know that relying on “referrals” or word of mouth, to grow your agency is like playing the lottery and hoping to win big.  Many insurance agents will reduce their marketing when sales are down, this is the opposite of what they should do.  When sales are down, agents should invest more in marketing, not less.  

7. Establish and foster partnerships.
There is nothing more important that establishing and building a strong relationship with your home and auto insurance lead and call supplier.  Many insurance agents approach their relationship with their lead company in an adversarial manner.  This is a mistake.  Insurance agents should build and nurture their leads supplier relationship to create a win-win situation.  When you have your lead company on your side and working for you, you will be more successful.  

8. Listen to your prospects, clients, employees and community.
​You do not know everything.  The more open you are to obtaining advice from successful people around you, the more successful you will be.  The insurance industry is very dynamic and you should be always looking for ways to work smarter and shamelessly copy those that are doing well.  
​

Michael McCormick isn't one to mince words. If you've been around the Soup brands for any amount of time, this probably isn't a surprise to you. So when it comes to his advice for a long-lasting, mentally, and emotionally healthy career in the insurance industry, he has a lot of great insights and he calls it like he sees it. 

"​Culture impacts production.

If you are in an Agency that is consistently toxic and negative you will not perform nearly as well as if you were in an Agency that is upbeat and positive. When you're weighed down by a bad environment your sales suffer. You are not as upbeat on the phone.

You are programmed to think you don't have a fair shot at the business because "our rates suck". You are less likely to try and cross sell because everyone is saying that no one buys anything.

You rarely smile and it can be heard in your voice.

You are shorter with your patience and temper.

We are lucky to happen to all be in an industry where a change of scenery is very easy to achieve as a producer. We are also lucky to own businesses where we can swap out a negative Nellie fairly quickly.

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was hiring someone who had carrier experience because I was super nervous about my lack of understanding of technology, systems, etc., that was SUPER toxic. She at one point had the entire office against me and early on was telling people that she should be the Agent because she knew more than I did.

Honestly, at that point she did.

But she created an environment that I allowed where basically the other team members were at her beck and call and served almost like assistants to her despite being commissioned producers themselves. All because I was nervous to lose my "closer" who understood the systems.

One day one of my other producers shared with me how much shit this woman was talking on me whenever I wasn't around. Funny enough, she talked shit on all the producers to me privately all the time and had me fooled into believing she "had my back".

As soon as I canned her, within 60 days my two other producers absorbed her production and we were doing more policies and premium with less people and payroll and everyone was happier.

Your culture impacts your production.

Don't let it go south and never let a crazy run the asylum.

Leave if you are in an agency that is suffocating you."

There you have it. Simply stated, don't let someone come into your house, get into your head, and disrupt the delicate balance of people you've got working toward a common goal. Your business is too important for you to risk it by being afraid to speak up. And if you feel you're in an agency where your voice isn't heard. Where you won't be able to thrive, make your exit. There's an agency for every producer, you just have to make sure all of the pieces are the best fit for you or your agency.