In response to COVID-19, a number of agencies have revised how they conduct day-to-day operations. As a result of the pandemic, now, the insurance industry is better positioned to deal with its effects. When their customers need protection the most, insurance companies and agencies are there to help. A major key to agencies' future success is how they respond to a shifting consumer market. Check out our tips below!
1. GIVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES A REVAMP Make your marketing plan for the near future more effective by focusing on investments that are cost-effective for attracting new customers through digital channels. Align your marketing tactics to the goal you want to achieve for each component of your plan: YOUR WEBSITE, YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR EMAIL MARKETING. 2. STOCKPILE SALES DIGITALLY More social distancing requirements and fewer attendees are going to be part of events in the future. When large direct insurers conduct online research, they spend massive sums of money on finding customers. In order to ensure that these potential customers find their way into agencies that can meet a wider range of their demands, agencies can select specific geographies and use affordable digital marketing techniques. 3. BE AS ACCESSIBLE AS POSSIBLE Check your website's ranking on search engines like Google to ensure people can find it. Once they are there, they can be easily guided into a virtual selling path that results in a new customer. Filling out as many Google My Business fields as possible can have a significant impact even before customers reach your site. 4. CHANGE HOW YOU QUOTE AND SERVE For agencies to become a digital powerhouse, they should find new ways to digitize, thereby saving both time and resources. To achieve this, your website should have quoting capabilities and binding options, in addition to internal resources to quickly turn around quotes and send them to customers. 5. SWITCH UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY Using social media content as a marketing tool is crucial. The ability to consistently post social media content that is relevant to your customers and referral sources and unique to your local community can show dependability and expertise. The insights you provide will become increasingly important to your audience. 6. GET PERSONAL Insurers can stand out from the crowd by personalizing their virtual communications. Virtual relationship building, leading to mastery of video conferencing and a consultative approach to fear-driven customers, can only be accomplished by those who leverage advanced social media techniques, virtual appointment setting, and a consultative approach to building relationships. Marketers and sellers will have to adapt to new ways of doing business, both in the short and long run as some behaviors will stick after the pandemic. It will be difficult for people to come into the office or to let producers into their homes. They may limit meetups to coffee shops and restaurants, and may shun in-person events used by many agencies to reach new clients. This means that the use of digital and virtual tools will be extremely beneficial to agents everywhere.
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Are YOU, the Agent, giving our industry a bad name?
Did you know that you don't have to be? By and large the people in this industry doing the most damage to the industry are the ones struggling to find a competitive advantage without undercutting price by reducing coverages or playing with underwriting. I get it. There is a natural standoff between a carrier who is making it very difficult to compete in a marketplace and the Agent who has that appointment and not many, possibly zero, other carriers to place an opportunity. It's unspoken, but it's happening in thousands of offices across the country, both captive and independent. And once an Agent, Agency, or producer has sold themselves on the idea that this carrier is no longer looking to be competitive. They begin to "do what they have to do" to force those square pegs into the round holes. Gotta hit the numbers. Gotta make a contract. Gotta be a Leaderboard Larry! And what happens next is the Agent, Agency, producer, reduces miles driven. Hands out discounts that prospects do not deserve. Baits and switches coverages. Straight up never discloses coverage with a driver believing they are getting the ever so weakly sold "apples to apples" policy for a cheaper rate, that was not really apples to apples. Did you know that rather than doing all these different things that give our industry a horrible reputation, makes consumers leery of what they're being told and sold and further waters down an industry that requires licensed salespeople while allowing an ignorant public to purchase it without us, you could...just...add carriers? (And if you can't, you can... you just need to get out of your sucker contract and victim mentality.) Take a sales course and work on value selling. Role play religiously until every objection has a strong way around it. Leave the industry and go find a job that you do not feel requires your dishonesty for success. Take a pay cut and be honest with people. Go from Agent taking on all the financial risk to producer at a local independent where you are just responsible for your own production. And on and on we go.... But you are NOT being forced to cheat to win in this industry. You are CHOOSING to cheat to win and it WILL catch up with you. In an audit. In attrition. In rewrites. In premium hikes. Discounts being removed. And ALLLLLLL of THOSE things require your TIME to try and SAVE and FIX. So congrats on that new business you picked up. In 12-18 months that policy will be the reason you are not calling the new prospect. It will be the reason that that NEW household you booked just replaced the one that left earlier today. It WILL be the reason that a carrier ultimately pulls an appointment with you when it's whatever magic number they have for your consistent violation of their underwriting guidelines. And it WILL be the reason you are not moving forward tomorrow because you had to be slick today. Now you're trying to save accounts. You're trying to figure out charge backs. You're trying to explain broken promises to angry people. And you're trying like hell to protect your E&O. You do not have to be giving our industry a bad name to survive. There are many alternatives. Don't be that Agent or Agency creating stereotypes for all of us to deal with down the road. Be the Agent who is working on themselves to do this the right way. Or the Agent who can be honest enough with themselves that this isn't for them. Dont keep mucking this great industry up for the people out here honestly trying to help their communities because you were too scared to tell your spouse that you have to go back to managing the diner or finishing your degree. There is honor and fulfillment, and YES, even big money to all chosen career paths, when done with integrity, passion, and a love for who you serve. Super Important Announcement - kindly give this long post a read! This is our largest announcement in here in 3 years. It’s a long one but it's about an evolution in Insurance Soup and one of our core offers.
We decided in May to begin retiring Career Agent Concept. After 4 renditions of the master course in 7 years (2 versions we hosted live, 2 recorded and digital versions, 4 mini courses, 4500+ Agents helped and several million in annual recurring revenue) we decided that the time had come to begin to wind the program down. But WHY? That’s CRAZY! From a business owner perspective, the idea of taking a business with 93% margins that is doing north of 7 figures in recurring revenue that by and large has no real problems and shutting it down IS NUTS. Well, if there is one thing I think we can all agree on it's that we at Insurance Soup do not sit still for very long or for very well. Despite the success we have had with Career Agent Concepts and the success we've provided Agents with Career Agent Concepts, we decided it was not enough. While Career Agent Concepts was great for what it was and allowed us to share our talents and gifts with you, and allowed for many of you to develop, we had an epiphany a few months back. While it was the best we had, it was NOT the best we could BRING to you. And while it WAS the best we could bring to you the first few years, we developed something the last few years we did not have when we started…. FRIENDSHIPS and RELATIONSHIPS with SO MANY of YOU. And SO MANY OF YOU are talented in different areas of Agency. Generating leads is sexy. Crushing sales is sexy. Those are the elements of Agent life that get all the shine on social. But as we all know there is so so so much more involved to have an Agency that crushes and that is why we decided to hang up the guru model and roll out The Collective Agency Council. The Collective Agency Council is the first and ONLY comprehensive Agency Mastermind that is run by the leaders of Soup but features SO many of the amazing thoughts, presentations, ideas, and strategies that YOU GUYS have. [Ok, sounds cool dude… but tell me more.] Ok, imaginary person I used to move this post along, I will! So, EVERYTHING Career Agent Concepts - the program we have won industry awards for over the years - is in there and more of it. You WILL have a TON of ads that thump and generate exclusive, targeted, and inexpensive opportunity. You WILL have templated automation strategies you can copy/paste/import into your own tool or have available for you already built out if you use ours. You WILL have the ability to go out and earn as many referral partners as you want. And you WILL have 24/7/365 support in a group just like the one Career Agent Concepts clients have all used so heavily over the last several years. BUT NOW… Career Agent Concepts will only be ONE ROOM in a HOUSE full of ALL THINGS INSURANCE. [Ok nice, but tell me how Mr Wordy Soup Admin guy.] Ok, I’ll get into it. The Collective Agency Council is now tackling ALL THINGS AGENCY - including but not limited to: *Opening an Agency *Business Plans *Hiring and Firing *Agency Culture *Sales *Systems and Processes *Referrals *Reviews *Client Journeys and Roadmaps *Managing a Team *Comp Plans *Agency Culture *Content Production *Marketing * General Business Lessons *Time Management, Risk Evaluation, and *Buying and Selling an Agency *Things your Accountant should be doing *Forms *New Employee Training AND MORE Not only are we talking, teaching, and discussing all things Agency, We are PAYING YOU to get INVOLVED. [WHAT?] Being a member of The Collective, we will PAY YOU to share your best practices. No typos there. Not only are we PAYING you to step up and share the goods, we are giving you opportunities to step up and BECOME a leader on social amongst peers in certain areas of Agency. Some of what we do is NOT fun and NOT sexy, but there ARE things that swing the financial meter tremendously if you are doing it right (or wrong) and leaders WILL emerge that can help you avoid problems in your business that would cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in your business. It will serve as an incubator for up and coming vocal Agents to strut their stuff and teach and share what is working and why. It will serve to EXPOSE Agents that SHOULD already been sharing more. Sadly, it has also exposed to us a handful of Agents that should probably also be giving advice out way LESS. But we know who they are now too. Entering the Collective you are required to fill out a 50+ question application that digs into your experience and your Agency. It is very self reflective and reveals a lot. We learn where you feel you're good and where you feel you suck. It allows us to introduce you to Agents good where you're bad to start networking. It allows us to see trends in data that should be talked about. Case in point – did you know that almost 100% of ALL AGENTS in CAC doing north of 60k in personal production a month are NOT in networking groups? Did you know that 30% of Agents think they staying even in their business but are in fact quietly eroding and are unaware of it? We know. The data we've been acquiring learning more about y'all is drawing these types of storylines to discuss out. So we are able to help point you to who can help you and can put YOU in a position where you can help others in an area YOU feel confident in. [Ok cool Mr. Fancy-Talking internet dude, but I want the gurus too.] Well were still bringing you the gurus. We are all coming back and doing our thing within the Collective, but we are bringing more with us. We have a lineup of coaches, presenters, and speakers that you are all familiar with that we will be announcing in the coming weeks. Names that are all already on stages speaking, presenting, and bringing audiences to their feet all over the country. Not RAH RAH speakers either. Speakers who will set you up with actionable advice to grow your business. Names in P&C, commercial, Life, and Health. Oh you want webinars and workshops and all of that kind of stuff? How's 2-3 a week with the plan to have 1 a day, every day within 6 months? That’s right. If you geek out on insurance you will have a workshop a day that you'll have the ability to attend - all recorded just in case you missed it. Like to read books? We're launching a book club where we will be reading books on personal and career development and discussing them with our "readers are leaders" crowd. OH AND... last but certainly not least... LIVE EVENTS. SIX per year. Our intention starting in 2022 is to be within driving distance of all of you at least once per year for a 3 day workshop where we come and hang and break bread and network and deep dive into deployable strategies. Best of all? We are STARTING the Collective at OLD Career Agent Concept prices and MOST already say the value of Career Agent Concepts far exceeded the cost, and almost everyone is ROI positive many times over. The Collective Agency Council begins on September 1st. Oh yeah, did we mention your entire Agency is welcome? Not just you the Agent, anymore. If you want your people learning, they'll be sitting at an all you can eat Insurance buffet. Maybe you have seen our cryptic posts about it. Well, here's our big reveal! September 1st. The first year will be the most fun for sure. Always is. It is when new leaders emerge. It is when we go over all the material live with you guys for the first time and in this particular rendition of CAC, the Collective, the first year Is when more than a handful of Agents will establish themselves as experts in areas of Agency that are super important but often not given shine on social media because its not as sexy. Retention is important. Culture is important. Making good hires is important, but because it doesn’t carry the sexy factor that lead generation does, those agents haven’t been able to be seen for the badasses they are…until now. We are running info sessions out the next 2 and a half weeks very frequently. We already have over 1000 Agents joined to launch. The vision is beyond huge. The impact we make will be far greater. Schedule yourself NOW to learn more about The Collective Agency Council… launching 9/1 only here in Insurance Soup. We are super excited to bring this innovation to you. It’s a special one. We can help you get better. No matter in what are of your Agency you are weak. Why? The Collective knowledge. The Collective experience. The Collective leadership. SEPTEMBER 1ST. After losing her CSR, Kristin Weaver from Weaver Group Insurance Agency in Michigan, needed a way to free up some of the daily workload for her already overworked staff. After using AE for less than one month, she and her staff were able to drum up 50 quotes from an aged lead campaign. Watch the full video below to see what she has to say about how AE has helped change her office culture by creating a happy staff in this difficult hiring time and click here to learn more about AE! This piece originally ran on OutboundEngine.com.
For busy insurance agents, client meetings, researching plan options, setting up calls and more take up a lot of time. Countless apps exist to help meet the need to make the most of every hour in the day. We’ve narrowed down the field to a handful of time-saving apps for busy insurance agentsto be more productive both on the job and in your time away from the office. 1. Stay in the Know When you have a few minutes between meetings or while waiting for an appointment, we’ve all scrolled through the news and found articles we want to read but don’t have time yet. If that sounds familiar, then this handy time-saving app is just for you. Pocket allows you to save articles, videos, and recipes you find when browsing the internet or reading Twitter and come back to them with you have time to read. Bonus Tip: you don’t need an internet connection to read what you’ve put into Pocket. Perfect for reading while traveling or during a flight! 2. Make a Better To-Do List Wunderlist helps organize and execute your to-do list. Share your lists with others, set due dates and reminders, and access your lists across multiple devices and operating systems. Whether you’re planning a vacation, shopping for a party, or throwing an event, Wunderlist can help you with your professional and personal projects. 3. Improve Work/Life Balance Having a busy schedule means your personal and work life can feel unbalanced. Whether it’s a trip that needs to get booked, or you can’t seem to find a calendaring system that works for you, Zirtual can help you find a virtual assistant. Virtual Assistants, or VAs, are all detail-oriented and highly trained individuals who undergo a multi-step vetting process to ensure they meet the Zirtual standards. 4. Keep Your Files Organized Depending on where your client meetings take place, you may not always have access to typical office equipment. The Dropbox app allows you to access all of your files--photos, spreadsheets, videos, etc., from any device. You can also control edit access, ensuring that files you share can’t be accidentally changed. You can share files with anyone, even if they don’t use Dropbox. Bonus Tip: Dropbox is an excellent way to share large files that you have trouble sending over email. 5. Send a Thank You It’s hard to beat a hand-written thank you note. Your clients will be touched that you took the time to personally send them a message after your business transaction has completed. This seemingly simple gesture can be more time consuming than it appears. Do you have cards, envelopes, and stamps? If you don’t have the necessary supplies at hand, the easy thank you card starts looking like a major pain. The time-saving app Felt wants to bridge the gap. Felt offers countless design options, including using your own photos, handwriting a message or drawing a doodle. Then they’ll seal it, stamp it, and send it. 6. Automate Your Marketing Writing and sending email newsletters, posting content on social media, gathering referrals, and tracking engagement are just a few pieces that go into completing a marketing strategy. OutboundEngine saves time by doing all of these tasks and more for your business. It helps busy insurance agents save time and keep their names top of mind with their networks. See how OutboundEngine can help you by scheduling your free demo. Insurance agents doing business in the 2020s have much to be thankful for when it comes to technology. Automated marketing, online claims processing and social media networking are just a few of the innovations that are making what agents do easier. And while all of these technological advances are saving time and increasing accessibility, there's always the question of "Does easier mean better?' Maybe not always.
If you're finding yourself in a selling rut despite all the shortcuts that have been made available to you, maybe it's time to bring it back to basics. That's right. We're talking about going old school and taking it to the streets, door by door by door. Below are a few tips that could make switching up your sales game by visiting homes and introducing yourself to prospects in your community a success. Check them out! DO YOUR RESEARCH Before you even step out into the light of day, you've got research to do. In order to give yourself the best shot at success on the streets, you want to know where your demographic target is based on your products. Are you going to hit up businesses or are you going to go into residential areas? Are you well-versed on the challenges affecting people in the areas you plan to visit? All of these things need to be considered before you start knocking on doors or you're walking out without a viable sales strategy. MAKE A PLAN Once you've identified your target demo and the areas you plan to hit, it's time to decide what your goals are and how you plan to hit them. Industry averages suggest that you'll sell 1 in every 40 doors you knock on but that won't always be the case depending on where you live, time of day and the amount of and quality of the research you've done beforehand. PRACTICE YOUR PITCH The door-to-door game is a tough one in 2021 since most people will hide under their beds when there's a knock on the door these days. This is why being prepared for rejections right out of the gate and having a strong plan to deal with them is vital to your success. Be sure to include some trial closes in your pitch so that you can get a sense of whether or not your prospect is interested at all. Be sure you're coming across friendly, genuinely and non-threatening from the word HELLO. MIND YOUR Ps & Qs In order to get your prospect to keep the door open, you're going to need to make them see that you're trustworthy and that you're offering a service that they can benefit from. Be sure to break the ice by using your first name, talking about the neighborhood and being forthcoming. No one wants to feel like they're being worked. Build trust by leaving space between you and the customer and listening to their answers to whatever questions you're asking. IF THE DOOR'S STILL OPEN... If you've managed to actually begin a conversation with a prospect, the finesse is about to REALLY get real. Begin asking the questions you've deemed most important in your research. Is this prospect in need of your product? Are they willing to work with you or do they already have a contact? If so, are they willing to explore your product to see if it's better than what they're currently using. CLOSING At this point, if the door is still open, you should be well into the pitch you've prepared. If possible, offer a range of prices and services so that you can meet any level of need that might appeal to the prospect. Prospects need to know that they'll have options and won't be tied to a single product if they decide to work with you. If the client seems interested but not ready to buy, be sure to get all of the relevant information so that you can circle back with them at a later date. Door-to-door selling may seem like an outdated practice for the insurance salespeople from another generation, but that doesn't mean it didn't work at one time. You may meet someone who prefers to do business face to face or someone who is greatly in need, but doesn't have access to the technology they'd need to reach you otherwise. If you're heading out to knock on doors, remember to be prepared, be careful and be courteous and you just might be surprised what going old school could do for you. When you reach the top of your game, you may feel like it's time to take a step back, relax, take longer lunches, maybe hit the golf course a couple times a week. And yes, there is a lot to be said for being able to hire effectively and to delegate to your staff, but being present for your employees and making sure that they understand that you're willing to work as hard as they are sends a strong message.
Mike shared some thoughts on this a while back when he had some work done on his house. See what he had to say below. "I bought a new house last November. If you know me, you know I am financially pretty conservative with my money and generally make moves long after most would say “it’s ok” to do something. We bought a fixer upper but tripled our square footage, picked up a pool, cul de sac, basement, the kids all have their own rooms, and a couple of other nice things we didn’t have before. That said the house and yard are in need of work. Stress and anxiety for my wife. A blank canvas with endless possibilities for me but that's a mindset conversation for another day. We’ve been hiring contractors and crews for all sorts of jobs and I currently have a landscaping company I am in love with doing some pretty major work in my backyard. I LOVE the owner of this company. Guy's name is Olvin. Olvin reminds me of another owner of another company I worked with recently, Pete of PK Tree Removal. Why do I love these two and their companies? Besides accountability, which many companies and people don’t have these days, the owners both WORK the jobs. Pete from the tree removal company is in his 50s. Olvin is in his 40s. Both are very established. Both have the crews, vehicles, equipment, machines and reputation. Neither owner HAS TO work but they both do and as a result... their PEOPLE work SO MUCH HARDER. Olvin yesterday, on a 93 degree day, is drenched in sweat yelling at a guy for moving too slow. “I’m the owner of this company. I am up before you, working after you and I have a million things going on in my head about all of this. You? I just need you to spread the top soil. If I can be loading the Bobcat and pulling limbs and trunks out of here while thinking about 1000 other things you can spread top soil. I know it’s hot” And the guy just got back to work. But ALLLLLL the guys on both their crews work way harder than almost any other company I’ve hired to do similar and I believe the reason to be because the owner is not above it all. He’s not too good for it. And while they may not be at every job every day, the workers understand that the boss cares. Busts his ass. Is there. Around. Present. Involved. If you’re wondering why you’re production isn’t where it needs to be and you’re not really around all that much... understand the tone it sets for your team. I’m not saying that you shouldn't enjoy the fruits of your labor if you’ve reached the promised land, but don’t forget to let your people see and know why and how the agency exists. When they see you taking it seriously, you'll get a lot more of them to take your Agency and their jobs seriously." |
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