Insurance Marketing Tips, Overcoming Problems
There are numerous problems that act like a virus out of control. Insurance marketers contract the virus from fellow insurance marketing firms. This is done by following their death certain methods. 10 contagious virus situations are mentioned here. Also provided are tips leading to the cure. Curing one situation is not the answer, as other problems will bond together to keep you from reaching success.
10 INSURANCE MARKETING PROBLEMS with Planning Tips to Overcome Them
1. Quantity over Quality You must get this infectious parasite out of your brain. It could have been implanted when you were an insurance newbie, and you have not been able to shake it since. 100% of nothing is nothing, 0% of 500 is nothing, yet 70% of 5 is something. Cheap and quantity mean nothing. Cost should be considered only as an investment in yourself. Cheap means you do not think much of your abilities. Quality in insurance marketing has a reasonable cost and means best possible. A list of the best possible agents to target, the best prospecting methods, providing the best compensation contracts, and giving the best service.
2. Defined Recruiting Plan Fully 60% of insurance marketers inquiring about a list of prospective agents cannot answer questions they should know before calling. They try to move forward in their recruiting efforts without ever determining what their recruiting plan is. Not with a receptive attitude on what are the most effective methods in today's world. Items not yet determined include the geographic area, the exact type of product that will be offered, and how many brokers will be targeted. It continues with how many brokers are being planned to recruit, what recruiting method will be used, and will the brokers be independent or working at your office?
The typical questions and answers. "I'm just shopping around for my boss getting list prices." Another is "I want a list of agents that I personally can email" Something which does not exist. "What is your rate of deliverable mail?" The question should relate to contracting agents that produce goals, as that is the whole purpose of recruiting. A common request is "I am looking for a list of 100 agents that I can call." That is not even a partial baby step, you have to take smart risks to make smart money. Plenty of marketers think it is above their level to receive some advice. Soon after their names appear under the no longer insurance marketers' column.
3. Marketing Exaggeration Closely examine the following items. Emails sent out in mass by insurance marketers try to get instant response. An instant reaction is also the attempt of large ads in trade magazines either placed by insurance companies or marketing firms. Also, look at the direct mail messages sent to all agents to try to contract them to sell their products. 75% of the marketing firms and insurance companies think wrong. Some think the company brand name alone is enough to hire agents. Others commonly use exaggeration. Just show how easy it is to just aboard the cruise ship, or join the exotic company excursion. Or else virtually guarantee that an agent will be making money at the rate of $200,000 using their easy to implement system.
All of this is garbage to 90% of Potential Brokers. They do not want to change their current plan that it currently working for them. Especially if it requires taking a gigantic sudden risk without a safety net. However these same potential brokers are receptive to ideas that will boost their income, and even try new techniques if they feel assured of not slipping backwards. The insurance company name is irrelevant compared to the trust in the insurance marketer's ad and trust factor before signing a contract.
4. Lost Recruiting Money This should be stated as the stupid loss of money wasted by following 20-year-old marketing practices. In the past, close to 70% of the recruiting mailers were sent out using first class mail. The marketers thought it gave a better impression on its clients, and "bulk mail" could sometimes experience up to close to 30 days delay. Now it is time to get sensible. The postal service has wisely changed "bulk mail" to "standard mail". If you asked agents the difference between standard and first class mail, few could provide a distinctive answer. For you the correct answer is saving 40% by using standard mail. This could amount to thousands in the course of the year, even enough to a mailing at no cost. Make the decision. Does it really matter if your message arrives on Monday or on Friday?
5. Lights of the Big City Rarely does a brokerage operation set up its local headquarters in a small town or rural area. For example Chicago, Illinois is a "prime location" where Fenton, Michigan is "the unknown sticks". Due to laziness and marketing ineptitude this six state operation is going to spend 60% or more of its marketing budget on the metro Chicago area. Metro Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Green Bay are likely to get a good chunk of what is left. This is the same thing the next Regional Midwestern Competitor does, and so do the others. They are hammering the same group of potential brokers repeatedly over Mailboxes explode, phone lines burn out, and email boxes erupt to over capacity with all the "junk mail".
Can you help Me? This is the voice of the small town and rural agents. Few belong to the local association and less receive any of the insurance or financial trade publications. They do not few insurance offers are junk mail, as they do not get that many offers that appeal to them. Smart insurance marketers tend to find they tend to be the most loyal, and the easiest to write additional products that you may offer.
6. Worthless Agents Contracted These brokers can spread impotence to your entire agency force. There are too many insurance marketers with a dream. They think that as soon as they let the broker go, he will start writing cases with a competitor That is a risk you certainly can safely take. Take control, it is either produce or move on.
7. Eliminate Size A situation similar to above. You should know that the typical insurance marketing firm has within its ranks over 50% that have not submitted a single case. They keep them so they can advertise they have 500 brokers, when it might truly be 200. Save the bragging and the overhead. Your Integrity is a value your other producers will value.
8. Old Recruiting Methods Some 20-year-old marketing and recruiting methods are as useless as 20-year-old computers. Use trial and error or some good research by a reliable source to find out what will work best for you. If you should insist on personal telephone prospecting first look at the facts. Almost every broker has a cell phone used for business, buy cell phone numbers is illegal. Secondly, over 55% of home phones are on the do not call list. Last, calling the wrong person could result in an over $11,000 fine. You can also use common sense. Is your time worth closer to $80.00 per hour or $8.00 per hour?
9. Website Setup Your website is probably a beautiful castle in the sand showing no footprints leading in. You used a professional website designer, who has a job that does not include enticing visitor traffic. That requires a SEO - search engine optimization professional. Do want a pretty site or a website where brokers are calling you. Google is a rather ugly, plain vanilla looking site that sure knows how to make money. Buy visitors, or hire, or learn to be a SEO expert and receive Free traffic from quality brokers.
10. Writing A Sales Message If you attempted writing your sales messages, you probably took hints from what your competitors'' sales ads and pieces look like. Almost all of them were written entirely wrong. Do a little research on what steps your message must cover. The key secret should not be a secret. Tell the broker what your product can do to better serve clients and increase compensation. BOTH items. That tip alone, just put you ahead of the bulk of your competition.
Well published author, Don Yerke likes to concentrate on what you don't know or what no one else dares to print. Tell it like it is.
Watch for his new paperback book debuting on Amazon this spring. It is loaded with great insurance marketing and recruiting information.