FREE Labor This Weekend!

Car manufacturers and car dealers are all gearing up for the big Holiday Weekend.  It's the end of the model year and new models are hitting showroom floors and local car dealers across the country.     Offers for manufacturers rebates, dealer incentives, zero percent financing and other "creative" marketing incentives litter your local newspaper, TV and radio airwaves as well as Internet sites.   Car companies and their dealers are all looking to gain an advantage on their competition this weekend because they know the Labor Day Weekend is traditionally one of their biggest weekends of the year.    Stop by any car dealer this weekend and you are likely to see a flurry of activity.  With all of the activity, I have to wonder what you the local insurance agent/agency are doing to gear up for the Holiday Weekend and all of the activity.    Your current customers could be adding vehicles this weekend.  They might also be trading in an older car for a new model.   Do these customers of yours know they can call your Agency this weekend to add the vehicle or provide information on their trade-in, or will some wait until Tuesday morning to report their new purchase to you.    How about those people from your market area that are NOT currently insured with you.  When they buy a new car this weekend, who will the car dealer call to secure coverage or confirm coverage?    For most of you, the answer to that question is....someone else!    I know because my sister recently purchased a car over a weekend and told her car salesperson she had State Farm.  He responded by saying he would have to wait until Monday to verify coverage because her company " was not open on the weekend."     Allstate, Farmers, and State Farm Agents....the world thinks you are closed on the weekend.  While you and I know you have after hours service to provide customer service and quote and bind coverage...the general public still thinks of you as being closed after hours and over weekends.   Don't believe me?  Take a look at your call statistics.  What percentage of incoming calls to your Agency are placed between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. as compared to the percentage of calls placed between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. It is not even close....your customers are calling during "normal business hours."    Car Dealers also think you are closed after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends.  This is unfortunate considering most cars are purchased after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends.   Especially on Holiday Weekends such as the upcoming Labor Day Weekend.    Here's something you can do to change that thinking.   This Thursday and Friday night, buy a pizza and hand deliver it to your local car dealer(s).  On the box top (inside or out) tape a simple flyer reminding dealers that you are open and available to quote and bind coverage this holiday weekend.   Tape some business cards to the outside of the box as well.      Don't be shy about this activity.  Consider delivering a pizza to every car dealer in your community.  Heck, why not deliver a pizza to every car dealer in your county.    I can bet you this....the other insurance agents in your community and county won't think of this idea.    So here we go.  Another Labor Day weekend quickly approaching.  Some of you will close at 5:00 p.m. and some of you already scheduled the entire weekend as vacation or might even close earlier for the "holiday."  Some of you will come to work on Tuesday and be surprised to see one quote and bind from the weekend.   Others wouldn't be surprised if they did not receive any quote and bind notices from the weekend, OR...    ...you can proactively visit car dealers before the weekend (and for lunch on Saturday) to remind them that you are OPEN this weekend and AVAILABLE to quote and bind coverage for their customers.     When local car dealers call you after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends to quote and bind coverage...it's like receiving FREE LABOR this holiday weekend.   Even if you do not receive any quote and binds from this coverage, this simple activity will keep your name and your Agency in front of car dealers in your community....and that's always a good thing!

Fall Life & Year-End - The early bird gets the PRIZE!

Agents and Team Members across our organization are gearing up for Fall Life with the hopes of qualifying for neat incentives or to jump start Life Production with the hopes of finishing the year strong.     For those who are "gearing up," why wait?  For those of you who are "hoping" to qualify for neat incentives or to jump start production for year end, why hope?     NOW is the time to start setting appointments for the Fall Life Promotion and for year-end.   The agent or team member who starts NOW is more likely to qualify then the Agent or Team Member who waits for September 1st to roll around.  Let's not even talk about the agent who waits until November and December  :0 Yeah, you may qualify, but do you really want the stress that comes along with it.    If you are serious about the Fall Life Campaign and about finishing the Life year STRONG....you are welcome to schedule a Life Review Coaching Call with me at your leisure.  With thirty years of experience, I will be happy to share BEST PRACTICES with you for selling Life Insurance.  I have easily transferable action plans that will enable you to immediately start selling Life Insurance to: People who already have Life Insurance; Old People; Young People; Mom's; and Homeowner's I can even show you how to sell Life Insurance to people:  who "have it at work"; don't have any money; don't have time to meet with you; and those who have been told by Dave Ramsey that Whole Life Insurance s%$#*! To schedule a "Life Review" to get Life Insurance jump started for your book of business (BOB), or for some extra training for existing Team Members, please contact me today because as the saying goes...the early bird gets the worm!  Click Here to Schedule a Life Review Session

How To Send Your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign For FREE!

This is a marketing idea that I refer to as the “Group Direct Mail Marketing Campaign.”

We all know direct mail can work if it’s sent to the right target demographic (your buying public), and if it’s done consistently. And, every business owner would love to send their direct mail campaigns for free, but that’s impossible, right? Wrong!

Here’s how: You approach 9 other vendors, businesses, companies, corporations, professionals, etc., and see if they’d like to be involved in a group direct mail marketing campaign. The perks of working with you is that you are going to take care of everything – the printing, the entire direct mail effort, etc., and it is much cheaper than a traditional direct mail effort because the cost of the effort is divided amongst the group of 9 business owners. (More on this in a minute as your direct mail piece will not cost you anything.)

This is similar to a value pak envelope if you are familiar with Value Pak. However, your envelope is bigger (usually 2-sided, 8.5″ X 11″ inserts) and it’s your own targeted direct mail marketing piece that rides along with 9 other vendors, professionals, business-owners, companies, corporations, etc.,

Here’s how it works. Once you pitch 9 other businesses, companies, corporations, people, etc., to see if they would like to be part of your direct mail campaign, and they say “Yes, I’m in”, tell them exactly how many people and to what specific zip codes and demographics you are going to be sending your package to. For example, let’s say you’re sending out 40,000 pieces in 5 zip codes. You figure out the price ahead of time. Then divide that total price by 9 – NOT 10 – so that the other 9 businesses split the entire cost of the mailing.

So, if it’s going to cost you $10,000 to send out 40,000 pieces, divide that by 9 rather than by 10, so that 9 people actually pay for the cost of having 10 pieces sent out. After all, you did organize, coordinate and facilitate the entire direct mail campaign.

This is an incredibly effective marketing idea and a win-win for everyone involved. It’s so inexpensive when you divide that total cost by 9 businesses – they’ll never know that they’re paying for you. Your piece gets to “ride for free” for as many direct mail initiatives or campaigns as you send out. It’s a fantastic way to test your direct mail pieces with absolutely no financial risk!

To Your Success,

Life Insurance Awareness Month Is Approaching

One thing I talk about a lot is creating marketing “campaigns.” Rather than just throwing an ad out, we want to target your market and hit them over and over (and over again) with one simple message in several different formats.

Lots of times, I’ll recommend that you send a postcard and then follow up with a phone call and then an email reminder. Same message, but different formats. This works for new prospects, cross selling home insurance, and even life insurance.

And when professional marketing campaigns just fall from the sky, ready for you to use? Then you should use them!

That’s why I love the materials available at LifeHappens.org for Life Insurance Awareness Month. Every September, LIAM is marketed across major TV networks and print magazines. So why not put those same tools to use for your book of business (BOB) and take advantage of that national marketing?

By using LIAM’s free Producer e-kit, you get tons of life insurance marketing materials. (Here is the link for all of the campaign materials.) There are printable flyers, Q&A documents you can use, videos, and logos. 

If you plan on promoting life insurance this fall, then I believe this is a great resource to help us create great marketing materials!