2014 countdown to the New Year

It’s already started… As soon as September rolls around, all the Team Leaders and VPs feel compelled to remind us that it's Fourth Quarter, the year’s almost over, only 120 days to reach your 2013 goals, yada, yada, yada… 

I think it must be a secret, unwritten rule that we all have to remind each other what everyone already knows: Time marches on and, yes, this year is racing to a close.  

And while you may get sick of hearing all the “120 days til 2014” emails, the thing is, they’re right!  2013 is flying by, and with it, perhaps your hopes to accomplish some big things in your business.  

So if you feel like you’re running out of time and you still want to hit your goals and be PROUD when you look back on the year, the absolute best and quickest way to have an impact is by asking for referrals and cross-selling to your existing clients.

Here are the results of a survey of 'Top Producers,' who consistently earn $100,000 or more each year:
1.       Referrals from clients, and non-clients (and joint ventures) ....... 94.3%
2.       Contacting clients by phone, or in person (annual reviews)........ 73.9%
3.       Printed newsletter, mailed, or hand-delivered.......................  47.3%
4.       Seminars, educational workshops, teaching classes.................. 43.3%
5.       Participation in organizations of clients (church, scouts).........   38.0%
6.       Speeches, talks to civic, trade, select groups........................ 31.0%
7.       Electronic newsletter, faxed, e-mailed, etc........................... 29.8%
8.       Website focusing on you, and your business......................... 27.8%
9.       Writing articles for newspapers, magazines.........................  27.8%
10.   Professional public relations (hire a media consultant) ............  22.9%
11.   Cold e-mailing, faxing, mailing brochures, etc.....................   21.6%
12.   Cold calling, by phone, or in person....................................18.4%
13.   Directory listings..............................................................18.4%
14.   Working with the media.....................................................18.4%
15.   Advertising in newspapers, magazines................................. 14.7%

Bottom line:  It’s September, do you know where you are on your 2013 goals?  Get help and get going using one or more of the options above.  The clock is counting down…

To your success,

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!

 

 

The Rules of Direct Response Marketing

This marketing strategy is all about direct response marketing. If you don’t know what direct response marketing is, I’ll explain.

Direct response marketing can be a classified ad, an editorial, an article, a letter (piece of mail), a radio or TV commercail, an e-mail campaign or an insert that simply gets the readers/viewers/listeners to react or respond to your copy and/or dialogue.

One of the more popular direct response initiatives in place today is where the call-to-action (at the end of the letter, video, e-mail, commercial, etc.) asks the prospect to respond (in some way) in order to receive a free report. That is direct response marketing. And, it doesn’t have to be a free report; it could be a free-recorded message a free gift, free consultation, etc.

Direct response marketing can be VERY effective. But, it can be costly as well. There are two sides to direct response marketing. The front end is getting the prospect to respond by either calling your phone number, going to your website, filling out a form, etc. The back-end is the follow-up that takes place when a person responds to your ad. If they buy from you, you have achieved your goal. But what if the process stops halfway there, and the person who responded to your ad does not become a paying client/customer? You need to have systems in place (like a series of autoresponders) that gently take that “lead” to the center of your web where they can “buy” from you. That situation requires consistent follow-up, whether it be e-mails, phone calls and/or a series of direct mail letters.

Here’s the rule: You don’t stop sending them direct e-mail or snail-mail pieces until they die, move, hire you or tell you to stop sending those particular mailings. Can it be annoying? Yes. Can it be incredibly effective? Yes. Make sure the copy on your direct e-mail or mail pieces doesn’t make you look desperate, cheap or questionable. Offer valuable information that helps them in some way so they get to know, like and trust you.

That is how you get another 20-25% of those prospects who did not initially convert to a sale, to take action and become a paying client or customer!

To Your Success,

Two Ways To Sell Life Insurance To Existing Clients

Last month month we scheduled a discussion about annual goals and building Sales from your current book. If we didn't meet, you still have time before August 1st.

Today I want to talk about life insurance in particular. This is an area that causes a lot of stress for many insurance agents. Typically because it’s part of your annual requirements but not part of your regular activity. There is always a rush toward the end of the year to make sure you’ve hit the required target.

Well here are two ways you can begin to market life insurance right NOW to existing clients without breaking the bank.

First, take a look at your current commercial clients. Businesses typically have life insurance needs that they don’t even recognize! You can step in and educate your clients on where they may have gaps.

If a business is highly dependent on a few people, then they need to carry life insurance on those employees or owners.

I like up to warm up potential customers with a letter first and then make a phone call to follow up. Send a letter to each commercial client asking to set up an appointment to review their needs while explaining the basics of key man life insurance.

These people are already your clients so they are expecting you to review their needs regularly and provide advice.

You can also quote an option to provide basic term coverage to all of their existing employees. Contact a local CPA and find out the specifics on how they might be able to turn that employee benefit into a tax deduction to really get their attention.

Depending on your commercial book, this could take you a week or six months to actually follow up on. Run a list now and break down a plan to get started.

Next you want to create a firm process to get ALL of your clients some life insurance, not just the businesses.

One of the best ways to do this is with a simple birthday campaign.

We all know that term rates go up with each birthday. This means that clients can lock in a lower rate if they purchase before their next birthday arrives. Who doesn’t love a cheaper price, right?

So your goal is to send a postcard to every client about 30 days before their next birthday letting them know about the savings. You can make this even better if you run an actual quote and let them know what they would pay to start the policy.

Then, as always, follow up! Make a phone call a few days after the card arrived to see if they have questions or would like to setup an appointment. Remember, most people don’t know that much about life insurance. They need a clear understanding of what it is and WHY they need it. Make that part of your postcard and your follow up.

All good marketing benefits from deadlines. When you buy a car, you HAVE to get insurance immediately. When you are closing on a house, you need the coverage done by the closing date. Life insurance doesn’t have these deadlines, so people put it off. By telling people that they will get a cheaper price before their birthday, you put urgency in the decision and can close the prospect quickly.

These are just two ideas for generating more life insurance sales on a consistent basis. Try them out!