If you read the FREE E-book provided by InsuranceMarketingMavericks.com then you already know what the number one marketing sin is. And if you have not read the FREE E-book titled “How To Generate An Endless Supply Of Hot Qualified Leads” the question is: Why not?

Are you committing the number one marketing sin?

But let’s say you are among the thousands of smart insurance agents who’ll read this amazing resource and you already know what the number one sin is, but you’re unsure of how to NOT commit this sin…. then let me give you a quick marketing ’short cut’ that is easy to implement and guaranteed to work.

You can research this method everyday without exerting any effort at all. What am I talking about?

I’m talking about ‘The News’.

Remember this: Your marketing headlines should be ‘news worthy’.

In other words, we’ve identified several patterns or formulas that are used by the news broadcasters that tend to ‘pull you in’ to want to hear what the news broadcaster will be saying. And as you watch the news or read the news you should be able to see these patterns and start to apply them in your agency’s marketing strategies.

So here I will discuss one of the several strategies that we’ve identified as being very effective.

First, I will admit, that a lot of news is sensationalism and gloom and doom. But also, there are a lot of stories that are not gloom and doom.

In fact, we all love stories. Stories of victory… overcoming odds….etc…

And to further illustrate this fact, take a look at some the all time top selling books out there and you’ll see ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ on all of those lists. And if you’ve never read any of these great books then you would not know that these books are simply a collection of stories!

So how can an insurance agent apply this principle to accomplish the goal of growing an agency?

It’s easy.

You probably know of a family or a person in your current book of business that has a ‘human interest’ story that is intriguing. Just watch the news for ideas and you’ll be able to follow how to do the story, but what you do is feature this client’s story in your newsletter or in a marketing campaign and keep this in mind…you do NOT have to talk about how a product you provided to your client actually helped them in their situation…if you can and it did then that is great, but if you can’t but it is a compelling and fascinating story you will still get business from this strategy.

So if your product or services aided the person in their situation then that is a no brainer as far as how this can help grow your business. But even if your service or product did not aid them- what will inevitably happen is other clients will want to be featured too. And of course you will solicit them for this chance to be featured.

Now this is creating ‘glue’ for your clients to stick. Plus, they will refer people to you because they will feel a stronger bond because of the sincere compliment of featuring them.

So a human interest news story in your agency is a great way to attach yourself to your current clients and build a powerful referral network.

Another great news story is to feature News about a business that you may have in your agency. Possibly a milestone for that business…an anniversary…whatever you select and you can tell the story of how they became business owners etc. Plus, hopefully you could get the business owner to provide a special offer for your clients since you are featuring them. This adds more glue to make your client’s stick and who knows…it could possibly lead to the business owner endorsing you as an insurance agent to all of their customers too.

So once again, creating news can actually create business!

Licensed and Lethal,

007

High Gas Prices Driving Insurance Sales Higher

If you saw this headline…”High Gas Prices Driving Insurance Sales Higher”…would you read the story?

If you said “No” go ahead and stop reading right now, because you lack integrity and if you’ll “Fib” about other things too and we’d rather deal with people of integrity. J

But if you answered “Yes”…then let me ask you a question. Why would you read it?

Now, let’s admit that there are a number of answers, but the most common answers will include the fact that High gas prices and Insurance sales are topics that are currently on your mind…right?

So here is where this is going.

A key marketing principle that you must be incorporating into your marketing messages is what was described by one of the “great old timers” in marketing and that is this. “You must enter the conversation that is already going on in their mind”.

So to apply that principle to the headline “High Gas Prices Driving Insurance Sales Higher” and it becomes very clear. So now the next question becomes how is it that you can continually apply this principle today and into the future?

As of the time that this entry was created the price of gasoline is spiraling upward at an unprecedented rate. So this is a topic on everybody’s mind…right?

So this fact is begging for a ‘Maverick’ agent to use this fact to create more business and potential leads.

For example,…hold on a minute…I’m going to go ‘Google’ “save money on gas” and see what comes up…Ok, I’m back. There’s almost one half million people out there searching that phrase.

You say…”SO WHAT!”

Here’s your answer. What if you provided for your clients and prospects a “Save Money On Gas” Special Report Courtesy of ‘YOUR AGENCY’.

Hmmm… Do you think people would want to get this FREE item?

Do you think some people may even appreciate this FREE item?

Do you think that this FREE item could even lead to providing insurance protection programs?

What if there was a way to target those people who are searching this phrase so that you would only get the people that are in your market and not people that all across the U.S. or wherever you may be.

Do you think any other agents are doing this? I can answer that question for you. NO! (Now of course, after the smart agents read this they will start doing marketing like this because it works!! J )

So a question begs being answered….”What else could you do like this that ATTRACTS people into your ‘herd’ with something of value that is already on the prospects’ mind (creates an insurance lead for your) and provides you the opportunity to foster a relationship with you that inevitably LEADS to the conversation of writing their insurance.

Take 15 minutes right now and brain storm some ideas. Ask your staff. But remember…YOU ARE NOT YOUR CUSTOMER so don’t think that if you would not have an interest in something like this then your clients would not. This is a BIG fallacy that you must guard yourself from falling prey to.

Your decision to provide value in areas of their interest will give you the chance to provide additional value in areas that you are interested in!

The opportunities abound. This could create leads that you could convert later. Plus, this could create FREE publicity (A topic we’ll cover later which is a critical component of properly positioning yourself and could be one of the quickest exits from the Guerilla Commodity Wars…Stay tuned! J)

Lethal and Licensed,

007

Often History has a consistent and too often cruel way of repeating itself.

The reason this occurs is because of the predictable human tendencies. In other words…Habits.

It is truly a marvel and another inexplicable habit of people to not pay attention to what happened in the past. Because the past is many times a great predictor of the future.

And it seems that insurance agents seldom look to the past to gain the valuable insights and knowledge that can assist them to a better future. One reason is many agents never last long enough to benefit from past trends and cycles.

But for the agents who have lasted and for the agents who want to make sure that they do last here’s what I’m talking about…

Every time the economy dips- which occurs on a cyclical basis-most agents believe the answer is to cut expenses and unfortunately the first place they cut is ‘marketing’.

They think of marketing as an expendible ‘expense’ instead of a priceless ‘investment’ and since they see it as an expense they try the ‘cut expenses’ way to ’survive’ a down economy.

Hogwash!

That is about the same as a farmer saying “we don’t expect the harvest to be too big this year…so to fix that I’ll plant even less next year…”

That Does not make sense does it? Of course unless the goal is to have an even smaller harvest.

Now that we agree it really does not make sense to cut the marketing yet most agents do –then we have to address the question as to “Why do most agents cut the marketing”

Here’s the answer.

Most agents have been drawn into the ‘commodity guerilla war’.

First off, engaging in the commodity war and being “sniped” by unwinnable commodity warfare tactics is more than unwise. And let me be blunt.

If you are allowing yourself and your services to be a commidity then it’s your own darn fault.

And if that last statement ’stings’ a bit, then good. It should. But take this word of caution.

Before you do your knee-jerk response and flare your nostrils like a bull getting ready to charge a matador you may want to consider this…If there is no truth to the statement that ‘it is your own fault’, then why do so many agents bother getting so emotionally upset when I reveal this fact?

Besides, what have you really done about positioning you and your agency as anything other than a commoditiy? And if you have done little to nothing like most agents have…then the question is…”Who’s fault is that?”

And don’t give me the ‘loser’s limp’ about how everybody else is basing their product on price so that forces you to do the same. Think about that logic. Does everybody in your town drive a Yugo or the equivilent? Then that tells you not everybody makes decisions on price alone!

Plus, since what you ARE doing is not working the way you desire then why would’nt you look at something that admittedly may seem a little different? And ‘yes’, it may seem to go against the grain of what you have been used to, but after all…this is a site that has the name MAVERICK in it and isn’t that what Mavericks do?

They ‘go against the grain’ of the norm because by definition the norm is going to get you what the average get…..And since that is the case this really comes down to …Do you want to be just average?

Get a “C” in life?

I didn’t think so.

So Cutting expenses is correct, but you NEVER cut the life blood of your agency and in fact the best time to increase your SMARTmarketing is in a down economy because you know that everybody will be cutting back so you stand an even better chance of getting your message read…provided you follow marketing success principles.

You can get great marketing advice from the FREE book provided here.

So although History can be a very boring topic (My apologies to all the History majors out there), it can also act as a crystal ball that reveals extremely valuable lessons….IF you apply the knowledge.

My last question to you. “Are you willing to apply history’s lesson to insurance agents during a down market or …?”

Licensed and Lethal,

007

__________________
Beach Broker
“Make Them Come To You”

PS. If you have an comment or question, feel free to post it below and I’ll do my best to respond.

Let me tell you a quick story.

The world’s greatest fisherman out fished his competition for 30 straight years. On the eve of his retirement…

..a young reporter approached him, and asked,

“How did you out fish your fellow fishermen for 30 years, even in
bad weather?”

He looked in the the reporters eyes, and replied,

“Early in my career I learned to think like a fish. On the days it rained, I asked myself, if I were a fish where would I be today? I would also ask myself, what would I eat today if I were a fish?”

What does this mean to you?

Everything! Too many times we think like insurance agents, and don’t spend the time thinking like our prospect.

We must constantly ask ourselves, what is our prospect thinking and feeling?

Often we think all they want is a better price…but they really want value, to be protected, and have the piece of mind everything will be okay in the event of a disaster.

Just like the world’s greatest fisherman, you too can become proficient in thinking like your prospect. It takes a little bit of practice, but once you learn you will…

…know how to market to them

…know how to nurture them

…know how to dominate your competition

Now we both know it is easier to “churn and burn” through the marketplace without focusing on thinking like your prospect. In fact, my first experience on an appointment was an abosulute nightmare.

The first agency I worked with had a principal that was a churn and burn guy…did not care one bit about the prospect. We arrive, and he immediately says…

“Where is your policy?. We only give people quotes that show us their policies.”

The client was flabbergasted! She replied…”I don’t feel comfortable showing you my policy.”

He then said, “Then I guess our meeting is over.”

And he walked right out the door with me following like an idiot…I couldn’t believe it.

Honestly, it was one of the worst experiences in my life. I told myself then and there, that I did not want to be a churn and burn guy. I wanted an income for life…and in order to do that, I needed to learn how to think like my prospect…find out what they want and need…and give it to them.

Once I figured out that equation, it has never been difficult to get leads.

So here is the action plan I take:

1. I write down every reason why someone would not “emotionally” buy from me –People buy based upon emotion. You must tap into the reason why emotionally someone will not buy from you. Once you have a list, you will know how to be more than just an insurance agent…and get more qualified leads!

2. Overcome each doubt. Put together a marketing plan to overcome each doubt. You do this by providing good information on your web page and during the sales process.

3 Be more than just an insurance agent–If look like every other insurance agent, then no one will think you are different or better than your compeitition. I don’t know if you’ve looked around, but there are a lot of insurance agents. It is a dog-eat-dog world in the insurance business.. and if you can’t be more than just an insurance agent, you will struggle… and probably never make the money you desire.

If your prospect is afraid of making a mistake when purchasing a life insurance policy, then you must provide her with information to help her overcome her doubt. For example, you could easily provide a free report to her on the “7 Simple Things You Must Know Before You Buy Life Insurance.” In this report you focus on giving her information to overcome her doubts.

But you also position yourself as an expert. Don’t make the report boring. That is the worst sin…making your reports and marketing boring. You see, you need to position yourself as an expert by giving her quality information…NOT just boring details about the policy and coverages.

She is buying life insurance more for an emotional reason, not just for the fun of it. When is the last time someone, woke up in the morning all chipper and said, “I want to buy life insurance today for fun.”

I don’t think it has happened it a long time…or ever, for that metter.

#4. Market to new leads based upon emotional triggers – Can you be successful just being a “quoting machine?” Sure, but ii not very good positioning. Dr. Chialdini, author of the book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, says what you do first matters most. This means, if you market price and only present price, then you don’t have much of a leg to stand on against your competition.

However, if you present, “Learn how to improve your credit score…and with a better credit score you will get a better savings on your insurance”; that is a much different positioning statement. Now you are positioned differently to your client…and…not looking and sounding like everyone else….

Be MORE THAN JUST AN INSURANCE AGENT in your prospect eyes…

With Care,

Big Commission