1. Create a valuable tool that you can send to their list.
It’s so important to be developing some of this stuff like an emergency preparedness plan or an inventory record book or an insurance shoppers checklist, etc, that you can say, “Hey, Mr. President of the Association (or Mrs. President), I have this great tool that would be valuable to your members. Would you willing to let me mail it out to them or send them an e-mail and have them go to my website and get it?”
This is a great way to position yourself as the expert, offer something of value before you ask them for something.
2. Develop relationships with the Presidents or the leaders of these associations to get endorsed mailings.
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Obviously, we’ve all seen the effectiveness of Yellow Pages drop with the advent of the Internet. We don’t need to discuss that any further; it’s an indisputable fact that people go to the Internet now more than they go to the Yellow Pages to search for stuff. So paying for the expense of a full-page Yellow Page ad may not be as effective as it was five years ago. In fact, it won’t be.
But there are still some pros to full-page ads. First of all, you can look as big as all your competition. One of the greatest things about the Yellow Pages is that a full-page ad is a full-page ad. It doesn’t matter how “big” you really are. Maybe you buy the double truck ad and so you have two full-page ads to look even bigger, but the bottom line is you can look as big as all the competition because you can have a full-page ad that’s the same size as them. Sometimes bigger equals better in the prospects mind. So that can develop a sense of credibility, and, of course, you’re there when people seek you out.
Is everybody searching the Internet every time they go to look for something? No. People still access the Yellow Pages and you still want to be there.
Putting in a nice logo that says “Free quote on insurance” is the absolute worst thing you can do with your Yellow Page ad. I’m sorry if I am hurting your feelings because that’s what you’ve done in the past, but trust me, this is the way to do it from now on.
Remember to make sure your Yellow Page ads always have: a good headline, a compelling copy that makes you look different than the competition, and a call to action with an offer that’s going to help the prospect get what they’re looking for.
Also, always give an offer, something besides “call and get a free quote” which everybody else is doing. You can offer a free video, a checklist, an audio CD, a report, and an online evaluation, etc. These are all things that will really differentiate you from all the other Yellow Page ads out there.
Again, you should remember that if you are going to use a large ad, it should be a half page or a full page ad. And if you go with a full page ad, it is recommended that you elaborate some more with testimonials and guarantees, etc.
Selling is an art that evolves through time. Through the years, we have seen insurance companies and individuals achieve tremendous success by employing various methods of getting more leads. In the past, a provider could become a big business just by using one way of gathering prospects. The conventional methods of getting insurance leads include telemarketing, direct mail, face-to-face selling, radio, and print media.
However, the reason why a lot of those who engage in insurance sales eventually fail in their craft is because they lack foresight on the direction of their business. The advent of advanced technology as well as the new laws have inevitably brought forth a revolution in sales and marketing.
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