Yesterday, my mastermind friend, Russ Lowry and I were talking about our upcoming webinar interview with Ethan Kap in a couple of weeks. As we discussed some of the points that have helped us get the most freedom from our agencies, I brought up the mail. I said to Russ, “I wonder how many agents still open their agency’s mail?” Russ immediately fired back “I LOVE opening the mail!” We chuckled and agreed that we both love opening the mail.
We also agreed that it was a huge waste of time. Both of us have passed this task on to those that make less money than we do, but there are a few exceptions. Of course, we like to check out the “junk” mail. Why, because as a marketer, it’s good to see what other marketers are doing and steal good ideas from them. And, anything to do with fishing, I’m reading it!
Opening the mail is one of the tasks that many agents have a hard time letting go and is probably the biggest waste of money. Why? Because, Time is Money! Every minute of your day should be spent doing what makes you the most money. Everything else should be delegated.
My son played in a soccer tournament this weekend. To get him ready for all those hard fought battles and wind sprints, I had to make sure he was hydrated and fueled. The hydration was simple, but the fuel presented some dilemmas. Should I prepare grilled salmon, wild rice and roasted vegetables or the classic, yet stellar PB&J?
I opted for the PB&J. Here’s why:In life and in marketing, what matters is what works. And, I know from experience that you can grill a boy a salmon but that doesn’t mean he will eat. The same is true of your clients. You can spend a whole lot of budget with very little result. In many cases, the classic, yet stellar tools fuel the most growth.
One of those classic yet stellar tools is the promotional sales letter. It doesn’t require any fancy design, programming or printing. In fact, you can mail merge and print from it from the comfort of your home office if you’d like. That’s what I did five years ago when I launched my insurance copywriting business.
I mailed my letter out to 200 insurance industry prospects, and I probably spent a total of $200 including postage, envelopes and paper – maybe even less. That simple, inexpensive effort generated an 8 percent response within the first month, and years later, the replies continue to trickle in. In fact, just six months ago, (4.5 years after I sent the mailer) a prospect called me and said that he’d saved my letter all this time.
If you’d like to send your own promotional letter, here are 10 rules of thumb to follow:
Don’t you love it when sales happen out of the blue? Like when someone calls in and wants you to sell them a policy. They don’t waver or concern themselves on how much it’s going to cost. They just want it and they want it now.
Well, this has been happening a lot in my agency lately. We’re getting clients that we’ve had a long time, calling our office and telling us exactly what they want. Just the other day, we got an email from a client that said, “I need a million dollar 30 year term policy and I need to get this handled today”. That was the easiest $1400+ commission I’ve ever made. Cross selling policies to our current clients has jumped an astounding 17% last month with no effort from my staff except quoting and issuing the policies. They’re not calling anyone or sending letters. Just taking the calls and writing policies.
I remember the first time I bought leads. I was so desperate. I needed leads bad.
I wanted something quick and easy, delivered right to my email box .. or a service where someone would call me.
That is the dream for any agent or advisor.
I mean, come on let’s be honest… who really wants to *work* to attract their own leads when someone could deliver high quality leads on a silver platter?
(Of course learning to attract your own leads IS the best way long term)…
Sadly, so many charlatans wave their little flag, promising agents and advisors “guaranteed leads … but just enter in your credit card. The majority are scamming agents right out of their money. In fact, here is another post just last week on our blog about a company that screwed one of our fellow agents…
A couple of years ago I read Tim Ferriss’ now famous book The Four Hour Work Week for the first time. It’s a book that I pick up and re-read quite often and it has made a world of difference in my life and agency. Most importantly, it helped me free myself of the many low paying jobs I used to be responsible for. Today, I work less than four hours a week in my agency. However, I do work more than four hours a week on my agency, but I work where and when I want. And I only work on what makes me the most money.
I am often asked by other agents, “How can you spend so little time in the agency while it continues to grow faster than ever?” It comes down to eliminating and delegating the tasks that bring less value to me and using systems. Our time is the most valuable resource we have. It’s not our insurance knowledge or even our ability to service our clients. We only have so much time in a day and every minute of it is as valuable as you make it.
The MASS LEAD Giveaway is Sold Out! It was a great promotion, and we look forward to working with you.
Unfortunately through it all, there was some stuff said on forums that is just total bull. Some folks have been burned, and so they truly question if we really are who we say we are. I don’t think they do it maliciously (most of them don’t anyway) they are just skeptical because of their experiences in the past.
Some people have questioned whether or not I’m licensed, or have ever written a policy. The answer is yes, on both counts.
I don’t know any better way to prove it than to simply prove it. So down below is a video about my production and my insurance license, without of course my personal phone number and address, since I don’t really want random phone calls.
