October 27th, 2009 by DieWolf

Agents fearing competitive insurance premiums are making excuses. See how to sell insurance without the worry of life insurance competition. Discover why insurance premiums are not a competitive factor in life insurance selling.

Agents constantly see ads on television for competitive insurance premiums on car insurance, and asking viewers to call for a quote. Likewise, TV attempts to sell insurance direct to the consumer with cheap life insurance competition quotes. Real Life is not TV land! There are always people trying to pay the lowest insurance premiums even if claims bite them in the rear later in life. These are not millions of prospects, soon to become customers. The lot is loaded with tire kickers.

Your life insurance company does not help your mind process either. Every life insurance company brags how competitive their rates are when comparing premiums to the competition. They are trying to brainwash you and mess with your already strained brain. Truly, they do not prepare you for proper strategies to sell insurance to life prospects. The best prospects are the ones you personally develop. These prospects are looking to protect themselves and their family provided the coverage and insurance premiums seem fair. Your contacting them brought out the urge to take action.

Compare this with all the life agents who think they can sell insurance to someone asking for a quote. The worst lead is a person requesting a cheap life insurance quote. That “intelligent” person is thinking that buying insurance is like buying a gallon of milk. The lower the rate, the better the product seems. In the long run, do you think annual renewable term or five year term is a better deal than a cash value plan? An internet lead company may sell this same lead to a dozen or more agents. You then throw your sell into the crowd of agent that will do anything to make a sale. Expect to lose out to the life insurance competition almost every time.

The biggest mistake a life insurance agent can do is mentioning the competition to the client. Analyze this: Does a prospective client buy insurance because of trusting in a certain company name, or from trusting you. Over 90% of the time, the correct answer is you. There would not be 600 life insurance companies if there was not a viable market. The best financially rate companies, with 100 years of background do not dominate the market. If you never mention the competition, it is highly unlikely that your client will. Why give recognition and awareness of other companies to your client. It provides a dangerous chance to thereby consider these other companies.

The agents with proper personal and selling skills can sell insurance with no life insurance competition. They go into a presentation already confident that a sale with be easily made. The motivational skills, knowledge, and confidence engulf the prospect. The prospect wants to buy. I could represent “Fly By Night Insurance Company of Iran,” and the client would buy if the benefits were right. Competitive insurance premiums are also not a problem. I could have a competitor that makes all his sales at half the premiums (also half the commissions) and it would not matter. If you notice a possible premium problem, head it off before it ever comes up. Simply give your prospect a choice of a basic or deluxe plan with two different premiums.

In insurance sales, remember this:  Other Life insurance companies are not competitors. Moreover, other insurance agents are not the competition.  Your only competitive roadblocks are yourself. You have the power, confidence, willpower, and product knowledge to sell insurance. Now prove me right.

October 16th, 2009 by DieWolf

Are you an insurance professional who has hired an SEO Internet consultant, spent thousands to build a new Web site, secured decent traffic, but still has very few leads? If it’s any comfort, you’re not alone. Many hope that their fancy, new search-engine-optimized sites will be a fountain of leads. Often, they’re sadly disappointed.
 
What’s the problem?

In the quest for key words, high page counts and generous content, many Web developers forget a basic truth: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink – Translated for Internet world: Just because they find you, doesn’t mean they’ll buy.
To motivate a customer to take the next step, a Web site must be much more than search engine optimized. It also must be lead generation optimized.
 
What does a lead generation optimized site contain? Here are five must-haves:

Compelling, interest-generating headings and subheadings Interesting offers like white papers, case studies, discounts or newsletter subscriptions to persuade readers to step into the selling cycle Short, easy-to-complete lead forms (five fields or less) so prospects aren’t deterred by complexity Meaty, credible content that includes client testimonials, success stories and work examples – screens that “show” instead of “tell” Clear calls to action that tell the reader how to take the next step and why she’ll be glad she did

Here are a few things that lead generation optimized sites avoid at all costs:

Boring headlines “All about me” content Long strings of key words that sound like blah-blah-blah Dead-end screens without directional links to guide the reader forward through the site Complicated applications Confusing and redundant navigation Placing important copy, offers and calls to action “below the fold” where they’ll never be found without scrolling

Just like wine, chocolate and other life pleasures, search engine optimization is great – in moderation. Balance is key. Sure – you have to make it easy for people to visit your site. But, you had better be a gracious host once they arrive. Provide lively conversation, plenty of interaction opportunities and offer a few gifts. It will be nearly impossible for them to leave empty-handed.

September 10th, 2009 by DieWolf

As an insurance agency owner we’ve all been in the same boat. Every year you review your advertising budget and try to determine the best way to attract new customers. There are so many choices on where you can spend your advertising and marketing dollars.

Here is a short list:

Phone Book

Newspaper

Local Sports Teams

The Insurance Network ( www.FindLocalInsurance.com )

Post Cards

Press Release services

Magazines

Television

Radio


So how do you decide what to spend your advertising dollars on? Have you ever heard the expression, “Fish where the fish are.” Targeted advertising that focuses on the local community is vital. Why would you want to spend money advertising in a town 75 miles from your office? The truth is agents do this everyday by spending large amounts of money on ads in the bigger newspapers or radio or television. While these ads cover your local community, they also reach people that won’t buy from you. The one question I would ask myself before buying ad space is, “How much of this ad will reach LOCAL potential customers?”

Some of the more targeted advertising programs would include local sports teams, grocery shopping carts at the nearest grocery store and church bulletins. The most targeted advertising today is the internet. When someone searches on Google for insurance in your town is your office listed? Does your office have a website? A website is one of the best sources of free advertising. Not only is it important to have a website, but it is vital that it is optimized for the search engines. For more information on this visit – RichKahmer.com

September 8th, 2009 by DieWolf

A quick referral lesson for your consideration. Referrals … my favorite form of insurance marketing.

One of my networking partners drops me an email the other day and wants to go to lunch. He is going to introduce me to a fellow Independent Insurance broker who he thinks would be a strong Strategic Partner for my firm and I. Odd thing is, I know this firm, and they are good … AND a competitor of sorts. I eagerly agreed to a meet over at one of my fav’s – Yard House in Irvine Spectrum. Crunchy AHI Salad mmmmmm.

Cutting to the chase – the lunch meeting went well [ imho ] and we’re poised to circle back next week and brainstorm on how we will “pro-actively” NOT passively incorporate each others businesses into our insurance marketing plans for the remainder of the year.

I bring this lunch meeting up for two reasons. Sometimes we get so focused on asking [ or is it BEGGING / IMPOSING ON ] our clients for referrals that we develop Tunnel Vision. Here’s what I mean by this.

Does this resemble how some of your Asking for Referral experiences go?

To Self: How did that Referral Gurus world famous referral asking script go again?

Was it….

..Joe, I get compensated in two ways … blah blah blah …

..Bob, I have a list here of some firms in your industry I’ve been trying to meet can you look here and see if you know any of them …? Blah …

Dang – that’s so uncomfortable – that’s not me … oh forget about it ….

Frankly, I’m of the mindset that ASKING clients for referrals directly – face to face is not the most effective way to obtain quality introductions. Blasphemy you must be thinking … I understand – but hear me out.

Is putting your relationship with your current client into an unbalanced status really the most effective insurance marketing S-Y-S-T-E-M you can come up with for referrals? Unbalanced you say – whatever do I mean? Its now unbalanced. You originally proposed a solution to the clients needs. They reviewed and decided to hire you based upon that solution. They paid you for that solution, you delivered. They are happy. Relationship is IN BALANCE.

Now, you come along and put it OUT OF BALANCE. You are now asking them to do more than they originally bargained for. You are now asking them to effectively put their reputation on the line. Yet, there is little to No Value you can provide to them in return that would put the relationship Back Into Balance if they complied with your request. That is why you get uncomfortable and they get even more uncomfortable [ more times than not ].

Point of these last 3 paragraphs – there is other, more productive approaches to systematically generate high quality referrals. Get out of the box a little bit and think strategically – not just Old School Mantra …

The is another insurance marketing lesson to be learned from this lunch meeting and why it was a significant example. I no longer just look for 1:1 referrals from people. I spend time articulating to my Strategic Referral relationships the type of business people that are great strategic alliances for me and my business. They not only know the types of clients I like to insure but they also know [ because I automatically keep them apprised with a system ] who would make a good Referral Partner. Someone who is not just a referral – but a continuous Referral Source.

Don’t just hunt for referrals to sell an insurance policy to. Strategically hunt for other hunters as well. You need to develop a LARGE network of business people who KNOW you, LIKE you, and KNOW WHAT YOU DO. The key to this, is maintaining those relationships effectively over time. I say the only way to “effectively” manage all those relationships is with a S-Y-S-T-E-M.

I had the pleasure to meet one of the most connected businessmen on the planet at one of his talks. Dr. Ivan Misner – Founder/CEO of internationally famous BNI / Business Network International. He told us all in his talk, the S-Y-S-T-E-M he uses to manage his enormously vast network. It’s also in his book “Truth or Delusion” on page 148. Some of the most prominent authorities on Referral Marketing like Tom Hopkins, Bob Berg, and Bill Cates among others also use this system. You’ll love it and so will your clients and Strategic Referral Partners. See the proven system they use – links to the details below.

August 19th, 2009 by DieWolf

Anything can be marketed effectively, and the basic principles of marketing remain the same, no matter what’s being sold: You focus on what the benefit is to the person who’s buying the product, you emphasize the points of differentiation between your product and the others in your market segment, and then close with the pitch.

We’re going to make an example out of insurance marketing here to illustrate the point. The reason for insurance marketing is because everyone needs insurance, and the market is saturated with a lot of products competing. Writing insurance marketing tips for a saturated market is an example of how you, as an internet entrepreneur, can make money by being a liaison to local businesses in your area.

So, let’s look at the big questions from up top – what’s the big benefit for taking insurance? It’s buying a specific sort of peace of mind. It’s providing coverage in case there’s a disaster. Let’s focus that into marketing insurance: “Wouldn’t you like to know that your family will be taken care of, if something happens to you?” is one way to state the benefit. Another one is “It’s cheaper to buy insurance for your car than to get into an accident without it. And while you may be a good driver, can you be certain of everyone else?” Both of these are fairly straightforward ways to insurance marketing and its benefits to the end customer.

Now, when I write insurance marketing tips, I’m constantly looking for the edge, the out – the hook. What makes this product work for the reader and prospective buyer?

To answer that question, I start with doing some research on Google, and look for page ranks for specific permutations of insurance buying search terms, like “cheap health insurance” or “cheap life insurance” or “auto insurance Michigan” – anything that will help narrow down the search fields. Then I look at what others are doing on those pages that pull up. It is extremely important to understand what your competitors are doing. It helps you keep track of market trends and makes sure you keep your edge.

Are they competing primarily on price, or are they competing on features? Insurance is a mature product category, so it’s difficult to differentiate on new features. Difficult doesn’t mean “impossible”, though. There are combinations of features on policies that can form a competitive advantage; in the field, these tend to be short lived, because someone else will notice what you’re selling and emulate it. Unlike technology where an advance can last for six to eighteen months before you get significant product *********** from competitors, writing a new policy package doesn’t take much (indeed, they’ll figure it out from your own marketing text…)

So the other differentiators are on price (which is the primary driver in insurance policies) and service (which is where insurance companies trying to maintain margins on policies try to set themselves up as upscale.
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