Swiftrate Blog.

PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE

2012-02-03T15:54:00.000-06:00

For many years insurance companies and vendors have been discussing the impending Direct National writer threat. Many folks advocate that we inde-agents meet them on the field of battle (Internet). This we surely must do. But we will lose if that is the only weapon we wield. New estimates project the top 4 online insurance marketers spend in excess of 2.6 billion on marketing. The top spender GEICO has 4 frigging campaigns running at once. Our little adwords account is not going to set GEICO to shaking in their boots. We must think different.

What can't they do?

They can't put up tens of thousands of main street shops. They wont be going to association meetings. They wont sit at kitchen tables with clients while a Progressive ad plays on the livingroom TV on mute. They aren't here......They're there - in a call center, in a server and in a highrise.

We just have to be smarter and do what we do best. Each prospect we are in front of, whether that be at our desk or in an email, needs to understand what we do. Why we are better than that TV ad. Why we can help them. They wont even have to sacrifice price in most cases.

What is our problem ?

In the next 10 years our numbers will dwindle. Meanwhile, the directs are not showing any signs of plateauing. We need to educate our clients AND our prospects - even if we dont write the business. At some point they will have to call that direct writer and interact with them. Until people dont need people we can make a difference.

Right Now - People NEED People.

TOUGH MARKETS TEACH

2012-02-03T09:52:00.000-06:00

The last few years have been an interesting journey. Lots of folks were shopping their insurance while others dug in. This trend changed the way I service my clients. You find out who trusts you in a down market and you'd better respect that. You also find out who thinks of you as "just a rate". When you dig deep and begin the work of retaining renewals you will instantly feel good about yourself so it is in a way therapeutic.

The most valuable lesson I learned in this market is "time-management". Spending time on those pure rate shoppers may not pan out. Spending time on valued clients always pans out.

What I need to refine is a method for which I can turn a rate-shopper into a valued client. In another 5 years that may not be possible.

Time will tell.

Ive had it !!!!

2011-12-22T09:38:00.001-06:00

I vow that within 2 years time my insurance agency will be using Macs exclusively.

I can't stand these crashes and weekly virus scans and updates.

It will be a daunting task but it shall be so!!!

ALLSTATE TO BY ESURANCE

2011-05-19T14:58:00.001-05:00

full story here

a reliable source tells me they will replace one of my favorite spokesmen: Dennis Haysbert with cartoon nimrod. Mayhem is still on the payroll.

Apparently quirky annoying spokes-chics are more effective than serious insurance explaining types.

The question that remains: Will Allstate get into the spy game?

EXTREME MARKETING: GRAVESTONE EDITION

2011-05-04T15:37:00.001-05:00

Today my browser loaded a popup from some random news site I was visiting. The question in life insurance has always been: just how much reality should we apply while in a sale situation. If you across the desk from a prospect you can tell whether they are comfortable with the discussion of death or not. If you're a webserver you basically market to everyone the same.

If you were in the market for life insurance this just might be just the breeze to knock you over. If you are not in the market you may be offended and possibly turned off from life insurance sales people altogether.

I would suggest that if you are going to delve into online marketing, be different, be yourself. Sure, you could use the same scorched-earth tactics of our direct sales counterparts but I have always found that the internet needs the human touch. They look at ROI with no consideration for the industry they thrive in.

Judge for yourself.

SMART CAR VS WALL (WHO YA GOT?)

2011-05-02T14:02:00.000-05:00

Since we're starting to see people wanting quotes for these buggies I thought this video would be relevant.

HOME INSURED!!! BURGER (NOT SO MUCH)

2011-04-20T11:06:00.000-05:00

everybody is giving this guy a hard time but he most likely had home insurance. Homeowners coverage wont indemnify him for his loss-of-burger. The only thing that could have made this worse is if the burger contained sweet juicy bacon!

WHAT THE KIDZ THINK

2011-04-18T10:06:00.001-05:00

I had a very interesting conversation with a guy in his very early 20's on Saturday night. He was in a position to be very honest and forthcoming while still exhibiting signs of general intelligence.

note: this study did not follow the scientific process and should probably not be entered into any journal of opinions.

We were discussing Facebook since the band I was performing with has a "page". I asked him what he thought about Facebook ads and he was "for them" mostly because he never payed attention to them. This should offer us some insight into whether we should spend truckloads on facebook ads at this point.

I then steered the conversation toward businesses on facebook. He was vehemently opposed to this. His main thesis was based on the fact that when you "like" such an institution on facebook they do one of two things when posting. Either they talk down to you as a consumer OR they try to pretend they are 16 years old. I will give you two examples:

Main Street Insurance company: Its February! That means its "buy insurance month"!!! IF YOU HAVE A BRAIN AND ALSO A VEHICULAR CONVEYANCE YOU MUST CALL FOR A QUOTE!!!

or

Main Street Insurance company: DUDE...

Anything following "dude" will be perceived as condescension. I think the main points we can take away from this is: by all means get on facebook with your agency or company but keep in mind the following things. You're in a young adults world, be respectful. Just post as if your talking to a friend, let your personality come out... there is less risk on facebook as your post CAN be deleted and it will NOT be cached by a search engine for eternal immortalization. Finally get the opinion of someone in their 20's. Have them bring up your post in their live feed read in amongst their other friends' posts. They can then, somewhat objectively, give you feedback. Use that feedback to hone your posting skillz. <-- I am now the condescender hahaha!!!!

THE TROUBLE WITH TRADE ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES

2011-04-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

Ever since I joined the BIG I association I have gravitated to the technology committees. There are very few occasions when my time was rewarded with valuable information. The reason becomes immediately clear when you sit in on a "panel discussion". Since anyone can join the BIG I (agents, vendors, carriers, ice cream men) anyone can have an opinion. What typically happens during a panel discussion is: a topic is put forth and immediately the Vendors (being the least meek of the bunch) will chime in usually inserting their product into the discussion. As you look around the room eyes of agents start to roll in the back of their heads. The discussion has been hijacked!

This same phenomenon has also occurred in online message boards and group discussion threads. A topic is put forth and immediately vendors are injecting their products into the proceedings even when their product has nothing to do with the main topic. The discussion has been hijacked!

I believe some sub-groups should be closed to outsiders. For instance: if a topic is "What technology has helped you work more efficiently in your agency?" Why would a bunch of SPAMMY product placements help at all. Even if the product is directly germane to the topic the question was clearly directed at agents.

You cant blame the vendors. After all they think they're helping. But if I came to one of their meetings entitled say, "Gorilla Marketing Tactics" and started spouting off about how they should all increase their Liability Limits would their eyes not roll into the backs of their heads??

All Im saying is the vendors' input is appreciated but some discussions would be more valuable to the core group if the core group were allowed to do the majority of the discussing.

YOUR BUSINESS CARD IS CRAP

2011-04-14T11:25:00.003-05:00

Just sayn' is all =)

GOOGLE AD PREFERENCES

2011-03-30T11:54:00.000-05:00

Google now has a page that allows you to set simple preferences on which ads you would like to see more of. Can you imagine if TV did this for you? Instead, if you watch the Price is right they assume you want ads about Polmolive and Rice-a-roni. If you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer they assume you want ads about wooden stakes and Proactiv.

It is also interesting to see what they have already learned about you. Displayed on the preference page is what google thinks your in to. You can delete categories, like I deleted "Animal Chiropractor", and you can add categories.

Check out this quick video tutorial and go set those preferences for yourself. All hale the self aware consumer!!!

... and ad dudes... im all set for Proactiv and Rice-a-roni. Which is a decidedly effective combo!

THE PROGRESSIVE "SNAPSHOT" DISCOUNT

2011-03-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today I attended certification for Progressive's new "Snapshot Discount".

It is a very elegant implementation of a technology they have been trying to perfect since 1998. The discount will allow folks to get up to a 30% discount based on the following factors:

How you drive (engine data)
When you drive (time of day)
How much you drive

The device does NOT have any GPS capabilities. You install the device in your vehicle(s) for one policy term and then send it back. It transmits data the entire time. The though would appear to be: you cant fake engrained driving habits for six months.

Im sure this move will start a public debate on the merits of usage-based rating factors. My clients usually tell me they'd rather be charged for how they drive rather than on something like a "credit score". We will see how well this discount is received by the general public. I think it is getting back to the basics of what insurance was meant to be rated on.

find out more here.

IM BACK BABY

2011-03-29T13:08:00.000-05:00

After having our first child I decided to take a brief break from the go-go world of blogging.

Its good to be back =)

FOREMOST AD TO AGENTS IS AN ABOMINATION

2010-04-16T12:39:00.003-05:00

Perhaps I am a bit protective of my Apple iPhone but this is awful. Its like their marketing department took a photo of an iPhone - squished its form factor down - added the keys of a blackberry and faxed it to all their agents as an advert.

I would have thought the beauty and form of an iPhone was so universal you wouldn't have to add keys to it to prove to people it is a phone. Even insurance agents would know an iPhone if they saw it.

The Myspace-ification of facebook

2010-04-13T22:55:00.002-05:00

Its not real and I hope they never allow it but I saw this posted by one of my friends on their profile. It is most likely on the same level with rumors like "add a dislike button to your facebook" and "soon facebook will charge its users!!!!".

Some people live to ruin simplicity.

Like turning facebook into gawd awful myspace.

http://www.pagerage.com/ShowSample.aspx?Src=News_A&Path=samplesfull/SunsetTide/Full.jpg&Moniker=SunsetTide&Color=Full

Hartford-AARP: The Car Used Dealers of Insurance Companies

2010-04-06T08:10:00.003-05:00

One of my relatives has always lorded her low "AARP" insurance premiums over me. As she knows I cannot give an AARP "discount" she always likes to let me know I can never come near her rate. This is why I took some pleasure when she told me her last renewal jumped 150.00 for no apparent reason.

When she called AARP (Hartford) to complain about her increase they had no answers. A few days later she received a letter in the mail explaining they had miscalculated her rate and her renewal would now only increase$70.00.

Whats going on over there? I thought AARP had a sacred duty to protect their members from evil, greedy businessmen like me?

INSURANCE COMPANIES BEWARE: ANTI-INNOVATION

2010-04-01T13:03:00.002-05:00

Ive always thought of myself as an agent who was "in the loop". I like to think I am a part of the decision making process, if only as a voice, at the insurance companies I sell for. In the last couple of years some of my carriers have ceased taking my advice. They are small companies (so they should have no excuse) and Ive felt as of late that I am a burden to them when I give them my advise. Even though they say "the agent is an integral part of our business" and "we value your feed back" their actions always speak to the contrary. Common sence leaves and in its place are rules and procedures that will only make matters worse (as I see them).

If your a company who "values feedback" but then throws the advice away because your TOO BUSY to deal with it then beware..... your advice will dry up. This will lead to a momentary period of bliss (silence) allowing you to further F$%# things up.

Any industries sales team should be taken seriously - not just given face time. Just as every companies' clients' advice should be taken seriously. Stop doing this and you will see the results in no time.

CAPS LOCKS are outdated

2010-03-11T12:30:00.002-06:00

I recently inherited an underwriter. He is a bit older and its a fair assumption he is from the mainframe days. I dont quite know how to bring up to him that his constant use of CAPS LOCK is giving me the creeps.

If you type everything in CAPS LOCK its likely you do so for one of the following reasons:

1. Your lazy and/or flunked high school English

2. You think its more legible or have some outdated notion of the professional memo.

3. Its how you've always done it and no one has had the nerve to tell you to STOP.

This underwriter sounds like the nicest cat in the world but his emails are making me think hes shouting everything at me through a bull horn. Some people may even take it as Rude, Mean or Aloof.

I will try to get to know him better and bring it up. I have before. Its important for an underwriter to have a good relationship with his/her agents... I would hate for such a silly thing to jeopardize his companies profit.

THE INSURANCE UNDO BUTTON

2010-02-23T10:09:00.002-06:00

Every desktop program built in the past 15 years knew the value of the "Undo" button. People inherently make snap decisions and mistakes. Since our genetics haven't been altered over the course of the past 15 years its a wonder why insurance companies don't have the "undo" feature in their web software.

Specifically when it comes to billing insurance companies have very rigid guidelines. If they have become more efficient its because they have become more inflexible. Lets take for example when an application or payment is submitted. The insurance companies used to leave suspension time to accommodate errors. Now the notation is made directly to their ledger and to reverse an error will take days or weeks.

I submit that humans will always make errors and sometimes an agent will make a careless mistake. Should this small mistake ruin their day? Should it tarnish a business relationship?

I say bring back the undo button =)

FOCALPOINT MARKETING A-OKAY

2010-01-11T14:33:00.002-06:00

At some point in my past I was signed up for a massive email marketing campaign. I don't remember doing it but it happened. Being that I was once a cold caller I believe in mass marketing and I don't believe in such things as Do not call lists. I always tell my staff if they don't want an email or a call they can just unsubscribe from the list.

For the past year I have been actively "unsubscribing" from these mass emails that solicit me as an agent to sell for specialty products like "marine biologist hazard insurance" or "national marsupial breeders insurance".

My year is up and Im still getting emails.

This was a mass list which I will have to unsubscribe from each individual marketing campaign. They all seemed to send me to an unsubscribe page at FocalPoint marketing. Since there hasn't been one email I've been interested in and I don't write much specialty insurance I emailed the general box at FocalPoint. I asked if there was some way to just be taken off the list completely.

Within 2 hours I was emailed by Alex who responded "Sure Thing!" And I am a happy camper. My confidence in marketers is reinstated!

Sure there are some slugs out there who don't care about the people they are emailing and by extension the companies that pay them but Focalpoint, LLC is not one of them. Thanks guys!

ATTENTION PRODUCTION MANAGERS

2010-01-06T13:47:00.001-06:00

If you have an exciting program or sales contest for your agents that is highly important EMAIL IT TO US!!!

If it is crap and you just want to send it to us anyway go ahead and fax it.

FAX IS DEAD

That is all =)

MISLEADING ADVERTISING NOT BEING TRACKED ON FACEBOOK YET

2009-12-10T12:54:00.003-06:00

When I go to my facebook page lately ive seen an ad for the following:

Obviously this lady is thrilled to have gotten insurance for 12.00 a month. Im not sure what state and at what coverage she is getting a quote but it seems a bit misleading to me. When you click the ad you are sent to cheapinsurance.com which then redirects you to quotewizard.com. Ive gotten a quote on quotewizard before it compiles the rates from several top captive companies like Nationwide, State Farm, Allstate and companies like Geico and my rate wasnt anywhere near 12.00 per month.

I suppose if they sold one insurance policy at 12.00 per month they can claim this but isnt this ad upsetting more folks than it is serving. The sad truth is people are becoming very accustomed to being lied to by ads. When they finally get their quote for 50.00 per month they probably just say "eh, all in a day".

Its sad we cant trust anyone on the web anymore. If I were one of these represented carriers I would demand a little more accuracy in the advertisement by my brokers.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH IN INSURANCE

2009-11-19T12:02:00.005-06:00

Every day some executive somewhere is thinking of a way to cut costs to compete. His ultimate decision comes down to people or processes. As insurance agents and insurance IT people we all know what is at stake with automation especially in underwriting. It starts out harmless enough... an algorithm designed to allow those "perfect risks" to bypass a human who would only be bothered with its existence. Then the algorithm is altered to further scrutinize a risk based on a set of questions which allows more business to bypass a human. Now the company can slow their hiring or maybe shave off a few payroll dollars here and there. The algorithm is altered again this time to work backwards and only prompt the human if there are potential issues that require his meaty human brain's reasoning skills. Now some real payroll dollars can be dropped. This is a great idea lets outsource IT to someone who can really engineer some monster algorithms, sure maybe they dont understand our culture or insurance but they can really crunch a digit. This is working great, so great in fact that we can cut management because the algorithm is making profitable decisions. Whatever the algorithm says goes thats how we'll turn a profit.

If you are working at an insurance company and are reading this READ CLOSER! People are not a math equation. That girl at the Starbucks who always wears her pink skirt on Mondays will inevitably change it up and decide to go with the black slacks. Whether you treat your customers like an equation or your employees you will be sorry in the long run. Our meaty brains will sniff this out and decide the machine will not control us.

Im not trying to get into red pills and blue pills here. This is not the Matrix this is a business. This will be the battleground for the next decade. People will pay slightly more for a meaty brain on the other end of the line. If this were not true Geico would own the market.

As we get older we gravitate towards more big meaty brains with good judgement to take care of what matters most to us. Remember that next time you make a decision that will increase your stock by .03 points by firing 100 meaty brains. Your going to upset alot of meaty brains that sell your product and your gonna alienate alot of meaty brains that could buy your product!

Sincerely,

Big Meaty Brain, CISR CIC

IT Support and Agents

2009-11-17T08:49:00.003-06:00

If all the IT folks out there in the insurance industry would simply realize all we [agents] want to do is sell policies our relationships could be greatly improved.

Today I spoke to a really friendly IT girl about an error massage preventing me from printing an application. She wanted to trouble shoot and was desperate to solve the puzzle while I just wanted an application. Finally I had to tell her is there any way I can get an application now and you guys can go to work on the bug later???

You would think our goals would be one in the same and maybe in the long run they are - a smooth process. But our immediate goals conflict. Since her salary is payed by policy premium she should help me sell this policy. She was looking for a quick fix but after 5 minutes there simply wasn't one. Lets sell some policies and fix the bug on the backend!

STOP ROBO-CALLING ME INSURANCE COMPANY

2009-11-06T14:32:00.002-06:00

So United Health robo-called my office today even though we have a sales rep, a brokerage, a newsletter, regular meetings and email news.... The robo-call was prompting me to log in to unitedhealthproducers.com to get news.

Hey United Health in this time of uncertainty for your industry stop upsetting your agents by robo calling them and find a way to communicate that doesn't border on campaign tactics or debt solution offers.

... if you must robo-call at least add an option to talk to someone or be taken off your list.

WISCONSIN INSURANCE LAWS CHANGE

2009-10-29T12:39:00.003-05:00

On June 29th of this year our governor Jim Doyle signed the Wisconsin State Budget Bill. In this bill were changes to our insurance law. Among these changes was a new state minimum that would change our state required minimum liability from one of the lowest up to the highest.

You would think as an insurance agent this would make me happy however I believe it was not done for practical reasons. I believe consumers should have choice. Now they have less choice.

As you know when you get more of something you usually have to pay more. People have started to call their local lawmakers complaining about this. Their response was astounding.

Apparently Representative Thomas Nelson has never been to Mc Donalds. When you supersize something it costs you more. His argument is akin to saying that when Mc Donalds charges you more for supersizing, now that Wisconsin has mandated all meals be supersized, they are doing so because of their poor business practices.

FLO 1 AARON 0

2009-09-18T13:45:00.001-05:00

I just sold a Progressive Direct policy due to licensing restrictions.... gag me with a spoon. At least Flo will be able to buy more Prozac now!

Facebook Ad of the Week

2009-08-31T15:04:00.004-05:00

Interesting ad. Ive noticed alot of the Facebook ads that show up enter the word "Obama" in strange places. I wonder if this is a word that triggers a quick response or action? The last sentence is strange too (call to action). Perhaps we can all learn from this blurb. Perhaps this ad bombed monumentally!

Flo is now annoying us Progressive agents every day!!!!

2009-08-11T15:06:00.004-05:00

Well, whats good for the goose is good for the gander right? Now on our Progressive Agent portal we have flo staring us in the face. I look at her with a tiny but of indignation as I recall not too long ago her excitedly telling her store patron that if he buys online - "discount!!!!!!!!!". From what I know there is no such discount if the client goes the agent route. Yet here we are. Look at her there..... as if she wants a high five.

Will we grow to like her? Maybe if shed mention us now and again!

THE FACEBOOK REFERRAL

2009-07-28T15:05:00.002-05:00

I watched in amazement today as the comments racked up on a friend's status message post. She was having some issues with a mortgage broker and was airing her complaint on Facebook. A few posted their disgust with this particular brokers profession. Some complained about the politics involved. I suggested she go somewhere where they will have to build a relationship with her rather than just a one time commission. I closed Facebook and went back to work. When I returned a few hours later there were at least 20 comments. The bottom two were direct referrals to two lenders her friends had worked with and they were very happy with.

If those mortgage lenders were on facebook this referral could have had serious roots. This is the power of social networking directly related to business! They just need to use it. Its free and its very powerful!

SWIFTRATE SEEKS SMALL TEST GROUP

2009-07-17T09:58:00.002-05:00

In an effort to create a management system for the future independent agent we are looking for a limited number of insurance agents and industry folks who will be willing to test out our system on a regular basis.

Starting August 17th we will roll out the first test module of Sameframe™

If you are interested please email me at swiftrate@gmail.com.

THE FOLLOWER OFTEN BECOMES THE LOSER

2009-07-13T14:18:00.004-05:00

In the technology world we see alot of followers. When the follower doesnt offer anything of further "extreme" value they often lose the race. Lets look at MySpace and Facebook. For a long time Facebook followed MySpace in siteviews BUT never in value. Apon closer inspection they were never following myspace at all. Sure they offered similar products but when it came to features and value Facebook often won at every checkpoint. Recently the siteviews have reflected this consistent effort on the part of Facebook. Now Myspace has become the follower implementing "facebook-like" features on its own platform. Rather than building on its strengths ie: the music industry usage or popularity of very young folks, it simply copies features and expects people to come back.

Next lets look at Bing vs Google. Microsoft's latest attempt at one-upping Google will once again put our theory to the test. As of right now their growth numbers are strong but MS's track record is drastic change after drastic change whereas Googles track record is small course adjustments to better the value of searches they provide us.

This is where we need to learn a lesson in the insurance world. Too often we are caught up in one-upping games that product few results. Gimmicks dont create value or even perception of value they create unsustainable excitement then nothing. Most of these gimmicks take our attention away from what is really important about insurance: It puts us back where we were before a disastrous event. If companies would make spend all their efforts on making this one proposition a better one rather than offering ala carte options and fancy quoting tools like "name your own price" we could build value rather than chaos.

ummmmmmm =/

2009-06-18T13:03:00.002-05:00

Agents Preferred to Online

2009-05-21T12:25:00.002-05:00

A new study released Tuesday states that 75% of folks polled would rather buy insurance from a trusted agent than online. This study is important because it provides contrary evidence to the independent agent's recent perceptions. With multiple hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by companies like Progressive, Geico, eSurance and Allstate we know the direct carrier is making a dent. Their dent is increasing.

The important thing is not to let this study fool you about the future of our industry. It may quell some older agents angst but take it with a grain of salt.

What this study says to me is people prefer to buy from people just like always. What it doesnt say is that they would probably likely buy online with their agents help and guidance. This presents an interesting challenge to us. Indi-agents could create a foothold that the directs will never be able to compete with. At least until this happens.

State Farm and Virtual Agents

2009-05-13T14:07:00.001-05:00

This is amazing. Look out for Shane coming from the right of your screen. Apparently "He's there". And by "there" I mean in your web browser.

FROM NEWSPAPERS TO INSURANCE AGENCIES

2009-04-21T13:30:00.002-05:00

In the financial world news (both good and bad) is flying at a dizzying pace. The lowliest senator makes a remark and stock prices go crazy! No matter how much you follow financial news you've probably heard rumblings that large newspaper corporations are not doing well. In fact they haven't been for quite some time. It was only recently that they even attempted to get "serious" about online news and the advertising that drives it.

Today the New York Times issued their first quarter earnings report. Within it they show a sharper slide in ad revenue. Their ad revenue declined 28.4% this quarter as opposed to 18.4% last quarter. This is obviously intensified by the economic condition in the private sector. When a business looks at their balance sheet there's really only two good places to cut costs (in most cases): payroll or advertising. Any good business book will tell you if you bend to temptation and reduce your advertising you will see a decrease in revenue... but a business owner also doesn't want to lose good employees. Regardless of the economic climate I suspect their ad revenue has been dipping for quite sometime now.

Lets cut to the advertising world of tomorrow. There can be no argument that online ads are the future. Google showed us the way and more vehicles are being created every day. The nice thing about online advertising is that each dollar you spend can be tracked. So for instance if you were to spend $400 per month on yellow pages there is no good way to track how your money is working for you. Whereas if you use google adwords its success can be tracked any number of ways. At the end of the month you will know if your money is well spent and, unlike the yellow pages, your not locked into a one year contract. These companies are flourishing despite our recession.

My point is simply this. We agents ARE the New York Times!!! The good news is we are in the early stages. We can see the direct carriers building their foundations on the internet. We can see the direct and captive carriers spending ever greater sums of money on the internet and in mass media. And we can see the direct and captive carriers building workflows that work well over the phone and online. What are we doing about it.

Some of us will wait until its too late, some of us will endeavor to understand online advertising and some of us will try to sell a few policies outside of our towns through the tools available to us.

Better Tools are coming indi-agents!!!

AN INTERVIEW WITH JEFF YATES: "Marketing Online"

2009-04-05T14:20:00.004-05:00

Recently I attended our Big I's Technology Conference. Most of the morning was dedicated to the "Get Real Time" push. Here are some of the questions I had that I wish would be discussed more often.

Pertinent Links:

www.independentagents.com/act

www.trustedchoice.com

rss feed mentioned (not found)

INDI-AGENT : PROMOTING

2009-04-05T14:19:00.002-05:00

Long ago men in black trenchcoats roamed the streets selling insurance. They went door to door and peddled their policies. This activity took place long before branding, marketing, infomercials and TV. What were these men doing walking the streets? They were getting their name out!

Today we sit at our desks trying to do the very same thing. We are prohibited from calling prospects, most of us wait for our prospects to call us. If we are lucky we have some ads or branding working in our favor. We join community organizations and become involved in our communities. We work through referrals. Some of the more enterprising of us put on risk management seminars. What are we doing? We're getting our name out!

In the next 5 years this will no longer be adequate! Our direct line counterparts are pumping hundreds of millions more per year into online and tv mass media advertising? We cannot compete in this realm but on the smallest local level. Every five minutes we will see a progressive Flo commercial or a Geico money-with-eyeballs commercial. Every ten minutes we will see Erin from Esurance doing something completely unrelated to insurance or Dennis Haysbert from 24 doing a great job for Allstate. Lets face it our 10,000 ad budget is no match for these behemoths.

So we must ask ourselves what we have that they never will?

Enter the indi-agent. The Independent agent has the freedom to explore new avenues of promotion. We have the obvious advantage of more than one product. We have personal relationships! The indi-agent CAN make their mark on the social web through pure "relationship building". Sure Twitter and Facebook aren't lucrative marketing vehicles now... but they are expending thousands of man hours per week on figuring out how to do just that!

So I say to you dear indi-agent.... explore these avenues in your free time for they will soon help you do alot more than sit at your desk waiting for your phone to ring!

ANNUITY AND LONG TERM CARE MARKETERS STILL HITTING HARD

2009-03-31T09:04:00.002-05:00

Every once in a while I will get a call forwarded to me from my receptionist with a prospect inquiring about life insurance. I am always skeptical when the name is one I dont recognize as a current P&C client. I take the call and sure enough its a marketer. Today was Mike with Roster Financial out of Jersey. Mike uses the old tactic where he tells my front desk he is interested in Life insurance when he gets to me (the producer) he goes into his sales pitch about how they have the markets I need. Fortunately Mike was friendly and not very pushy. Instead of ranting about Mikes tactics I will endeavor to offer an alternative.

Dear Mike,

If you really want to get me to utilize your brokerage acknowledge the following. I am a hard working Agent whos time is valuable. When I get a call for a new prospect its like Christmas morning but when it turns out to be a time waster my day is ruined. I know I shouldn't let you affect me that way but its hard when people dont value my time. Feel free to buy a stamp and send me some literature with a personal note in your handwriting. I will probably open it when I have a spare minute and read your note first since that would be rare. Then I may peruse your enclosed literature and share it with my Principal. Being that I am a young internet savvy agent I would probably visit your website. I wish you prosperity and hope you will try a less devious tactic when conducting your business in the future. You may see better results =)

Sincerely,

Aaron R Wallrich

PS: I am a blogger, please dont waste my time anymore.

INSURANCE 2.0: FACEBOOK ?

2009-03-19T08:43:00.006-05:00

Alot is being posted in the insurance blogosphere about using twitter and facebook but not much is being explained as to how it can help you actually sell insurance. I am an avid twitter and facebook user but I look at them as personal web appliances that help me connect to friends and family. I believe facebook to be a huge time waister if you dont approach it responsibly. Here are some tips if you wish to get your feet wet.

If you sign up for a facebook account do so on your "personal time". This is especially important if you are an agent working for someone else. Understand that once you get signed up (which takes one minute) you will be sucked in... the more "friends" you add the more your will be sucked in. One way I have remedied this is to only sign in at home. If at some point I find a viable way to prospect on the thing (and there is one) I will begin to open the site at work. One further tip is to create a "page" for your agency and all people to become fans of that "page". You dont have to add everyone as a friend on your account.

One of the most important things to realize about web 2.0 goodies like Facebook and Twitter are that THEY ARE NOT LIKE YOUR YELLOW PAGE ADS. As I commented on Rick Morgans blog, you would never let one of your acquaintances spray paint "Hartford Sucks" on your agency"... You have to let go of that reflex on Facebook. Users, especially younger users, want to see freedom in action. They want to see the good and the bad comments. If you try to control the situation and delete the bad comments people WILL notice and most of them will resent you for it. Its okay to give in, you will receive large respect for this, trust me.

Dont look at Facebook as a new influx of customers... yet. Look at it as a way to connect to your current insureds and get the good word out. Facebook is trying desperately to make it viable for businesses to monetize on their platform. So far the only industry that has been successful in this endeavor is the entertainment industry. Don't worry, its coming. For now just login and enjoy the interactions. You will be amazed at what you will learn about your friends!

Start that agency "page" you may impress your agency Principal with how many fans you acquire. Please get permission to use the agency's name first though =)

Update: Rick Morgans Slide Presentation

CEO PERKS

2009-03-17T15:53:00.002-05:00

I love how flexible ad agencies can be. JetBlue has developed this site... but its for CEO's only!!! So unless you are Glenn Renwick, Brian MacLean, Ramani Ayer, Ben Salzman or Barry Griswell please click somewhere else!

Loves it!

The Failing appeal of Geico's gecko in an economic downturn

2009-03-12T15:57:00.004-05:00

It is said that in an economic downturn Gimmicks are less effective. We all see through gimmicks... our senses will be even keener in this recession. For Years now Geico's Gecko has created brand recognition with millions. A gecko of course has nothing to do with insurance nor has Geico tried to make it so. Instead the gecko has become a cute spokesperson for the growing company. In recent years Geico has tried to launch other ad campaigns with cavemen and dollar bills with eyes but they have always gone back to the old reliable gecko. The question is will this practice hurt them.

In this recession we are constantly bombarded with bad news from the media. Giant corporations in big cities are failing. We are watching our pocketbooks as well as the institutions that hold our money very closely. One area people have been scrutinizing is their insurance. Looking around for low cost insurance at all cost is something Geico has championed. But will they still be able to save people 15% or more on auto insurance? If they cannot will people see through this Gecko-gimmick and start to scrutinize Geico as a company? Will they want to trust their premium dollars to a giant faceless company with a call center? Only time will tell.

If you have an independent agency and are fashioning your ad campaign I would suggest staying far away from gimmicks. Stick to the facts. Sure sometimes they can be boring but people will appreciate the straight-talk at a time when trust is wavering and B.S. is everywhere. I have always tried to keep on message and stay away from always talking price. Im hoping that pays off in the long run.

AHA MOMENT

2009-03-06T09:20:00.003-06:00

Mutual of Omaha has a new ad campaign out with the catch phrase "official sponsor of the aha moment." Ive seen a few on TV and they are okay... most of them have nothing to do with insurance but MofO is spending the money hoping people connect with their brand in some way... after all what does an annoying duck have to do with Disability insurance?

Last night I was enjoying Seinfeld and this commercial came on.... I was familiar with the ad campaign and this spot starts out cute enough. Everyone loves it when people defy Father Time but for me it turned creepy real quick Im not sure why... It might be her laugh. You be the judge!

For me the aha moment is when I rediscovered the mute button.

GET OFF MY LAWN !!!

2009-02-23T11:23:00.001-06:00

Is the Colossal Captivator State Farm waving their cane in Florida and warning the kids to get off their lawn??? Read here, very interesting.

NAME YOUR OWN PRICE

2009-02-10T10:49:00.003-06:00

$1.00..... no?

Okay so its not that straightforward. I looked into Progressives newest sales idea yesterday. It would seem after you enter your information you can then name a price and their "engine" will put a package together for you.

I did my own about 20 minutes ago and this is how it went down. My quote came to 306 if paid in full which is 55.52 per month. Keep in mind I haven't been asked to enter my liability limits yet! I then entered that I only wanted to pay 40.00 / month. For that price I could get 100/300/100 liability limits with 1000/1000 deductibles. The interesting stuff happens when you scroll the little "slider bar" across to see other price ranges, you then see the coverages below change to match. I scrolled to a higher premium and found my liability rise to 250/500/100 then as I went even higher my deductibles dropped and liability went down to 50/100/50. It also always gives you the towing and rental until you choose the very "basic" package.... this will also trigger your state minimum which, in my business, (and in this day n age) is utterly irresponsible. You could hit one of those silly smart cars and there goes your kids college fund!!!

This is my problem with the height of progressives technology... you will never be able to take the agent out of the equation. When I can be replaced by an algorithm or a "slider bar" wizard then I will happily apply at McD's. I know I will never see the stats on this but I would wonder how many folks would select minimum coverage if given the opportunity in relation to all their quotes. Many people dont pay attention to liability... in fact I see eyes glaze over when I enter into my coverage explanation spiel. But its important. Liability is cheap to increase... I would rather see someone raise their deductibles by 500.00 rather then drop 50,000 of liability coverage. This is something that would never cross the mind of someone that is price shopping on progressive.com.

Nifty Gimmick Progressive. I say keep Flo the cutie and ditch this fancy wizard or else your agents will start calling wondering why their current customers are calling them saying things like, "I see on progressive direct I can pay less if I just lower my liability to 25/50/10".

NEW YEAR - NEW OPPORTUNITIES

2009-01-14T11:28:00.000-06:00

As the new year approaches I am wondering what new opportunities await the indi-agent? Our companies, at least the responsible ones, have received record profits the last five years. As the economy presents its belated correction to our carriers and us how will they respond? If they spent those profits on out of control growth we may be in for a shock. If they socked it away in their reserve and invested properly we may be able to deflect increases for at least a while. I will attempt to present the opportunities that lie ahead in a clear way, though, it may seem like we're all screwed.

Opportunity 1: "time for creativity"

Many people know that when times are good we spend. But not many people know that the way we spend is slightly reckless. When you have the money to do things like advertise and offer amazing employee benefits you may not scrutinize every little detail. For instance it may be a good idea to put ads in the local newspaper on a by-weekly basis but what is that advertising doing for you in terms of real money?? Are you asking your prospects exactly where they heard about you?? There's no shame in spending a whole minute with your prospect or client on determining how your ad money is working out. You can then adjust your spending accordingly. They might come back at you with their theory on "consistency in ad" but when your making less money you need to make it all work in your favor. You can also be alot more creative in how you ask for referrals. This is free advertising and usually produces better results.

Opportunity 2: "time to suck it up"

You may have more clients looking around for insurance rates that are slightly less than yours. Your job is to work harder - suck it up and let your clients know that your companies are responsible and that $20.00 they are saving is not worth it if they sacrifice quality. You may also have to take less time off, this is the business we signed up for "Feast or Famine" as my first General Sales Manager told me.... if you want the Feast you have to work during the Famine!

Opportunity 3: "your not alone"

When your sitting in your office or cubical and its a particularly hard day just remind yourself that your competition is feeling the same thing. This is a huge opportunity if your a hard worker! You work harder! Nose to the grindstone and all that. There are going to be competitors that look at this cycle as a horrible time that they must face. Everything Sucks. Time to hunker down and play defense. This is your opportunity. Never give in to this urge and you will be fine... MORE THAN FINE your will reap major rewards.

While these may not seem like opportunities just fight the good fight. Ive never been though one of these cycles before in my young career. While this may hurt the effectiveness of my post I will say just take it with a grain of salt. Every industry (except apparently the movie industry) feels this pain. And throughout modern history there are businesses that have used it to their advantage. This is where the big winners are made, RIGHT HERE. So go out there and sell something. Its 2009... and thats just fine!

AARP UPDATE

2009-01-07T09:34:00.002-06:00

Any agent that works in an area where folks can receive both MAIL and TV reception have had the occasional client check a rate at AARP. Sometimes they are cheaper sometimes they are ALOT higher. We have noticed that we get most of these clients back after a year or two because of rate increases that far exceed the market. I always wondered why. Here is an interesting article from Detroit Free Press.

MUTUAL OF OMA-HUH?

2009-01-07T08:46:00.002-06:00

Mutual of Omaha has a new system in place. When we called an underwriter the other day: we didn't receive a hold message and lite hits of the 70's - nor did we get a call box to leave a message in. We got something new.

A message that said "Due to our high call volume we cannot answer your call at this time. Please call back in 5 minutes"

This is an interesting way to show your agents that you understand their time is valuable.

PROGRESSIVE'S FLO REALLY GROWS ON YOU

2008-12-17T22:55:00.003-06:00

The first time I saw these commercials I was wondering what Progressive was getting us into. But the more I see them the more I like them. You learn alot about their product by watching these spots without realizing it. It may also be the quirky nature of this she-salesman that draws me in im not sure. I know my wife would say I pay way too much attention to insurance commercials but I say why not especially if it's a commercial for a company I sell for! I remember going completely mental when they would show progressive direct and progressive DRIVE commercials. All this aside I just assumed I was just a crazy insurance nerd and no one else cared but low and behold there is an odd crusade to learn about the mysterious Flo. She is an enigma wrapped in a cypher smothered in secret-sauce! A simple google search will unearth all sorts of innocuous flo-bits. One site even exclaimed she has "kissable red lips" as if that has anything to do with insurance!

Suffice it to say: I am not alone in my enjoyment of these commercials. Take comfort in these words my dear friends if you found yourself enamored by a progressive commercial on occasion. Its perfectly normal. Do not feel like an outcast and stop muting your tv for fear your family will think you are "into" insurance commercials. You are not alone.

... until, that is, you start buying affectations to show off your unhealthy flo-fatuation.

TIPS FROM THE FRONT: EMAIL RECEIPTS

2008-12-09T09:32:00.002-06:00

I just got off the phone with a client who wanted to pay with her credit card over the phone. This isnt too uncommon these days but when I suggested that I could email her receipt she was ecstatic! It only took me 20 seconds and didnt cost me anything =) I always ask my clients this because the majority will want their receipt. Some are fine with me saving it on file for them BUT some want me to mail it to them =(. Of all the people I have asked to email a receipt to none of them have told me no. There is also the added benefit of gathering a new email address for your records! If you are unsure how you can create your own PDF receipts I suggest the following utility, CutePDF.

Just select the "free download" on the left side of this page.

When you start the installation process it will want to install something called "GPL Ghostscript" which it requires. It will do all the work for you.

Once it is finished you can create PDF documents from literally anything you can print (like a credit card payment receipt). This will aid you in not only your emailing endeavors but also your paperless endeavors!

This program just adds a "printer" so when you want to create a PDF file you select file/print and use the "cutePDF printer" that is now listed and voila you can now wow your clients with a file format that virtually anyone can read anywhere!

If you are like me and own a mac this functionality is built in and doesn't require any downloads. if you are a security nut like me and want to password protect your PDF documents you can buy the CutePDF Professional.... or take that generated PDF and open it in Acrobat Professional - then add the password.

SIGNAGE FAIL!

2008-12-01T15:58:00.000-06:00

ICM AUTO NEEDS A NEW SLOGAN

2008-11-25T09:59:00.001-06:00

Perhaps it's so simple that it's genius:

"Coverage for Motorists"

... then again maybe its just too "simple".

THANKSGIVING

2008-11-24T15:33:00.002-06:00

Aside from AIG, whom we all know was brought down by it's sub-prime lending... I am thankful for an industry that is out there doing the right thing everyday. Working in a stable industry gives me a reason to wake up everyday and come in. Working in a stable industry allows me to look my clients in the eye. To the wizards of smart in my Insurance Executive world, thank you for not succumbing to the easy Buck. Us young indi-agents are in it for the long haul and applaud you for your restraint.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

THE CAPTIVE CARRIER OF THE FUTURE

2008-11-10T09:35:00.001-06:00

Tee Hee Hee.

Source: Futurama

WARNING SIGNS OF A COMPANY GOING SOUTH

2008-11-07T11:13:00.003-06:00

We deal with many quickly growing companies in the insurance industry and in my experience I can say the same is true in the technology industry. If this starts to occur at a company you feel strongly about bring it to their attention... if nothing is done to correct this problem start weighing your options. This problem is always a sure sign of decline!

When you call as a customer in any capacity and their staff stops trying to help you fix your problem. When they stop caring, or are not allowed to care, about learning from that problem to make themselves better. When they start passing the buck and saying things like, "im sorry thats not my department" or "ive done all I can [silence]" you will know there is a serious culture problem.

Unfortunately this happens alot and most companies become too large or too bureaucratic to learn from their mistakes any more. Most companies when faced with this dilemma say things like "well, thats just one user its not worth our resources to fix it" That is a mistake because if there is an issue it needs to be nipped in the bud before it becomes a huge problem. I can only hope my issue gets resolved, and I think that it will =)

FARMERS FIRST IMPRESSION: BLOWS

2008-11-04T12:51:00.004-06:00

I heard about a new "fast-quote" feature at the farmers website. So I went to try that out last night. The first screen asks all the typical information like name, email, address etc... and something extra that intrigued me:

What are you most interested in

1. Low Price Policy

2. Balance between price and protection

3. High level of protection

I was rarin' to go, all excited, my wife was givin me a weird look... this is what an insurance nerd lives for... something new!!!! THIS WILL BE BETTER THAN THE ALLSTATE ANONYMOUS QUOTE THING!!!! [click]

error page.

I wonder how many of their potential clients ran across this?? Im sure this will be fixed but c'mon Farmers?? This looks like a debug page no less or maybe something only an agent or employee should see. test test test!

Captive company... you have failed me for the last time!!!

A POSITIVE POLITICAL POST

2008-11-04T08:32:00.003-06:00

Regardless of who you are voting for two things are abundantly clear going forward.

1. A much greater percentage of our population will be interested in political matters in an informed way in future elections. (more Americans will take part)

2. A deeply entrenched establishment will be held up to a higher standard in the future thanks to the internet and blogs. Lazy-Media - you know who you are!!!

Happy Voting =)

AUTO-DIALERS HAVE NO PLACE IN BUSINESS

2008-11-03T14:21:00.003-06:00

I know we are all sensitive to this topic, depending on what state you live in, but I am noticing it more lately - politics aside. Today we received two non -political calls from a computer. One from an annuity marketing firm (which is typical) and another from one of our brokerages. The brokerage's autodial offends me more because its their first I received from a close business contact. Typically we are used to the following auto-dialers.

- Yellow page company verification services.

- Annuity marketing firms

- Cable and Satellite companies that are marketing commercially

I dislike these types of calls but if I were in their business I would do the same thing. I would not however set up an auto dialer to call my current clients or business partners. Lets say I had the best relationship with a carrier or brokerage. Everyone I ever spoke to at this company was friendly and their support was great. If I were asked to give them a percentage grade at this point I would give them a 100%. Now lets say they set up an autodialer to call me and confirm my appointment to one of their training seminars. In my mind they would already have suffered a 20 point drop in their grade. Its not so much that I would like a call from one of their staff... its the fact they would even think about inconveniencing my staff with something as universally hated as an auto-dialer.

For the sake of fairness I was forced to evaluate my indignation based on the following argument: Would I be as angry if it were a mass email? The answer for me personally would be no. With email I am able to read it at my convienience and then archive it for my records. With an autodialer my staff is taken away from their duties in order to listen to a heartless computer. Though my relationship with this brokerage remains intact and in high-standing I now wonder if their future business decisions will continue along this path of logic?

I hope not.

A TALE OF TWO HELPDESK DUDES

2008-10-20T10:00:00.008-05:00

I am always baffled that Insurance Carriers hire people off the streets to help their users with troubleshooting their technology. In my mind it is the epicenter of the operation. It is where technology meets their client (which is the agent). Carriers spend millions on their technology and if that technology doest work they lose money. To elaborate on this point I offer this: 100% of an insurance company's revenue flows through some sort of technology interface. When that interface is compromised bad things happen, not the least of which, is they lose money. We also have to factor in their clients' (the agent) peace of mind and trust in their organization. When technology breaks the whole thing goes out of wack. Carriers lose money!!!!

My issue today was with ordering credit, which typically is very painless. Without ordering credit I cannot get an accurate rate and I cannot write business. The first rep we will call 'Clyde'. From the get-go Clyde struck me as the type of guy who likes to rifle through calls. Clyde was also having a case of the "Mondays". His answers were short, logical and without um whats that thing that helpdesks provide........, oh yeah "help". Clyde looked up my issue and prescribed his solution by making it my fault.... this was my problem. I knew I shouldnt have said it but I did.

Me: "... but Ive never had this issue before.".

Clyde: [silence]

Me: "Okay Bye."

Clyde: [click]

CLYDE SHOULD BE FIRED OR RETRAINED

I applied his solution, knowing full well that it was BS. Same error! So I called back but forgot what Clyde's real name was so I endeavored to get a female on the line. I got a male that sounded like Clyde and, Im ashamed to admit this, but I hung up. I tried one more time and got a fellow who I knew was not Clyde. We will call him Chuck. Chuck was friendly =) Chuck wasnt into BS logical answers he read off his ticket-page. Chuck had been around and knew why he was there. Chuck should be given a raise. Though his answer was initially the same he knew better than to leave me hanging... he checked the prior ticket and proceeded on a more amicable path. He also made what is known as "Small Talk". Chuck is my new hero and IS WORKING ON MY PROBLEM AS YOU READ THIS.

ALL HAIL CHUCK!!!!

GREAT EXPECTATIONS OF AUTO INSURANCE

2008-10-15T10:22:00.004-05:00

Once in a while I receive an email from one of the sites I get auto quotes on. I go to quite a few sites to study their workflows so its amazing that I dont get more emails. Today I received an email from Progressive Direct. They all seem to average out savings with some algorithm and put that on as "possible savings". Im pretty sure that this number is inaccurate because the only folks that are going to respond are people that have saved quite a bit. Case in point: AIG shows testimonials on their TV commercials, "this guy saved $900.00". It is unrealistic to expect the majority of folks will save this but if it gets people on their site or phones who cares, right?

My email today had an interesting caveat. I think it is representative of a push to greater conversations with out clients.

Nobody expects car insurance rates to go down, but a growing number of people discover that an updated Progressive quote is, on average, $486 lower than their previous quote.

With all that is happening people shouldn't "expect" their rates to go down (their life-circumstances notwithstanding). That doesn't mean the company they're with isnt high priced. What people should expect is an unbiased opinion from their indi-agent. People should expect good service from their indi-agent. People should expect a "fair" rate for their situation. Independent agents are used to meeting these expectations and surpassing them on a daily basis.

Expecting a lower rate is something we learned from the early half of this decade. Its time to be realistic - however that doesn't mean we cant expect greater things!

THOUGHT NUMBER TWO

2008-10-10T14:40:00.003-05:00

Ive always been against folks getting insurance from an agent-less direct writer but should I really be bashing AIG Direct anymore.... I mean I am part owner now?? Well.... sorta.... Part owner with no dividends or chance of ever getting my investment back. If I bash AIG Direct and their production suffers as a result and my sidewalk cracks and no one fixes it, am I to blame?

OH THE HUMANITY!!!!!!!!

THE 400,000 PYRAMID

2008-10-10T14:31:00.002-05:00

AIG cancelled their corporate retreat. This was an annual retreat to reward the work of their top producers. As Insurance agents we all know that our companies offer the same thing. But if I were an AIG producer I would have probably pressured the company to cancel this as well. After all what is more important?.. going to a spa and talking about corporate goals? Or actually writing business next year?

Well...... talking about the corporate goals might be constructive. Bottom line. Now its on our dime.

THE GOVERNMENT ENTERS INTO "SOCCER MOM TEAM LEADER" TERRITORY

2008-10-07T13:19:00.002-05:00

A ton of regulation has come down on insurance agents from federal regulators. Whether you agree or disagree that these rules level the playing field you have to wonder if this is a portent of things to come if your government starts to run healthcare. Here is the latest rule we have to sign off on if you sell medicare advantage or Part D.

Prohibition on Meals

Producers (agents) may not allow beneficiaries (prospects) to be provided meals or have meals subsidized at any event or meeting at which plan benefits are being discussed and/or plan materials are being distributed.

This as food related gift cards, grocery cards, offers or coupons. Refreshments and light snacks permitted:

Fruit

Raw Vegetables

Pastries

Cookies and other small desert items

Crackers

Muffins

Cheese

Chips

Yogurt

Nuts

up to 3 of the above items can be served with a beverage at any one time.

[end]

where the hell are fruit roll-ups and capri suns!!!!

Common Sense Must Take Hold

2008-09-26T15:20:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a while because ive been working on getting my management system live here. One thing I need to add to my "not to do" list is: "not watching the news". With all the horrible disarray on wall street the sinking sense is only amplified by our fair media. Worse case scenarios are played out on a nightly basis as if thats they only thing they want to convey. I didnt realize how it was affecting me until yesterday.

I was home with a huge cold yesterday and there was nothing to do but watch daytime cable comedy. I was on 3 different channels: TBS, USA, and the WE channel (which I assume stands for wicked-awesome entertainment). Each half hour show I watched had at least 2 AIG direct commercials. Immediately my half-alert brain was outraged. Here they were bailed out by us and they're still running commercials!!!! Shame on them. Then I thought about it. One. Their ad's were already in place and most likely couldn't be removed from the air... and Two. Their insurance arm was probably the only profitable slice of the AIG pie.

We need to apply common sense especially when dealing with the media. The economy is an important matter which will effect us our entire life. If you let them enrage you its over.

Interesting side-note: foxnews.com just posted a picture of WAMU CEO Fishman as he accepts his 20 million dollar severance package when only working for 17 days. Grab your pitchforks!!!

ALLSTATE IS CLASSY LIKE A BAND-AID IN MY ALFREDO

2008-08-29T10:22:00.002-05:00

There is an unspoken code between insurance agents. We tend to stick to this code just to preserve our sanity. There are many facets to the code but the gist of it is "treat others as you would like to be treated". We all know what its like to grab business from our competitors and we all know what its like to receive a cancellation form.

One of my clients left my agency on good terms due to an accident. He went to Allstate and his agent needed documentation from this accident. There was a problem getting this information from the insurance carrier due to privacy concerns. the Allstate agent called my office to ask that I might get it for her and was very demanding, which is fine - I can take it. My only problem is she called my 800 number so now the request (which I will not be paid for as I no longer have this client) is costing me extra money. Now perhaps she's just an agent on the sales floor and has never had to directly pay the phone bill but one would think you'd have a little more class than to do this.

Keep to the code!!!!

Insurance Pro Online Management System

2008-08-21T09:24:00.006-05:00

Background: We here at the swiftrate blog have been big promoters of the old Doris Management System. It was simple to use and the support was backed by a few folks that knew what they were doing. Since they were bought by Applied things have changed a bit (which we know full well as my agency was using Doris at the time). They went from an in-office database system to a "hosted-solution". What this means is my app was now located on a server far away and ran as such. We have a T1 in my agency and it dragged. This is because you are literally running a window on your computer mirroring actions happening on another server. One can get used to this lag time but not me. The upside to such a system is you wont have to worry about backups or upgrades... they are done for you. Applied also ramped the price of Doris.

This brings us to Insurance Pro Online. It is a hybrid product. Not wholly located on a server as in my Doris example... the data is stored on their servers but the app runs on your computer. You will still have a bit of wait time while data transfers but the app runs quick. I received a mass email advertisement to try their system. I followed the link to their website and downloaded a demo. Once installed I was able to work using their "demo database". Shortly there-after one of their reps contacted me via-email to introduce herself. It took me one day to look through the system but it seems very simple. Here are a couple features I like:

1. Pop-up Notes. If you enter in a "note" diary" "event" whatever you call them... you can select it to be a "pop-up" note. Ive seen this in one other system and I think its a great Idea. So If you have something to tell your staff once they open this clients file it will popup at them like: "Divorce Pending" or "Do Not Write".

2. Under forms there are simple letters. I love it when there is a built in Word Processor. The fact is Microsoft Word has too many features. We're just writing letters here people!

3. Simple file upload. As with most systems these days you can upload and save file attachments. Its seems simple enough and I don't see a storage space limitation on their site so, presumably, you can upload as much as you want.

In conclusion the staff I emailed seems friendly and responsive and this company is located in Texas, which seems to be a plus for me. You can go check it out for yourself.

Disclosure: I do not nor do I intend to purchase this management system for use in my agency. If you buy this system I will receive zero compensation. I built my own so I have no need for an outside vendor. I do like to demo all the systems out there and this one seems to be one of the better ones ive tried. I do not know their pricing scheme and I cant vouch for their customer service. If anyone knows anything i would encourage you to comment below for the benefit of the other readers.

THE EFFECTS OF HIGH GAS COSTS

2008-08-18T13:55:00.004-05:00

I was skeptical that folks in the US would actually drive less as gas prices rose over 3.00 and even as it reached 3.75 but apparently 4.00 was our tipping point. Now there are statistics everywhere (especially in tourism circles) that say people are in fact driving less. Less driving has apparently lead to less accidents! I wonder if people are driving more conservatively (less aggressive) too? This may also explain Progressive's findings. As the 3rd largest Auto insurer I believe they have a good view of this topic.

THE GECKOS BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET

2008-08-15T09:42:00.003-05:00

Geico has the Farmers insurance company in a tussle. This article offers some interesting insight into modern insurance companies view of what drives profit. They site that nearly half of insurance consumers procure a Geico quote. The only reason given here for this is Geico has simply a bigger ad budget. Here are a few of my points on the subject:

If you knew nothing about these two companies other than their names which would you go to first for a quote? GEI-CO? Sounds like a big company that doesn't care much about little ol me? or - Farmers... to me Farmers sounds a bit more friendly. Even if I were an 18 year old musician I would probably go for Farmers on this alone. Geico knew a long time ago they would need to change their image and they did it with hundreds of millions of dollars - mission accomplished.

Lets say you got a quote from Geico and Farmers online - which experience was easier. I will tell you from recent experience that the two experiences are almost identical. Im sure Farmers studied Geicos online workflow and vise verse. So in this area your not going to be drasticly impressed either way. But Geico committed themselves along time ago to online sales and they did it with hundreds of millions of dollars - mission accomplished.

So is the answer for Farmers to ramp their ad budget from 116 million to 800 million?? Is the answer to hire the best software minds to develop a seamless web interface that reads the users mind and gives them a quick quote? Is the answer to re-hippify their logo and post awesome pictures of a cutie-muffin that will eventually grow up to become a gecko killer on their homepage?

.... hmmm lets see. What is it Farmers has that Geico doesnt have..... who could they empower to do their bidding? Who could they pay some sort of percentage to advise a person on coverages? It would have to be a human and they would have to have some sort of license? Whoever it would be they would probably be able to react to multiple questions in a real-time interactive manor. They would probably be members of various civic and charity organizations giving back to their community in some way. They would probably have a hand or two to shake the hand of the potential client or current customer? hmmm...... You could probably give them the technology to sell online and finish the process for you... but who..........

EMPOWER YOUR FREEKIN AGENTS FARMERS!!

DO YOUR CLIENTS PINE FOR THE FJORDS WHEN LISTENING TO YOUR VOICEMAIL MESSAGE

2008-08-12T13:17:00.003-05:00

When I was a young Buck selling for Principal Financial Group my General Manager advised me on how to record my voicemail message. I was to call it up every morning before 8am and record a daily response. This response would have a friendly greeting, any times i would be out, my lunch and of course my overall office hours. I never did this because what if I forgot one day to change it... I would seem forgetful - not a good quality in a financial planner. So It was just a friendly greeting which always seem to produce messages from my callers.

When I call my claims adjusters on behalf of my clients I am stunned at the long diatribe that precedes the beep. My client was in my office just the other day and saw me waiting as I clutched my head in my hands with every recorded bit. He waited for the end and smiled knowing exactly why I was cringing. I know its the corporate rules that are being followed here but does a client (or agent) really need to know every subsidiary [5] and the schedule of the person and the best part... at the end of this young ladies message a long silence (as she was remembering what to say) and then the corporate slogan [beep]. I timed it 65 seconds. Thats over a minute of my life gone just waiting to leave a message. The only thing I should need to know about is whether she'll get back to me fast or not.

No matter what your profession I implore you.... if your inconveniencing your clients by not picking up your phone (which everyone understands is part of business) then don't make them wish they were dead by listening to your novel on your voicemail message. You will have happier customers... just think of all the minutes you could save the world!!!

EMOTIONAL BUSINESS

2008-08-05T08:30:00.002-05:00

Insurance is a very emotion-based business. Do people buy life insurance because at age 25 your supposed to purchase it? That would be nice for us but NO. They buy it because some confluence of events triggered the purchase. When people call with claims is it typically a mechanical casual conversation, nope.

We dont sell cell phones we sell insurance therefore we deal with emotions every day. Yesterday my CSR got a hug from a client for saving her money. Is there any better reward in our business?

SPIN THE OLD FEATURES LIKE THEY'RE NEW INNOVATIONS

2008-07-23T13:40:00.004-05:00

We've long said at this blog that people should be talking about features and value rather than price. Unfortunately not many agents are listening and are following the heavy march of Geico and Allstate. Marketers at these companies are lazy - or are they geniuses? I cant decide. 'Price', 'Shop', 'Cheap', These are all very hot buzz words right now. Combinations of these words are very effective in insurance marketing. Allstate for instance is putting out radio ads telling folks to shop mid-term while on TV they're issuing orders to "watch out" when switching as you may be sacrificing coverages for a cheap price. Are they playing both sides of the fence or have they done research that indicated people will immediately pull over and grab an auto quote on their phones when prompted to?

When I saw this ad for Esurance I applauded. They are on the "green-train". The two features they are using to highlight their green-ed-ness is "PAPERLESS BILLING" and "AUTOMATIC RENEWALS". Wow automatic renewals?!?! Sign me up I wish my policy didnt just end while my agent was on vacation every six months... It waists quite a bit of my time not to mention all that paper to generate new apps etc.. OK, so i'm being a bit facetious. The point is this is genius! Your explaining to people that you dont have to do ANYTHING after 6 months because your policy just continues on and you are linking a common feature with saving the environment!!! Go Esurance marketing firm. You are my heros... but im going to see Batman tonight so don't get too comfortable.

INVOICE TRICKERY

2008-07-21T13:55:00.003-05:00

This is quickly becoming a blog for airing my complains with certain businesses, the next five posts I vow will be:

1. Insurance related.

2. Technology Related

3. Upbeat and Positive

Last Week I received an invoice to be added to the "Yellow Pages" directory. Being that I have an account with yellowpages.com I thought nothing of editing my info a month ago. Now along comes the invoice for my oversight. They want 390.00!!! I looked a bit closer at this one. This one says invoice and shows the company as US-Yellow "National Business Book". I did some digging this weekend and they used to be called Allied Telephone Directories. When you navigate to us-yellow.com you see that they HAD to change their name to more accurately reflect the nature of their business. When I visited their BBB listing I found that they were sighted for the initial mailer that came to me which look like a harmless "edit your listing" sheet. In fact its more of an opt in to be charged for being in some awful little 3rd rate directory form.

This was already looked into by the BBB and the following was posted:

The company's attorney responded that "this document clearly states that it is a solicitation for the order of goods or services and not a bill, invoice or statement of account due. The listing order form clearly states 'THIS IS NOT A BILL.'"

"This mail solicitation has been reviewed by the United States Postal Service and found to be in compliance with the United States Code and all postal regulations. The solicitation is clear and unambiguous and could not reasonably be construed as an invoice or statement of account."

So i'm a tool. Thats fine. It shall serve as a lesson. I did call and she withdrew all charges. The problem with doing business like this is a few people are going to make some dough but the business name will gain no traction (or they will have to change it every 3 years). It would seem that they are not interested in making a good directory but rather feeding off of naive folks like me and making a few bucks. If its legal its legal but id hate to be the CSR that has to take calls all day long for this business. Lets get out there and create some value people!

WHEN PROCEDURES BECOME USELESS

2008-07-11T15:53:00.004-05:00

We have many many many procedures in our agency. They help us train sure.. but the main reason we have them is to make sure we do things in a standard way. This makes mistakes easy to track. They are meant to be a guide. Do employees always like to follow them? NO but it is part of the job and when they are written practically and are updated when the need arises they can be a great tool.

A close friend of mine works at a bank. She has been an exemplary employee for over five years. She shows up on time she works when others are sick all while getting her degree. All of her annual reviews have been filled with high honors and, for the most part, she is rewarded with a good pay raise. She has also never been "written up"!

The other day a customer called their call center to complain about an incident that had occurred over a month prior. This customer sent her child in to make a transaction, the child then left with a receipt. The customer claims the receipt was not enclosed in an envelope when she received it.

The Banks procedure states that if a person comes in to initiate a transaction and is not on the account a receipt must be placed in a sealed envelope for privacy purposes.

My friend cannot recall this incident and typically has no reason not to follow this rule. based on everything she knows about her routine - she did her job and followed the procedure. The child could have opened the envelope..... well a million things could have happened up to and including my friend could have actually perpetrated the item of misconduct. Per another procedure this bank has she was promptly written up without a review of video tapes or leniency based on the time elapsed. It will go in her permanent record as the only blemish in her five year career.

A review of the procedure or even a minor investigation might have been warranted. The first procedure was no doubt written to protect the clients privacy. This is a good thing. this is a "hard" procedure never to be altered under any circumstance. The second procedure is stupid. Automatic Write up? This teaches nothing - it will not better any of their employees - and, if anything only serves to show that her organization would rather just put a piece of paper in her file than find out who was right or even just retrain on a procedure... it is lazy.

I implore you to build flexibility into some of your procedures. Allow your account managers to do the right thing by their employees and by their clients. A little understanding can go a long way. For now it would seem that I am way more pissed about this than my friend. I hope her next five years afford her the benefit of the doubt.

GREAT DAY ?????????

2008-07-02T14:50:00.002-05:00

I love it when people answer their phones creatively... it is in fact what I live for! One business in my town uses "Its a Great Day at [business-name]" This is amazing because at that company they sound like they are actually having an excellent day. Another of our larger businesses in Shawano also picked this up... unfortunately the people that are using the line sound like their parrot just died in a horrible golfing accident. I wonder how many times a day they read that line and loath it!! I also wonder if they actually even think about what they are saying anymore.

They should probably just say, "Ghostbusters, WHAT-DO-YA WANT!!!!"

CLAIMS AND THE FUTURE AGENT

2008-07-02T08:55:00.003-05:00

So this morning I advised a client on a possible claim via "Google Chat". I was looking over my emails and up popped the chat window. Of course you want to be careful what data you transmit with G-Chat but it was an interesting experience. And the nice thing is the entire conversation can be cut and pasted into my management system as a diary or note.

I look forward to my first Skype-Claims-Notification !

INDEPENDENT AGENTS NEED TO BAND TOGETHER IN THE TIMES AHEAD

2008-06-23T08:13:00.002-05:00

Ive always had this philosophy worked out in my head but never put it to paper. Now that I have been it all seems a bit idealistic. One of my favorite types of NEW client is from another agency. It gives me some slim sense of satisfaction to know that, for whatever reason, I am a better agent. This "sense" can only be justified by good retention, some people just hop agents because a wise person once told them to shop often. I take very great care when transitioning someone from one agency to another ESPECIALLY when its from another independent agency. These people already understand that by going to an independent agent they have the best service and they get a personal shopper built right in with no supreme loyalty to just one company. So I take great care to make sure all my ducks are in a row. The last thing I want is to tarnish all the work the last agent did. I want my new client to be comfortable.

Inevitably one of my clients decides to take this same route and go to another agent. Now we have this whole "exit procedure" which ensures no hard feelings on either side. It makes them feel that if anything occurs in the future - that they can come back and not feel weird about it. Its like when you quit a job and walk back into that business, even five years later, its always kinda awkward. We avoid all that with a friendly letter that goes one step further to sell them one more time on our great service. I have been very grateful for this letter lately because we have a new agency in town that apparently doesn't know how to rate folks properly. On three separate occasions we've had to reinstate canceled clients because they found out that "cheap" rate wasn't all it was cracked up to be... missing driver, no records pulled, wrong coverage - you name it. That letter allows them to call us back and not feel awful about it. So there's no need to bad mouth a competitor and our long-term retention is the better for it.

This leads me back to my headline. The name of the game for us indi-agents is to grab market share from Direct and Captive carriers. To do this we need to be able to work together amicably. We need to realize that, in the short term, we may lose a few clients to each other - but in the long term we will be better off for it. Its an important time for us to be in this industry. Prospects are starting to realize more then ever that we are the way to go. We have no cohesive marketing campaign on our side - WE ARE THE CAMPAIGN. Our local advertising needs to have service over price emphasis. We need to push the long term and not worry so much about the short term.

We must band together my friends. This is how we win.

INSURANCE JOKE #467

2008-06-17T14:29:00.003-05:00

Ooooh Oooh insurance joke!!! I know your excited, the biggest problem with being an insurance agent is the humor is too esoteric to pass on. Even my wife would not understand this joke. So I submit to you my dear friends, Insurance Joke #467 which just happened to me this morning.

My Receptionist: "This guy has vehicles up the wazooo"

Me: "Is that his alternate garaging address??"

fin'

Yellowpages - Same OLD Same OLD

2008-06-16T09:09:00.002-05:00

So this yellowpages.com rep calls me to sell me their version of adwords. This is the program that allows you to advertise not only on yellowpages.com but also search engines like google and Yahoo. Right now we do the google adwords because I can have maximum instant control over whats going on. I can also see results immediately. The rep, we'll call him Steve, walked me through the process - he was really a pleasant guy. The problem wasn't Steve it was innovation OR lack-there-of.

Steve basically wanted to be my middleman. He couldn't offer me anything new just what is offered in my yellowpage book! Sure there would be results on Google but the link and verbiage would say "Yellowpages.com - Insurance". So Id basically be funding their ad empire. Then when you click that link up would pop a page with "Yellowpages.com" on the top and somewhere in the middle would be TEXT saying swiftrate. Id also be surrounded by my closest friends we call them "the competition". No Innovation, little value to me.

My second problem was that I couldnt instantly access my results. Sure I could go to a site and see how amazing and awesome yellowpages.com was doing on specific keywords but not me personally. Steve assured me he would have no problem emailing me a sheet every month but I would have no ability to drill down into that data. He brought up the cardinal reason I hate yellowpages. The can never prove their results! They are hard to read! (even the online implementation was awful. It had 4 columns I could barely read) And lastly The reps think they are offering something unique.

This is nothing against Steve or that dude in their commercials from Kung Fu or whatever but his company is just a bottom feeder. They get businesses to invest alot of money - they incessantly bash their competition for the sale - and their pages are still yellow. Do they own a patent on that color? because aside from keeping mosquitoes away from my other books they are quite worthless!

On a more positive note it makes me feel better about my current system. Steve was a cool guy and was very good at his job. He got a little agitated when I told him they didn't innovate in their space - but we ended on a good note and, I think, we will remain friends.

Peace Yellowpages.com, Peace.

MARKETING 101 FOR CONSERVATIVE CARRIERS

2008-06-09T10:30:00.004-05:00

One of our more beloved insurance carriers is coming out with a much anticipated new Home program. The first effective date we can use is July 4th. Being that they cater primarily to independent agents you would think they would have some crazy marketing event. But alas I see none. I know some of you Allied / Nationwide folks read my blog. I would encourage you to launch your program with some panache'. Here are a few suggestions from one of your agents:

1. customize your agent homepage with red white and blue
2. use some tie in with independence day / independent agents etc.
3. have a big corporate pyrotechnic display at your home office utilizing my two favorite fireworks: Snakes and Sparklers!!

Counter Intelligence in the Insurance World

2008-06-05T11:15:00.003-05:00

In the spy world, intelligence and counter intelligence is common place. Planting information swaying feeling is all part of the job. You may be interested to find that we also employ these methods in my agency, Albeit it in a less sinister fashion.

MY IDEAL CLIENT: Families of any makeup with prior insurance and decent credit that like to pay their bill on time.

When Im quoting these folks do I always get this business? not in this market. Our carriers are all clamoring for this golden opportunity. Should we be disheartened if, when we call back with the exciting news, we are met with: "oh that's not even close to what im paying now"? Absolutely not. Here's what is important.

We always quote several carriers on a risk so we can be positive that we are competitive. We always call back very quickly, most times within the hour. I always try to make that connection while taking quote information too (to the point where ill tag their file with interesting tid-bits about their personality and life). What have we just done here? We've planted the seed of doubt. By being courteous and upbeat we are showing them that despite a possible close price or even a slightly higher one - the grass is greener on this side. They may not know it now but we will be remembered for these things. They may even spread the word. The best referral I ever got came in and told me they want a quote because their brother reccomended him even though we didnt save him money. We wrote that account and eventually his brothers.

If their current rate goes up in the future theres a good chance we will get a call back. I also like to send out my quotes as a reminder a couple weeks later. This shows we want them as a client and provides some proof of our meticulous nature. Their current agent's job just got allot harder without them knowing this.

Another way we plant the seed is when we speak to our friends the Realtor or the Mortgage Broker. We try to go out of our way WAY OUT OF OUR WAY to make sure their contact with us is akin to a first date. (take that any way you want) We want them to think of us kindly in the future. We want them to remember us forever. We want them to leave five messages on our answering machine for a second date. And NOT like a first date... we want them to refer their contacts to us.

Keep sewing those seeds and selling that insurance, you'll feel like Austin Powers in no time!

MAYBE WE SHOULD SOCIALIZE HEALTHCARE

2008-05-27T13:56:00.002-05:00

Im an insurance agent so Government run healthcare would be a problem for me. One of my Health agents received a call this weekend from United Healthcare. In a heavy foreign accent he proclaimed "WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW AGENTS IN YOUR AREA WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED!" ... the only problem is.. we already are agents for United Health.

Very sloppy United... lets be a little more "social" with our business networks shall we? And for crying out loud if your going to cold call to find competition for your current agents please scub your call lists!!!

IIABA's ACT SAYS GET A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ASAP

2008-05-22T13:52:00.004-05:00

I cant even believe Im writing this post but if this is a number one article on the ACT website then it must be written. I personally only know of one indi-agent that doesn't have a Management System and their main reason is that they only deal with two carriers so they just use the website. Fair enough?

Find here the top ten reasons to get a management system.

Of course number one is the obligatory "real-time" argument and you all know how I feel about that. Let me take a different tact though with this whole leap into the 20th century thing. If your argument is like my friends and you only use your carriers website then let me offer you my top two list which is directly ripped from ACT's list.

2. Reporting capability. If you have any management system worth its salt it has some pretty ok report you can pull in order to cross sell and study your book for potential. Most carrier websites will not give you very good reports and it will only be reporting on the business you have with that one carrier.

1. [drum roll] Autonomy!!! Ok so this one isnt on the top ten list. But it should be. If your betting the indi-agent farm on one carrier thats fine but what are their rules about ownership of your data if you should choose to jump ship? Do they give you 30 days to get all your dec pages downloaded.... then what?? if all your client files and remarks are on their system and you work yourself to death printing all that off... what will you do with them? My guess is you have some sort of file apparatus. Congratulations youve just stepped back into the 50's. You are an Amish insurance professional - you best unplug all your outlets before leaving the office each night lest your life go up in smoke. But I digress.. having a management system is an excellent backup for all of the above reasons. It is sound advice from both me and ACT.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE NEW MIRACLE CURE ?

2008-05-19T10:25:00.004-05:00

Well not new. But certainly, if you have high insurance rates, a miracle!

At my agency we have ceased advertising with words like "rate" or "cheap" in it. We'd like to think that we offer service that far surpass in importance such buzz words. What we need to be marketing is our miracle which is akin to child birth and a cubs world series victory in our lifetime. That Miracle is your local independent insurance agent.

Your local Independent Insurance Agent has not one but MANY carriers they represent. They hand pick these carriers which are highly rated and service oriented. Your local indi-agent can now make sure you get both a fair rate and excellent service.

This truly is a miracle when you think of it yet literally no independent agents, that I know, use this angle in their marketing. Its more than an angle, its the truth. I had a client call me the other day asking me why his online AIG quote was 100.00 less per year. I told him that they dont pay an agent. The story behind this case is quite interesting. This is a client who enjoyed calling about letters he received, to discuss a rate adjustment or to just BS. Unfortunately without an agent he would have to carry on with a call center employee... wherever AIG has that call center. Sometimes what clients dont realize, and what was certainly the case here, is that there has been a soft market for a few years and his rates were able to stay low precisely because I was an independent agent.

Its important to broadcast this message so that we dont find ourselves in the "price" corner one day. Backed into this corner you will be helpless to defend yourself if your clients' renewals go up even a little bit.

US POSTAL PUZZLE

2008-05-12T15:53:00.003-05:00

If your an agency is like mine you send out alot of mailers or correspondence through the U.S. postal service. As you know they are asking for another penny per stamp. Its always amazing to see the little backward ways they make more money by reclassifying mail into categories and then pricing them accordingly, like: "Machine Sortable".

This is the best way they have come up with to describe how we will determine our postage. At first glance its a scatter-chart but really its more of a maze or "choose-your-own-adventure" poster.

Who ever designed this no doubt has the pulse of America's small business owner. My favorite part is the equation on the bottom for "Non-Machinable". At least now Stephen Hawking will have no trouble mailing his envelopes.

Its a good thing we get 90% of our clients email addresses. I would suggest that if you're an agency owner and are astonished by that number that you stay tuned for our next post on getting email addresses. Not only will it save you money on postage - it will save you from having to use your Rosetta Stone to figure out the USPS's correct postage price!

INDEPENDENT AGENTS ARE THE LAST BASTION OF LOCAL SERVICE

2008-05-08T22:25:00.004-05:00

It seems daily, a business I used to send checks to or stopped by and payed my bill to, wants me to pay online or sign up with my checking account. The most recent was today. I went in to pay my AT&T bill. Now I like to stop in and yuck it up with the clerk, swap iPhone war stories etc... When I walked in my clerk was gone and a different company was running the store. They told me they would have to tack on 5.00 to my bill to accept the check I had in my hand. I was, however, presented with a tastier option. If I just payed online or with my handset I would incur no fees.

Sound familiar?

Many of the insurance carriers we sell for, and I mean we collectively (you, me, your agency, mine), want our clients to do this - or go direct to their websites and pay. Whether you're an agency that endorses this philosophy of "low touch" or not we cant deny it certainly saves us time. But this low-touch philosophy also distances us from our clients. This is why we assure our clients that they may come in and pay as often as they want. This gives us the opportunity to ask for referrals, cross sell and most importantly show the client they mean something to us - or that they are more than just a monthly payment.

Im not telling you anything new, at least I hope not. I feel that as independent representatives of an insurance company we offer something to our clients - something tangible. That old feeling that someone is there to help them. The Carriers we represent are slowly weening our clients off of us. Is this because they see the writing on the wall? Do they think we are no longer necessary to the process? All I know is I see businesses almost daily throwing away this opportunity to remind their customers that they matter.

Dont misunderstand I love technology and I dont mind selling a policy to someone over the Internet or phone, however, If that client ever needs to stop in with a payment my doors will always be open.

We can use technology to broaden our reach - then we need to show them that we have more to offer. We are real people, we independent insurance agents!

SAFELITE - NOT ALRIGHT

2008-05-06T13:11:00.002-05:00

We used to call our clients "glass only" auto claims in - im not sure how long that is going to last. My insured's auto carrier signed up with safelite and my staff is always complaining about the quality of service they get when they call in so I thought I might check it out for myself.

A person answered right away. [10 points] She then, in a beautiful monotone warble said she "understands I may have glass damage" [-2 points for the obvious nature of her reaction] [ +1 point for trying to answer the phone creatively] I said "Yes, yes I do but I am calling for one of my clients." She took down my name and the clients phone number and wanted to give them a call. [-5 points for the subtle shove-off] I said "dont you need the estimate or the shop my client is having it repaired at?" "Oh.... yeah", she said. I then gave her the info and she told me the estimate would not be necessary.

While this exchange was relatively easy it was awful for me, even more so when I think about some of my clients actually calling this number. I felt like I was speaking to the borg. Young Anna sounded like she was tertiary adjunct of unimatrix 04. In anycase, in the three minutes this call took they would have undone every "smile and dial", every friendly conversation even the fact that I went out to my clients house to write this policy. Why my carrier would risk this service that doesn't match their's and certainly doesn't match mine all for a couple of bucks is beyond me.

Well the truth of the matter is, its not a couple of bucks it probably millions of dollars. Not only that, Im sure Safelite has a vast network of providers and handles the logistics quite well. My point is this... even if my Carrier is saving 3 million dollars a year - how many policies have been lost over a silly glass-chip? How many renewals thwarted because someone needed a new windshield for their 2003 Saturn SL2? Is that three million dollars worth loosing those clients? In the short term? How about the long term??

I fear most executives dont think about the long term too often.

200th Post

2008-05-01T14:59:00.007-05:00

Sweet !! I didnt know blogger could count that high =)

THE ART OF LINE DRAWING

2008-05-01T14:59:00.006-05:00

I would say most independent agents do what it takes to make their clients happy. Staying late for appointments (some open on Saturdays) - Meeting folks at their homes for inspections - checking rates at renewals - scheduling annual updates - coming in early to get the extra work done... these are just a few examples.

But when we start drawing lines in the sand to improve the quality of our working-life, and by extension, the quality of our work for our clients we get the cold shoulder.

One instance Ive blogged about before is that Mortgagee who wants renewals faxed to his desk every six months because he's too lazy to go over to the filing cabinet or perhaps at a different branch location from where our decs are mailed to. Ive started asking these folks if, since they will be receiving the whole dec in a few days, would it be possible to email this. Now we've invested in a paperless system so this would be easy for us. To fax this stuff would require us to print out the dec or binder and fax (add long-distance) it to this bank. One would think this would be easier for the banker as well. Instead I am treated like an unmovable obstacle in their day. Ive even been bad-mouthed to a client for simply suggesting the "email option".

Some agencies have decided to use their large carriers' service center as the soul provider of service for their clients. While I am morally opposed to this choice I can totally understand the financials behind such a decision. If your drawing this line in the sand I would invite you to comment. Ive heard that initially customers are not happy about this choice. Have you stuck to your guns? If it is a good business decision and your clients are being helped with their questions why shouldn't you stick to your guns.

Other agencies are experimenting with four day work weeks and free snacks in the break room. I would submit that when you change your business to better your life it benefits both the agent and the client. Stick to your guns and maybe we can all sell happier!

WHAT IS "EASE OF DOING BUSINESS"

2008-04-29T07:45:00.003-05:00

For the insurance consumer it is a quick quote and a nicely handled claim.. To the insurance company it is the efficient routing of information between as few humans as possible.. For the agent it is the ability to quote with several of their carriers and if issued -- the ability to service that policies without needing an advanced degree in CSR-ology.

What do we care about?

The consumer wants a low rate and to make sure that low rate covers every risk we think it should. The insurance company wants to rate their product to be competitive and profitable. The agent wants to sell alot of insurance and not have to work 60 hours a week.

Where do we intersect?

Some insurance companies have removed factors in their rating such as "driving assignment" and the need for "good student" documentation. This allows the insurance company to rate more accurately - the consumer gets a faster quote - and the agent doesn't have to chase after documentation every year.

Where do we clash?

The consumer wants low price and high value, agents want to sell alot of insurance and insurance companies want to keep the agent writing profitable business. Where we clash are in natural areas.

The one area we can make things immensely easier is technology. By constantly weeding out the BS and extraneous data we make things simpler on all parties. Two quick examples: one of my carriers has a field that asks for birth date of youngest driver - it is not required but why is it there.. cant the mainframe figure this out? Why am i bothered with this and up to 10 other fields that no one cares about? Another carrier has a quote / app process. So they ask quote questions to determine a rate and some of that data doesn't transfer over to the application. This is so easy yet everytime I write business with this carrier I die a little inside. This application is a burden!

The "Ease of doing business" factor shouldn't be that hard. The biggest problem here is that we prefer broad changes in the future to small corrections next week. If my carrier would just evaluate why that field is in there and take it out I would be happier... alas, this will have to wait for a large revision sometime in 2010.

We will still clash about business motives (this is necessary in our market) but if we can come together on our interfaces we can create a more amicable environment for everyone.

EMAILING LIKE A MUTHA

2008-04-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

Its month three of our fantastic "War on Paperism" at our agency. We've adapted quite well at a slow pace away from the pulp-devil. Here are a few things we'll be working on going forward.

- No more printing Reports (they will be saved forever within my management system)
- Mail is directly scanned in and routed within the management system environment
- Dont FAX just EMAIL (binders, POI's, as well as other already-scanned docs)

This last one has been a bit tricky. We've learned that banks don't so much like email. I cant imagine why, it would go right to their desk and they could then save, forward, print, do whatever with it. Best of all its instantaneous and doesn't cost anyone long distance. But most banks have ridiculous technology procedures that blacklist your address on the fly and catch almost everyone in their spam filter. One bank went so far as to tell me, they only use email internally they dont allow outside emails to come in.

Realtors on the other hand are very excited to use email. They will send me off a sale-sheet in no time. Then there are our friends at the insurance company. Your typical call center rep will have email but not give it to you. This is for security reasons, afraid I will make them my own personal free CSR, they prefer a horrible fax as well.

So whereas a few years ago when email actually made us more productive... now its considered a nuisance. Thanks alot spammers!!!!

OAK STREET FUNDING SHOULD RENAME THEMSELVES ELM STREET FUNDING

2008-04-17T15:10:00.003-05:00

If you read your National Underwriter or IA magazines you are sure to see ads from Oak Street Funding. They extend credit to insurance agencies using commission as collateral which makes them a decent vehicle for acquisitions. We have looked into a few of these folks but decided if we ever found a nice acquisition we would just do it the old fashioned way.

The trouble started when I signed up for their newsletter - I started getting regular calls from my personal "account representative". I kindly told him that we may be interested eventually, however, I am too busy to talk to you every other week until then so please stop calling. He said that would be fine Ill just send you some information in the mail. A month passes and I start getting the automated phone calls.

Look guys you were a candidate but your now way the hell out. How can you deal with insurance agents and think we have the time for your nonsence. I dont know one agent or business owner for that matter who would call you after these harassment's. It seems that this would be basic common sense - how are you expecting a sale except under the most desperate of circumstances?

If you're an agent I would suggest deeply researching this company before proceeding with newsletter signup or even calling them with questions.

There are better ways of creating business relationships guys!!

AMAZING CALL CENTER GREETING

2008-04-16T11:10:00.004-05:00

So I was about to give up on any semblance of creativity ever coming out of a call center. It seems the common theory in today's call centers is closer to that of a cattle driver. You know, route them quick without loosing too many in the process.

I called Northwestern Mutual today to service one of my client's accounts. I was met with the dreaded "wait time" message. It simply said this:

"We're sorry, due to the personal attention we give our Northwestern Mutual clients we aren't able to answer your call as quick as we would like, please be patient."

So Simple So Amazing! If any call center folks are reading this please consider this warm greeting in addition to your herding practices.

National Underwriter P&C

2008-04-15T14:25:00.002-05:00

Hooray I am eligible for a free subscription to National Underwriter Property and Casualty magazine!!!! I got a call which somehow got through my gatekeeper and after a lengthy survey that I was barely able to understand I will be receiving a weekly magazine "free of charge". That means I will never be billed for this magazine not even after 3 months free.. I assume. Also the nice lady wanted to send me free stuff, I said no thanks so that means I wont receive junk mail or spam from them.. I assume. And I told them to take me off their marketing lists so I wont get a dozen more calls like this from them or any companies they sell this survey too... I assume.

We need more insurance bloggers!!! People that profit by doing their jobs.. ie selling insurance or selling magazines not through these crazy surveys and special offers. Its like when you go to the movies these days, you know? They try to sell you this Jumbo drink, 8 extra ounces of watered down cherry coke for an extra 25 cents I dont want it, I dont need that much organization in my life - I want Junior mints... Where did junior mints go in the movies? I dont want a 12 pound nestles crunch for an extra 25.00!!!!!!

WE NEED INSURANCE BLOGGERS.... WE NEED PEOPLE THAT CARE!!! IM MAD AS HELL AND I DONT WANNA TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!!

no but seriously, more insurance bloggers.

AGENTS OF THE PAST

2008-04-11T13:58:00.003-05:00

Our particular agency has been in existence since 1925. My grandmother tells me she remembers driving around with her dad as he collected weekly insurance billings. Along with this, and up until about forty years ago, agents used to hire staff to type up policies for each insured. Unbelievable.

I was digging through some old boxes here at the office when I came upon a folder marked "entertainment", enclosed were some interesting articles on insurance which I believe were filed by my grandfather or, perhaps, his father. I included a poem the other day also enclosed was this interesting article.

Before a recent meeting of the Dallas Insurance Agents Association, John H. Purnell, editor of the Marshall, Texas, "News-Messinger," offered the following forthright portrait of what HIS agent should be:

I want my insurance agent to be MY agent and I want him to be personally interested in ME and MY possessions--and if I have a loss I want MY agent to drop everything else and come at once not only to adjust my loss but to sympathize with me.

The fact that ME and MINE are the most important things in the world to me is of no interest to local fire and casualty insurance agents but it is of vital importance to every agent that I
am a human being and all human beings are just like me--it is human nature to be selfishly interested in our own affairs.

When I have a loss I want to call MY agent on,the telephone, day or night, and pour out my grief and my loss to him and I want him to calm my fears, adjust my loss and do all the pencil
work-- I have a complex against filling in blanks and I want my agent to do that for me. I once had a loss on an automobile that was financed and insured in Detroit and I had so much correspondence and so many questionnaires to fill out that I finally threw the whole thing in the waste basket and paid the loss myself -- and then I received a letter from some clerk that made me feel I had imposed on that insurance agent a thousand miles away by even suggesting that I had a just claim.

I want my local fire and casualty agent to belong to his local, state and national associations: I belong to several newspaper associations because, I owe that to my profession and because I
must meet certain requirements that elevate our standards. I also want MY local agents to be an active citizen who does things to make our city a better place in which to live.

After my unhappy experience in trying to get a loss settled by long distance I looked over the list of local agents in my town who belonged to the local exchange and then I picked out a man
who is active in the Chamber of Commerce, in his church, in his luncheon club. and in all civic affairs.

That commission which MY agent receives is MY money -- the company doesn't pay him, I pay him and I want him to earn that commission. That's not selfishness, that's human nature. And
every assured you have on your books is filled with human nature. Make each assured feel his importance and he will love you."

RAGE ON PRICECLUBS RAGE ON!!!!

2008-04-09T10:47:00.003-05:00

PRICE PRICE PRICE

See Here

PRICE PRICE PRICE

Meanwhile we'll work on that whole crazy niche area: "profitability - customer service - loyalty"

DIRECT TO HAWAII

2008-04-08T08:12:00.004-05:00

Over the weekend I saw about ten AIG commercials. In our area the ads look more like public service announcements with an urgent tone. "ALERT: This may alarm State Farm customers!!! You are overpaying by up to 500.00" Reminds me a bit of the robot from Lost in Space.

"Danger Will Robinson: You are over paying on Auto insurance!!!!"

"But..... were lost in space who cares???"

"Danger!!! Danger!!! you must shop often!!!"

"But... what if I switch and an asteroid crashes into our space scooter and my direct marketing rep didnt advise me to add that coverage??"

"Danger!!! $500 is $500 dollars you are overpaying!!!"

Robots are annoying... Anyways - if I lived in Hawaii I would get good ads at least. Ive only been to Hawaii once. I didnt notice too many people wearing headsets in the streets. Apparently Brittany Spears has impacted their fashion culture greatly.. See for yourself:

Rage on Directs and Captives... Keep talking about price!

WHOS MARKETING THESE THINGS?!?

2008-04-07T09:44:00.003-05:00

This morning I recieved an automated email from an Agent friend of mine in my inbox:

The personal message from my friend read as follows:

I use a good spam filter, and you probably do the same.
I have whitelisted you and that means that I will receive all the emails you send to me.
I would appreciate it if you would whitelist my email address: soandso@that.com

If you don't have a spam filter, I can recommend SPAMfighter. It is a highly effective free spam filter for Outlook and Outlook Express.

You can get the free SPAMfighter here:
http://www.spamfighter.com/Pro

I hope that you will whitelist me, so we can continue to communicate safely via email in the future.

Best regards

I know this could be regarded as a friendly message but its pure spam. If your an anti-spam company dont work in a highly automated email function into your program and disguise it as a letter ending with the words "Best Regards {name}".

THE MOST SINCERE LOVE LETTER EVER WRITTEN

2008-04-05T11:46:00.002-05:00

" A Life insurance policy is just a time-yellowed piece of paper with columns of figures and legal phrases, until it has been baptised with a widow's tears. Then it is a modern miracle, Aladdin's Lamp. It is food, clothing, shelter, education, piece-of-mind, comfort, undying love and affection. It is the most sincere love letter ever written. It quiets the crying of a hungry baby at night. It eases the aching heart of a bereaved widow. It is a comforting whisper in the dark, silent hours of the night. It is new hope, fresh courage and strength for a mother to pick up the broken threads of life and carry on. It is a college education for the sons and daughters -- a chance for a career instead of a need for a job. It is a fathers paternal blessing to the children on their wedding day. It is the function of a father's hopes and plans for his family's future. Through life insurance he lives on. There is no death. Life insurance is a plan that exalts life and defeats death. It is the premium we pay for living after death." --Friendly Adventurer.

THEY DO IT TO THEMSELVES

2008-03-28T11:38:00.003-05:00

So Im driving home the other day and I hear a radio ad for Allstate. "You dont have to wait til your renewal to shop for insurance". This is interesting - the directs are already pounding insureds to shop shop shop. We'll save you 15%. We'll save you 500.00. Shop Shop Shop!!!! Your missing out on money... Our rates have dropped again!!! SHOP SHOP SHOP. Now we have Allstate saying Shop anytime Cancel anytime do it often.

Our market is becoming increasingly competitive. In Progressive's Investor meeting last summer they stated that retention was their number one concern (because the retention on their direct business was horrible). They reinforced this by paying their agents more (as the retention is better with their agents). It wont be long before companies like Allstate are sitting around their board room saying, "Why has everything become so comoditized?", "Why is our retention horrible?", "why are people shopping so often and leaving us mid-term". This is the amazing part: The rates are going to shoot up because now we have to determine these rates based on the first 6 month term because more and more of the customers arent sticking around.

Macro-insurance theory.:This is the very root of the problem. Not to mention the fact that if you always move companies you will be less educated on their process and you will run the risk that one of these call center agents isnt matching your coverage properly.

Why should indi-agents care? First of all we need to get our head out of the sand.... embrace automation. Job #1: is to meet these Direct carriers in that field. We need to offer our clients and prospects the online tools that will be important going forward... our strength is personal service - which we get paid a commission to do - the Directs dont have this expense (we cant beat them there) nor do they have the underwriters as much of their process is automated.

We need to push our message of service. People need to have adequate coverage. They are going to have the price on their minds but they need to be reminded of the RISK. This is where we prevail.

Let the Allstates and the Progressive Directs and the Geicos haggle over price.... its really their only strong suit.

PROGRESSIVE HIRES MARKETING GURU

2008-03-28T09:36:00.002-05:00

This week Progressive Insurance announced it was hiring Larry Bloomenkranz away from UPS. He was most recently responsible for their whiteboard campaign. This should be interesting. I hope his first order of business is to cancel those awful supermarket commercials jeeesh!