The goal of this article is to make
successful insurance marketing professionals more successful. For those
not yet at that level, heading upward is rarely achieved without the
guidance few others can provide. Because I like to tell it like it is,
heed this warning. You should be currently mastering at least 9 of the
key factors below. Otherwise your chances at recruiting or marketing
success is slim to none.
THE 12 KEYS for Insurance
Independent Marketing Organizations, National Wholesalers, State
Managers, General Agents, Insurance Company Recruiters, Brokerage
Directors, Independent Broker-Dealers, Insurance Company Regionals,
Territorial Product Managers, MGA's, and similar individuals or
companies.
1. Understanding Your Competition Are they
marketing the same product or how different is it from the one you are
offering? Is their emphasis on higher commissions, better product
benefits, or exceptional service. You should also know how many
competitors in your territory exist, how they prospect for agents, how
many producers are contracted, and copies of their brochures and
contracts.
2. Why Insurance Marketers Fail As you might
already know, in the first eighteen months of their career, 85% of life
and health insurance agents fail to survive. Reasons broadly range from
lack of management, ineffective prospecting, and poor planning to the
unwilliness to spend money to make money.
3. Total Insurance Base
Few marketers take the time to find out how many life and health
insurance agents exist in their territory. How many of these agents are
brand new. In contrast, what is the total that survived the critical
first four years? The marketer or recruiter may be biting off more than
they can handle. On the other hand, there has to be enough agents ready
to bite.
4. Agents: Who to and Not Concentrate On This
is what separates the young and old boys from the pros. Right now,
thousands of agent recruiters are not concentrating their time on target
marketing. Face the Facts! Not every life and health insurance agent
wants your product. Nor are they healthy for your producer force. There
are 4 basic groups of life and health agents, and your target lies
within 45% of the total licensed representatives.
5. Importance of your Prospective Agent List
A top priority item. Do you even have a targeted prospective agent
list for your territory? If you do, you are in the smart minority. Even
smarter, if your list closely matches agents currently selling a similar
product to what you are offering. An experienced agent list compiler might be able to help you. Other sources, such as list brokers, directories, and even insurance departments rarely can.
6. How Types of Prospecting Differ Here
is an area where recruiters and marketers stray far off. The choices
include emailing, telemarketing, personal calling, trade magazine
advertising, direct mail letters or postcards, attending association
meetings, and others. There are not only wide differences in costs and
personal time consumed, but in legal requirements. For example, a wrong
phone call could cost you an $11,200 fine.
7. Best States to Recruit In This
is critical knowledge for those whose territory is national or covers a
grouping of states. Insurance marketers hit some states in your
territory 7 times as hard as other states. Likewise, some agents in your
marketing region receive 10 times the solicitation of others. Learn why
sometimes it is better to stay out of big metropolitan areas. Test your
territory to explore results, or talk to an experienced insurance
recruiting advisor.
8. Increasing Income Techniques It
is a fact that you are going to have to invest money, and consistently
have a plan of continuous insurance marketing and recruiting. So many
recruiters do not know what ROI stands for, or how to figure it out. A
good ROI-Return on Investment (over 3 years) for recruiting agents could
range from 5 to 1, or much higher. Experienced insurance marketers will
respond that a producing agent/broker is worth at least $3,500 to them.
That amount is more than at least 30% of self-considered marketers
invest on recruiting in a year!
9. Prospecting Techniques to Reach Willing Agents
To be successful in developing an agent to write your insurance
products three things must be present beforehand. All three are almost
of equal importance. First, your message must go to the right qualified
agent. Second, your product must excite a need in the agent to want to
sell it. Third, you must reach this right agent, with the right product,
at the right time.
10. Tricks and Tips Increasing Response
Very few worthwhile tips will be extracted from your competitors.
Some you may luckily stumble upon. Marketing masters close guard the
secrets to their success. One of the big tips is to make your marketing
sparkle with tricks and tips not practiced by your competitors. Just
implementing one good trick can increase your response rate by an
additional 40% increase. P.S. Some insurance marketing writers, like me,
will share them in insurance articles.
11. Wording and Designing Your Insurance Message
Over 80% of insurance messages made visible to agents by ALL
prospecting techniques will never be fully read. Most messages through
out bait like vacations, cruises, bonuses, and tripling income within 12
months. Sadly, few realize the simple fact, "what is your product going
to do to benefit me".
12. Agent Recruiting Seminars This
is one of the greatest ways to recruit numerous agents to produce
business for you with one informative face-to-face meeting. To pull it
off, you need to know how many qualified agents are in driving range.
Next, you need to develop a formula of the correct prospecting
techniques, tricks, and treats to get the maximum traffic to virtually
guarantee success.
Remember that insurance marketing success is an
upward journey. It is not a destination point where golden eggs are
then constantly produced.
Well published author, Don Yerke likes to concentrate on what you
don't know or what no one else dares to print. Tell it like it is.
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