Recycle a Retiree to Evangelize Your Agency

Old Folks Are Finally Good for Something

Aging is a fatal disease that is venerated in some cultures and dissed by others. In ours, it is clearly the latter. Too many post-baby boomers believe that honoring one’s elders is a quaint relic of the past and an oddity of distant lands. That brings us around to mature insurance professionals. What good are they after they achieve retirement age? Do they offer anything of value to a contemporary property/casualty insurance agency, particularly one that is fashionable enough to have a Facebook page and a Twitter account?

Hire an Evangelist

An evangelist is a zealous advocate, someone who spreads only good news. Apple Inc., in its darkest days of the 1990s, employed an evangelist to spread enthusiasm about their computers and the company. You can do something similar to enhance your name recognition and to counter the ever-present messages from national marketers suggesting that you are nothing more than a middleman. Positive information, particularly about a negative business like insurance, enhances your agency’s brand.

Get Your Side of the Story Out

Agencies need to get their side of “the story” out to insureds and prospects on a regular basis. “The story” varies by agency, but in general, it touts the specific advantages of doing business with your office and aggressively counters any negatives thrown your way. If you fail to do so, you allow your image to be shaped by others, including your fiercest competitors. Today, there are multiple ways to spread your message. And who better to serve as your evangelist than a retired (or semi-retired) producer? Veteran P/C professionals, with decades of experience, are invaluable public relations assets, even if they are cashing Social Security checks. (Of course, to be a good PR person, they need solid communication and computer skills.)

At-Home Evangelism

The retiree doesn’t require desk space. He or she can easily work from home as long as they regularly confer with your office. They can also attend selected community and industry functions as a representative of the agency, freeing up time for active producers and principals. Plus, there are myriad tools they can use to spread your message. These range from old school public services (adopting a highway, manning the phones during a charity event, etc.) to pure PR and client contact functions. Issuing press releases and creating or eliciting content for your Web site, social sites, and blog are essential channels for their evangelism. In addition to text contributions, they might create audio or video podcasts, featuring staff interviews on a variety of informative insurance topics. Furthermore, they can take online actions to increase the number of your agency’s friends and fans (Facebook), followers (Twitter), connections (LinkedIn), and members of your “old fashioned” e-mail list.

Client Surveys

Your evangelist can also create and send print or Web-based client satisfaction surveys to current insureds. Exit surveys for recent ex-clients are an important companion activity. Carefully analyzing the results helps guide future management actions and decisions.

No Spare Retirees Around?

If your agency is too young to have retired anyone yet, hopefully you’ll last long enough to do so. In the meantime, consider hiring an un-or-underemployed college graduate who majored in marketing or communications. In this economy, they should be relatively easy to find. Read my June 15, 2009, column titled “Take Advantage of Bad Times by Hiring a Marketing Major” for helpful tips.

Enhance Your Image

A part-time evangelist can skillfully and methodically improve the image, recognition, and value of your agency’s brand. This individual stirs an insurance flavor into your PR efforts and moves your office from the computer era into the age of social networking. Internet literate retirees, with writing talent, are excellent candidates for this position. Sure, youthful employees are always nice to have, but hey, they’ll eventually grow out of it.