Astonishing results: Agency online marketing

[mattbalt]

Astonishing results is an online insurance ageny marketing company. I have seen them in Roughnotes, Insurance Journal, and other insurance related sites. Has anyone used their services or had a proposal from them?

[JustinReed]

Internet Marketing works in some cases with Personal Lines, but not very effective with Commercial or Group Health accounts.

[JasonBHBCo]

Matt,

I believe you are referring to Astonish Results, correct?
If so, we do have a client that uses that platform - and we are currently integrating it's use into their Personal Lines workflows, especially the Renewal process.
I would be happy to share with you how we end up on it in a few more weeks.
One thing to note (and was my advice to our client) - there should be deliberate planning and a strategy in place when using this type of automated marketing (as well as with any type of marketing plan), and insurance tasks should stay in the agency management system (think E&O).

Regards,
Jason

[mattbalt]

Jason you are correct about the company name. Curious what results, of their marketing program, someone has experienced.

[TheInsKid]

We are looking at it really hard right now. Here is a list of agencies that are currently using it for what that may be worth and no, I do not work for Astonishing Results

Paul Murphy
President
800-260-2029
http://www.paulmurphyinsurance.com
paul@ptminsurance.com

Deepak Jakhotia
President
800-705-5435
http://www.jakhotia.com
dj@comegys.com

Steve Lewis
President
800-407-5129
http://www.securityfirstinsurance.net
steve@securityfirstinsurance.net

Todd Tomlinson
President
800-676-3493
http://www.hoinsurance.com
todd@hoinsurance.com

Will Wellborn
President
800-603-1439
http://www.lowerpremiums.com
will@palmettoinsurance.com

Dino Carbone
President
800-564-4107
http://www.elliottinsgroup.com
dcarbone@elliottinsgroup.com

[pita3333]

What is interesting about Inskid's post is that every agency listed has damn near exactly the same web page. Yes the layout differs a bit from one to the other...but they all have same basic content and exactly the same video messages!

So appears that Astonishing Results also provides web page design as part of its program. I guess the flashy design might be intersting to personal lines but I can tell you that it really turned me off! But I have to remind that I am a person who looks at content over presentation. A person who likes flashy presentation might go for it. For me ... it makes me wonder what is hiding behind the flash!

Just my observation and opinion ... yours will very likely vary.

[d's insurance store]

Clearly, Astonish Results is marketing a turnkey web system that allows an agency to try and market, acquire, retain and enhance policy growth with a formula that keeps contact flowing between the agency and prospect/client.

In my opinion, the key remains the acquisition component...and what I'm trying to say is just how does this system break through the clutter of the web and make a statement that will motivate someone in this vast web universe to hook in and begin the process of quote/bind and retention.

Once again, I'll point out the obvious...that any Google search (or any other engine for that matter) involving the key words of 'insurance quote' or 'cheap rates' or whatever will bring up hundreds of thousands of hits, mostly for personal lines products. Some are local, others are national...and all claim to have the best rates, service and integrity, right?

I can see the benefits of setting up a measured and calculated contact program to keep clients and real prospects close and engaged, but the acquisition part of the process still eludes my simple mind.

Certainly, if an agency has a wiz-bang product for a narrow niche and has the ability to do web content that will attract search traffic because of the specialization, then this kind of sort of makes sense...but to throw a net into a giant universe, trying to compete with every insurance company and direct writter seems a waste of time and resource to me.

Of course, there's always Facebook and Twitter...right...and sending off a credit card number to any one of the numerous vendors who promise me immediate and long term wealth if only I pay them for the secrets of success in Social Network Marketing sometimes in the bleakest of days to be inviting...

[goodmaninsurance]

Just had a meeting with Astonish Results. Here is what I can say. The system is at its worst, impressive, at its best game changing. We are still evaluating it as it is a major financial commitment, but I have to say the program/consulting look excellent and everyone of their clients I have spoken with have validated their service. And for me, I don't like going off referral lists, so Itracked the backlinks to find the outlier clients not on the list.

Anyway, just my two cents.

[volstrike3]

michga11... while every agency should be doing the things that Astonish Results offers... my guess is that the number of agencies that have an automated drip marketing, cross sell, referral and new business marketing program with a way to track results... is a small percentage. I would be shocked if 10% of all privately owned agencies did this and I doubt you could do everything they do for less than they provide it. It is definetly not cheap... but just having a body to manage all of your marketing campaigns, SEO, etc cost more than their monthly fees. If it works half as well as they claim then it is probably worth it. I have spoken with them and as another poster mentioned... at the very least their program is impressive. I have a few other projects in the works but I am giving their program strong consideration.

[michga11]

volstrike3...you go ahead and do that. i imagine if all your friend's decided to jump off a bridge, that you would too. it's unfortunate that a company's leader has no innovative imagination of their own these days. they instead pay large sums for someone else to think for them. astonishing results will crash and burn. that i can promise you. if you read some posts up above, you will see why. if we are all jumping on the bandwagon, then we are all the same, and have put ourselves right back at the beginning of the race. you will spend more on the yearly payments to astonishing then you will make on landing *maybe* a couple of new business accounts. however, maybe i am just a skeptic and have grown warily tired of bull**** and fancy-talking hype. a leader that can't think on their own, does not deserve to lead.

[volstrike3]

michga11,

It sounds like you have a personal problem with this company... have you worked with/for them before? I don't have a dog in the fight as I am not their customer... but you come off like a bitter ex employee or somebody else with an ax to grind. Not sure what types of acounts you write but 4/5 rounded out personal lines accounts cover the monthly charge. It is one thing to have "an innovative imagination" and it is another thing to try to reinvent the wheel at increased cost. I am good at building relationships and selling... my time is not best used by managing email drip campaigns and learning the finer points tweaking my website for SEO. If somebody else can do it well at a resonable cost... I am going to take a long hard look at it. In my experience the marketing slicksters want a lot of money and a long term contract upfront... AR isn't asking for that which makes me think their product can stand on it's own. Talk to a large PR company in any major city and they will want $100K minimum to start a branding campaign... with success that cannot be tracked.

[michga11]

volstrike3...not an ex-employee of the company. just a user of this product, which our company has purchased. it seems to me like YOU may work for the company, though. heh. it's not my money being wasted, it's yours. *shrugs* you are free to purchase as you see fit. don't take my word for it. spend your money, sign on the dotted line to their 5 year contract, with no guaranteed results. i am always baffled by the "no guaranteed results" type of contract, but maybe that's just the wisdom in me kicking into overdrive. take a spin at the wheel of fortune and see where you land. unless you land on "bankrupt" or "lose a turn" it shouldn't hurt too bad. am i right or am i right?

[volstrike3]

You got me... I joined IJ four years and 200 posts ago anticipating this day:)

If you are a customer that has used the product and is unhappy... please tell those of us that are considering using the product why. How did the product fall short? An honest product review would be much more helpful for all of us than a vague complaint about the ownership of the company.

[michga11]

oh dear sweet voltron, contrary to popular belief, true coincidences are extremely rare in occurrence. this was not a coincidence. i joined IJ two days and 3 posts later, my day has already arrived. i could hear you crying for help through internet telekinetic channels. it didn't take me long to find you. then again, it's easy to find a loud weeper. ;=)

tell you what, since you have patiently waited so long, i'll go ahead and make you wait longer. it's good for the soul. i will give you a nice little review, possibly including con's AND pro's of what astonish has to offer, during the days of...oh let's say...June 22 to June 28. that will be a beautiful peaceful week. so much work will be done. my qi will be in it's full elemental. i have penciled you into my calendar. yes, you are that special.

[volstrike3]

I will be looking forward to your first contribution to this discussion board.