New office

[Marty]

Hello-

I just opened a new agency in Michigan and i am looking for advice on advertising on what has and has not worked. Any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Marty

[tsorrels]

You failed to mention what TYPE of agency....P&C or life/health?

There are several DIFFERENT types, depending on your market. Are you going to use the yellowpages? Can get pretty expensive.

Call 1-800-WE-INSURE and ask for Patrick Shores. He is Director of Marketing for 800 MARKETING SOLUTIONS. They have a program that is designed to make YOUR phone ring!

Are you going to be selling auto insurance? I suggest that you join the National Auto Agents Alliance (see http://www.national-auto-agents.com) which is an AGENT driven association and they can help.

You can always email me at tsorrels@insuremyauto.com and we can discuss other advertising ideas.

[sanddog]

Marty, don't waste your time with the yellow pages. Here what works
1) Yellow pages: good for high risk auto only. DUI, speed, reckless younger drivers. Very high service work, good commission with high volume.
2) Home & Life phone calls or word of month, join clubs. You won't get much from the phone book Advertizing is extremely expensive .........$
3)Heatlh Ins, filers, handout, small papers, mailers, must have rate posted with your photo. Works good
4) Commercial small accounts, get out and walk and call, and a target mailer works pretty good.

FYI< phone book is only good for auto 90% of time. (Mostly trouble type)
I have been there done it over 15 years. I was in the top 4 agency in area region before selling out to the big guys. We had 37 agency....OK

[independent guy]

I agree with Sanddog about the yellow pages mostly being high risk/high maintenance. However, those people refer others of that type, and sometimes more preferred risks so you can't discount that either. Word of mouth works wonders. Just remember to thank people when they refer someone, and they'll refer that many more people. Also, I just got a "high risk" auto, who ended up writing his 3 homes, 3 autos, life, health, and contractors business through me. He has all his subs come see me too. Its not bad, but I know that it'll be tough managing cost with his driving record (speeding tickets galore).

[PCorathers]

Get an approved DBA that will put you first or second under the insurance heading - then get a BOLD listing or small in the column 1/2 inch display. maybe different color if available. DO NOT get a display ad. They are a waste of money. also if possbile get a "trademark" listing with the companies that you represent. Sometimes they will pay for them. ask your rep get approval. You need to have some miminum listing in the yellow pages- the telephone company - new people in the area get them. Other directories may or may not work be careful. Some times they can be good. do you use them? if not then your clients wouldn't either.

Find a source or new move- ins. Country property records or title companies may be good free sources or there are companies that will prepare lists for you.

Try to work with a good real estate company, new\used car dealer and bookkeeper\account for referrals.

Do a news letter with the above. have the contribute to the cost. and cross sell each other services.

do flyers and but different small business barber shop, doctors offices etc do something for them in return promote them or givea couple bucks etc.

[kevinraz]

Have not heard anyone here talk about xdates. Is it legal to cold call and ask for xdates anymore?

Back in 1990's I had part time employees working for me calling for auto xdates. If we got to the person in the house who knew the info we got it 70% of the time. Also can get home xdates from tax assesor's office for free, just find out when someone closed on a house sale.

Auto xdates worked great as you can pick & choose who you talk to. I did not like yellow pages or other ads as only the high risk drivers (or problem clients) called. I was working with preferred markets only so it was nice to be able to be selective.

[jmandas]

what is an auto xdate?

Jim Mandas

[mrmreff]

what is an auto xdate?

Jim Mandas

An xdate is a common term for policy expiration date, or the date the policy is up for renewal.

[Brandy]

X Dates

X Dates are pretty simple, when does their current auto policy expire so you can quote and write the policy at renewal.

If your going to cold call make sure you get set up with a way of scrubbing the call sheet. The days of pulling out the phone book and asking if they want a "free quote" is over. You have to scrub the number against the "Do Not Call List" or face a possible fine of/or up to $10,000.

A good way to avoid this is with a direct mail market peice. Check with your GA.

[CATHIEA]

Once upon a time before I opened my agency I was a non standard auto rep for a couple of reputable companies. Since you're new, that's probably going to be your direction. From experience, the yellow pages will cost you more than you will bring in. Lead services will make the phone ring but the cost outweighs the dollars earned. My best suggestion is to contact St Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc (all the direct writer agents in your area). Work out a referral system where you send them prefered that you can't place and they send you what they can't place. Do not offer to pay referral fees or share commissions- this will put you out of business since commission dollars are slim to begin with. Thanking them is one thing but most importantly tell them and stick to it that you will not solicit any line they have with an existing customer. This works - I've been doing this for 7 years and keep myself & 5 producers quite busy. It's simply networking in the right pond. They spend fortunes advertising and have limited markets.

[jmandas]

I have been successful at networking so this is good news.
Does this networking technique work for commercial also?

Jim Mandas

[Joe Agent]

What do you do when the new customer from State Farm asks you to write their home policy?

[CATHIEA]

To answer the question about commercial - yes. In fact the focus of the agency is commercial and the direct writers have narrow guidelines on both personal & commercial lines. You are not going to be writing beauty shops, deli's or any plain jane bops unless they are being non renewed. What you are going to be writing are higher premium tougher accounts. Let St Farm write the $300 bop I'll take the $40,000 plumber (or whatever).

As far as when the client asks you to write their homeowner policy. The deal is that you don't solicit the account. I usually call the agent & there have been occasions where my rate was right on with theirs. It was a small premium (under $2,000) so I told the client to stay with the direct writer - not worth changing. If there is a big difference, let the client decide. Sometimes in personal lines you have to have both to get the client the best rate / program for them. Just don't blindside the refering agent.

Remember that the direct writers are not our competition. Independent agents have far more resources than they do. We are not limited in the marketplace so there is no account that can't be quoted.

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