Seminars Help Generate New Sales and Marketing Techniques

Catherine recently attended a CIC Ruble seminar on Sales & Marketing in San Diego, Calif. The instructors were all very good and their information was timely and useful. We thought we should highlight the great sales and marketing ideas for independent agencies that were covered in the seminar.

Downloading and Certs

Steve Anderson of The Anderson Network is an automation guru who is also great at using technology for sales and marketing. He is the executive editor of the newsletter called TAAR (also known as The Anderson Agency Report, www.TAAReport.com) that covers all aspects of automation and technology for Insurance agencies.

Anderson noted that many agencies are not downloading the way they should, especially with commercial lines. The Agents Council for Technology (ACT) has a listing of the capabilities of agency automation systems and carrier capabilities for upload/download interface with those systems. ACT’s Web site is www.acttech.org.

If you are tired of the time and costs of issuing certificates, there are solutions for you. Several services offer online certificate processing where the insureds actually generate their own certificates. Templates are created that have the information locked in, such as coverages that cannot be changed by the client.

Two such services can be found at www.CSR24.com and www.confirmnet.com.

Sales Leads

A major complaint we often hear is that many agency producers are just not getting the leads they need from the agency. A common problem is that these producers must generate their own leads and make their own cold calls. Aside from the time involved, they have poor results. There are many good lead generation sources today that can help producers, such as www.salesforce.com, www.infousa.com, www.datalister.com and www.selectory.com.

Producer Skills

It is also important for producers to be excited about the sales process. One way to generate new business quickly is to have the producers focus on businesses that are connected to activities, beliefs or things that the producer enjoys or values. Online services can also help producers generate leads in their centers of influence, industries they know from family relationships, etc. Producers will then be more likely to relate to the prospects and know what types of exposures they have.

The seminar’s instructors indicated that it is best to have each producer really focus on two niches. When they develop an expertise in a niche, they will know how to best sell to this niche, what the pricing is, what markets like these risks, etc. Also, remember that people buy from people they like. So, if producers know the prospect’s needs, they will then relate well to them and should be able to have a great close ratio with these prospects.

The Society of CIC has a great three-week producer school held in various locations around the country. During the class the producers develop a game plan for writing new business and choose their two niches to focus on. The class will teach them how to create a game book that has all the materials they might need.

The Academy of CIC also has pure sales schools called “Dynamics of Selling.” Also, there is “Dynamics of Sales Management” program that has been developed for owners and sales managers. Go to the National Alliance at www.scic.com for more information.

The Society of CIC and Oak & Associates highly recommend that producers do a diagnostic appointment or interview via phone, before gathering information on prospects. This is a series of 12 questions related to the price, politics and product needed by customers and also uncovers their pain and needs.

Jack Burke, from Sound Marketing, recommended that agency owners schedule time to work on their business. He suggested that at least four hours a week should be actually scheduled to work on management items, new sales ideas, etc. He recommended a Web site called www.firstresearch.com for sales and marketing strategy development. Also www.zywave.com is an insurance industry focused service for more sales and marketing as well as client service products.

Oak & Associates also recommends owners be flexible with time off, listening to the needs and recommendations of employees, moving people up in the organization, rather than hiring new people and having great communication. These things will set you apart.

Successful business owners know the importance of education and learning from others. Take a class or workshop at least twice a year, to hone your skills or discover new ideas, and expand your horizons.