Do you know the laws regarding the DNC and insurance leads? If you are a buying insurance leads and don’t know the DNC (National Do Not Call Registry) regulations, you could be putting your insurance agency in grave danger.

You only have 90 days from the date that the person inquired in which you can call the lead or even follow up.  If you do not have a prior business relationship with the person or you are not able to establish a business relationship with them during those 90 days, calling them will result in a DNC violation.

Make no mistake, DNC violations are serious business. The DNC is regulated by the feds and violations can result in a fine of up to $16,000.

So, if you are purchasing insurance leads, how can you be certain that you are protected in case a company sells you an aged lead, passing it off as a real-time lead? The truth is that you can’t. To protect your insurance agency you will want to ensure that you have an agreement in place that indemnifies you.

If you have any questions regarding the DNC and insurance leads feel free to comment below. Our team of insurance experts are happy to answer your questions!

Let me first say, if you are looking for a magic bullet to increase your productivity at work, I do not have one. There is no such thing.

Let me also say that I am FAR from an expert on the subject and will probably forget a few things here. What I am sharing are my own personal experiences with struggling to stay focused, meet deadlines, and be as productive as I know I should be to be more successful. I have also struggled with the uneasy feeling and stress that comes with having too much to do and too little time. And, for the most part, I have overcome them (for the most part).

Alright, with those disclaimers out of the way, here we go,

1. Realize and acknowledge to yourself that you will never, I repeat never, accomplish everything in one day that you need to. Get comfortable with leaving your desk with work to do.
2. Set a start and stop time for working each day. Yes, you may own the business and don’t have “work hours.” No offense, but yes you do. You simply cannot work 24 hours a day, so you have work hours. Pick a time to start each day. Pick a time to end each day. Stick to them. You will accomplish much more when you are on deadlines.
3. Turn off the Toast. The little thing that pops up to alert you of new email is called “Toast.” It steals your time and focus. Turn it off!
4. Put family time, personal time, social time, etc. on your calendar. Schedule it. What’s more important to you: work or family and friends? If you said work, you are weird. Really, you are statistically in the 0.2% of Americans who say that. That 0.2% is also the same group that ends up with heart problems and no friends and die a lonely death at an early age (not confirmed, just assumed). To schedule the time with your friends and family,on your calendar and stick to it.
5. Make time for yourself. Yeah this is a repeat of #4. Get over it and continue to read. Make time (business time and “off-time”) for yourself and stick to it (notice a theme here, make times and stick to them!). Use this time for thinking big things, reading, casting vision for yourself and others, setting goals, relaxing, praying, exercising, whatever.
6. Turn your email off periodically. Really, turn it off. Is it on still now? I’ll wait. OK, all set? Good. Turn off your email for the majority of the day. It’s a distraction that needs to be avoided for 99% of the population (service-oriented people are excused and probably not reading this so who cares,back to those who are). Set three times (or four if email truly is like crack for you) ON YOUR CALENDAR (told ya it’s a theme) and check your email at those times. I do: first thing in the morning from about 8:30-9:30, Right before or after lunch (before if I am having a late lunch, after if I am having an early lunch) for about 45 minutes, and again from 4:15-4:45. I will do one last check at 5:20 which usually takes 5 minutes to see if anything is on fire, and that is it. In the meantime, I am not constantly distracted by emails coming and going and I can do them all at once.
7. The same goes for all the other crap that distracts you: Twitter, Facebook, etc. See, I have uncovered the secret to eliminating distractions, ELIMINATING THEM! Set times to check Twitter, Facebook, etc. just like email. Unless you are literally a social media professional, three times per day is more than enough.
8. Schedule breaks throughout the day. Wow this theme is probably getting old now, but really, schedule some short breaks during the day. Now I am not suggesting you make yourself get a hall pass to go to the bathroom, that’s just weird. But, aside from bathroom breaks, schedule breaks according to your needs. I prefer three or four 5 minute breaks during the day rather than longer ones, but you may prefer taking two 10-15 minute breaks. Schedule them and stick to them.
9. Write out a to-do list the night before for the following day. I will admit, I suck at this. Studies have shown that 15 minutes making a to-do list can save up to TWO HOURS the following day. Don’t make this an ongoing, never-ending list though. In fact, only put stuff on there you plan to do THAT DAY. You can keep another list for long-term projects. Odds are, for most of you, 6-10 things is the sweet spot. Some days it will be less. Some days more. It’s up to you to know your limits and what each project will require.
10. Schedule a once a month “Task Snowball Day.” What? Well I made this idea up using the Dave Ramsey “Debt Snowball” idea. Ramsey’s method for getting out of debt is to pay off your debts smallest to largest. There are all sorts of mathematical and psychological reasons why, but I won’t get into them now. A “Task Snowball Day” should be schedule monthly on a day when you have no pressing matters (meetings or major projects due). What you do simply is take your long-term project list and list them in the order it takes to do them, forgetting importance. Start with the shortest one then the next and so on. Usually on a day like this, I will get through 12-25 projects! At any point in time I may have 40-50 long-term projects/ideas on the table. And in ONE DAY I can eliminate 25-50% of them! That is encouraging and takes a load of my shoulders. Now my list is down to one sheet again!
11. Get more sleep. Do I even need to explain this? Good.
12. Exercise. Schedule this too. It’s important. If all you do is get 15 minutes each day, trust me, it helps! Even during the day, use your breaks to get up and move around. If you are on the phone, make sure you have a headset and walk around. If you are on your cell phone, go for a walk. Do a set of pushups or body weight squats or walk up and down the stairs for 2 minutes.
13. Eat Better. Duh. Post-donut sugar crash = unproductive. (says the man who had two donuts before staff meeting this morning, do as I say, not as I do.)
14. Clean your desk! One big change I made was removing everything on my desk that is in front of me except for one area next to my keyboard with a notepad and my to-do list. A vast empty space exists where clutter used to reign king. It’s refreshing.
15. Have separate work areas. For me, this was huge. I work at the computer on one desk and do everything non-computer at another desk (well folding table in my office). Now I don’t get distracted when I focusing on reading an article or writing a note.

Lastly, I would not try to do all of these things at once. Pick one, do that for a couple of weeks, then another one. Do some research on your own to look for ways. Read a book or two on the subject. I recommend Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” and “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.

I hope those tips help!

As an insurance professional who is trying to build your book of business, retaining customers and closing sales are two of your most important goals.

Are you laser-focused on these goals? Does your to-do list reflect that focus?

With the zing of incoming email, texts and other alerts coming through on your mobile device and/or computer, it’s easy to get caught up in the instant gratification of  “now”.  I recommend refocusing that time spent perusing email, replying to texts, alerts, etc. and make sure your focus is on what is vital to your bottom-line – keeping customers happy, getting referrals and closing new sales.

Never before have we been so distracted. Yes, technology is important and it aids us in furthering endeavors with our insurance businesses, but technology can also deter us from our goals, if we allow it to do so.

For information about refocusing on the goals you’ve set for your insurance business, I recommend reading “Unplugging From Your Addiction to Email”. Unplug and focus on closing more sales today!

According to U.S. Census data, more than 20 million one-person businesses exist in the United States. That figure accounts for more than three-fourths of all American businesses. Quite a significant number! Are YOU a solopreneur insurance agent? We have some great insight from other entrepreneurs who have gone solo and soared.

Here are a few lessons you can apply to help you grow your one-person insurance agency:

Identify and grab unique opportunities. Solve problems creatively. View roadblocks as opportunities to learn and grow.

Don’t beat around the bush. If you’re working with a prospect, get your insurance quote to him or her as soon as possible. Ask who else they are considering for their insurance needs. Offer an honest consultation, weighing the pros and cons of your insurance coverage options and the others. Your openness will be a breath of fresh air.

Expand your network. As a solo insurance pro, rekindling dated connections and building new ones are vital to the growth of your insurance business. If you make customer relationships a priority, happy customers will become happy, repeat customers and send all the referrals you’ll need to take your business to the next level.

Know and commit to your vision. Do you want to remain a soloist? Or do you see yourself adding a few key employees as you build your insurance business? What is your “big picture” outlook? One must plan for success, so put it down on paper and create measurable milestones.

Whether you’re a solopreneur or a serial entrepreneur juggling multiple companies, you WILL be successful if you put your mind to it. Focus on turning these lessons into habits and YOU will soar!

Empowering you to grow,

Your friends at HometownQuotes

Do you (or your employees) enjoy coming to work each day? Are you (or your teams) recognized for a job well done? Do you (or your staff members) feel valued?

If you answered any of these questions with a no, it may be time step back and look at the big picture. It’s proven that when employees feel valued, they are more productive. And productivity means growth for your insurance business!

So if you’re looking for some fresh new ways to boost your bottom line, consider starting with your insurance agency staff.

You can find some great ideas in an article on Entrepreneur.com titled “Wanted: Fully Engaged Employees”. I’ll admit, we ARE rather partial this piece because one of our employee programs is mentioned in it!

If you scroll down to tip #4, you can find information about the HometownQuotes Q Point program. The writer shares how we recognize and reward our team members for a job well done. We started this program in the Spring of 2009 and every week we recognize employees who go above and beyond to take care of our customers and/or uphold our company vision.

Here’s a photo of some of our Q Point Committee members giving a team member a Q Point.

To learn more about creating employee recognition programs, talk with your Human Resources manager, consult with an HR professional or contact the Society for Human Resource Management.

Do you know where you’re going? Does your insurance agency staff see what you see?

If you’re not clear with your team about the future you have in mind for your insurance business. MAKE TIME NOW & COMMUNICATE IT.

We closed 2009 by focusing on the future of HometownQuotes. I can’t think of a better way to end the year and start 2010. Thanks to Bob and Hunter’s clear vision, we see what they see and we all have an understanding of the direction this ship is headed.

If you’re wondering where to start with your “visioneering”, start with yourself. As the owner and top decision maker of your insurance business, you have to know where you want to be in 3-5 years.

Ask yourself these questions:

In the next 5 years,

What will your yearly revenue be?
How many team members will you employ through your insurance business?
Who are these people?
What will your office space look like?
Where will it be located?
How many customers will you have on file?
How many prospecting meetings will you schedule each week?

Can you see the big picture? Now break it into 1 year increments. What do you need to do this year and the next and the next, and so on, to achieve that 5 year vision?  When you think about it like that, the vision truly becomes much more doable and managing your team becomes that much easier.

What are you waiting for? Tell your team! Make sure they see what you see. For our next post we’ll talk about turning your vision into reality – accountability 101. Stay tuned!

It’s a rare opportunity to get a FREE registration to a great conference, but if you’re a licensed insurance agent, consider today your lucky day!

I just got off the phone with the folks over at the Workplace Benefits Association and they said ALL licensed insurance agents can get free registration to the Workplace Benefits Renaissance which takes place March 24 & 25 in Nashville, TN at the Renaissance Hotel.

They have a great line up of speakers scheduled and a myriad of learning and networking opportunities. Don’t miss this great event!

For more details about the conference, click here.

To get your FREE registration to this conference, click here.

Let us know if you’ll be there and/or stop by our booth and say hello!

YES. In fact, any professional should have a mentor.

Our co-founders Hunter and Bob (both former insurance agents prior to launching HometownQuotes) each had mentors as they were building their insurance agencies. Both of them will tell you their mentoring experience was invaluable.

Why does an insurance agent need a mentor? Because at some point, all professionals need advice, support and challenge from someone they trust.

Have I convinced you to find a mentor? Great. Here are some tips to help you find one:

Know who you are. Know where you are in your career as an insurance agent and know where you would like to be. Weigh your strengths and weaknesses and decide how a mentor’s guidance will help you balance them.

Consider previous mentors. Most of us have had mentors in the past and never even realized it. Think about people who’ve nurtured your thirst for knowledge, have given advice when you’ve needed direction or have other qualities you appreciate.

Know the end result. As you’re looking for a mentor, know what your end goal/desired result of the mentoring relationship is. If you don’t know the purpose, you will end up wasting your time, as well as your mentor’s time. Before you start your mentor search, know your goal and you’ll make the search much easier and more effective.

To read more tips for finding a mentor, head over to Rough Notes.

In this month’s InsuranceNewsNet Magazine, there’s a great article about business/professional growth.

In his article “The Five-Year Phenomenon“, insurance agent Brad Elman explains the importance of noticing patterns in your life and in your business. Twenty-three years into his career, he noticed a clear pattern in his professional growth. Approximately every five years he would experience a restlessness and seek new challenges. Feeling stagnant, he would enter a new niche or start a new project.

I think this is only natural. So many business people, whether you’re the creative type or more of a numbers person (or an equal blend of both!) have to continually raise the success barometer.

Elman offers three tips for recognizing and working with this five-year phenomenon:

1) Surround yourself with a peer group of friends you trust. You will rely on their support and advice when you start getting an itch for change.

2) Look for life trends. If you take a few moments to sit down and think about trends and patterns you’ve noticed in your life over the past few years, it makes it much easier to plan your future. Life tends to be cyclical, so pay attention to the signs!

3) Write a business plan for your new ideas. “If you can’t write a business plan, it’s probably not the right time to do it,” said Elman.

Another way to boost insurance agency growth is Internet insurance leads. Never tried them? Not a problem. Give us a call today to see how they will fit into your business plan. Already a customer? Great. Let us know what else we can do to help you grow your insurance business.

If you’ve ever read Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, you may recall that, to be successful and ensure you meet your personal and professional goals, you have to take care of yourself. Covey calls this the P/PC balance – where P represents the product (your success/accomplished goals) and PC stands for production capability (yourself/your ability to produce). If your production capability is low, the results you produce will also be low.

In other words, it’s very important to work hard to produce great results, but it’s equally important to work hard on taking care of yourself! The more you focus on taking care of you, the better results you will yield.

So how do you maintain that balance between work and life? How should you prioritize things so you can take control, reduce stress and increase productivity? Glad you asked.

A recent New York Times article titled “Maximize productivity without burning out” by contributor Dawn Foster offers four helpful tips:

1) Focus and reprioritize your time, if necessary. Do you spend a lot of time on things that don’t yield anticipated results? Take a hard look at where you’re spending time and see if there are activities that are too time consuming that are not providing enough value.

2) Find a mentor or business partner. Every business person, insurance agent or not, needs a support system. This needs to be someone you trust. If you’re overloaded with work or need to step out on vacation, this person could help you with some of these tasks or could pick up referred clients when you have a full schedule. Not to mention, everyone needs a trusted peer who will give business advice or be available to brainstorm.

3) Make fitness a high priority. A 2005-2006 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics reports that more than one-third of adults (more than 72 million people) were obese. We are clearly not getting enough exercise. I’ll admit, my time at the gym is one of the first things I sacrifice when my schedule gets busy, but one of my mid year’s resolutions is to spend at least one hour at least three days a week exercising. I notice how much more productive and alert I am when I exercise and give my body the time it needs to get some blood pumping. All around, I just feel better. Let’s all commit to exercising regularly. (I expect you to hold me accountable, alright? Can I count on you?)

4) Feed your brain. Do you enjoy reading? I LOVE a good book. Books are great for personal and professional development. Foster explains that we should all “take a few minutes every evening to read something we enjoy. They key to making this work is to read something we enjoy so that it feels like a reward, not a punishment.”

It’s amazing how making yourself a priority will increase the success of your other goals and priorities. Start taking care of YOU today and watch your insurance sales soar.

How do you increase productivity without increasing your stress level?