Then don’t miss our next educational webinar on January 12 at 2pm CST!

Insurance professionals across the country are participating in our online presentation and taking away valuable, time-tested principles for closing more leads and growing a book of business.

Don’t just take our word for it! Here’s what insurance agents are saying:

“I really appreciate you sharing the follow-up form Hunter shared in the webinar. I enjoyed the presentation! Although I wasn’t in front of my computer to follow along online,  I learned a few things I hadn’t really thought about before today. For example, talking about coverages! I forget that the consumer has no idea what I am talking about most of the time. That might explain why there is usually a pause in the conversation when I ask them how much liability they need.  That was a great tip. Anyway, thanks again for the information and I am sure we will be doing business in the near future.” – Steve P., Alabama insurance agent

“Thank you for this webinar. You shared some very good information and it has changed the way I plan to run my business.” – Jeff P., Texas insurance agent

Follow this link to register for next week’s webinar.

One of our favorite insurance industry publications is Agent’s Sales Journal. Their magazine is chock full of up-to-date news and insider tips for today’s insurance professional.

In an article from their November 2010 issue titled “Social Life: How Social Media Can Boost Your Business”, editor Christina Pellett covers 7 of the most popular social networks and how insurance professionals can leverage these tools from a business perspective.

According to a recent study, Pellett shared that 57 percent of insurance agents use at least one social media tool to engage with other insurance industry professionals and 59 percent use social media to connect with prospects and customers.

The great thing about social media (those listed here, anyway) is that it’s free. Yes, for some it can be time-consuming to learn and to integrate into your daily insurance practice. As the world continues to get smaller and more connected, however, the insurance pros who are not creating an online presence will be missing the boat.

Click here to read Pellett’s insurance agency social media tips.

Also, don’t miss their social media boot camp: 20 days to social media success.

MDRT recently conducted a study called the Generational Financial Confidence Study. I found the results of the study quite interesting and thought you insurance pros would find value in it as well.

In 2009 MDRT asked financial advisors to share a few effective strategies for closing the sale. The highest ranked response was “build long-term relationships.”

Next, they surveyed different generations to learn what sales strategies might encourage them to take action.

Two primary audiences identified in the study were Boomers and Generation X. Both indicated the same top three sales practices: “offer straightforward advice,” “create sample financial plan” and “goals-based planning”. However, ranked further down the list was “build long-term relationships.”

Insurance professionals and other financial services representatives take heed. Each generation responds differently to a variety of techniques, so make sure you’re engaging your insurance prospects based on what’s most important to them.

To learn more about this survey and also learn how you can better understand generational differences, visit the MDRT Generational Financial Confidence Study conducted by the Boomer Project.

Over at his blog Ask Tim, independent insurance agent Tim Dodge provides his view on the price versus coverage debate.

This is a popular topic for most insurance professionals. In our “Closing The Deal” webinar, HometownQuotes co-founder and CEO Hunter Ingram encourages insurance agents to ask prospects, “What’s most important to you? Price or coverage?”

If the prospect responds that coverage is most important, Ingram encourages insurance pros to deliver the best coverage options available, regardless of cost. If the prospect indicates that price is most important, Ingram recommends building a customized insurance policy based on what the prospect says is most important to him or her.

All prospects are different, so providing coverage options for both types of consumers is key to growing your business.

If you’re looking for a way to connect with qualified prospects in your coverage area, we can help! Click here to get more information.

As I was catching up on insurance industry news today, I ended up connecting with a person who was very disgruntled about a recent interaction with his/her insurance agent. Even used the words dismissive and condescending to describe the attitude of this particular insurance agent. Within 30 minutes of this comment, I reached out to let him/her know there are other options and indicated how we could help.

Are you aware of how you’re communicating with customers? Do you have your finger on the pulse of what your customers and/or prospects are saying about you?

This is a fantastic lesson on the power of social media. Today’s consumer has choice. There are other insurance professionals who would LOVE to take care of your client if s/he is not happy with you.

So be mindful of how you interact with them.

If you’re friendly, they’ll tell friends how wonderful you are and hopefully refer many new customers to you.

If you’re unfriendly, they’ll tell their friends how unfriendly you are and probably deter others from doing business with you.

Either way, chances are good they’re going to tell someone. So, what is today’s lesson? When interacting with clients and prospects, be genuinely kind and caring. You never know who is listening.

One of my favorite marketing experts is Rohit Bhargava, author of Personality Not Included and top blogger at the Influential Marketing Blog.

Even with his extensive background and marketing knowledge-base, Bhargava’s information and insight is easy to digest and applicable regardless of skill level. One of his recent blog posts offered “7 Essential Social Media Instincts Everyone Should Learn“.

Are you using social media to connect with prospects and grow your insurance business? If you are, listen up! If you are not, still take note. The instincts he shares transcend social media and offer solid business insight, regardless of whether you focus your marketing efforts offline or online. Let’s apply Rohit’s 7 principles to your role as an insurance agent:

1) Be conversational. Do your prospects or customers look at you like you’re crazy when you’re telling them about actual cash value, assets or liability? Are you using insurance-speak? Clearly, there are technical terms that come with the territory, but do your best to explain any terms or phrases the average person is not going to understand or recognize. If you don’t, you may completely shut them down and lose the sale. The same goes for marketing your insurance business online. If you’re constantly selling, promoting and talking about Y-O-U, you WILL lose the sale. Try to engage your online audience. Use your true, authentic, everyday voice and write as you would speak.

2) Listen and respond consistently. Do you know what people are saying about you and/or your industry? Do you respond or are you silent? By listening well and responding calmly and confidently, you will position yourself as an expert. The more regularly (and wisely) you respond, the more you will increase your credibility with your customers and prospects.

3) Proactively comment and share. This instinct can be applied both online and offline. From a brick and mortar perspective, it applies to sharing your knowledge with other people. Whether you’re speaking at a chamber function, writing an informational newsletter for your customers or writing a letter to the editor, find ways to share your knowledge with the community.  From an online perspective, Rohit recommends making an effort to share insightful information via your insurance agency’s Twitter feed, Facebook fan page or blog. Visit other blogs and share your point of view or leave a comment to reinforce what the blogger was sharing.

4) Use questions instead of statements. Building business is all about building relationships and building relationships is all about encouraging others to share and connect with you and vice versa. Rohit recommends “turning statements into questions and seeing who might have an interesting point of view to share.” People love telling stories, so create opportunities to let that happen.

5) Participate with those who share your passion. The Internet makes it easier than ever to connect with other insurance professionals. Do you regularly communicate with and share tips with other insurance agents in your community? As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? Besides, this isn’t about winning or losing, this is about building a sustainable, competitive business and being savvy about who and what else is out there.

6) Support online relationships with offline interactions. When you’re trying to connect with more people and build relationships, online communication can only go so far. Always support your online efforts with offline appearances.

7) Invest in karma. As Bhargava points out, “what goes around, comes around.” In general, if you’re making an effort to help people, make sound decisions and simply do your best, you will come out on top.

What are your marketing instincts? What insight can you share?

If you’re a “wired” insurance pro, you’ve probably heard about Foursquare. Perhaps you already have an account.

For those insurance agents who are still scratching their heads about yet another online social media tool, I’m hoping to clear the air today and shed a little light on how you can successfully implement Foursquare into your social media and online marketing plans. I also have real insight to share from an insurance agent (or Insurance Goddess) in Ohio who is using Foursquare to her advantage and has landed several new prospects via this online tool.

So, what is Foursquare?

According to Wikipedia, Foursquare is a “web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location.” When users “check in” at venues, they can choose to update their Twitter and/or Facebook to alert friends of their location. Users may earn badges based on frequency of check-ins and other criteria.

For example, I walk into my favorite coffee shop, open the Foursquare application on my phone, click “check-in” and Foursquare generates a list of nearby locations. I find the name of my coffee shop and click “check-in” again. If I’ve connected Foursquare with my Twitter and/or Facebook, the application will automatically tell my friends on those networks.

Users can also view nearby tweets and see what other users recently checked-in at that particular location.

Foursquare currently has 1.3 million users and continues to grow rapidly.

How can Foursquare help my insurance business?

If you’re already using Facebook and/or Twitter for your insurance business, the idea really is the same. It’s another tool you can use to get your name in front of more prospects and find ways to connect with and serve people in your local community. Keep in mind that general social media etiquette still applies. The idea is NOT to sell. The idea is to serve and connect through genuine interactions.

Are other insurance professionals using Foursquare?

Yes. Carrie Reynolds is an insurance agent with Galvez Insurance in Ohio. I originally connected with Carrie via Twitter. Several weeks ago, Carrie shared that she had connected with several prospects via Foursquare. My interest was piqued, so we messaged back and forth a few times. I had several questions for her about Foursquare and she was kind enough to answer them and allow me to share them with you in this blog post:

HometownQuotes – How long have you been using Foursquare?

Insurance pro Carrie Reynolds – Since February.

HometownQuotes – What was the learning curve for implementing Foursquare in your insurance business?

Carrie Reynolds – I didn’t have much trouble, as Foursquare has some great help articles, plus I have a pretty good group of friends who use it and we’d talk about it amongst ourselves.

HometownQuotes – Is Foursquare helping your insurance business?

Carrie Reynolds – It can’t hurt. Every time I check into my office, I post a marketing message of some sort. It helps keep “top-of-mind” awareness.

HometownQuotes – Do you think the ROI will be worth the time and effort you put forth?

Carrie Reynolds – I don’t have to put a lot of effort into it. It takes me just a few minutes to come up with my message for the day. The actual checking-in process takes very little time with the phone application I use.

Thanks again to Carrie for taking time from her busy day to share her Foursquare experience with us.

With 1.3 millions users (and more being added every day), I agree with Carrie. Using Foursquare can’t hurt your business. You never know who you’ll connect with until you give it a whirl.

Are you on Foursquare? Do you have a positive or negative experience you can share? We’re all ears!

We’ll be posting more information about leveraging your insurance business with Foursquare soon. Stay tuned!

Insurance professionals across the U.S. are raving about our insurance lead webinars. Click here to read what they’re saying.

If your insurance sales need a boost, don’t miss our next webinar titled “Closing the deal: Succeeding with Internet Insurance Leads”. This presentation is for all insurance professionals, new and seasoned, regardless of line specialty.

We will cover best-practices for marketing your insurance business online – from what to do when the lead comes in to wrapping up the sale and retaining life-long customers. There will be a live Q&A session following the presentation, so come armed with your best questions about using the Web to market your insurance business.

To register for next week’s free insurance webinar, click here.

If you are a regular follower of our blog, you know how much we appreciate social media. Why? Because it’s a great way to connect with people and build relationships – and that’s what business is all about.

Thanks to Agent’s Sales Journal, you can read the true story of Evelyn Jackson – an insurance agent in Georgia who is using social media to her advantage. Click here to read the full story.

If social media works for her, why shouldn’t it work for you and your insurance business? Here are some key pointers to take away from Evelyn’s story:

1) Evelyn genuinely cares about helping people make educated decisions. She listens carefully to her clients’ needs before recommending solutions.

2) Evelyn’s social media presence is non-promotional. When you visit her blog, Twitter page, etc., it’s clear she makes an effort to educate and help people – not sell, sell, sell.

3) Evelyn thinks outside the box. Insurance professionals who realize the marketplace has expanded beyond the storefront and the YellowPages will build sustainable insurance businesses.

Evelyn’s Twitter page – http://twitter.com/evelynajackson
Evelyn’s insurance blog – http://prescribemeinsurance.wordpress.com/

How are you using social media for your insurance business?

We’re excited about the new design for our insurance agent site. As the next few weeks progress, we’ll be adding more features and more resources to arm you with the tools and knowledge you need to close more sales and grow your insurance business. We hope you’ll take a look around and let us know what you think! Here is a quick tour of our new site:

The HometownQuotes Insurance Agent Blog – Make sure you bookmark the new location of our blog, where we’ll be sharing company and industry news, business and marketing tips from our team of experienced insurance professionals and stories, insight and advice from readers and other insurance professionals.

Frequently Asked Questions – How do insurance leads work? How do I integrate Internet insurance leads with my current marketing plan for my insurance business? We get those questions often. Check out our FAQ section for an overview.

Sample Leads – If you’ve ever wanted to know what an Internet insurance lead looks like, visit our sample leads page to see an example of our auto, home, life and health insurance leads.

HometownQuotes is social! You can connect with us on:

Facebook
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More social media channels are coming soon!