Senior Insurance Blog

The most successful producers know that one of the keys to success is to make generating leads a strategic objective of the organization. Lead goals should be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely). It is a principle that we stress during our recruitment process. The reason we bring up this subject is because this month’s issue of Senior Market Advisor has a decent article titled 50 Best Ways to Generate Leads. The tips were selected from numerous submissions sent in by readers and industry leaders.

The tips are redundant and don’t really tell you anything revolutionary, but they serve as an excellent reminder and reinforcement of best practices we should continue to follow in order to generate quality leads. To save you time, we’ve condensed the 50 tips into five and added our own spin on them. Feel free to contribute your own tips in our comments section below.

Focus on Referrals – If you’ve done a great job with your clients, then never be afraid to directly ask for referrals. Your loyal customers are extremely valuable because of this so customer retention is important. Additionally, look to establish referral partners. If your clients have a good experience with the professionals you recommend to them, they will further trust your advice and see you as a solution provider for a range of services.

Leverage Technology Smartly – Not all technology is right for your business. If you know 90% of your market doesn’t use computers, then don’t waste your time creating a Facebook page, a Twitter page, or an E-blast campaign. For example if your goal is to keep your clients continuously updated on the latest news, it may be better to send out text messages to their cell phones rather than through twitter or through an e-blast. Also be aware of how much time you spend tinkering with technology – it may be better spent generating leads the old-fashion way.

Quantify Your Networking – You already know the importance of networking, but are you measuring the effectiveness of your networking? It’s good to set predetermined goals and continually try to improve your numbers. If you are going to a one or two hour event, keep reminding yourself that you need to make an X number of new contacts within that time. How many of these contacts turned into leads? How many of those led to real business? Look back each year and see if the events you attended were the right ones and are worthwhile to attend again.

Target and Customize – In all your marketing efforts take the time to plan and really make your efforts as lean as possible. By lean, I mean as targeted and customized as possible. Some of the ideas proposed in the article were to send out handwritten notes, personal pictures, using names in communications whenever possible, and meeting clients at special times such as their birthday months. Additionally, standing out from your competition is important too. Is anyone else using video testimonials? According to one industry leader, video boosts retention by 50% over live presentations.

The Don’ts – For every thing we should do, there are many actions that we need to avoid. Here is a list of don’ts that you should keep in mind:

* Don’t use mailing labels that lack personalization
* Don’t always copy your competitors – they may be on the wrong path
* Don’t “freestyle” your presentations
* Don’t promote products – promote solutions to problems
* Don’t just rely on one method to acquire leads
* Don’t sell yourself as an expert in more than one or two knowledge areas

Many of you are already familiar with referrals: getting existing customers to recommend you to others. The value of referral business is significant as these customers were obtained without expending time and money marketing directly to these customers. Now imagine getting an exponential amount of referrals from sources you never served from places you’ve never heard of. This is the power of Inbound Web Marketing.

Before I get into the strategies, let me give a brief review to those of you who may be unfamiliar with this concept. In the 21st century, marketing can be split into two categories: Outbound and Inbound. Outbound marketing consists of traditional marketing efforts such as telemarketing, tradeshows, direct mail, TV/Radio, print ads, and newer techniques such as E-blasts. These methods require that you interrupt whatever the customer is currently doing with or without their permission. With customers being bombarded by so many ads on TV, radio, Internet, roads, and practically everywhere else they go, they are getting better and better at ignoring such ads. This of course reduces the ROI on your marketing investment.

Inbound marketing consists of search engine optimization, link exchanges, blogging, video and audio podcasting, and social media. The significant difference here is that since customers are actively seeking out your products and services you automatically have their permission to inform them of how great your business, service, and products are. You also have their undivided attention. When a customer is searching for something that is their focus. They will continue to search and be focused until they find the solution they seek. This is something that is so elusive with traditional outbound marketing efforts. As an added bonus, your “broadcast” cost is minimal to nothing.

Here are some inbound web marketing strategies you will want to implement if you haven’t done so already:

1.) Location. Location. Location. The phrase made famous by realtors around the world is equally applicable to the land of the Internet. When I speak about location, I am referring to your ranking on the search engines. Non-paid search result positions 1-5 on any search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing are considered top “real-estate.” Now how to get there is a whole other blog post, but I will say that if your Web site is just starting out, you will want to focus on long-tail keywords that are very specific to your market and are easier to rank for. “Vermont Medicare Quotes” will be a whole lot easier and faster to rank for than “Medicare Supplement.” You may not generate as much traffic, but the leads you do get will be highly qualified.

2.) Get Social. Meet your new friends Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Now, your elderly clients may have no idea what these are, but their children do. Remember, many of the people searching for Medicare and other insurance information tend to be relatives of seniors who are more Web savvy. So make sure you setup accounts on these sites and include them in your traditional marketing materials. And once you’ve set them up make sure you maintain them by linking to different content on your site or getting out important information fast. For example with Twitter you can inform them “GA United of Omaha now Available. Call 1-800-555-5555 for more info” as soon as you find out. Best of all? These tools are free.

3.) Get Partner Links. Nothing is free, but many things don’t have to cost money. Is there an organization in your industry that doesn’t compete directly with you? Partner with them and exchange links. For example, if you only sell Medicare products, you may want to link to an organization you trust that focuses on long-term-care products. The partner of course will link to your site in exchange and you’ll generate referrals from that site.

4.) Speak Up. Who doesn’t like free advice? This is where blogging comes in. The most important thing about a blog is to keep it updated. The vast majority of blogs are abandoned after just a few weeks. So if you want your blog to be a referral tool, you have to maintain it and maintain it well. Anyone can just link to content already created or reword existing articles. Take the time to offer your unique expertise and professional opinion and your customers will keep coming back to learn more and refer your blog to others. Don’t have time to write extensive blogs? Then consider commenting on other blogs and through Internet forums frequented by seniors. Seniors love to talk and read about current events – leverage it.

5.) Broadcast Yourself. Don’t like writing? Make a Web video. Don’t like how you look on video? Make an audio podcast. Just like blogging, you can spread your wealth of knowledge and other information through these other effective mediums. Once you’ve created the content, you may be wondering how exactly to get it out there for everyone to see. Well there is the famous YouTube, but you’ll also want to post your content on these other great sites that can generate organic leads to your site:

Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Flickr
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Twitter
YouTube
PRweb

These are just a sample of the thousands of sites where you can post your content. The more places you post – the more potential customers will find you.

Whether your business has existed for five months or fifty years, organizational brand management is vital to the ongoing growth and success of your organization. Despite its importance, you’d be surprised at the amount of neglect this aspect of business management receives. Great brand management has many benefits including:

• Appear “bigger” than you really are and/or better than the competition
• Increased customer loyalty and referrals
• Increased mind share among potential and existing customers
• Enhanced ability to attract customers of competing organizations
• Easier sales process

On the flip side, poor brand management can be very detrimental to your business:

• You appear incompetent and/or inferior to the competition
• Lose both existing and potential customers
• You are forgotten immediately
• Very difficult or nearly impossible sales process
• No future growth opportunities

Though at first it may not appear that you have much control over what other people think of your organization, there are many factors (conditions or acts) that you can control or at the very least influence to continuously improve your personal or organization brand. Here are five effective methods that we recommend for enhancing your brand.

1. Write a brand management plan: Before you can manage your brand, you need to know what you are managing. Take time to gather your leaders and determine what branding goals you want to accomplish. Some things to think about include “What is our identity?” “What do we want to specialize in?” “Do we want to be seen as an innovator?” Your plan doesn’t have to be an encyclopedia, just enough to get the point across throughout your organization. I like the old saying that says “If it’s not worth writing down, it’s not worth doing.”

2. Go beyond selling: In the process of marketing and selling to as many people as possible, many organizations forget the true value of the selling – improving the situation of the customer. Yes we all have numbers to hit, but that should not come at the expense of the long-term growth of your organization. Improving the situation of the customer not only means bringing them better products, but also providing excellent support of those products, educating your customers on how to further improve their situations, and getting to know their motivations (family, money, security).

3. Don’t brand based on price: O.K., so many of you may think this is ignoring marketplace realities, however hear me out for a second. Basing your brand on price alone is self-defeating primarily because in the race to the bottom, someone will always beat you there. Of course there are cases where you have to revert to the lowest price, just don’t make it a habit. Focus your marketing on your organization’s or product’s advantages, that way when everyone is offering the same “lowest” price, you’ll be the one making the sale and have the opportunity to cross sell on a higher margin product.

4. Under-promise and over-deliver: The fastest way of driving your brand into the dirt is to not follow through on your obligations. Although it is natural to want to actively make your organization appear to be the best by screaming it to the ends of the Earth, this strategy can backfire very quickly if you can’t meet the expectations you have created. Foster excitement among your clients and the market in general by being modest and truthful with what your organization can do and then exceed their expectations by giving them more value or world-class service (within constraints of course).

5.Turn brand problems into brand opportunities: Bad things happen – it’s just a fact of life and business. Rather than hide, minimize, or outright lie about mistakes or problems, the best method is to analyze the situation, determine a solution, and then market how your organization can be better because of it. One famous case is Tylenol. In 1982, seven people died after taking Tylenol pain-relief capsules that had been poisoned by a criminal who has yet to be identified to this day. This incident could have literally put Tylenol out of business; however they proactively addressed the problem leading to the creation of federal anti-tampering laws and reforms of over-the-counter packaging. Tylenol and parent company Johnson & Johnson were praised by the media for its handling of the incident. In seven years Tylenol became the most popular over-the-counter analgesic in the U.S.

In the June 2009 issue of Senior Market Advisor, the magazine has a special feature entitled "100 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas." The ideas are all generated by producers such as yourself, so most of the ideas are probably applicable to your situation. If you go through all 100 ideas, you will see that they all can be summed up into 5 methods that can successfully grow your business.

1. Networking: The vast majority of the ideas are related to networking, most likely because this is the most effective method of growing your business. Hosting workshops, seminars, church meetings, and other events were said to be a great method of reaching large groups of new customers. Getting to know and partnering with other professionals in related fields, such as CPAs, lawyers, doctors, and so forth is another effective method for getting in touch with potential customers.

2. New Technology: With more and more seniors and baby-boomers utilizing the latest technology, many of the respondents suggested that having a Web site is a must, but that to really succeed, you need to implement SEO to be found on the search engines, as well as market your business through major networking sites LinkedIn and Facebook. Also be on the lookout for Internet applications that can streamline your business process such as salesforce.com.

3. Old Technology: As great as all the new technology is, it alone does not make a successful business. Some of the agents state that nothing is more effective at generating business than picking up the phone and calling (we entirely support this argument). Direct mail programs are also still said to be very effective at generating leads, as the majority of the senior market still isn't online. Additionally, faxing is still a quick, simple way for transmitting certain types of documents, especially those requiring written signatures.

4. Relationship Management: Many of the ideas mentioned were related to managing the relationships you have with existing customers. This is vital, as retaining customers costs five times less than acquiring new customers (quality management principle). Basically, you should call your customers at regular intervals to see how they are doing and to educate them on new products. Being a good listener was an idea that came up in the feature several times. There was also a common theme of treating potential clients like existing ones. Even if they don't want your business, they most likely know someone who does.

5. Education: Many of the respondents stressed the importance of continuing education, both formal and informal. We agree as one of the fastest ways to lose business is to pretend to know something you don't. Knowing the latest trends in products, technology, market trends, and so forth is an essential ingredient to success. Establishing yourself as an expert source in your network or community can generate many leads by itself. Another common theme was that sharing knowledge freely without asking for anything in return adds to the credibility of your business.

If you have the time, we recommend reading the feature. Though most of the ideas are techniques you already know, you may just find one or two new nuggets of knowledge that can spark the next great idea for your business.