Monthly Archives: May 2013

05.20.13
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Big portions = insurance discounts

Stumbling through any amount of commercials can be entertaining and also very revealing.   Many times entertainment takes precedent over information.  Actually more times than not things are done to get your attention in the hopes that  you will provide some attention/dollars to their product.

I have harped on insurance discounts for a while, bottom line is any list of discounts you can provide does not out do your characteristics.  Your credit score, education, residence and marital status mean way more than all the discounts.  But talking about this, the facts, is not appealing so we disguise it with discounts.  Same thing with food.

Everyone is different, my household prefers the produce from farm markets and local markets to big chain stores.  Having tried both  the local is just better and the cost is comparable.  This is true with meat as  well.  Local, grass fed meats are just better.

So what does this have to do with insurance?

Watch restaurant advertising; none of the dishes you see on T.V. or in print ever look like what you get?  Does getting a portion big enough for two people add value or take away?  If you can get three courses for $9.99 don’t you ever wonder what exactly are they serving you?

Look for VALUE not “deals”

Value means you are paying a sum  of money that you feel is fair for what you get in return.  If you spend a little more than average but the chef is better, the atmosphere is better and the meal is memorable  that is value.  If your insurance agent actually has ideas and a plan and is not just taking your info, putting it into a computer and then spitting out a “quote”  that is value.

Just an early thought.

05.19.13
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Lifetime worth of lessons in two years

Two years ago I left a very large, now much larger, international company.  As part of my employment, each year all sales representatives chose to sign a “non-compete” agreement.  Well now those two years are up.  Here are some thoughts;

“Give people reasons to stay instead of leave and they will.”

Pathetic, seriously pathetic that any employer would want to use a non-compete or similar agreement.  I have seen many worse than mine as well.  Here is how I view it;   Yes, you will have to apply some effort and treat people like humans rather than “employees” but both parties will earn more money this way so why not.  What are you so worried about?

“it takes the same effort to burn a bridge as to keep it up”

Leaving any situation you quickly find out who is with you and who is against you.  Pretty simple, we all choose what we want.   I will never try and understand ruining a relationship but, awe well to each his own.

“loyalty is very underrated but also overpriced”

I am so thankful for the dozens of people that actively made an effort to hire me again.  As nice as money is, the basic human feelings that came with  it have way more value.  At the same time I am so surprised by the amount of people that have loyalty to a company.  Loyalty is meant to be a reciprocal relationship and I have yet to see this returned by a company.

“Way better to set your own success measures than trying to reach someone else’s”

Big mistake of mine was to try and reach company goals.  They are exactly that, company goals.  The things that are important to a large company are way different than what is important to an individual.

“There is always  another way”

 

In hindsight, oh how I wished I gathered more information on how other companies do business.  There is always something or someone doing things a little different or a little better.  Why wouldn’t you want to learn about a new way to do things?

Time to move on.   Learning is flat out awesome.  The lifetime value of all that I have learned in the last two years is huge.  There is not a course you can sign up for or a book you can read sometimes you just have to go out and do it.

Time to go, lots of people to reintroduce myself to 🙂

 

 

05.05.13
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Keeping the circle going

How many people do you spend money with that spend money with you?

How often do you CHOOSE to spend locally when an Internet or national chain option are available?

Now I am by no means perfect but I take the fact that I am a local business very seriously.  I have a massive amount of gratitude for those people that choose to spend money with me and therefore enhance the lives of my family.  So what else can I do?  Well for me it comes down to a couple of basic things;

  • If you have resources why wouldn’t you share them?
  • I can make my “network” stronger by introducing the various members than I can by making it bigger just to be bigger. BTW if your network is stronger so will be your business, your relationships and your bank account.
  • maxing out the effectiveness of my dollars and time
  • Because you never know

Now I really try not to over think it, not much different than “What does your agent do for you” .  It took a while to develop but once it does it is just so easy and feels really good so why not *it is really good for business as well*  Here are two things I did this week;

Months ago, a good client introduced me to a new client of hers(see it is easy and good for everyone).  Fortunately they trusted me to set up some insurance for their new business.  This week their company, Georgie Porgie went live!  So you could find out and do nothing or you can give them 10 minutes and post their link on your Facebook and Twitter and buy something from them.  Not a lot of effort but compound that and the results can be massive. Seriously Why Wouldn’t you do this? They chose to spend money with you, they are nice people, they are local, etc.  What else do you need?  By the way, the person that made the intro is a friend and is really good at what she does, yes I make introductions of friends to her whenever possible.  Easy, right?

Another instance, same idea; I was having a contractor do some work at a little rental my family owns.  Yes, I happen to provide his insurance so again; why wouldn’t you spend money with the people that spend money with you?  He is also really good.  So he was coming over so I was going to be home anyhow, figured I would call on an HVAC/Plumber I also insure.  Now it gets good.

How do you maximize what your dollars can do?

Well I was having my pipes cleaned out anyhow and I was having some work done at the rental anyhow(they are across the street) so I figured let’s try and max this out.  I like them both, I trust them both and they both spend money with me so why not introduce them to each other?  Now two skilled tradesman who never new each other  know each other, my tub drains way better 🙂 and some windows have molding.  Not bad.  What happens now is up to them.

How many opportunities like this can you create for your customers?

Start from a genuine place of wanting to share, apply some effort and watch what happens.  Why not?

Again, just some thoughts.  Do with them what you want?