Tag Archives: discounts

08.20.14
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Better uses for paper than this

So you,I and most households in america are inundated with not so good “advertising”  in our mailboxes on a daily basis.  This is also called “Junk Mail” and if it was electronic is called

spam

So this showed up yesterday;

Caseiras_signedlandlors

 

and I want to break it down a bit.  Since somebody killed a tree and likely did not use recycled content/paper

* If they did this is another failure of the piece; not mentioning something worth mentioning*

so the least we can do is provide it with some feedback.

1. It was sent by an agent who has been in business well over 10 years.  If just starting out, canvasing a neighborhood is not so bad.  If you have an existing client base, this kind of blind mailing proves how little you have kept up with the world.

2. If you need to include fine print in an offer(see the bottom, in orange) maybe your offer is to complicated or fraudulent or sort of like bait and switch?  Don’t give me the legal excuse, make it simple.

3. Seriously, is enticing someone with an artificially low rate still something people do?  Apparently it is.  Sad.  DO BETTER.  I do not know anyone who enjoys being deceived or discovering a “catch” once the engage you.

4. Oh and by the way, why are you still offering $300,000 in liability?  Seriously, read my note above, get with the times and offer $500,000.  Come on, does the agent who have this only have $300,000?  I hope not.

Bottom line, soliciting business by mail is alive and well.

BUT

Soliciting business by mail with boring, antiquated, unimaginative, dated, sort-of-fraudulent, non-value-adding pieces is dead.

Just some thoughts.

 

10.29.10
by

Discounts or advertising

Enough already with “…with discounts up to 40%” or “..15mintues can save you…”  or ” the more policies you have the more discounts…”

  • Is it really a discount if your base rate is too high, to begin with? 
  • Is it really a discount if you have to purchase a policy you don’t already have to get it? 
  • Would you only give your accountant, doctor, lawyer or even your mechanic only 15 minutes to review something that can affect you, your family, your livelihood and your wallet? 

FACT, every company I have encountered offers the usual four discounts your car qualifies for; anti-lock brakes, airbags, daytime running lamps and alarm systems when it comes to cars.  Maybe you get another discount for using your car a limited amount of mileage, national average is about 12,000 miles per year.  Maybe you get a multi-car discount if you own additional cars.  After this, it starts to get interesting which makes it almost impossible to accurately compare companies.  Be careful, ask lots of questions and review your policy each year.

5/12/2015  Updates

The lesson here is the statements above really have not changed.  Rating engines(the algorithm behind the companies) are more sophisticated than when the post was written.  What does that mean?  It means that the percentages and advertised discounts are less important than they were at the time of this post. There can be wild swings in your rate but this is more based on changes to your personal status and chaaracteristics than anything else.

The larger companies still have not learned how to advertise their “product” and have instead allowed it to become commoditized.  This is actually a good thing for you despite the confusion.

Beyond that, the facts are the same; determine the coverage levels you are comfortable with.  Shop accordingly.  Plan on remaining in the upper portion of the available market instead of trying to find the lowest.  You’ll save less money by overshopping than you will be doing a reasonable amount of shopping.