Tag Archives: shopping

10.28.18
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Genuine vs. the Algorithm

Marketing should supplement and promote genuine value not disguise the lack of.

Right now it seems that way, but somewhere in my reading and listening, I again heard what I already have known for a while now; You do not need to adapt to AI, and similar data ideas, but the agents/brokers/companies that do will survive and thrive and those that don’t, won’t.

So combine that with the following things stuck in my head from various reading and listening;

  • Sending out a birthday card is awesome and there are services that do this
  • Who is killing it on YouTube?
  • You must contact your customers 24-36 times

On Birthdays; Mrs. B is the mother of a childhood friend of my wife.  Each year a birthday card shows up for our children and I’m not even sure that she has met our children.  Handwritten.  Maybe she uses an electronic calendar, maybe she doesn’t, but it is real, handwritten ink and genuine.

Has Facebook ruined the birthday greeting?  I mean they remind you about the birthday and they even tell you what to say to the person.  I suppose technically the person “said” happy birthday to you.  Maybe you were even overwhelmed by the “love and the messages…..” But how many of those people took the 5-30 second to personalize it?  You can say the same thing about changing jobs or posting an update on Linkedin.  And yes, if automation is becoming more and more a part of what we do, those that use it better will stand out.  So, sure, a physical birthday card from your insurance agent showing up at your home is nice, sort of.  If you did it merely to keep in touch as part of a formula, is it?

  • Is it really just a self-serving act following a desperate formula to combat an already “noisy” world?
  • Is this just one touch of a formula?

Sure, you are combining data with a pseudo genuine act.  But, you are using what is considered an important, almost sacred, milestone and demeaning it into a marketing activity.

Killing it on YouTube

Cool.  Excited for you.  Especially if it is a goal you set for yourself and now you are accomplishing it.  On the other hand, what aren’t you doing?  Certainly, all that time recording, editing, posting and sharing takes away from other activities.  But, hey you are feeding an algorithm, good for you.

So, I’m confused.  You are recording a video to bring value to others?  Cool, in theory, your video will get to more people.  So the next question, and you need to choose one;  The person that calls you because they watched a video or the person who called you because an existing customer told you about them.  Choose one.

I have no doubt, just like this post, there is value in being found online.  But are you doing the right mix of activities to be found and activities to be valuable?  Be honest, the information you are writing or recording, likely already exists.  Sure, there are new ideas, but not when it comes to talking about the basics of auto and home insurance.  So, you want them in your voice, fine.  But what if you did something new?  What if you were really honest, I mean honest enough it likely annoys some of your partner companies?

Where is the person “killing it” in flood insurance?

Where is the agent who has an amazing internship program?

Is there an agent “killing it” with AMS360(or whatever management system you use)?

Need more ideas, consider these places to be of value immediately that will have positive results but may not simply feed an algorithm;

  • What is your plan for flood insurance?   HUGE changes have begun and will continue.
  • IOT, aka The Internet of Things. Have you tested any devices in your home?  How can they help your people?
  • Telematics; an app vs. a plug in?  Thoughts?  Are your encouraging use of this?
  • What have you done to help your carriers today?  Hint, they don’t need, and many don’t even seem to want, another policyholder?
  • Using PayPal in your agency?  Have you seen them on a carrier yet?  I’ve only seen one.  Why?

 

10.02.18
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Marketing pieces are valid….just not yours

This was the basis for two postcards I had done in 2012.  I liked them, still do. I like most things that hold up over time and the things on here do.

Then the next blurb I wrote was called “What does your agent have” this is a post I can probably write weekly if not every other week.  The same format of a solicitation keeps coming.

In my opinion, and there is a bit of data to support this, mailing campaigns still work.  Period.  We have done several this year and they have all produced several results.  Why?

  • There is a reason for mailing and it is not purely an immediate ROI that only equates to sales
  • The message in the piece is accurate and has some amount of useful information in it

The first point; If your mailing or postcard is purely to generate sales for your company, you have already lost.  You should probably go plant a tree to at least lessen the negative impact you have on the universe.  You have already wasted the time of the postal people and whoever did the mailing.  Purely trying to pull someone in with numbers is not nearly as effective as if you include some value.   Trying to get me to do a quote is “normal” but what if you have a couple of sentences of information that they can use without you?  Build some good will.

The second point; Public data is amazing but not perfect.  Using the purchase date of a home is sort of clever, but not nearly as clever as knowing when to interrupt a cycle.  Sure, I do not expect everyone to have identical coverage to me but there are a few coverages that really should be standard.  How would you answer the question “What coverage do you have?”   And the follow up to this is, “Well why didn’t you offer me this coverage?”

It’s their money, help them spend it DON’T tell them how to.

Oh, and if those numbers require “*” and really tiny print, please reconsider how you treat your fellow humans.

I suppose putting together an ” 18 things to do in 2018″ is still reasonable, but 12 in 12 feels and sounds better.  Not to mention, my views on time have evolved a bit since than.  Sure, society agrees that the years end and we all “reset” to some degree.  But to much of that mentality doesn’t work, not sure that it ever did.

 

09.30.18
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Review and repeat, It’s a cycle disguised as a tag line

Today’s idea comes from a silly, boring post in 2011  Although it was a short, almost lay, post, the message is correct and overlooked.  I’m guilty as charged.

But how do you find ” an average savings of $432….”  when reviewing auto insurance.  Well, the game is more or less rigged.  Some of it can mimic “self-sabotage” but it is really corporate laziness/indifference?  Here are some facts/scenarios to consider;

  • Insurance rates change. Period.  Sometimes a company can do it once a year…if the regulators cooperate.  Certainly every 18 months.
  • “New Programs” remember this new program is for NEW customers…but don’t worry you are a Loyal customer….You’ll continue to have the one-sided loyalty illustrated by not having access to the new coverage and rates
  • YOU change, but your company is not obligated, sometimes not allowed, to use this in a positive way.  But don’t worry, they’ll use it in a negative way.
  • Oh, and that “accident forgiveness credit” you actually PAY FOR, ask about your rating tier.  That may not be covered by the credit you are wasting money on

So, if you are merely “shopping” for insurance because ” I feel like my rates are too high, blah, blah, blah”  consider;

  • Are you really saving that much money if you do not know what the BEST current rate is from your current company? Actually, no.
  • The best way to save money is actually NOT to shop.  Make it a planned review no LESS than every two years
  • You DO NOT want to save more than $200ish on your auto, home, umbrella package!!!  Why?  Because if you save more than this you likely missed a cycle.

Advertising that leads with price and phony savings is bad for humanity and to a lesser extent the entire insurance industry. But, the fault lies in companies who are not willing to review their books of business and strive to keep people who fit their current underwriting criteria.  BUT, if the current marketing criteria are too different year to year or every three years, a company will likely never be as profitable as it can be.

So maybe it is the companies who need to do the reviewing?

09.18.18
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Convenience, a bad compliment

So apparently I was buying a lot in September of 2012 and just had to write about it  https://theinsurancebill.com/?p=202

If you are a broker, people leave.  Period.  No one is 100% for more than a year or two.  People die, people move, people get rid of cars and homes, etc.  To think you can keep your policy count and customer count growing is a better goal than keeping 100% of your customers.  Often they leave without warning.  This hurts, sometimes.  But, most of us maintain customers because the effort to switch doesn’t match either

  1. The possible savings
  2. The uncertainty that comes with new

But, taking “negative advantage” of these scenarios is not a good idea.  It is why insurance is where it is.  It’s why some of what EZLynx’s rating engine is interesting.  It is why seeing Covera test a theory that I have executed on for 6ish years really interesting.

On the other hand, I firmly believe that a review that starts with ” They saved me a lot of money….” or ” WOW, they helped me lower my price…”  including an arbitrary “our average savings is $572 per year…”  Is some of the worst advertising you’ll see.  Sure, maybe a fact is being shared, but wanting to be known for this is not a wise idea.

Consider an alternative; try being the person who offers what people consider a consistently fair price. Seriously, leading with the lowest price does some long-term damage to your business it also sends some bad signals out to the universe.  Price Consciousness is normal, sadly we are in a consumerist culture that has ruined, or at least hindered capitalism.  Sure, you are “happy” that you saved them money.  Nothing wrong with this, but what else did you do?

I wrote about being willing to “overpay” for some convenience because I am.  Actually, most people are.  If you are a broker and reading this you better know that well over 50% of your customers can lower their rates today but they stay.

Just consider looking at things from your business side as well as your personal side a bit differently.  Feel free to take a piece of our formula;

” We’ll try and improve your coverage and improve your rate.  Hopefully both”

09.17.18
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More than what you paid for

Really should have been a better title in 2012 but the concept is still there, the idea is just expanded on https://theinsurancebill.com/?p=202

An adjustment I made, likely starting in 2013 was to try and get as much as you reasonable can get out of the time you are using.  The key, as I learned, was to be reasonable.

I’ll 100% not get crazy over a few dollars or percentage difference in price if I save time.  Time is the most critical piece.  But, as time really tightens up it is even more critical to choose activities where I get more out of the transaction.

The easy and most frequent example is who I choose to work with.  I get it, you and many others are not in a position(or at least think you aren’t) to choose who to work with.  Ok.  But, you can choose to get more out of an experience.  You can choose to make engaging another human part of the process.  Do this enough times and you’ll see what I mean.  They’ll feel more like meeting cool humans who happened to give you money.  Some recent examples;

  • Choosing to buy a car with the friend of a co-worker.  All things being equal, it worked out fine with the purchase and I was able to help a friend.
  • Buying tickets to support a fundraiser, likely fairly common, but hadn’t planned on going.  But, I embraced it. Ended up meeting a friend there and had a nice time.  Good for the business to support a customer and I was able to learn something

Some quick keys;

  • It is not always the same outcome, sometimes you just need to buy
  • Don’t think to hard
  • Sometimes you find the other “layers” later and the purchase feels even better
  • Yes, I’ve taken less convenience in exchange for more layers
09.15.18
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Buying should be easy

Period. Full Stop.  “buying is the new black” or whatever clever line you can insert.  The original post is here  https://theinsurancebill.com/?p=197

You can insert your own example of my microwave/hood combo.  This week it was a charitable thing that has yet to put an easy PayPal link on their website.  I’m not against paying you, but I need a way to do it and YOU NEED TO ASK.

It has been six years and I have yet to hear anyone say ” Please sell me insurance…” yet unfortunately many are still trying to do it, still.  Sad, but on the other hand, those of us that are helping people buy are likely as busy as us.

Here’s the thing, the world and most lives are busy. “Easy” is able to be bought “hard” needs to be sold.  I’ll take easy.  Yes, I know we and others can certainly be better.  But, regardless of what we come up with someone still needs to ask for the money and taking it needs to be easy.  Some things that maybe you can help with;

  • We have very few companies that will take ALL brands of credit cards
  • When margins are tight and shrinking, who should absorb the fee
  • PayPal is making HUGE strides, but I am not quite connecting the dots yet.  Has anyone in insurance?

 

09.12.18
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Worth $5 a month? Pennies buying dollars

Is it worth $5 a month https://theinsurancebill.com/?p=190 

The biggest difference in what I am writing today and what I wrote in September 2012 is that I have not had this discussion with a current or potential customer in 5ish years.  Why?  Because I finally realized this is not a discussion worth having. Period.

I was always doing things better, now there is a team of us doing things better.  What was once a theory is now completely proven out.  We stick to several simple themes, one of the main ones being; Our Goal is simple, to improve your coverage and improve your rate, ideally both.

This doesn’t depend on an industry that falsely leads with price.  It doesn’t depend on amateurs who are still letting non-licensed shoppers who are really looking for good information, make decisions based on price. But, both of these, certainly help.

So, $5 still buys as much six years later, we just don’t discuss it anymore.

02.03.16
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When the system breaks

I lose some sleep and wake up thinking about yesterday’s “loss.”  Not really a loss more like a time where everything seems to match up but it just doesn’t.  Everything is there;

  • was referred by a trusted person(is there any better way)
  • has been with me a few years(yup, 98+% stay)
  • had actually met in person(shocking but happens)
  • helped with a non-insurance thing(helped get one a job)

So you go into the renewal time ready to follow the plan and this time it doesn’t work.  Factually the overall plan always works.  But, within that plan, sometimes the sub-plan doesn’t get the expected result.  Take the other set of circumstances;

  • two people in a relationship(fortunately insurance is ahead of the rest of the country)
  • above average credit(yup, like it or not insurance scores work)
  • home owner(they better rethink this one soon)
  • college degree(not as valuable as you think)

Feeling good at this point but then the bad side of the Insurance industry steps in.  One driver gets a ticket for using his cellphone.  No big deal right?  WRONG  Fortunately the current rate is still competitive in the market.

Quick aside; the sooner we stop punishing people for things that are more driven by profit the  better.  Some companies have wised up and in many cases look at DWI/DUI differently.  Cell phone use is in a similar category.  Good people make mistakes.  We have an imperfect “justice” system. Act accordingly.

 So you look at putting the home and auto with the same company, this has not been possible yet,  and you think;

Life might be slightly easier if you couldn’t give a multi-policy discount

But that is not the case so we trudge forward and the news gets worse.  You are in a pretty good spot but then you remember the small claim last year.  By small I mean a payout of $429.  And in steps the flawed, old, non customer-centric philosophy of throwing away every other rating variable because somebody used their insurance.  Flag on the play, I am calling a foul or honestly just saying BullS*&$ .   You wonder why so many new “tech” companies are coming into “your” space.  You wonder why you have to(really choose to) spend so much money on advertising to get new customers.

It is because you are not treating your current ones very good!!!!

Enough already.  I am moving forward, my model works and soon enough this model will solve this nonsense as well.  Honestly, waiting for Insurance companies to do it is a colossal waste of time.

Moving forward.

12.28.15
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Maybe the insurance industry is just a reflection of society

Reality is this; insurance companies are run by other members of our human species.  They are also influenced by their surroundings both human and inanimate.  They are influenced by many of the same ideals, both positive and negative as the rest of us.  There is a lot of talk about “disruption,” #insurtech, #fintech, and #bigdata.  The industry is “ripe” for change, blah, blah, blah.

Yes I have many of my own thoughts, heck it’s my blog so of course they are my thoughts.  This dawned on me the other day;

Maybe the insurance industry is just a reflection of society.  But how?  In what way(s)?

So it came to me right in the midst of the holiday season.  Many of us buy new gifts for loved ones.  Many households, especially those of us with children, are likely experiencing an overload of toys.  Some of us now have items we don’t need, didn’t ask for and likely don’t want. BUT, I am hopeful we appreciate the effort.

I’m hopeful that many of us still appreciate what we have and don’t simply throw away what we have to replace it with the new and shiny.  

Than again, we will still have building after building of storage units for all the “stuff” we cannot bring ourselves to throw away or sell.  *Not sure where this fits in, are we all, on some level ,hoarders?  Are we so appreciative of “things” that we cannot throw them away?

But how does this fit the industry?

The average retention rate of a company and even brokerages/agencies is not talked about often enough.  When it is talked about, it seems like a “white flag” has already been waived and that they simply accept the fact that they will let customers go

**This is important, whether you are a company, agent or broker you let people leave more than they actually leave you****

WHY?

No idea really, the math and every basic human as well as business idea/philosophy tends to go against this.  But this is where I am beginning to think that the cause is much deeper than business and math.  Maybe it is deeply rooted in the subconscious.  Maybe it is tied deeply with your personal characteristics and how you are influenced by society.

Let’s face it, most of us ignore the ideas of repurpose, recycling, repairing etc.  Many of these people also simply buy new since it is convenient.  Maybe it is a lack of appreciation for what they have already(think profitable, blindly loyal customers).  But when it comes to insurance this attitude is very, very expensive.  Think SIX BILLION + in advertising expenses instead of less than a billion(my guesstimate) in retention expenses.

How do you/we break the cycle?  At what point will a company “stop the madness” so to speak and start appreciating what they have?  The practical examples are readily available; the older couch goes from the main living room to the play room.  The used car goes from you to the teenager.  We re-use some paint from one room in another.  Leftovers should still taste good the next day or beyond.

Back to the customer; you are hired this year and if you are lean enough you turn a profit this year.  If it takes longer than that, all the more incentive to keep them longer.  But how do we keep them?  If you have a system that automates most task, this could be fairly easy but;

It starts with your underlying principals and philosophy

If you appreciate what you have and show it appreciation it will appreciate you back(stay longer!)

If you own a car and want it to last you’ll change the oil.  It doesn’t mean the car has any less value.  If anything, changing the oil(investing a little into an asset) makes the asset worth more since you can keep it longer and hopefully avoid costly repairs.  Pardon comparing a human to a car but the analogy fits.  Keeping a customer longer does not ensure that they’ll be profitable but you’ll have no chance at profitability if you let them leave.

The big wave is already happening in insurance.  But maybe, actually definitely, those that can profit most from it will likely need to be accepting of a bit of an attitude adjustment.  I’ve written on it before, let’s look at companies like Terracycle.  Let’s look at Zappos.  Heck look at any of your local businesses who you are loyal to.  Now look at your insurance company/broker.  Same feelings?

As much as new technology is needed, technology will not solve the underlying societal problems that have infiltrated insurance thinking.

06.29.15
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Dear Insurance agent losing business to me;

I hope this finds you doing well.  It’s been a bit and I know things can be tough for some of us.  Safe to say it could be more challenging now than when you started in the business.   Honestly, if there was an insurance police this would be something they would want to know about, but since there is not I’ll just write this note to you.

For a while, I honestly thought it was mostly the on-line quoting machines that were making such a simple mistake.  Than I started to see more and more captives acting this way.  Yes, indpendents are not completely innocent but  I don’t take as much business from independents.  I’ve always wondered if it was 1) a mistake 2) a lack of knowledge or worse 3) a mandate from the company they work for.  In the case of the local captive agent, I am guessing it is more of a product of desperation. Really needing every phone call to result in business so you cut corners.  You cut corners you wouldn’t cut for your family but would do it in the name of  “low rates” or worse binding a policy today for a commission or some sort of contest.

Here’s the thing, by short changing your customer, you are actually short changing yourself.  In the short term you are costing yourself commission and potentially your customer some much needed coverage.

WHY?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Now take this from the sales side.  If your fellow agents are doing things one way, why would you want to go down to their level?  You wouldn’t!!!!  So please stop doing it.

How do you fix this?  Simple.  When you are quoting auto insurance, whenever possible you provide the same amount of supplemental un and underinsured motorist coverage as the liability coverage you are providing.  Really not hard.  If you are quoting $500,000 in liability, you quote $500,000 in un/underinsured motorist.  SIMPLE, now just do it.  EVERY TIME.

  • it’s the right thing to do for your customer
  • it’s the right thing to do for your family
  • it’s the right thing to do for your top line
  • it’s the right thing to do for your bottom line
  • it’s the right thing to do for society
  • you’ll close more deals because you’ll stand out
  • you’ll make the industry better

Seriously, if you need more reasons it might be time for another business.  Anyhow, happy selling.

 

Sincerely,

 

The agent taking your business