12 Keys to Insurance Marketing Success

After working over 25 years with health, annuity, and life insurance marketers and recruiters, I am still amazed. Too many teeter around like inexperienced rookie insurance producers. They skip every opportunity that provides modern techniques, eliminates time wasting, and requires investing money in their success. MOST FAIL, thousands of others earn less money than a good experienced, and knowledgeable insurance agent makes.

The goal of this article is to make successful insurance marketing professionals more successful. For those not yet at that level, heading upward is rarely achieved without the guidance few others can provide. Because I like to tell it like it is, heed this warning. You should be currently mastering at least 9 of the key factors below. Otherwise your chances at recruiting or marketing success is slim to none.

THE 12 KEYS for Insurance Independent Marketing Organizations, National Wholesalers, State Managers, General Agents, Insurance Company Recruiters, Brokerage Directors, Independent Broker-Dealers, Insurance Company Regionals, Territorial Product Managers, MGA's, and similar individuals or companies.

1. Understanding Your Competition Are they marketing the same product or how different is it from the one you are offering? Is their emphasis on higher commissions, better product benefits, or exceptional service. You should also know how many competitors in your territory exist, how they prospect for agents, how many producers are contracted, and copies of their brochures and contracts.

2. Why Insurance Marketers Fail As you might already know, in the first eighteen months of their career, 85% of life and health insurance agents fail to survive. Reasons broadly range from lack of management, ineffective prospecting, and poor planning to the unwilliness to spend money to make money.

3. Total Insurance Base Few marketers take the time to find out how many life and health insurance agents exist in their territory. How many of these agents are brand new. In contrast, what is the total that survived the critical first four years? The marketer or recruiter may be biting off more than they can handle. On the other hand, there has to be enough agents ready to bite.

4. Agents: Who to and Not Concentrate On This is what separates the young and old boys from the pros. Right now, thousands of agent recruiters are not concentrating their time on target marketing. Face the Facts! Not every life and health insurance agent wants your product. Nor are they healthy for your producer force. There are 4 basic groups of life and health agents, and your target lies within 45% of the total licensed representatives.

5. Importance of your Prospective Agent List A top priority item. Do you even have a targeted prospective agent list for your territory? If you do, you are in the smart minority. Even smarter, if your list closely matches agents currently selling a similar product to what you are offering. An experienced agent list compiler might be able to help you. Other sources, such as list brokers, directories, and even insurance departments rarely can.

6. How Types of Prospecting Differ Here is an area where recruiters and marketers stray far off. The choices include emailing, telemarketing, personal calling, trade magazine advertising, direct mail letters or postcards, attending association meetings, and others. There are not only wide differences in costs and personal time consumed, but in legal requirements. For example, a wrong phone call could cost you an $11,200 fine.

7. Best States to Recruit In This is critical knowledge for those whose territory is national or covers a grouping of states. Insurance marketers hit some states in your territory 7 times as hard as other states. Likewise, some agents in your marketing region receive 10 times the solicitation of others. Learn why sometimes it is better to stay out of big metropolitan areas. Test your territory to explore results, or talk to an experienced insurance recruiting advisor.

8. Increasing Income Techniques It is a fact that you are going to have to invest money, and consistently have a plan of continuous insurance marketing and recruiting. So many recruiters do not know what ROI stands for, or how to figure it out. A good ROI-Return on Investment (over 3 years) for recruiting agents could range from 5 to 1, or much higher. Experienced insurance marketers will respond that a producing agent/broker is worth at least $3,500 to them. That amount is more than at least 30% of self-considered marketers invest on recruiting in a year!

9. Prospecting Techniques to Reach Willing Agents To be successful in developing an agent to write your insurance products three things must be present beforehand. All three are almost of equal importance. First, your message must go to the right qualified agent. Second, your product must excite a need in the agent to want to sell it. Third, you must reach this right agent, with the right product, at the right time.

10. Tricks and Tips Increasing Response Very few worthwhile tips will be extracted from your competitors. Some you may luckily stumble upon. Marketing masters close guard the secrets to their success. One of the big tips is to make your marketing sparkle with tricks and tips not practiced by your competitors. Just implementing one good trick can increase your response rate by an additional 40% increase. P.S. Some insurance marketing writers, like me, will share them in insurance articles.

11. Wording and Designing Your Insurance Message Over 80% of insurance messages made visible to agents by ALL prospecting techniques will never be fully read. Most messages through out bait like vacations, cruises, bonuses, and tripling income within 12 months. Sadly, few realize the simple fact, "what is your product going to do to benefit me".

12. Agent Recruiting Seminars This is one of the greatest ways to recruit numerous agents to produce business for you with one informative face-to-face meeting. To pull it off, you need to know how many qualified agents are in driving range. Next, you need to develop a formula of the correct prospecting techniques, tricks, and treats to get the maximum traffic to virtually guarantee success.

Remember that insurance marketing success is an upward journey. It is not a destination point where golden eggs are then constantly produced.

Well published author, Don Yerke likes to concentrate on what you don't know or what no one else dares to print. Tell it like it is.

Watch for his new paperback book debuting on Amazon this spring. It is loaded with great insurance marketing and recruiting information.

Come and get your FREE "Think and Grow Rich" Ebook by Napoleon Hill instantly. The website address is [http://www.agentsinsurancemarketing.com]

Success Story - National Mortgage Protection Insurance Marketing Firm

My records indicate that 70% of insurance marketing, brokerage, and recruiting firms fail within 3 years. The reason is often the inability to implement insurance broker strategy techniques. Here is a review of a national mortgage protection insurance marketing firm, which is successful. Some of the info presented may either give you motivation and inspiration, or provide some insightful tips.

The mortgage insurance marketing firm is named, "The Mortgage Protection Doctor & Associates," to which I have no affiliation. I thank Jeff Futrell, the president, for allowing me to share some of the reasons for his success dating back to 1995. The two main insurance products sold by the firm are mortgage protection life insurance and white and blue collar disability insurance to protect the client's investment in their home. Each of the products account for 50% of the business produced.

Even firm needs uniqueness to attract brokers and get premiums written. Jeff says that competition in the mortgage life insurance business is extremely competitive. As a result, he has developed a three-part strategy to separate him from the competition and to ensure his brokers have excellent earning capabilities.

Insurance Broker Strategy One By representing over 40 insurance carriers, the brokers are free to chose which insurance companies provide the right benefits. In many of his competitors' alliances, they write almost all their mortgage life insurance with one to four carriers. Here the agents have complete independence to select whom to write insurance with, and they do. One of Jeff's mottos is, "Promoting clients needs and policy benefits over commissions."

Insurance Broker Strategy Two Here comes in the strategy of multiple insurance policies selling. So many mortgage protection marketers focus on the mortgage life insurance sales. Jeff does this, but has his brokers at the same time implement mortgage disability insurance sales. His brokers have a very respectable closing ratio of 60%. When you consider this is a double sale, mortgage life insurance plus mortgage disability insurance, this takes on a different light. This closing ratio would actually be better than a mortgage life insurance expert would with a 100% closing ratio, as Jeff's brokers are making two sales.

Insurance Broker Strategy Three Something overlooked by almost insurance marketers, is contracting brokers and then helping them find clients. This is why in many insurance marketing and brokerage firms, 50% of the brokers recruited have not written a single case in the last 12 months. The Mortgage Protection Doctor has developed a highly effective lead acquisition method in house. Brokers participating in the program have lead sent out by direct mail to pre-qualified mortgage insurance prospects. The broker then directly receives the exclusive fresh leads back to enable promptly setting up a sale. This is a jumbo advantage over using a third party to provide what may be unpredictable and untimely broker leads.

Marketing Strategy Besides the three broker strategy methods above, Jeff takes his recruiting of agents very seriously. He starts by acquiring from an insurance name list compiler, broker names for a key marketing territory. His goal is to use an ongoing, consistent mailing campaign to recruit only brokers that meet his specifications. The mail method is sending oversized postcards with a special reply incentive out to these brokers. Secondly, he has tried advertising in Craigslist with mixed results.

Secret to Success As you quickly notice, everyone successful in insurance marketing and brokerage has his or her own reasons and secret methods. In this case, it is a proven lead system for brokers, a consistent recruiting pattern, and a relationship with strong insurance carriers. Above this rides the strong commitment to independence, both for the brokers and the firm. This is demonstrated by the fact that the top five carriers selected receive 75% of the business produced. What is highly irregular is that these top five insurers share this 75% evenly. That is truly proof of independence.

Additional Comment When the average insurance marketer is questioned what a producing broker is worth to them over a three-year period, the answer averages $3,600. With Jeff's operation the figure is $30,000. You have to spend money to make money. In addition you should operate a little bit unique from other so called competitors. Very important is that your brokers require close communication and every opportunity to write your products. This is an inspirational success story that engages all three key elements.

Well published author, Don Yerke likes to concentrate on what you don't know or what no one else dares to print. Tell it like it is.

Watch for his new paperback book debuting on Amazon early this summer. It is loaded with great insurance marketing and recruiting information.

Come and get your FREE "Think and Grow Rich" Ebook by Napoleon Hill instantly. The website address is [http://www.agentsinsurancemarketing.com]

Success: What Top Salespeople Do Differently

Contrary to popular belief, the most successful salespeople were not those who made the most phone calls or were the best presenters and closers. There seemed to be no common ground with best practices. We saw many top producers who had low closing ratios but set ten times more appointments and made more money than their competitors by being in front of more people.

Also, we saw many number-one salespeople who could not cold-call or even work their referrals that well. They went where their customers were: to networking meetings, golf courses, and so forth. They met face to face with fewer people but were very successful. We saw people who managed their time well and many who did not, but who made up for it by what we can only refer to as "wasting their time with the right people." What they had in common went beyond best practices. They focused on their strengths and were more competitive by getting better at what they already did well.

Wynnism: The key to success is doing very little of what you do badly.

We found a group we called the strugglers--people who work very hard to produce average results. They seemed to focus all their strength in areas where they just didn't have any. We saw them working on their shortcomings over and over again, hoping for a different result. As it turns out, hope is not a strategy. The difference is that the top producers used their strengths to improve a weakness.

Wynnism: If you do nothing but focus on your weaknesses, you will ultimately feel weak.

We did, however, uncover seven beyond-best practices that we believe may be the keys to sales success.

They explain the value of their service clearly in about 20 seconds.
They develop simple and easy to maintain organizational processes that create client care.
They are able to stay persistent because they have clearly defined outcomes.
They spend approximately 50% of their time building relationships with top customers.
They leverage existing relationships by being a solutions provider.
They survey their customers to find out what services they like best and then focus their offering in those areas.
They manage expectations and emotions by setting those expectations and making sure their customers feel heard.

Garrison Wynn, is a nationally known speaker, trainer, and consultant. He is the president and founder of Wynn Solutions, specializing in the truth about success.

www.wynnsolutions.com

© Wynn Solutions 2003

Keynote speaker Garrison Wynn helps people learn how to make the jump from being great at what they do to understanding and developing the qualities it takes to be chosen for the job.

As a keynote speaker, advisor, and entertainer, Garrison has worked with some of the world?s most effective corporate leaders and salespeople, from multibillion-dollar manufacturers to top New York Stock Exchange wire houses. He has a background in manufacturing, entertainment, telecommunications, and financial services.

http://www.wynnsolutions.com/

http://www.managingchange.biz/

Malaysia and Singapore - Asian Nations of Economic Success by Globalization

The brightness of the glittering Twin Towers of Malaysia, the one time tallest buildings of the world is telling many success stories of Malaysia and how it has been transformed into one of the Asia's wealthiest nations.

The serene beauty of the sky-high towers with a celestial background of shining stars in a clear dark night in the far distance, propelled my thoughts back into the good old Malaysia where, while Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was criticising the western capitalism, how cleverly he applied the open economic strategies which made Malaysia to trade all over the world and its entrepreneurs to become international players.

Dr. Mahathir's open economic strategy with a clear vision and a mission triggered my memories back into my effort "Strategic Post-Conflict Economic Development Initiative" as an awareness program to transform into Sri Lanka's war-ravaged economy into one of the South Asia's best. Dr. Mahathir's strategies are well reflected in his macro - economic strategies by adopting the open economic policies with the realization in mind that the world trend of Globalization and Liberalization is irreversible. We are living in an era of Globalization & Liberalization, a deeply imbedded neo-classical economic thought and its applications everywhere in the globe.

This overwhelming tide of G&L is reinforced and accelerated by the wide spread of Boeing and Airbus jets, Information Technology and the better and efficient shipping facilities which made the entire world into much smaller and less distant than ever.

The current Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong once said far back in the late nineties when he was the deputy Prime Minister, "It is better to embrace globalization and liberalization proactively, at our own pace, than face the prospect of one day being swept away by the floodwaters of competition."

His realization of embracing the globalization and liberalization might have been inherited into him by the strategies of former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew who in his long tenure, changed Singapore from a sleepy colonial outpost to a prosperous high-tech enclave and applied better open economic policies to make use of the Globalization and Liberalization in Singapore's favour.

Now Singapore's per capita GNP is higher than that of its erstwhile colonizer, Great Britain. It has the world's busiest port and is the third-largest oil refiner and a major center for global manufacturing and service industries. And this move from poverty to plenty has taken place within one generation. In 1965 Singapore ranked economically with Chile, Argentina and Mexico but today its per capita GNP is four or five times of theirs.

Lee Kuan Yew managed this miraculous transformation in Singapore's economy while maintaining tight political control over the country. Malaysia and Singapore better managed their economies in Southeast Asia than any other countries in facing the new trends of Globalization and Liberalization.

Dr. Mahathir's strategies have eventually made Malaysia into a Southeast Asian economic superpower with number of megastar Malaysian entrepreneurs.

Tan Sri Ananthakrishnan, who owns the Twin Towers of Malaysia and several other conglomerates is a role model for many Malaysian entrepreneurs who have given real meaning to the present day Malaysia by transforming Malaysia into one of the Asia's wealthiest nations. Tan Sri Anantha krishnan, a Jaffna origin Malaysian who had a humble beginning as a smalltime bookmaker in Australia and later as a polished dealmaker with a degree from Harvard Business School, became a sophisticated oil trader with connections to many of the Asia's political and petroleum industry elite with interests in oil and gas fields in the United States.

Tan Sri Anandakrishnan later went further into orbit, with the successful launching of MEASAT - 1, the Malaysia's maiden telecommunication satellite. Tan Sri Ananda krishnan's success provides a compelling testimony to Dr. Mahathir's economic policies and their successful implementations.

Though, today, Dr Mahathir stepped down from power, Malaysia boasts a diversified and modern economy, which weathered the Asian financial crisis in1997-98 better than many of its peers. Malaysia's success has been by diversifying away from the export of palm oil and rubber to the assembly of electronics with the steady provision of political stability by the resolved ethnic divisions by Dr. Mahathir.

Dr. Mahathir's keen stewardship of the economy has spawned in various projects and the latest was the Multimedia Super Corridor - a "knowledge-based economy master plan" to upgrade the Malaysia's electronics industry into a hi-tech application industry. The knowledge-based economy master plan which encourages the new trend of Business and Knowledge Process Outsourcing is a new dimension of Globalization.

Southeast Asia first experienced a new and different wave of Globalization from Japan by the transferring their locations to more labour - intensive and resource - intensive Asian countries so that Japan could continue to form the international cooperation. By this Japanese initiative of Global - localization most of the Asian countries are generally favourable towards the Globalization trend. The born-again WTO from the old GATT is permanently positioned to look after the liberalization.

The trend of Globalization and Liberalization is indisputably irreversible. Therefore, it is really a great challenge to developing countries. Singapore and Malaysia are successful in tackling the Globalization and Liberalization because they were well - prepared.

These Southeast Asian tiger economies, all went through series of distinctive stages of economic transformation with certain common characteristics.

Lee Kwan Yew and Dr. Mahathir Mohammed had clear long term visions and strong political leadership skills how to make use of the globalization in their countries' favour. In Malaysia and Singapore there are strong and efficient technocrats who have the ability to chart the vision into planning with the capability to get things done in a much effective way.

The value system which they have reinvented over a short span of time after the independence produced many successful women entrepreneurs in Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysia and Singapore successfully defined the paths for the emergence of indigenous entrepreneurs by encouraging small and medium size enterprises.

They overcome the problems of relatively shallow and weak entrepreneurial group in Malaysia and Singapore compared with well equipped and well experienced thick and abundant entrepreneurial group in developed countries.

They altered their countries' entrepreneurial strength for an equal match of the game if confronted each other directly and instantly. They looked after the private sector until they can stand alone to compete against international challenges to become themselves multi-nationals. They realized well in advance the strength and competence of the private sector which is the main market player in determining a country's eventual competitiveness.

Though Malaysia and Singapore had constraints, they realized the importance of Government Leadership in the very beginning itself. Their governments identified and developed the countries' long-term competitiveness. They have given meaning to the leadership which can contain not only vision, imagination and direction but also commitment, dedication and thorough follow-up.

They have given real meaning to the ability to translate political leaders' visions into realizable planning and policies and made eventually their countries as the richest nations of Asia and beyond.

Rajkumar Kanagasingam is the author of the fascinating book - "German Memories in Asia"...A collection of memories by the author in his discussion with German university students who have been volunteering in Asia on the sensitive issues of Early Human Migration, Asian & European historical events especially the German since the Roman Empire era to the times of First & Second World Wars and about the Germans around the world and their Migrations, Life styles, Encounters and Assimilations since the ancient times, his experiences in an American NGO as an officer in the rebel-held war-torn jungles and then in a tsunami relief mission there with German students, and the German students' life and fashion in Asia....

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