An insurance professional once told me he considered himself to be in service, not in sales. While he certainly sells insurance and related products, this agent simply meant that he frames his role differently. I use this anecdote frequently when advising agents and brokers to carefully consider how they position themselves.
You see, this fellow realized that his role was much broader than that of just selling something. He was, and is, an expert source of information. He builds and maintains relationships. He provokes and fields questions even when they don’t pertain directly to his business — or a sale.
Certainly, this means his sales cycle — if you want to call it that — is longer, but it also means he has established himself as a go-to expert on insurance and related matters. People look forward to talking with him, rather than avoiding his calls. His referral base is broad, deep, and willing.
A key lesson you can take from proactive master networkers is seeing an opportunity where others may see an “uh-oh.” Take the down economy. Don’t dread the sales that won’t happen or the tough questions from clients and prospects. Rather, use the dismal economic news as an “in.”
Create a brief script or letter and pick up the phone or send a letter and actively tell your key contacts — whether they are your clients or not — about what all of this unwanted financial news could mean to them in terms of insurance products. Maybe it reinforces why they should or shouldn’t have certain products. Maybe it means they should sit tight. Maybe they’ll just want to vent a little about it all. Most of all, they’ll remember you as a valuable resource and you’ll be presenting them with another opportunity to have genuine, pressureless contact with you.
This particular tactic helps illustrate the fact that you are the subject-matter expert, not your client. That’s another great thing to keep in mind. How often have you told people, “I am an insurance agent,” or “I’m a financial professional” or “I own an insurance agency”? Believe it or not, that does not really give others a clear picture of how you can help them. It certainly does not cover the breadth of what you do.
The solution is to come up with an “elevator statement,” which is basically a concise, clear description of what you do that is presented in a way that connects with your target audience. It’s important to present salient information that is germane to the people you serve or want to serve.
A great example is a life settlement provider — a company that purchases life insurance policies that are no longer wanted, needed, or affordable — that was recently asked to be part of a financial planning conference for fee-based advisors.
They included a tailored elevator statement on all materials used before, during, and after that conference: “Providing professional advisors with the tools they need to better manage their clients’ life insurance assets.” At the very least, it was a conversation stimulator for people who otherwise may not have known what the life settlement company did.
When creating your elevator statement, remember that folks need a memorable nugget they can easily relate to and repeat to others. It will be something they’ll see on your emails, your business card, your Web site, your mailings, and elsewhere, so it should be catchy.
Speaking of which, how do you communicate with your target audience? Or rather, how is it that they would best receive your message? That largely depends on who you want to reach and how they prefer to receive information.
If your audience is younger, you’ll need to get to know more about new-media approaches, such as maximizing the interactivity of your Web site, blogging, and using social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. For traditional audiences, don’t forget tried-and-true delivery vehicles such as radio broadcasting.
Had you forgotten about the latter? That’s right: It may pay dividends to advertise or act as a guest host on local radio shows if your competitors are using other techniques to advertise their services. In other words, if you can’t be everywhere and be there more frequently than every other agent competitor, try being where other agents are not. Unique message delivery can be an asset.
What you communicate to your prospects and clients is as crucial as how you communicate it, and is not necessarily complicated. For example, testimonials are always golden. They help prospects connect with people to whom you have already proven yourself. They also help existing clients feel that their choice of doing business with you has been reinforced. And the people providing the testimonials will appreciate being asked.
A great byproduct is that you will learn things — both good and bad — about yourself, your organization, and your product and service offerings. This will help you tailor sales and service going forward. Just be sure to deploy those positive testimonials broadly and update them frequently. This also means you’ll need to have an active system in place with which to collect testimonials; you don’t want to have to backtrack and gather these later, and you’re going to have to realize this is about a lot more than asking for comments and feedback.
Still, that agent we talked about earlier, who is a master marketer, would tell you that none of this means anything if it’s not part of an overall strategy. Savvy agents marshal well-chosen communications tactics into a thoughtful strategy. This not only helps you choose targets and appropriately approach them, but also helps you quickly determine how, when, and where not to spend money and other resources.
So, how is your business positioned (even if only unwittingly), how do you want to be positioned in the marketplace, and what’s your strategy for getting there?
B. Andrew Plant is a public relations professional who has worked with Benefits America, NA Inc., Habersham Funding LLC, Milner Atlanta Brokerage, and the Life Insurance Settlement Association. He can be reached at atlantawriter@mindspring.com. 