April 20, 2009 by Steve.

You’ll find a new and improved look to our blog at http://steveanderson.com

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January 19, 2009 by Steve.

One of the most important jobs of an agency owner or manager is to look into the future and try to understand the trends that will influence the organization. As I tried to think about the major trends I expect to see over the next year, I realized that there is really only one: changes in how you communicate with your prospects and clients.

There are different labels being applied to these communication changes: Web 2.0, social media, blogs, and wikis, to name a few. The model most agencies currently use is based on a client purchasing relationship. With social media, you no longer just want prospects and clients who purchase products. You want to create long-term friends and fans. This change—from creating clients to creating fans—is hard to appreciate and understand.

But understand you must. This trend will affect every area of your agency’s operations. Here are just a few thoughts on areas that it might change.

Marketing: Marketing becomes less of a sales process and pitch and more of an open dialogue and conversation between you (the agent) and your potential prospect. Friends and fans of the agency will do more “marketing” for the agency among their peers than any marketing program could create.

For example, one agent sells boat insurance in 40 states. He has recently begun participating in a discussion forum for bass fisherman called BassBoat Central. He’s answering other users’ insurance questions, posting interesting information about insurance topics, and is becoming viewed as the boat insurance expert. He does not give a direct pitch to write their insurance. Yet his participation is creating “friends and fans” who will lead to increased business.

Client service: The trend of client self-service is well established and many agencies are already embracing this trend. An agency using social media tools will open up a conversation not just between agency and client but also between clients. An open forum where clients can post messages about how well you provide customer service would be one implementation of this concept. How scary is that!

New employees: Using these tools is second nature to the younger employees you will hire. They come out of college with these skills already in place. Yet, when they are hired by an agency, their access to these tools is blocked. In order to keep these new employees, the agency must undergo a mindset change as well as learn new management skills.

I am personally taking steps to learn and understand how this social media trend affects all of us. My first step is a new Web site for TAAR. The site has been completely redesigned and in the next few months, I will be introducing additional social networking tools that subscribers can use to easily communicate with me and other subscribers.

I’ve also established a presence for TAAR, as well as a personal presence, on many of the social networking platforms currently available. You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Tumblr, Flickr, LinkedIn, and my blog. I’m not sure yet which of these will ultimately be the best platform to use. But I am committed to experiment and learn.

A small, but rapidly increasing number of insurance professionals are also experimenting with social media. I think you should be among them. I am committed to helping you by sharing with you what I’m learning as I go through this process. Take a deep breath and dive in.

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January 15, 2009 by Steve.

Google has released a new service called Google Friend Connect that makes it possible for Web sites to easily add social networking features that don’t require visitors to join a new social network. Google Friend Connect lets any Web site operator easily add functionality to a site that lets visitors join the site, see other users of the site, and participate in social networking activities such as commenting on and rating content.

From a strict feature standpoint, there isn’t much in Google Friend Connect that seems all that new. There are many other services already available that offer these types of services. What does make this service stand out is its extreme openness and potential for near-unlimited extensibility. That’s because, rather than using proprietary technology, Google Friend Connect heavily leverages open technologies such as OpenID, OpenSocial, and OAuth.

To get the service up and running on your site, you simply need to enter the site information on the Google Friend Connect site, download two files that need to be uploaded to your site’s root directory, and choose the gadgets you want to add to the site. For the gadgets, Google Friend Connect generated code that I then needed to add to my Web site templates and pages.

Gadgets include a Members gadget that displays visitors who have joined the site. This makes it possible for visitors to sign in, join the site, and utilize other social networking gadgets. Other gadgets include a Wall gadget that lets visitors comment on and link to a site, a ratings gadget, and a couple of demonstration gadgets. There is also a code snippet provided to aid developers in creating their own custom gadgets.

For more information on Google Friend Connect go to www.google.com/friendconnect/.

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January 7, 2009 by Steve.

JumpVault is software that addresses concerns from a growing number of businesses whose employees regularly use BlackBerry, USB flash drives, and other mobile devices to transport and transfer data. JumpVault transforms an ordinary USB flash or mobile device, such as a BlackBerry, into a secure virtual container. JumpVault, created by QuickVault, Inc., is password protected and offers the option for meta data logging to track movement of mobile data files.

The company says JumpVault fully protects information on any mobile storage device with internal flash memory—no matter the file size or type. The product also functions as a backup unit for laptops and workstations often overlooked by enterprise business continuity and disaster recovery programs. That means contracts, proposals, business plans, personal documents, confidential documents, spreadsheets, and legal documents can be protected on mobile storage devices.

Sarbanes-Oxley, Payment Card Industry (PCI), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandate by law that record holders safeguard certain types of information. JumpVault’s data loss prevention features protect mobile data from unauthorized access or disclosure.

JumpVault software is fully contained on the USB-enabled mobile storage device and operates across a variety of computer operating systems including Windows, Vista, and Mac. JumpVault has a built-in 256-bit encryption and offers the option of scheduled transfer of data from PCs to corporate servers. Data stored on a BlackBerry, for example, cannot be accessed without authentication. For more information, visit JumpVault.com.

Posted in Cool Tools, General, Agency Management Systems | Print | 1 Comment »

December 29, 2008 by Steve.

Traditionally, Web developers only needed to worry about how your Web site displayed in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). No longer. Multiple Web browsers are commonly used by your prospects and clients. A bad looking page on a non-IE browser (e.g. Firefox, Safari, Opera) could make a prospect abandon your site.

Browsershots.org is a complimentary service that lets you test your Web design in 55 different combinations of Web browsers and operating systems. It’s a handy tool to make sure you know how your Web site will look on different systems—which sometimes mangle sites using nonstandard code.

It’s simple to use. Put your Web site address into the input bar, select the different browers and operation systems you want to test, and click submit. Browsershots proceeds to make screenshots of your Web design in different browsers.

Here’s how it works. When you submit your Web address, it is added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers open your Web site in their browser. Then, they make screenshots and upload them to a central server. This process can take a while, depending on how many combinations you selected. The screenshots are then displayed on the site and you can download them to view in more detail.

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December 23, 2008 by Steve.

One of my passions is helping insurance agencies be successful and profitable. As I mentioned in my editorial last month, the current economic conditions have some agency owners questioning their ability, at least over the short term, to be both profitable and successful. In today’s economy, it’s extremely important for you to distinguish yourself by selling your value.

Sometimes value is how an agency utilizes technology to improve internal operations and provide better customer service. Sometimes value is how an agency positions itself in the marketplace and how it competes with other agencies.

Recently, I came across another strategy for selling your value. A friend of mine (not in the insurance business) recently recommended that I read Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The subtitle of the book is: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant.

Red vs. blue oceans
The authors use the oceans as a metaphor for the marketplace where all businesses compete. There are two types of oceans: red and blue. Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today. This is the known market space. Blue oceans denote all industries not in existence today. This is the unknown market space.

In red oceans, industries and competition are well defined and well accepted. Companies compete by trying to outperform their rivals so they can grab a greater share of the existing marketplace. The competition can get bloody (hence, a red ocean).

Blue oceans, on the other hand, represent new, untapped marketplaces where there is currently little or no competition. The authors argue that most new blue ocean opportunities are created from within red oceans by expanding existing industry boundaries. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game have been changed.

The authors use several well known companies as examples of how strategies were created that completely redefined the industry. One of these companies is Cirque du Soleil, created in 1984 by a group of street performers. If you have attended one of their productions, you can easily understand blue ocean strategies. Cirque du Soleil took the best of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (red ocean) and completely redefined the circus experience and made it into a new industry (blue ocean).

As I read the book I kept wondering how an insurance agency could take these concepts and apply them to their organizations. Can an insurance agency make the competition irrelevant by changing the rules of the game? Ringling Bros. Circus had been around for over 100 years. Cirque du Soleil created a new way to experience the joy and wonder of a circus and millions of people now come to see their performances.

Once the concept of blue oceans is established, the authors describe a systematic process that any organization can use as a blueprint to look for (or create) blue ocean opportunities within their existing marketplace.

The concept of making your competition irrelevant is very intriguing. Most agencies fight for clients in a red ocean. That competition can be brutal and very unprofitable. How would your agency completely redefine your marketplace and make competition irrelevant? As you complete your planning for 2009 this book may help you think about the possibility of redefining a new marketplace without competition.

Posted in General, Opinion | Print | 1 Comment »

December 16, 2008 by Steve.

Clients who have been confused or intimidated by the complexity of health insurance now have an easy way to take the first step towards getting the individual medical coverage they need. A new Web site, SimpleCoverage.org, provides information and guidance to help consumers quickly understand the basics of health insurance and how to find and select a health plan that’s right for them.

The site was developed by Consumers for Competitive Choice (C4CC) Education Fund Inc., a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide consumers with information and tools to make informed choices in the marketplace. More than 44 million Americans do not have health insurance and another 25 million have less health insurance than they need.

SimpleCoverage.org explains in easy to understand language, the different types of coverage available and how to find insurance, evaluate plans, and what to expect during the application process. For example, the Web site gives consumers suggested questions to ask when choosing individual medical coverage. In addition to the online information, SimpleCoverage.org offers consumers a downloadable brochure: Health Coverage Made Simple. The site was developed and is maintained with a grant from Assurant Health Foundation.

Check the site out. You may want to include a link on your agency Web site to direct clients and prospects to this information resource.

Posted in Marketing, General, Benefits Management Systems, Agency Management Systems | Print | No Comments »

December 5, 2008 by Steve.

I read lots of information from many different sources. The problem I have is deciding where to store all of this information so that I can find it again when I need it. I have tried several methods. I have copied and pasted text into a Word document. I have used Microsoft’s OneNote. Both worked—sort of. Then, I discovered Evernote (www.evernote.com).

Evernote allows me to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform I happen to be using, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Evernote has three parts: a program (for Windows or Mac), a Web site where all data is synchronized and stored, and a mobile phone application. Here is how it works.

First, I capture the things I want to remember using whatever platform I am using at the time—my Windows laptop, the Web, or my mobile phone. If I am reading an article on the Web, I can select the text of the article and trigger the Evernote hotkey (Windows-A). Then, the text is stored in the Evernote program database that resides on my laptop. That information is synched with my Web account when I am connected to the Internet. I can also use my mobile phone to take a note or a snapshot. This information is uploaded to my Web account and then synched with my desktop the next time I connect to the Internet.

For example, I have taken a snapshot of a bottle of wine that I wanted to remember. That picture went to my Web account and then to my desktop—seamlessly. Best of all, the information is run through a recognition technology and indexed for fast searching and retrieval.

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