July 3, 2008 by Steve.

Search Engine Optimization—getting your agency to show up on a Google search result—is more of an art than a science. While there are many complicated and time-consuming steps an agency can take to improve their search result placement, using Google’s Local Business Center (www.google.com/local/add) is a simple step anyone can take. Doing so will help customers find you using Google Maps.

If you already have a Google account, sign in with your e-mail and password. If you don’t have a Google account, sign up for one and follow the instructions to create a free listing for your agency.

The street address you enter will be shown in the Google and Google Maps search results. Once you’ve submitted your business information, you’ll need to verify the listing before it goes live. A post office box can be used to register. You can verify using a touch-tone phone, SMS, or a PIN that will be sent via regular mail to your business address. Once the listing is verified, your information will normally appear in the Google results. There’s no charge for Local Business Center listings. Google doesn’t accept payment to include listings or sites in their search results.

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June 25, 2008 by Steve.

A-cappella.com Inc., a small online seller of CDs, DVDs, sheet music, and books for unaccompanied singing groups, discovered the power of viral marketing on the Internet and YouTube this past Christmas—and it’s only just recovered from a “blizzard,” in the description of one A-cappella.com staffer, of orders that ensued.

A 1998 video of the Indiana University a cappella group Straight No Chaser singing “The 12 Days of Christmas” that had been on YouTube for nearly a year suddenly took off in November and was registering 400,000 views a day. Viewers who were taken with the group’s performance began googling the name to find the DVD for purchase. And there was only one place they could buy it: The tiny A-cappella.com, based in Southwest Harbor, ME, which handles an average of 60 orders a day.

Shoppers placed hundreds of orders a day for the Straight No Chaser DVD, and the company, which was caught unawares, quickly sold out the 30 DVDs it had on hand. The orders kept coming, even when the company told shoppers it was out of stock and wouldn’t have more until mid-January.

By the time the company fulfilled all orders, it had sold 5,300 copies of the DVD—not much by most Internet retailing standards, but huge for the company that employs only two full-time people. “We’ve never sold that many of anything,” says Doug Gray, president. “If we sell 100 of an item in a year, we consider that a good seller.”

Gray has no problem explaining the popularity of the group: “It’s 10 young men, well dressed, behaving very nicely, and having fun singing. It appeals to a lot of people.” Still, he is at a loss to explain why the video suddenly caught YouTubers’ fancy. “It had been up there for close to a year, so there’s no telling who started e-mailing the link to friends and how it suddenly became so popular,” he says. “We’ve all tried to figure it out, but I don’t think we’ll ever know what started it.”

As of the end of February, the video of “The 12 Days of Christmas” had been viewed nearly 7.5 million times and other Straight No Chaser videos had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The frenzy of interest has had another effect. While the performers in Straight No Chaser have changed as singers graduate and others take their place, Gray says the group of young men in the 1998 video are getting back together to create a new DVD.

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June 5, 2008 by Steve.

Are your clients able to communicate with you any way they want—whether by phone, e-mail, Web, call center, or live access? Instant Messaging (IM) is an option that is becoming easier to implement. Understandably, agencies are often concerned about the practical aspects of IM. How will the conversation be documented? Is it worth the time?

One service worth considering is Provide Support (www.providesupport.com), a software and Web process that provides a “Live Chat” option on your site. You are given code that enables you to add a button on your site that a client can click to start a live chat with someone in your office. You select individuals who become part of a chat rotation. When someone clicks on the Web button, a box pops up on the computer of the next person in the rotation. That person is responsible for the instant message conversation.

The price depends on how many users you add. One user costs $99 annually, three users is $200 annually, and 10 operators is $400 annually. The software provides a transcript of each conversation after the call is finished, along with a management recap at night.

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May 30, 2008 by Steve.

It is becoming increasingly important for everyone in the insurance industry to take a hard look at our ability to attract new talent. Of the approximately 78 million Baby Boomers, about 8,000 turn 60 every day. The industry has a long way to go in order to attract and retain enough people to replace retiring Boomers.

An edited excerpt from a recent e-mail I received highlights at least part of the problem:

Dear Sir,

I found your article in the April edition of Rough Notes (Agency Marketing Technology column) of interest. I agree that the insurance industry has not embraced technology like it should… I joined the insurance industry in September 2006 and departed this past January. One reason I left was due to the lack of technology.

Most [insurance company] Web sites did not give good quotes. Or, two weeks after the sale, the company would terminate the sale. Needless to say, my clients were frustrated with me and the fact that their insurance rates kept changing. I found myself phoning underwriters on a regular basis with my clients sitting in my office reviewing quotes. Underwriters would then change and (for the most part) increase the rate, or tell me they wanted to pass on the sale. One company even had to approve all sales afterwards, again changing rates or canceling.

The agency owner didn’t want to invest in technology and didn’t see the need for basic items—such as a laser printer. Instead, my clients sat in my office while a multi-function copier/scanner/printer slowly printed documents. One client commented that his home printer worked faster than mine.

It was hard to find clients in our low-wage market who could afford insurance and deal with insurance company obstacles… I worked for $7 an hour while the agency owner spent the profits on herself.

You likely do a much better job of trying to provide the technology tools your staff needs to effectively “make the sale.” But don’t get too smug. The level and type of technology that a recent college graduate uses (dare I say expects?) is far above what exists in most agencies I have visited.

How many people who enter this industry end up leaving due to frustration with the antiquated ways we get our work done? The frustration that results from the cumbersome and time-consuming process of trying to obtain a bindable quote from an insurance company is only one example. How many more don’t we hear about?

Many who have been around for a while see that progress is being made— but are things changing for the better fast enough for the kids we need to hire? Or are they just going to give up and leave? Worse, maybe they’ll never come to work with us in the first place.

If you want to attract and retain the talent you need to be successful in the future, you have to be willing to invest in appropriate technology. There is no time like the present to begin exploring and experimenting.

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May 16, 2008 by Steve.

An old-fashioned hard copy letter is still the most effective method for initiating a new relationship with a CEO, according to a new study completed by Gentle Rain Marketing. According to 82% of the executives surveyed, the one-page letter ranks number one among the top five methods for developing new relationships with senior-level decision makers. As an increasing number of businesses realize the importance of developing relationships with CEOs and other high-ranking decision makers, the question becomes, what’s the best way to get on their radar screen?

Senior level executives said that if the letter reflected an understanding of a specific key challenge they were facing, it would be read. But there’s a catch. Even if the letter got read, it’s unlikely the letter would motivate the executive to immediately agree to take a meeting. But, if the letter focused on an issue of real interest, and offered some additional information, the executives would be likely to take that next step and request a meeting. According to the report, the key to developing relationships with senior level decision makers is to orchestrate a series of small steps rather than trying to accomplish too much with a single communication.

Some other methods that work to build relationships with CEOs and other top decision makers include writing articles or books (62%). The more the books and articles provided practical ideas that the executives could use in solving real problems, the more this method was effective as a first step in building a relationship. Fifty-nine percent said that advertising was an effective method for building a relationship. Forty-four percent of the survey participants said that they initially developed a business relationship as a result of attending an event or seminar.

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May 6, 2008 by Steve.

A new Web site created by Liberty Mutual is generating widespread acclaim for its ability to educate Generations X and Y about the value of renters insurance. YouCovered.com is a new online experience that has already received several industry awards including a “Best in Class” Interactive Media Award (IMA) and “Site of the Week” from Communications Arts since its debut in October 2007. It was also recognized as a finalist in the 2007 MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange) Awards.

Since Generations X and Y prefer to “construct” knowledge through experience, view graphics rather than read text, and tend to be visual and kinesthetic learners, this site approaches education through play. A month after launch, approximately 40% of all visitors are entering the quote process.

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April 16, 2008 by Steve.

I’ve been around this industry a long time. Over the years, I have had the privilege of participating in many projects that attempted to work on improving how agents, agencies, insurance companies, and vendors work. While I believe that progress has been made, there are many gaps in our industry. The industry as a whole needs to work on closing these gaps in order to make a profound difference in the profitability and viability of independent insurance agents.

Every problem we encounter in the industry also presents an opportunity for those willing to take bold steps to fill in the gaps. Here are a few examples:

The communication gap and opportunity—how do we build trust and develop deeper relationships with our prospects and clients in a fast-paced, even frenetic, world?

The generation gap and opportunity—how do we understand the coming generations and provide products and services that they embrace?

The expectation gap and opportunity—how do we begin to understand and respond to the changing expectations of our clients?

The workflow gap and opportunity—how do we streamline workflows so that we spend less time simply processing transactions and more time meeting client needs?

The training gap and opportunity—how do we help our staff learn new software and keep up with the constant changes we need to make to stay current?

The systems gap and opportunity—how do we get all of the hardware and software systems we need to use to communicate with each other so that data and information can be shared with whomever needs it?

This year’s HIGH-TECC conference in Vail, Colo. is specifically designed to help you explore these gaps and maximize the opportunities that are available to agents, insurance companies, and vendors that are willing to look forward. As we begin to fill in the gaps, our organizations are better positioned to meet the needs of clients, staff, and business partners.

At HIGH-TECC, you’ll also discover ways to:

• Develop new strategies to attract and keep customers.
• Sell successfully against low-priced competition.
• Build a strategic long-term plan.
• Reduce your chances of failure.
• Boost your profits and your bottom line.

If you’ve ever thought about attending HIGH-TECC and wondered if it is really worth the time, effort, and money, I would suggest you talk with some of the agents who come year after year. These agents attend repeatedly because they understand the value of working “on” their agency, not just “in” it. They take the time to focus on the big picture, including where they want their agency to be in the future. HIGH-TECC enables you to get answers and solutions from both experts and other agents. It’s a platform where you can get “tried and true” answers to your real- world problems.

Some people have asked, “Why Vail?” The answer is simple: 1) It’s a great place to get away and focus on your business, and 2) Vail in the summertime is a wonderful place to vacation with your family, if you choose.

Again this year, we have a stellar group of presenters—a “dream team” if you will, that you’ll find informative, stimulating, and instructive. And since we value one-on-one interaction, we intentionally keep HIGH-TECC small in size. (Because of that, I encourage you to register early. We’ve even included incentives for you to do so—including a discount—just so it gets to the top of your “to do” list.)

It’s not too early to plan for your summer now. As we all know, July will be here before we know it so go to www.HighTecc2008.com and register now.

I look forward to seeing you at HIGH-TECC 2008!

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April 7, 2008 by Steve.

FindMeOn (www.findmeon.com) is a profile management service that connects online identities across social networks, blogs, and photo sharing sites. This is a meta-social network that you can use to update all your sites simultaneously. You can hide select profiles from coworkers or family and use identity controls to share only the content you want.

PeekYou (www.peekyou.com) is a site that enables users to search for people by first and last name, username, tags, or location. The aggregated profile pages contain bios and links to blogs and social networks. They also have modules for RSS feeds, so you can see what people are saying on their blogs and on Twitter (www.twitter.com).

Pipl (www.pipl.com), a people search engine, crawls deeper than most to include social networks, blogs, and publicly available information such as addresses, birthdays, SEC filings, court records, patents, and more.

Spock (www.spock.com) aggregates a person’s profile by crawling blogs, photo sharing sites, and social networking profiles. Users can vote on tags used to describe you.

Wink (www.wink.com) searches for people by name, location, school, work, and interest by crawling social network sites. The site plans to also start crawling blogs, photos, and general Web pages. You can create and share your own Wink profile.

Zoominfo (www.zoominfo.com) is a business information search engine. It delivers comprehensive, easy to read profiles of 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. Search for prospects using targeted criteria including title, company name, location, industry, and company size. Zoominfo delivers business information you can’t find anywhere else, such as the person’s work history, educational background, and board memberships.

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