In our careers, we’ve all know a few Mike Modano’s. People that embody the spirit of our company, contributing at the highest level, team players, always encouraging those around them and bringing out the best performance of others through their example in action. You just can’t imagine how you’d survive without that person! Unfortunately, most organizations don’t plan ahead in anticipation of key personnel eventually leaving. Do you as a business owner have key personnel that you depend on to carry the load? We all do, but do you have a plan on how to move forward if/when they leave? Succession planning is usually way down the list of strategic planning activities, but it is vital to the sustained growth of an organization that you have a plan for replacing key employees. To keep your company vibrant, forward thinking and prepared, having a potential talent pool of internal or external resources is not only smart, it will save you and your organization a lot of heart ache when the day comes for a key employee to be replaced. As a owner/manager, it’s important to recognize the Modano’s in your organization and look ahead on how to deal with the void after their last “game”.

According to a comScore 2009 online survey, 63% of respondents went online for an auto insurance quote. In one month alone, there were 31 million searches connected to insurance quotes (Google keywords-July 2009).  Given the impact of Internet online shopping and information compilation by consumers, it only makes sense that this percentage will keep expanding in coming years.

Using the Internet to acquire leads is a powerful tool for an agent. By harnessing the power of the Internet via an Online Lead Provider, you dramatically better the number of meaningful contacts with qualified prospects for your agency.

Here are a few tips to ensure developing a successful partnership with an online lead source:

• Real Time Leads – prospects that are actively requesting a quote.
• 24/7 Control of Leads – you should have the ability to manage your leads online. The ability to add and remove holds on leads and access to lead profiles for adjusting your filters and volumes maximizes your results. Receiving leads when you are not able to work them will only result in frustration for you and the clients.
• Lead Quality & Volume – critical issue; you want to use a lead provider like InsuranceLeads.com that has an excellent reputation for filtering the highest quality, volume leads.
• Oversold Leads – make sure your provider caps the number of times they sell a lead at 8 times; this is the industry standard. Most leads are not sold this many times, so you should ask your account representative for more precise information. Remember leads are also sold to your competition, so the fewer sells of each lead, the better you conversion will be.
• Liberal Credit Policy – bad leads will slip thorough no matter how vigilant the provider. Make sure your provider has a liberal, quick response, easy to use credit policy.
• Dedicated Account Reps – at critical times, it’s important to have a single point of contact that knows you and will provide excellent customer service.
• Utilize a Lead Management System- lead management systems help to automate the process of immediate response, follow up and keep you on track with your work flow.  Combining AgencyIQ with your Insuranceleads.com leads will increase your close ratios over 20%!  Quality leads and a quality follow up system make online leads work!

When you as an agent  make  the choice to use an Online Lead Provider, you are opening the door to taking your agency to the next level of performance. Teaming with a quality lead provider like InsuranceLeads.com and a lead management system like AgencyIQ, will provide you with powerful tools to automate client contacts.

AgencyIQ and InsuranceLeads.com have partnered together to create an informational webinar regarding the importance of technology in the insurance industry.

View the video: Learn the Benefits of Leveraging Technology to Work Less and Earn More.

QUALITY ONLINE LEADS + LEAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM = HIGHER CLOSE RATIOS

The Missing Piece

If you have any doubts about the impact of the Internet on business, check out the sales racked up on Cyber Monday this year! It is estimated that sales could increase over 6% from 2008 levels to over $900 billion in 2009 according to online tracking company comScore Inc. according to an article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal Online November 30th,2009 (http://online.wsj.com/ ). This would represent a single day sales record for Internet sales…… in what most of us would consider a very challenging economic environment.  I bet there are a number of managerial types walking around trying to figure out how much time their employees spent on the Internet today shopping instead of work related activities!!!
 
I think my point is obvious, more and more consumers are using the Internet to make purchases. This year over 96 million people shopped on the Internet on Cyber Monday up from 85 million last year. Cyber Monday only entered our lexicon in 2005!!!! Typically 5% of holiday shopping is done online, but this year could see up to 10% of all holiday shopping. Much of this frenzy is generated by online and email promotions by retail companies. Does that get you excited? Is does me!!!! If you aren’t using online, email and social marketing, you may be missing a huge potential client base that represents a tremendous opportunity to grow your business.

Internet marketing is the missing piece of the puzzle for 2010.  Making the most of any lead means utilizing email marketing and a full CRM system to track all of your prospects.  Let AgencyIQ assist you with maximizing your leads and growing your business!

I can TOTALLY understand.  I was told about two years ago to create a blog and I just flat out refused for a long time.  Even my 15 yr. old would tell me that if I want more business online that I need to blog and get into social networking (I really need to hire him someday!).  I finally decided that 2009 is my year to get my mind around reaching out to my clientele through the internet and I realized that blogging and social media is really very similar to the same things I do every day.   They are just in electronic format. 

I enjoy journaling.  My business coach tells me to journal and all the business ownership conferences tell you to write down your vision for your business.  I take notes at conferences and when I attend any educational opportunities.  I take notes when I am on the phone with clients.  I write emails over and over explaining insurance and what all the sections of a policy will cover.  If you are like me, blogging is just doing all of this on the internet.  When I realized this, I started pulling out my old journals and it encouraged me to start publicizing my writing for my clients benefit.  When look at blogging from this perspective it makes sense and you realize that it really can be easy.

1.        Do you answer the same questions over and over again every day?  You can create a tag (label) in your blog specifically to link your entry with “education” and you can address these questions that you answer every day.  Tag all auto insurance articles with the appropriate tag of “Auto Questions” and your clients will have a section to read about all their auto insurance questions online.   Refer your prospects and clients to your website and they can find answers to their questions at their own convenience.  Most agents would have 20 blog entries at minimum just from the questions most frequently asked.

2.       Do you keep up with industry changes and information?  This information is important for your clientele to keep informed about.  State minimums for auto insurance changed last year in the state of Texas and it was important information for our clients when their coverage’s changed.  A great idea is to send out a newsletter every month highlighting these changes as a resource for your prospects and clients to read and refer to their friends which will increase your agency’s exposure.

3.       Announce changes in your office or any community involvement:  Use your blog to update clients about changes going on in your office.  Post notices about personnel changes, any speaking engagements, and community activities, changes in operations or changes in office hours.  I have some agents that get their staff involved in 5K’s for charity and they post links to these online and post pictures.  The activity builds community in your office, the blog adds to your connection between your office and your community.  If you participate in your local chamber of commerce you can post your participation there and a lot of these businesses will link to you in return.  This will increase your exposure in your community as well.

4.       Don’t think that a blog has to be really long:  Effective blog entries can be short and to the point.  If you are updating announcements or making one brief point or linking to something of interest the entry should be short and sweet.  Feel free to post articles (like this one) that are more lengthy, but even articles should be no more than 3-5 points of interest and easy to scan to get the highlights.

5.       Attract more business to your agency:  This is a no brainer and all of our goals.  We all want more business.  These days consumer’s shop for everything online.   People research cameras and computers online before they buy them, we can check our kids grades online and shop for tickets to various events.  The internet isn’t going anywhere.  We need to access this market to generate business for our agencies as well.  Agents are paying $15-$20 per lead that they receive from online lead sources but they see $500 and maybe 2 hours a week to invest into their own website as too much of an investment.  Blogging is not “playing around on the computer”.  Embrace the internet as a communication and marketing tool for your agents. I know MANY agents who are using social media, blogging and taking leads online who are writing over 30 policies a month just from online business.  Your online presence isn’t going to be an option for long and to neglect the ability to generate business online will eventually cost your agency a lot of money because otherwise you will end up paying someone to do it for you.

Seriously consider blogging. It isn’t difficult and it’s an easy way to develop connections within your community.  Once the set up of the blog is complete, the rest is just making two or three entries a week for consistency and keeping interest in your site.  Consistency is the key in blogging and blogging is the key to reaching out online to your clients.