We were honored to be interviewed by Chris Cline of Westfield Insurance for their “Closing the Gap” Podcast. In case you’re not familiar with the podcast the Westfield website describes it as “Closing the Gap is designed for you – the independent agent. We provide a unique carrier point of view to address issues…
The promise of a steady flow of new customers is the siren song of any business. Social media promises this steady flow of new customers through increased visibility. This desire for more customers is a primary reason for the adoption of social media by businesses. Social media as an idea is easy to embrace. Unfortunately, few insurance…
Weren’t the Yellow Pages great? Everybody had them. And everybody used them. When your agency advertised in the Yellow Pages, new customers called. My, how things have changed. Unfortunately, the Yellow Pages are now basically useless. Instead, we have the Internet. With the internet, things aren’t nearly so easy. SCHEDULE A DEMONSTRATION How…
Insurance ads are everywhere. In fact, according to Statista, the amount spent on advertisements by insurance companies is the 5th largest of any industry. As an insurance agent or industry professional working for a carrier that doesn’t advertise, the large ad budgets seem like a formidable competitive threat. But is that true? Actually, it…
Do you know the answer to the question, “where will people go to buy home and car insurance?” It turns out, it’s all a matter of perspective. Independent agents want people go to their trusted, neighborhood agent. Captive agents hope people go to the trusted brand with the long established agent that’s active in their community.…
I was honored to present to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) at the December meeting in Miami. That was the second NAIC conference presentation in 2016. In Miami, the presentation was to the committee on Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs. To industry insiders, this is known as the “D Committee.” The presentation focused on the need for…
There’s an easy way and a hard way to grow a business. The easy way, get new customers when they first start shopping. The hard way is to try and take customers from other agencies later. If you’re not growing your millennial business now, you’re doing it the hard way. You are also on a dangerous…
Technologists say that car insurance agents will go the way of travel agents. At the same time, many in the insurance industry cite statistics saying agents are experiencing a revival. These differences of opinion are enormous. To shed light on the real trends, we dug into the data. Now we’re sharing the trends, state-by-state. What…
Low conversion rates challenge insurance agents writing new business. While existing business has a higher conversion rate, there is always the occasional customer who doesn’t renew. As the direct model grows, the number of customers not returning grows as well. These challenges that insurance agents face aren’t new, but they are steadily growing in magnitude.…
Finally, technology is enabling insurance agents to increase their conversion rates and improve customer satisfaction. Facing increasing competition, agents and agencies are adopting easy-to-use tools that increase their efficiency. The tools are based on big data analytics, quantitatively measuring the recent history of price, performance (claims payment) and service, for every car insurance company, in every…
