I’m concerned about the social media activity I see from so many benefits and insurance agencies. In the quest to say “we’ve gone social!”, unfortunately many have gotten off on the wrong path because they got started without really understanding what they were getting started doing. Social media: It is like a relationship – two people have to actively participate and be interested in one another in order to make it work.It isn’t a one-way marketing activity where we just put our promotional information out for others to see and hear. Have you ever been in a meeting or maybe…

We’ve talked about where you focus your attention – on your business or on competitive businesses. We've challenged you to ask yourself if you’re trying to stay ahead of the competition, or if you’re thinking about how to fill your clients’ needs regardless of what the competition is doing.This idea goes beyond just the business model. Let’s also do a similar comparison on marketing activities. As you define and develop your marketing programs, are you looking at what your competitors are doing for your inspiration? Are you watching their websites and programs for a comparison of what you need to…

Marketing has undergone a colossal shift in just a few short years.  If you haven’t actively been paying attention, it’s quite likely that you’ve not even noticed. When you’re working as a reseller of someone else’s products (e.g. insurance carriers) and when you have a direct sales force that makes one-on-one contact with prospects and clients, actively marketing your agency is something that probably doesn’t hit very high on your radar. Someone said Marketing? It’s quite common to find insurance and benefits agencies without any formal marketing plan, defined marketing activities, or anyone who knows much about marketing at all.…

First impressions can have a pretty big impact on what happens next – or doesn’t – in a relationship. When you contact a potential new client, what is the first thing they’re going to do after they get off the phone or back to their desk? They’re going to search your name and your agency name. What they find is that first digital impression. What will your prospect learn about you? Search yourself and search your agency. Look at it from an outsider’s perspective, someone seeing those results for the first time. What will they learn from the results of…

LinkedIn is such an amazing business tool and it’s getting more robust and more useful all the time. If you do nothing else to promote yourself online, I cannot stress enough the importance of having a complete and professional LinkedIn profile. Even though profiles are completed on the individual level, it is a critical tool for promoting yourself and your insurance and/or benefits agency. I look at many, many profiles, and I’ve seen them all across the quality lines. It’s quite simple to put a good profile together, but there are a few things of which you need to be…

We’ve talked about the evolution into social business and offered some ideas of what that might look like in your agency. Here I’m going to offer some specific suggestions for getting started with that process.Remember, social should not be an end goal itself; social media tools should become an integrated tactic within the operations of departments. And for it to be effective in helping you achieve your company vision and goals, there is a hierarchy that needs to be followed: Have a clearly defined purpose and vision for the company along with clear messaging about what makes you a unique…

Continuing the topic of integrating social media tools into business operations, here we take a look at how to begin thinking about what that might look like.If you’re looking at social media as a sales channel, you’re going to be very disappointed and give up, rightfully so. Instead, take the time to explore what it could mean to each of the functional areas within your company. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Sales team: Connect with clients, prospects, centers of influence. Share relevant articles and ideas with them, promote their activities, help them make necessary business connections…

At our BGNLive! conference in Chicago this year we focused on the need to change the agency business model and how to effectively communicate those changes to our clients and prospects. Len Strazewski, writer with Rough Notes magazine, attended the conference and following are his takeaways of the content discussed at the session.     Agents and brokers that do notmanage that first impression run the risk of letting random online information or misinformation control what prospective clients learn about them By Len Strazewski Do prospects really learn what you want them to learn about your agency? Google says your…

You know how kids start out being cute cuddly babies that we need to constantly care for and monitor? Then as they grow into their teen years we begin to see them as independent people with whom we can have mature conversations. We allow them their own freedom to make decisions, get jobs, drive cars. We begin to rely on them for daily tasks because they’re capable of it – we can see their potential and ask them to do more. Hopefully they step up to the challenge and perform.This is the same type of progression that’s taken place with…

What’s your perspective on your competition? Do you think about them regularly and obsess over what they’re doing at all times? Do you worry that they’ve got a new solution, employee, or carrier relationship that you don’t?Knowing who your competitors are and having an idea of what they’re doing is a good thing. But if you are obsessing over those things, you’re ceding control of your own business to them. Running toward vs. away If you have a strong company vision, a team you trust, you’ve empowered them to take the reigns in their own area, and you’re all driving…