Health Insurance Technology Chaos

As most of you must know by now two of the biggest insurance companies in the USA (when it comes to individual & family Health Insurance) recently announced that all sales must now come via their “Coded Online Broker Enrollment Links.” That they would no longer be taking paper applications.

Basically what this means is, to sell these carriers you need a website. You also need to login to these carriers broker portals and create your own quoting & enrollment link. Which is free and takes about 1 minute. Then you can either send the consumer to your site or go there with them and enroll them.

Supposedly this was announced about 4 weeks ago to every broker and General Agent across the country by these 2 carriers.

Funny thing is, last week I received four phone calls from four different insurance agencies. I honestly didn’t know anyone of them as they weren’t my clients. All of them said basically the same thing.

“We have been following you on LinkedIn for a few years. We know you used to be a General Agent and we were hoping you could explain what it means to get “enrollment links”. We have reached out to the carriers and our GA and we can’t get any answers that make sense.”

Long story short, I had to teach all four how to login and obtain these links, plus all four of those agencies needed websites built to house the links, which we took care of. But I think the point of the story is how chaotic it is out in the health insurance world. I am not going to sit here and rip the GA’s and the Carriers. But what I am going to do is suggest every agent and agencies start to realize that it’s survival of the fittest moving forward. You can’t expect anyone to guide you or be proactive when it comes to teaching you technology and industry changes that you need to know.

You need to look in the mirror and understand you have to be accountable for all of this stuff moving forward. No one is going to help you, they have their own problems.

I mean how many sales you can make if you don’t have the ability to make a sale. I would say that’s something worth 10 minute of your day to learn and setup.

Ken French

Ken@snoozzy.com

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Should I Use LinkedIn for My Insurance Agency

As we approach 2014 I now almost find it almost comical when I chat with insurance agents who want me to prove to them that they should use LinkedIn for their insurance agencies.

I try to explain to them I could care less about LinkedIn, that I personally don’t like it very much myself and that my opinion really should mean very little to them.

However I try to explain the facts to them.

-         - 69 Million different USA computer users hit the site during August of 2013

-          - The site allows you to network with others

-          - The site allows you to create a database of your contacts

-          - The site allows you to message and market to those contacts

-          - The site allows you to join niche groups of your target market clients

-          - This is with the free version of LinkedIn

-          - Plus if you know what you’re doing, you should still have time to continue what you’re currently doing from a marketing standpoint.

So even though I don’t really like using LinkedIn, I learned a long time ago that my opinion doesn’t count. That I am salesman and I have to go where the crowds go. I have to do my best to touch as many people as possible, to project myself to be credible, to be an expert and to be a problem solver. That the insurance industry is truly a numbers game and that the agencies who reach those numbers make more sales.

In conclusion, it’s ok to hate or not understand LinkedIn. However if you want to project your expertise out to new and different people there is no excuse for not using it…. I guess you can always have fun cold calling.

Ken French

President

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Ken@snoozzy.com

Having A Focus

If you had a hole in your Insurance agency office roof would you fix it? Let’s assume you have a lot of people visiting the office.


One thing we can all agree upon is the insurance industry is getting more and more competitive. This is why having a strong brand for your insurance agency is so important!

In my opinion, anything that has your logo on it goes into the definition of things that make up your brand.

One of my favorite musical artists is a band called “Rush”. They have dozens of albums that are all unique and successful. I remember one interview with them a few years back. In short they said they only put songs on the album that have been polished a hundred times over, they had to be worthy of the “Rush” brand.

I guess my point is, I talk to many insurance agencies about social media daily. Many tell me how they’ve created a facebook page or LinkedIn page months ago. Now they’ve forgotten about them and barely know how to access them. Problem is these pages are easily found on Google when a consumer checks out your “brand”. The consumer views these pages as key pieces to your brand. When the social media page looks unfinished or inactive…… your agency suffers, regardless of how you view their value.

So did you ever think creating a facebook page and not keeping it impressive would have the same effect as having a customer come to your office with a hole in the ceiling?

Ken French
973-607-1916
Ken@snoozzy.com
www.benefitstore.net

Social Media Philosophy for Insurance Agents

The point of Social Media for insurance agencies is to stay in front of their current client base. If you have a good posting strategy you can take advantage of Social Media’s “Viral Marketing” aspect and actually get your agency in front of your client’s friends and families.

Fact: Successful insurance agencies are built on referrals and solid retention.

Fact: Social Media is valuable because a high % of people pay attention to it.

That being said it’s a very simple process.

One: Setup a social media presence for your agency (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts)

-Having all three is actually vital for your websites SEO (Google now looks for “Social Activity”).

Two: Start posting five days a week. Post about industry news, helpful tips and things on people’s minds. (Never solicit)

Three: Reach out to your clients via email or your agency newsletter. Tell them you’re investing in the future and that your social media presence is a free value added service for them. It’s something that separates you from your competition. Give them instructions on how to become connected.

Four: Never stop the above process…. You need to be constantly posting, you need to be constantly adding new connections. It never stops!

If you believe that insurance is a numbers game and that people only buy insurance when they have to. Then social media is a free, innovative way to get your agency in front of those numbers. To project yourself as a guru or expert that can guide the consumer to the right risk management solution.

I am offering a free webinar that offer more indepth analysis and how to on this subject. 

Feel free to signup below

Webinar Date: 7/16 (From Noon to 12:30 – Eastern Standard)

Click to Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/822880001

Ken French

www.benefitstore.net

President

Ken@snoozzy.com

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Insurance Agency Facebook Strategy – It’s Now Mandatory

Whether you want to admit it or not, facebook has exploded as a key marketing tool for anyone who wants to have strong brand recognition. With over 70% of all insurance agencies using social media it’s gotten much more competitive and harder to generate results. Hopefully by this point you realize that with facebook you can grow a large distribution of “Fans”. When marketing or “posting”, those fans become your guaranteed distribution or virtual reach. With a solid posting strategy you have the ability to actually increase your distribution by touching your fans friends through interaction occurring. At the end of the day this won’t lead to instant online sales while you sleep. However it will lead to “planting the seeds” of your agency in people’s minds. As we know with insurance, it’s not till something happens in our life that we need it. When that life event occurs in your follower you have a much more likely chance that seed will sprout into a referral phone call from a friend of a fan!

So what does your insurance agency really need to do to be successful with facebook? In my opinion you need the three “P’s”. (P)age purpose, (P)romotion, (P)osting Strategy. If you can implement all three on a consistent basis you will be above and beyond most insurance agencies. The problem is most agencies have fallen into a bad trap with social media. They have heard so many times that they need it, that they rushed to create a presence. There was never any thought process on its purpose and game plan. Now these agencies are left with a lot of wasted time and having a social media presence just to have one. What good is that?

Your Page Purpose –

The first key to success is defining what your facebook agency page actually offers people. What does it actually provide its fans consistently? If you want to seriously increase your “Fans” and distribution you can’t just tell people “Like my page, become a fan”. Let’s say you have lunch with your top client and you say, “Hey Bob, we now have a facebook insurance agency page, we would love if you went home and clicked “like” and became a fan.” Well what would you say to Bob if he said “Why?, what does it offer me?”. My point is, almost everyone has a facebook page now for their insurance agency. The ones that are going to rise to the top have an actual purpose for the page, it offers something for free. That purpose maybe promoting one of your clients businesses each week or offering a silly golf joke every Friday but it’s still more then you may have now! Once you define your page purpose it will make getting fans and posting much easier.

Promotion –

Once you have a page purpose, it makes it much easier to promote the page and get fans. Instead of telling everyone to “Like” your page, you can say, “123 Insurance is proud to announce our new free value added service. Visit facebook.com/123Insurance and become a fan today to receive weekly silly golf jokes and special advertising discounts from our clients, which is only available to our fans! Just visit the page and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle of the screen.”

Promoting should be done consistently through many traditional and nontraditional means. Featuring it in your client newsletter, website, email signature, send it to your facebook friends, LinkedIn connections and any other means that people are likely to pay attention to.

Posting Strategy

Now that your page purpose is in place, you have a road map of what you have to post. If you have promised your fans silly golf tips every Friday, then you must come through and post them. Now that your page purpose is in place, you have a road map of what you have to post. If you have promised your fans silly golf tips every Friday, then you must come through and post them. Of course you still want to offer a balance of three kinds of posts. (1) Projecting yourself as experts in the products you sell. (2) Agency promotion – Making sure people know the products you offer. (3) Interactive Posts – Posting things that people will “Like” and “Comment on” giving you the ability to increase your distribution.

Facebook is a very powerful tool for anyone looking to influence potential consumers. The problem is its getting more and more complicated to get results. To get to the next level you need to have a game plan that you can consistently execute and modify. If you don’t have that plan then you’re just hoping for results and in business none of ever want to truly rely on guessing.

They key to getting referrals for your insurance agency with social media is to actually start off getting all of your clients to connect to your social media presence. Then when you post things you can attempt to get your clients to “LIKE, Comment or Share” the post. This makes that post go out to all of your client’s social media connections, which is likely where referrals are going to come from anyway.

Inviting your clients via social media or traditional email marketing is imperative for social media “Distribution Growth”. The “How To” verbiage that you use to do so is the key to success.

Here is an example of what most insurance agencies write to promote their page:

Bob’s Insurance created a facebook business page! Go to our page and LIKE it today!

Here is what we suggest.

Bob’s insurance continues to use technology and innovation to keep its clients in the loop when it comes to industry changes and updates. We’ve created a special facebook business page that offers industry news, ideas and fun tips. Just go to www.facebook.com/bobinsurance and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle of the screen to receive our free value. Contact us if you want us to walk you through the process!

Ken French

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Ken@snoozzy.com

3 Steps For Getting More Agency Facebook Fans

As we move into the middle of 2013 it is now pretty obvious that a high percentage of agencies not only use facebook, but use it strategically to generate referrals via their current book of business. The formula is pretty simple; get as many of your clients as possible to “Like” your page. This allows them to potentially receive your daily posts.  Next you post four or five days a week, with the goal that your clients “interact” with your posts. (Interact means they click Like, Comment or Share under the post on Facebook.) If you can get interaction on your post, it then goes to those clients connections. Touch enough of your clients “friends” and you generate referral phone calls.

The above strategy sounds easy enough, however likely only 10% of all agencies have a strategy in place to actually achieve these results. The biggest part of the strategy is getting your clients to become “fans”. Below are 3 steps to make it happen.

Step 1 – Setup your agency facebook page so it is complete and professional looking. This sounds obvious but most agencies over look it. Make sure your logo is present and that you have an impressive main image. Also make sure your contact info and agency description are inserted into the “Edit Page” area.

Step 2 – This is the step most agencies skip! Most think step 2 is to market the page and get more fans. Actually step 2 is to start posting, even though you may have minimal or no fans. We suggest you post once a day for two weeks. Make sure your posts look good and have value. Once you’ve posted for 2 weeks straight the page will look active and have value.  Now when you market the page, more people will see a reason to click “LIKE”.

Step 3 – It’s time to market the page. First we suggest you click the “Build Audience - Invite Friends” tab at the top of the business page. This allows you to send an invite to all of your current facebook friends about the page. You can expect about a 30% conversion ratio. This means if you invite 100 friends you will get about 30 fans. Next we suggest you send out a special email to your entire client base. The verbiage on how to become a fan are very important, below is a sample. You should be sending out variations of this email three times a year. Remember you’re never done adding connections, it’s a constant process.

Sample Verbiage

Bob’s insurance is excited to announce the relaunch of our social media presence. Each day we will be posting insurance insight and interesting ideas. To receive this information you need to become a fan of our page. To become a fan go to www.facebook.com/benefitstore.net and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle right of the page. 

Facebook Vs Linkedin

Let’s say you won a contest and were able to film a TV commercial for your insurance agency. The commercial would be shown on ABC and CBS during prime time viewing hours. Both networks guarantee at least 10 million people will see the commercial on each channel.

The problem is you have a real personal dislike for ABC, you refuse to watch the channel.
So the question is, will you let your “personal feelings and thoughts” effect guaranteed exposure for your agency? Or will you put those feelings aside and use common sense and let the commercial run on each network for free?

The reason I use this example is because I feel it’s the same dilemma most agencies are having between LinkedIn and Facebook. Linkedin has done an incredible job at marketing themselves as “The true business” social media. Where, Facebook has been painted as a hangout for teenagers. It’s amazing how many insurance agencies refuse to use facebook.

Fact is more people clearly use facebook and facebook is far easier to obtain quicker results. Whereas LinkedIn offers very unique lead generating tools however you have to be an expert to use them and get results.

I guess my point is both LinkedIn and Facebook are very powerful marketing tools. You’re making a mistake by ignoring either. Both need to be utilized and mastered if you value marketing and referrals.

Ken French
President
www.Benefitstore.net
Ken@snoozzy.com
973-607-1916 Ext 1