Insurance Leads

A Time Saving Way on How to Get Insurance Leads

2009-05-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Many insurance agents don't know how to get insurance leads that are worth their time and money. Many agents follow the idea that free insurance leads is the best way to go. Most times anything free is good but this is not the case when it comes to getting insurance leads or new customers. The problem with free sources and avenues is there have been many attempts to contact this customer before you have tried. I think if you where the customer or the lead, would you appreciate the phone calls all the time from agents looking for your business. Probably not.

That is why you have to know as an agent how to save time and delegate resources to make you more money. Being an insurance agent is a tough and competitive field to be in but a very lucrative job when times are good. You have to save your time and spend more time selling insurance policies rather than looking for them. The benefits of delegating or having someone else searching for leads for you outweighs wasted time and money. You can save time and money with the help of online insurance companies who gather insurance information from people looking for insurance coverage. This is a great way to free up your time as well to get in contact with potential customers who really want your help.

The question you have to ask yourself is, what do you want out of life? Do you want to have more free time to spend with family and friends or would you rather be working?

It does not matter if you have been in the insurance game for a few months or years. If you do not know how to get insurance leads you are going to suffer and most likely hate your job. A job is never fun when you're frustrated, depressed and disappointed with the results that you may be getting. The key to being a success insurance agent is to get leads from companies that are collecting leads daily.

There is no need for you to continue on your present course if you are not succeeding and selling insurance policies. Why would you want to waste more time on something that is not working?

Radio - It Has History, History of Success - Use it to Sell Annuities

2009-05-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

As many things change in our world due to technology the fact remains that one medium still has enormous marketing power and 100 years of proven performance: Radio

I am in the business of marketing and selling annuities and over the years I have used many sources of lead generation but dollar for dollar....Radio is the best value.

I am not talking radio advertising, those 30 second SoundBits that are sandwiched in between music plays. I am talking about your own radio program and actually being on the radio. Does it sound difficult and away from your personal business experiences? It certainly is that!

What I am talking about is using a system that is turn key and provides all aspects of your own radio show for you. Scripts, media buys, management, and lead harvesting all in one simple to use and simple to manage system. The key is a total outsource to professionals who do this for a living which will allow you the time to do what you do for a living: sell annuities.

The advantage of outsourcing allows you to minimize your time commitment to the radio show. Plus, media buys can be very expensive if they are done incorrectly. Allowing a professional to manage your media buys will assure you that the correct target market is reached.

The end result of using radio as your marketing source for annuity leads will be a much higher quality of lead. The people who respond to your offers will have a genuine interest in your message and the appointment ratio will be solid.

Think "outside" the box at an old idea which has a proven track record and a solid provider of annuity leads.

Expert Financial Advisor Or Financial Adviser? Playing Games With Insurance Customer Clients

2009-05-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

For the last 10 years insurance customer clients have wondered if a financial advisor or financial adviser before them is an expert or a fake. Find out how to tell the expert financial adviser from the insurance agent fake. It is like being operated on by a meat butcher instead of a certified surgeon.

The doctor shortage could end in a hurry if after a very brief training, new hired by want ad "doctors" were given a waiting room of patients to practice whatever skills they had learned. Moreover, management told them yes you are a doctor, so they do not hesitate in performing their duties. Locally there would be very few return visits from customer clients, and hardly any would be completely confident in following the new doctor's advice. Nationally you would have medical security in a state of turmoil, and irate professional doctors and surgeons.

Well this is a real life game being played out with unaware insurance customer clients thinking they are planning their financial future with expert financial advisors or financial representatives. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of a clients personal financial assets could change directions due to the advice of a new financial adviser. Did this new customer just have financial surgery from an expert of at least 5 years or a new trainee of a couple of months? They can both wear identical suits, have identical haircuts, and have business cards with just about the same wording. Financial advisor, adviser, consultant, representative, specialist, analyst, sales representative, guide, producer, or what. Pick you name title.

IS THIS FAIR TO AN INSURANCE CUSTOMER, CLIENT, OR EVEN PROSPECT?

Do not expect the major life insurance companies to be of any assistance. In fact they are the cause for much of this name title confusion. They started the name game. Sudden agents that passed their life insurance exam and worked for a life insurance company were no longer called life insurance agents. Instead they were financial representatives and financial agents, immediately capable of providing financial advice as an advisor. Sometimes in a hospital in might be hard to tell a registered nurse from an LPN. Here it like walking into a field of active sheep and seeing which ones still have immature pink pimples on their butts. I wish all insurance agents well, but I personally would not want a rookie just scraping by on paying bills to give advice and make decisions on my lifetime accumulated assets. The rookie has to make a sale(s), good or bad.

The REAL Financial Advisor

One this is for certain, he or she are not a naive captive insurance agent that does not know the difference between an insurance suspect, prospect, or client. If this adviser has 5 years experience currently, there is an ongoing continuing education in financial issues slated for the life of the career. Knowledge is a never ending process. Along the way certifications like CLU, CHfC, CFP, RFP, and dozens of new ones are available for the learning. Even though giving financial advice requires being quite a perfectionist on uncovering a wide spectrum of products, the real financial advisor has substantial errors and omission insurance. The majority of true insurance financial advisors are proud to be independent. This allows offering a variety of producers from a range of different insurance carriers.

FINANCIAL PRISON?

It would be easy if all so called financial representative under 4 years experience were required to wear a prison striped suit so they could not fool customers and clients with a good con line. Since the big union of old insurance companies hiring these "non-insurance" agents would be ready to have their lobbyists attack the white house, a different method would have to be used. My suggestion is a very simple one and would still avoid the suddenly lower-class name of insurance agent, plus it would be easy to enforce. Since no one but an out of space alien knows the difference between the word advisor and adviser, here is the solution. All real financial advisors with at least 4 years experience and one earned designation would retain that name. All the rookies with stars in their eyes and holes in their wallets would be called advisers.

No more deceptive name games please.

We Are Your Insurance Agent! Right?

2009-05-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the term we are your personal insurance agent?

What does that mean?

How many times have you spent countless hours on the phone with your insurance company trying to get the information you need?

How many times have you gotten the automated voice response system that does not understand proper English and had to scream at a machine?

Have you had to handle a claim and completely gotten the run around with no end in sight?

Have you had a claim denied by your insurance company and tried to find a legit reason as to why?

Have you had to cover emergency costs because your insurance was not accepted at the place where services were rendered?

If you answered yes to any of these, You DON'T have an Insurance Agent, You have an Insurance Sales Person!

What's the difference?

Well Your Insurance Sales Person shows up and performs a "spectacular insurance presentation" on the best product ever to hit the streets! Puts some pressure on you to get it now because the rates are just for this week and they are going up because they can't keep the policies this affordable that long.

You signed and you're thinking, AWESOME! I have the best coverage available and it's affordable!

Three weeks go by, now you need to go to the doctor and for some reason they won't accept your insurance. So you call the insurance sales person and he gives you a 1-800 number and assures you they will take care of everything. So now we are back up to the original questions!

You also find out the medicine you need is also not covered under the superb limited time insurance you are paying top dollar for.
Now what's the real difference.

Now, what an independent insurance agent is.

Someone who is not required to push one product. They have the ability to shop multiple insurance carriers that are available in your area and within your budget.

When we sell you a insurance policy, we have shopped around using various companies to ensure you get the best coverage with the best company for the best price!

When you have an issue with a claim, an insurance agent helps you solve it. We can make one phone call to a "human" and get it resolved in minutes rather than hours. The process is; you call your insurance agent and talk to them on the phone, the insurance agent calls your insurance company to get the answer for you, while you are still going on about your day. After the issue has been handled, the insurance agent calls you back and tells you the new status and whether or not it is solved.

Insurance Agents, Calls, Visits, Gives you donuts and Asks about your family! And Most of All GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR YOU and to Keep your business!

When you doctor does not take your insurance, you have to spend hours finding one that takes your insurance card. But wait, instead you can call your insurance agent and within minutes you now have a list of all the doctors in your area that accepts your current insurance carrier. In some situations, all that is needed is a phone call from your agent and a few forms to get your current physician to accept your new coverage.

You can call your insurance agent and ask them what medications are covered and if their generics are covered instead of name brand medicines.

Now you're responsible for the emergency care visit you had to take while you were on your Easter vacation in Missouri at your in-laws house. With an Insurance Agent You can call and let them know what happened and you give them the papers you received for the care provided and they fight for you against the carriers. A lot of insurance agents know local physicians and use them frequently for advise and references to fight for you to get denied claims covered.

You go to your pharmacy two weeks after you signed for your new coverage, Not the new company denies your medicine, You can call your insurance agent and have them talk to them and get your meds covered! Even though they were not responsible for 30 days! It Sometime happens this way!

Is this a requirement for an Independent insurance agent? NO! I probably shouldn't be telling you the dirty little secrets about insurance sales persons, Then again I don't care about them, Just you! Am I Biased you ask? Who's side am I on! The Insurance Companies or the Consumers? Is it not obvious yet? Well I guess you need to read on then.

Now why I say this!

I started in the insurance business as a "Insurance Salesman"!
After 1 extremely brief month, I had met a few other people in the Insurance business. I was able to learn allot from them.
I Learned I was not selling the latest and greatest health insurance product nor was it the most affordable.

I left the insurance sales business. And began my career as an insurance agent.

I opened an "Independent Insurance Agency" Called Today's Insurance Solutions .LLC.

*Do you know when you buy insurance from your local independent insurance agency usually it will help put money back into your community; rather than funding a community you will never get to see or enjoy?"

Little do people know, there are a limited number of approved insurance companies specific to each demographic. Most independent agencies will carry the best and most competitive companies available for the area.

Now, for the people that think going to the internet and getting insurance are saving hordes of money are often mistaken. Internet insurance agencies like esurance.com and thegeneral.com, are selling the same products they can get by going down the street to their local insurance agent. Now they have made the sacrifice of having no insurance agent working for them. Would you rather someone sitting in an office on the other side of the world try to relate and understand what their dilemma is and not giving a crap if it gets resolved or not?

Do you think you would go to these sites knowing you could have the same coverage at the same cost with 100% more support by calling or visiting you local independent insurance agency? I would love to think you wouldn't, but sadly enough a few people will read this and still go to these sites because the commercials told them to.

I don't know about you but the last time I listened to a talking lizard I was so drugged up pain medicine that I don't even remember escaping from the hospital I was checked into.

*Did you know that when you go to most of the sites at the top of the search engines for insurance quotes aren't there to provide you insurance? What they do is take the information and sell it to 10-15 agents within your area for prices ranging from 5-70 dollars, just for the chance to give you a quote on your next insurance product.
I bet you didn't know you were giving away money like that did you?

I have made it a mission to try to explain the reasons to all of my customers, present and future, the importance of using an insurance agent to handle their needs and why it's more beneficial to do so.

At the end of the day, I don't cry if they don't buy from me; I know having this new knowledge under their belt is beneficial. It will come up in conversation at their next gathering. Everyone likes to sound intelligent, now they will tell their friends and family what I told them and why they need to use an insurance agent and not an insurance salesman. I won right? Probably not. The people are getting lazy and mostly rely on what commercials tell them.
You can SAVE 5 million dollars by switching to acme insurance company, now you are in good hands. "RIGHT."

Tips: Search your favorite search engine for a "local independent insurance agency," then contact them for free quotes for coverage you need for your life. A lot of independent agencies carry life Insurance, health Insurance , business/commercial Insurance, auto insurance, and Home insurance.

I apologize if a was ranting, But I am trying to vent while helping to inform our consumers about their local Insurance resources that they might of now known else wise.

How to Sell Insurance

2009-05-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

In today's economy selling anything can be tough, but it doesn't have to be; it takes a lot of hard work to sell insurance, especially if you are not targeting the right customers and meeting their needs.

But don't give up; if you work hard enough at it, you can succeed in whatever you do. Selling insurance is probably one of the hardest things to sell. But if you figure out the right way, you can and will succeed. Here are some ways that will help you.

1) Come up with a pitch that will capture and intrigue your customers' attention. The quicker you have their attention the better your chance is of keeping them interested.

2) Act interested in your customers need and wants.

3) Always try to find a way to make sure you are benefiting the customer. Customers like it and appreciate it when they feel you are saving them money, especially in these times.

4) Think of the best policy you can offer them (i.e. involving their spouse or children). Some people like to get a family policy.

5) Always be honest. People will respect you more when you are honest. Most people can tell whether you are sincere or just trying to tell them what you think they want to hear.

6) Use statistics, compare different plans you have to offer, give people a choice. Make people believe that there are different options available for them to choose from. Let them know that one policy might be better for them then another.

7) Find the clients that you think will be the best ones for you to create a business like friendship with, look for the ones who are seriously interested in your product. Although every client is a potential customer, grow a bond between you and your clients. Figure out who is sincere and who might not be as sincere, be persistent but don't be over bearing, as this will drive a potential customer away. Always think of your sincere customers as a client you can keep for a long time.

The Online Insurance Leads Generation Process

2009-05-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Do you like internet sales leads?

Many insurance agents say they do not like internet leads. Personally, I now love sales leads that I generate from my own network of websites. When I used to buy them from a company that also sold them to 3 other agents, I was not that crazy about them though. I think that my new enthusiasm comes from my ability to generate my own exclusive prospect list from highly motivated consumers that tend to turn into sales for me!

The Internet Sales Conversion Process

Imagine 1,000 web surfers who might see your message. They could view a link on another website, and advertisement, or maybe read your article. Out of those thousand, it might be realistic to assume that 5% actually click that link to see what you have to say. You have now attracted 50 visitors to your website. And you did it without having to speak to the thousand who were really not interested! Doesn't that sound great? It is.

Those 50 website visitors now get to view your message. They can determine if they trust you, want your products, and feel as if you can help them solve the problem that motivated to visit your website in the first place. Again, let's be realistic and say that out of 50 website visitors, you get 10 of them to take another action. What is that action? They may call you with a phone number you have posted, or they may fill out a lead form or email you! You have a contact from a lead that called you, and not the other way around!

Good Internet Insurance Sales Leads That Are Exclusive To You!

Now you have generated 10 great sales leads. These were the people who moved through the whole conversion process and actually took the trouble to contact you about your product or service. Is this process easy? Well, I will be honest. It takes some work to get your system to function, but once you do, you really do have an online, 24/7 sales machine that only works for your business.

A Successful Internet Sales Machine

* A compelling message that attracts website visitors.
* A website that looks interesting and trustworthy.
* A clear call to action.
* You! A salesperson able to handle those leads that actually contact you from your website.

You need to do three important tasks to get this to work for you. You need to have a clear message you can place on other websites. You need to have a website promotion strategy that can distribute that message around the internet. And you need to have a website that directs potential clients towards the action they need to take in order to buy This may seem simple, and it can be. But this process, if done right, can explode your insurance sales. And of course, this process can work with other products or services you may want to offer.

You can use this process to gather leads, make direct online sales, or spread any type of message. People should not arrive at your website by accident, but because they figured you could answer their questions and solve their problems.

Advanced Insurance Secrets of Closing Sales - Sorry, I Don't Accept Buying Objections

2009-05-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Every experienced insurance agent has tips and advanced secrets on what makes closing sales easier. Few secrets concern heading off buying objections. See how buying objections hurt closing sales of insurance. Discover why purchasing a jumbo book on the secrets of handling objections is a waste of your time and money.

Insurance sales agents, advanced or trainees, now their income hinges on closing sales effectively. The approach on treating buying objections however varies widely. A vast number of agents think that objections are part of the sales process. With this logic, they spend their short or lifelong career thinking of ways to outsmart a prospect whenever a sale is made. Some are even told that the secrets of closing sales lie in turning the objection around into a sales advantage. Not that many agents are able to do that consistently.

I take a much more advanced approach in discussing the insurance secrets of closing sales. It is very simple. I just do not accept buying objections as a means for a prospective client to get in the way of making a sale. What do I personally think of the concept of not stopping under you have heard "no" eight times? Three thoughts. First, I think the sales person is ill prepared to be an insurance salesperson, and should find another occupation. Next I believe that the agent if receiving buying objections because they are a suspect, and not a qualified prospect worth spending time on. Last, the agent is lacking the personality traits of strong self-confidence, motivation, adaptation, and determination to walk out with the sale.

How to handle buying objections:

Never let them come up. Before you make an appointment make sure you have a strong prospect. A prospect must have a desire to want to hear what you have to say, and know that there is an important emotional need to fill an insurance gap. If do not know this, ask your prospect to acknowledge there is an awareness before confirming an appointment and wasting gas and valuable time. If you control the source of the lead, you should already know if the client could, if convinced, afford it.

Go through the objections in advance

The bulk of the main objections fall into the range of: price, indecision stall, unconvinced of need, think it over, don't need it right now, want to compare, and call you later. Do you think you could sell more policies if you never received these objections? Do you believe an 80% or 90% closing ratio can actually be a reality? If so, read on, otherwise my secrets of closing sales will merely turn to stone. The first step is not to treat a lead like gold and rush to make an appointment. Are you absolutely sure you have a true lead, and not a look-alike suspect?

Establishing a true lead

The problem comes with so many wishy-washy insurance agents tying to turn suspects into prospects into buyers because they think they have a lead. A person that lets you discuss insurance is not a lead. It is this kind of person that will give you every buying objection possible to prevent a sale. A true lead is not afraid that they suffer from a gap in their insurance and need to talk about it. Next is where your personality sales skills reflect the outcome. A prospect can immediately feed if you are strong in your convictions or week. The prospect can sense you amount of knowledge, and enjoys dealing with people much smarter than them on that subject matter. They want to be treated on the same level as a trustworthy friend, which you must establish before the presentation begins.

Where are the buying objections?

If you followed the simple secrets above you will quickly become an advanced salesperson. You will notice when this occurs as getting objections becomes a rarity. Ask yourself what reason a true prospect has to object. The two of you together are teaming together. Both of you are working on designing the best plan of filling insurance needs within a certain budget. Sorry, you are no longer buying objections. You are assisting the prospect to buy insurance.

Clients Insurance Leads Marketing Analysis Study - Leads and Clueless Dummies?

2009-05-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

The marketing analysis study of clients' insurance leads is very revealing. I call the study of obtaining clients as "Leads and the Clueless Dummies" in a sincere manner. Review my analysis to see how agents confuse ordinary people, (suspects) with insurance leads (probable buyers).

There is a gigantic spectrum of insurance sellers that do not know what an actual lead is. It runs from new trainees, to experienced sales agents, to product marketers, and circles around to managers who want their sales agents to be lead clueless. This is true of any industry that expect sales people that are not order takers to develop client leads guiding to sales. Here you have the clueless playing a live game of Clue. This analysis study will give you the clues to quit guessing suspects and finding clients with a motive. Otherwise, you will get a bushel basket of objections keeping you from locating and making winning sales.

Why you do not know what an insurance lead is composed of. The majority of life and health insurance sales agents start working for a home office based insurance career, captive insurance agency. The agency tries to get its representatives pumped up, by providing insurance leads marketing ideas that are full of faults. Sales agents need ideas that willing lead to people willing to buy the products they offer. Let us do a study analysis of these tips, and ideas that range from having gaping holes to those that require a little extra sales or personal skill to turn into a sale.

THE 100 MAN LIST This list is an easy way for the agency to confuse the agent with smoke and mirrors. The sales agent provides a 100-person list of personally approachable people. This includes a lot of friends, relatives, relatives of relatives, neighbors, old associates, and some businesses. The agency manager tells them they are excellent leads. These are not leads. Instead, they are suspect acquaintances. These people often have no shown a need for obtaining added insurance, and are few are willing to do so right now. Many do not trust your knowledge to provide the correct benefits, and others do not have the financial means to do so. You have four strikes against you. The only way to turn these suspects into buyers is with "pity sales", they buy to help you get your career going.

REFERRALS There is a misconception purposely provided in the business that each sale you make should result in three referrals. In other words, you new client is pressured into trying to provide you with the contact information of their personal connections to make new sales. When a food vendor convinces you to buy a hot steaming loaded hot dog, do they drill you for referrals? Remember that referrals owe you nothing. Like the 100 man lists the names provided can have the same 4 non-buying strikes. You earn referrals, you cannot demand them.

COLD CALLS The most stupid prospecting method of insurance leads marketing of the last 100 years. This is Leadsan Dummies, Chapter 1 material. You start with a list or directory of complete unknown strangers - suspects. You sudden sales strategies are suppose to turn them into interested leads willing to hear about your product, and you sell them insurance. In fact you even have a telephone script to handle every objection that is thrown at you, or you get 8 "no's" whichever comes first. If you ever sweat before, this will soak your shirt or blouse like a rainstorm. A cave man using a club probably would have achieved better results.

You are bothering your prospective clients. Sure, they might realize that insurance is important, and even that they might need to have more of it. However, are they will to earnestly willing to talk about it, make a commitment to buy, pay for it, and then continue to keep the insurance in effect? Will they have enough trust in you and your experience to make a commitment? Most important can you accomplish this feat without applying pressure so it does not backfire. These are the nine essential ingredients of a true insurance marketing lead.

PERSONALLY KNOWN SOCIAL ACQUAINTANCES These are not natural leads. However, awareness of working together in a church, charity, or business group they gradually know what you do, and like you enough to ask for your assistance. The major problem is how long. You cannot forcefully cause these contacts to blossom into one of your qualified insurance leads. A great system, where you should devote time, but not too much of it.

HANDING OUT BUSINESS CARDS Please do not do this at your place of worship. This, like cold calling can stink of pressure, unless handled very lightly. Purchasing 4 inexpensive lottery tickets and winning over $100 three times, compares closely to what you should expect from your efforts. Do not expect anything and feel blessed if you get a call.

EMAIL BLASTING FOR INSURANCE LEADS Over 2 out of every 3 emails are blocked by the internet service providers. Many recipients who do not personally know you consider this junk email. In additional the quality of the list used commonly is under 20% targeted accurately for the right prospects. Is sounds easy and quick, but often ends up very costly and ineffective.

COMPANY RATE QUOTE RESPONDER Here is a two-sided sword where you can easily be injured. This is often not a lead for a few reasons. You have a person wanting to slash life rates down to the bone, and looking for any company to do so. Other insurers or agents may have been called to rate compete. Do you want a cheap sale that did not handle the person's needs? Remember realizing the true need and be willing to discuss it is part of an insurance lead. An analysis shows that doing your job might lose a sale to a competitor, who may keep the temporary client for a year and make a small commission.

COMPANY PHONE CALL IN These can be a great lead or only a suspect. Be careful the person is not just a rare shopper or not hiding a medical condition. Otherwise, this is a green light to a sale.

INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING Joining a business intenet social group and joining some inter-clubs is a giant step in the right direction. Here you will spend lots of time and true group devotion to getting yourself and business talents recognized. Time however can work very fast to plant the roots and start cultivating social connections to do business with. Not only will get sales opportunities, but some groups have virtual gurus that provide tips and ideas on unique ways to promote your services. These are not current leads, but a terrific source of future leads.

COMMON INTEREST PHONE LIST This produces ten times the dynamic force of cold calling. That is because so many reasons for objections are eliminated. You find on an internet search a list broker. Tell him or her that you are looking for something like this (using your comfort specifications). Married couples between the ages of 25 and 40, living in certain zip codes, owning their own home, with children, and both employed. These are excellent candidates for life insurance and mortgage disability coverage. You have a ton of information on them and use it. You know there is a need to take care of it now; you have different options so they can afford it, so there is no reason not to discuss it.

Never sell on the phone, and Never Ever push the appointment. Your prospect list is not a lead list. It is a numbers game and with the right touch enough could turn to appointments and then to profitable sales.

INTERNET BASED SALES LEADS Hardly any of the firms selling these leads have a successful insurance background using them. Profit is the name of the game, with you being the source of profit. It is almost like the carnival peddler or minute television product pusher working on you. You are hawked all the possible benefits, but never all the disadvantages. How qualified are these ready to buy people. Depending upon the price of the lead, they usually fall between tire-kicking shoppers to partially qualified lead. Study the nine signs of a quality insurance lead, and determine how many they meet.

COMMON INTERNET MAIL LIST The list is and qualifications are the same as mentioned in the common interest phone list. Take 1,000 prospects and send them at standard rate, a smaller size envelope with reply card. (Ask the mailing company for simple assistance). The better qualified the list, the higher quantity and quality of leads. The superiority of this method was a combination of two factors. That consisted of pre-qualifying the prospects and applying no pressure to respond.

YOUR OWN CLIENTS After a year has elapsed, any analysis will show these are hands down, the best leads obtainable. You have already demonstrated the necessary product knowledge, confidence, and skills to your clients. Now set up a policy review, and fill any gaps or replace any outdated coverage.

Study all these insurance lead methods. (There are even more). No system of sales leads is 100% guaranteed to provide only fully qualified leads of people ready and able to buy. If so, sales would not be such a severe challenge that few sales agents can turn into earning insurance sales professional status.

MetLife - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Review - Financial Ratings & Stocks Sliding?

2009-05-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

There are few Americans that have not heard of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, more recently heavily promoted as MetLife. My personal review of MetLife covers concerns about losses effecting financial ratings and value of stocks. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has a load of positives also worth a closer review.

Over 140 years ago, with the use of debit agents, National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company were started, then renamed National Travelers Insurance Co. Shortly later in 1868 it was reorganized as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Before the 1960's started, there was intense competition with Prudential Life Insurance Co to compete for life insurance agents and brag not only about the size of the agency force, but also the amount of assets belonging to the two jumbo life insurance writers. Picking up General Motors as a client and pushing group benefits kept Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in a top position.

Reviewing agent stability shows that the 1970's reflected horrible retention due to agent selection, larger policies pushed, overly restrictive underwriting, and an abundance of managers. The 1980's showed significant company growth that was handcuffed temporarily in the early 1990's due to a widespread review of deceptive sales practices. Already owning Texas Life Insurance Company and merging with New England Mutual Life, it then bought out Charter Security Life Insurance Companies and sold off some unprofitable units.

By the mid 1990's many of the top insurance financial ratings, companies considered MetLife to be an extremely sound financial carrier. MetLife is actually a separated insurance company from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In 49 states it is officially MetLife Investors USA Insurance Company based in Irvine, California. In the state of New York it is known as First MetLife Investors Insurance Company. Since the 1980's, Snoopy and other famous Peanuts characters provide an identity image for them. In addition, MetLife Investors has represented a majority of the companies business provided by independent brokers.

My review of the MetLife and Metropolitan websites would get an A to A+ rating, something I rarely give. The reasoning behind this was the extremely professional design layout of the website with extreme ease for finding information. Many large insurers compete with their own agents to sell insurance direct to the client. The MetLife website allowed inquiries about life, disability, long-term-care, auto, home, boat, and excess liability coverage whereby a representative would contact the internet searcher. The separate sections for brokers and agents were also nicely laid out.

The only downside of my review would be regarding financial ratings and stock prices. It is estimated that nearly a billion dollars of financial exposure is to AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, and Washington Mutual alone. Although stock prices at MetLife showed sliding stock price fluctuations, there are still strong financial assets and decent operating revenues.

Personally, I do not right now see a repeat of the AIG fiasco, MetLife has the management and backing to look like they can pull through with some share selling. However, my company review currently recommends keeping the traffic light on caution.

Middle Class Insurance Customers Marketing Analysis - Too Many Donuts With No Filling

2009-05-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

This marketing analysis is focused on the needs of middle class insurance customers. Find out why insurance sellers ignore marketing to this large class of buying customers with definite coverage needs.

The bulk of the blame goes both to the insurance companies and to insurance product agents. Starting with the insurance product agents it is first a manner of obtaining enough insurance customers and premiums to make it through the first four years. My marketing analysis shows that currently only 7 out of 100 agents last this long. In addition, their income even with subsidies is $15,000 below the national per capita income in most states. Surprisingly to some, the agents selling customers financial related plans are more apt to fail quickly that those selling automobile, homeowners, life, and health products.

THE AGENT LOGIC COMMISSION TRAP Since an agents income is supported by income and premiums, a false perception is easily conceived. If the agent receives 20% commission for selling home owners insurance, agents insuring a $800,000 home, get up to six times the compensation as marketing one $150,000 home owners policy. Using the same analysis, the life insurance agent selling a $4,000 annual premium life policy may make $3,200 instead of $800 for a $1,000 life policy. GREED SELLING instead of needs selling to the middle class insurance customers.

THE AGENT BIG HEAD TRAP In a recent study, I came up with 130 substitute titles and variations for "agent". It appears that a vast number of agents want to call themselves specialists, professionals, advisers, counselors, designers, advisors, planners, consultants, and experts among others. Added too frequently to all this is the word "financial". Financial is inappropriately substituted for risk, as they think these are words that customers desire to hear. The agent is falsely preying on making prospective clients feel they are dealing with a financial expert no matter what product they are selling. Wealthy customers want financial professionals to deal with. EGO SELLING instead of need selling to middle class people requires insurance risk protection.

THE INSURANCE COMPANY NAME GAME My info here can be verified by looking at the front page of insurance company home office websites. This is especially true with companies holding a history of over 100 years of existence. Hardly a single carrier states they are looking for new "agents" to hire. Regardless of products sold, they rave about the opportunities existing for new "financial representatives." Why? They want to ignore the middle class insurance customers and go after the wealth and jumbo premiums. A new agent is no more qualified to sell financial products and give investment advice than they are qualified to sell birthday balloons. It takes years of continued education, experience in full scale planning, and plenty of errors and omissions coverage. Talking with prospects about changing hundreds of thousands of dollars with asset strategy is not for the inexperienced. Forced PREMIUM SELLING to the wealthy, as opposed to serving middle class customers properly.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS In an analysis of my personal insurance selling career, 90% of total premiums and close to 97% of my sales were to middle class people. I enjoyed a successful career because of realized the value of making so many marketing presentations. Giving 20 appointments weekly to middle class prospects that had genuine needs was the solution. False hope is trying to create the emotion need and buying urge in a few wealthy clients that are being over pursued. Besides that a close to 90% closing rate, sure beat 35% to 45% by more than double. The safety in numbers also reaped in benefits often not realized. There were many multiple policy sales, shorter presentations, and the need for later profitable policy review work.

MIDDLE CLASS NEEDS There are few middle class people insurance education on properly protecting their most important assets at a reasonable cost. The agents trying to look after the essential needs of life insurance, major medical, car, home, some disability benefits, and hopefully long-term care face little competition. The needs and money is there, where are the agents? It is time to fill the donuts. HONEST SELLING to middle class insurance customers equals quality agent rewards.

How to Get Insurance Leads That Won't Waste Your Time

2009-05-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

The key to be a successful insurance agent is to know how to get insurance leads that are better then average leads. As well as getting leads that are profitable and add to your customer base and clientele. The successful insurance agent that uses these types tools to his or hers disposal will save time and make more money.

So how do you increase profits and save time with insurance leads?

Getting insurance leads from an online insurance company or online source cuts down on the amount of time that you spend searching for your own leads. When you search for your own leads you take up valuable time which you could be using to sell insurance policies. Being an insurance agent does not mean the you have to spend your entire life on a phone. Would you not rather have the ability to earn more money and sell more policies?

You could spend hours calling people and never have a guaranteed result for the time and effort you put into those calls. Or you could spend some money to make more money. Any business needs money to make money. If you're serious about being an insurance agent then you might have to take this avenue to save you more time.

How to get insurance leads that pay off and that are profitable is commonly asked by insurance agents everyday. Thousands of agents search the net looking for free leads when in fact most free leads are stale and are a waste of time.

To succeed as an insurance agent using online sources to gather leads for you is the most practical and time efficient way to gather leads. The real key to success is to have someone else do your work.

And the Lucky Number Is - Extreme Sales Marketing Strategy Analysis Information

2009-05-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

How does analysis information portray a dynamic effect of using the correct lucky number? Is this really extreme sales marketing strategy analysis or am I sitting in a ramshackle kid's playhouse with a diaper, playing an old etch-a-sketch game? Use this info and be the judge.

Every since humanity you have witnessed the fascination with number picking, astrology, and tarot cards. Certain weekly players use the same combination of "lucky" lottery numbers their entire lifetime, trying to twist fate into their favor. Of course, every so often, there is a situation of chance entering the normal pattern of life..

A number of years back I was playing a progressive slot machine setup that only took two quarters at once. Hundreds of people walked transparently by me seeking their own fame and fortune. My machine was just plain stupid, it quietly spit out enough handfuls of quarters making it impossible to lose my $25.00 investment. Finally one gold diamond came down, followed by a second, and then yes the third gold diamond figure stuck right in the slot. My machine went crazy with noise, people around me went crazy, I maintained sanity but winning over $23,000.00 sure felt nice. In the hour's time to get paid off, hundreds of people wanted to touch my arm. I could have easily sold "lucky" quarters for $10.00 each. This was just plain & simple luck, nothing worth writing a book about.

After around 4 years in insurance selling, I started an analysis of my clients reactions to see if a lucky number existed. It did. My extreme sales marketing strategy analysis provided the information that worked time and time again. I know you think I am probably hanging by a tree branch writing this, but I am going to give you the info so you can prove it to yourself.

To make it easier to understand, envision a no price haggle garage sale, where every item runs in 10 cent amounts from a dime to a dollar. Mark exactly half of your 200 little items with the even numbers of 20, 40, 60, and 80 cents, and one dollar, (even numbers). The other equal amount of items sticker at 10,30,50,70, and 90 cents, (odd numbers). I can predict, if priced properly, how many items from each group sell. Say 100 items sell, 30% will be those that have a even number price, 70% will sell priced at the odd numbers. Want insurance on selling items with a higher price? Put a price tag of $7.00, $17.00, $27.00 on the majority of them.

In selling insurance or left over goods, the extreme magic number is always an odd one, and when possible, it includes a 7. Which sounds better, "There are 5 good reasons why you need this," or "These are the 3 main reasons others purchase this plan?" Again, choose the best sounding statement. "Around half my clients are in your same age bracket." Alternatively, pick, "It might sound peculiar but 7 out of 10 of my clients are in your age bracket." Numbers selected actually do work wonders. I am more likely to be a sucker for an item selling for $23.77 monthly than one costing $22.98 monthly.

After you are through having your client fill out the application, and after collecting the money, tell them about how you purposely use the numbers game. Let them think this information was the way you, the magical number guru snatched the sale. Never reveal your other carefully executed insurance sales marketing analysis methods.

Using this odd method will enhance your sales, as lucky sevens are always new to your client no matter how routine they become to you. Remember the number game only works on human interaction.

Insurance Professional Sales Tips - Do Worthless Insurance Purchases Bother You?

2009-05-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Insurance Professional sales tips rarely reveal the split personality of many insurance sellers. The agent may sell prospects worthless insurance purchases initially while closely reviewing all insurance later. See how these sales practices are so unprofessional, yet how frequently they are used.

Beneath the clean cut skin of an insurance sales agent is often a diamond-eyed, double talking boneless reptile with one goal.. That goal is to always make a money-making sale, needed or not. A word of caution though, a stack of bills to pay, can transform an honest agent into a very slippery snake. What else makes this agent make sales in a manner that no insurance professional would normally do?

The sales tips the agent were originally taught is the cause of evil devious doings. The agent eyes converge on commission spotlights. Instead, the agent must focus the center of attention towards what is right for the prospect. Nevertheless, most agents do not experience a guilt trip if they have someone purchase a rather useless insurance policy. If a prospect needs a major medical plan, should sales of accident only coverage or cancer insurance be offered? What if the prospect says the major medical coverage is not affordable? Then should the agent walk away with no sale, or convince the prospect that cancer insurance or accident only coverage might at least be a partial solution, thereby making the sale?

Tomorrow, the day after the say, is always a time of reckoning for the agent. Either the manager will give out a tongue lash for not making a sale, or give a pat on the back for at least selling something. My sales tips indicate some unprofessional truth. Even when an agent finally becomes a professional, they still revert to making any kind of sale on their first visit. Few are truly professional enough to walk straight away, knowing that making the wrong sale is easy on the wallet and hard on the conscience.

If an insurance agent lasts long enough to review his present clients insurance, suddenly wings of an angel start to sprout. Here is where the policy review session reveals all. The insured brings out all life and health insurance in effect bought from any agent. Immediately an experienced agent can spot if there is a huge unfilled gap in insurance coverage. Also uncovered are any worthless insurance purchases made by the client. Here again $$ cloud the agents eyes. Two paths are available, but which should be taken?

The easy path is the least challenging, and has the largest change of success, however it is not professional. The insurance agent has to simply crumble up the unnecessary policies bought, and tell the client it was good the coverage was not used. Then these premiums are used to pay for some added coverage that the client needs. Same payments and better coverage can sound like a winner.

A true winner (professional) agent bets on personal quality and skills, with the determination to do a better job. He or she risks it all by telling the policyholder that all the coverage owned may be outdated. Purchasing proper life insurance, major medical, and disability income might mean a 50% increase in yearly premiums. Dropping less critical coverage might lower the amount of increase. Does the client want the best possible coverage for the least money, or does the client want every agent that comes along to write another insurance policy?

These are Insurance Professional Sales Tips that require ethics that many money hungry agents will never acquire.

National Life Brokerage Marketing Review - NAILBA Independent Brokerage Agencies a Smash Hit

2009-05-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

There are numerous national life brokerage marketing agency firms. Yet there are few like NAILBA, The National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, getting a review declaring them a smash hit. Find out what makes this linked collection of agencies such a unique brokerage organization.

Hearing National Life Brokerage Organization, makes you wonder if they are a two person shop, one individual giant private firm, a company marketing firm, or a group of independent life brokerage agencies. In my review of NAILBA, I can easy see it is the later. Although there are some similar brokerage groups, NAILBA has certainly taken a unique approach to recruiting and the services provided brokers. Thereby it has raised itself to maximum capabilities. The non-profit Organization wins, and the life independent wholesale agencies, the brokers, and the insurance companies all profit.

It pointed out to me three main things. The power of unification, the strength of diversity, and the fulfilled demand for personalized individual broker service. In 26 years of working with all types and variances of life, annuity, and health insurance marketing organization have I rarely seen all three key features merge seamlessly together. Even more amazing was the concept of keeping all the brokerage agencies independent. When I learned that this consisted of more than 350 member brokerage general agencies in the United States and Canada, I was even more impressed.

Searching further, I discovered how much the leadership had invested to make this mutually profitable. Most BGA's, Brokerage General Agencies, that I know very well or review, start with zero training assistance. As a member, three total tool kits are wisely made available as resource guides. In detail, they provide Brokerage Agencies to work more efficiently with their insurance providers. In addition, a resource guide is devoted to marketing their independent brokerage operation. Moreover, backbone is strengthened by illustrating how to increase the operational efficiencies of the participating members.

Product diversification is a key item to survival through an economic downturn. Fortunately, NAILBA and its members had the insight to not put all their eggs into a speculative basket, only to find their work cracked apart. With a base of around 100,000 independent brokers in the United States and Canada, I was not surprised to see that around a billion dollars of first year life insurance premiums are collected annually.

Since I am not aware of the breakdown, I can still give an awareness of the impact on insurance brokers. Although not all their insurance brokers write for them exclusively, as they are also independent, the figures I derived at were significant. If 70% of their producers were active, and writing in the United States that would total 70,000 producers. Reviewing my records, it indicates currently 490,000 brokers in the U.S. exist from the total base of 1,500,000 licensed agents.

This means one out of every 7 semi-independent agents or independent brokers are connected with marketing insurance through one of their life brokerage general agencies in the United States. It is difficult to get much stronger than this association of Brokerage General Agents. Collectively they are more powerful than many life insurance companies are. They have paved the way from a hazardous financial trail to a rewarding occupation for many agents to take. Thanks to NAILBA and others like them, agents today have an easier route to becoming independent.

Professional Insurance Marketing Campaign - I Refuse to Tolerate Poor Planning Ideas

2009-05-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Poor planning ideas for an insurance professional marketing campaign cannot be tolerated. While my opinions of your marketing and planning ideas might not matter, those of Internet searchers do. You might be an insurance professional but a traffic planning campaign to drive visitors to your site might be long overdue.

It is astounding how far insurance selling agents are behind others in effecting promoting products and services. Hundreds of thousands of insurance agents have not taken the time or money to even start by establishing an Internet website presence. Millions of potential clients do not even know that you or your services exist. Remember you are an insurance seller, not merely an order taker, clients must find you, and you find them if your career is going to last.

An internet sight is an investment in you. The cost of webhosting for a year, registering a site name, and building a small site is probably less than a good suit or outfit. On the internet, your new suit or outfit will not be of any benefit on bringing in business. In fact, with websites looks, expensive designs and features are more of a distraction. You can take out loans and still have an internet website that incorporates feeble traffic planning ideas. With less or little money, there are ways to build a professional marketing campaign that drives visitors to choose your site from the millions of others.

Take the Internet qualities by the horn and disregard all the false advertisers that will get you fame and fortune if you pay for their frauds. After you have a website, there are many ways to choose getting the attention of insurance seekers. These planning ideas take the time to discover them and a little money and time to implement them. The internet will not necessary provide quick insurance sales, however many of your competitors have had sites for ten years and have only had their ideas make a handful of sales.

Professional Marketing Campaign Ideas for Traffic Planning

1. Make your website informative. People searching for products to buy do not do so because of your 20-year reputation and company brands your represent. They want information that goes into detail of just what each of your products can do to benefit them. Give them what they are searching for, and to locate your site keyword phrases must be used so internet search engines will drive them to your marketing site.

2. Be an insurance professional by either starting a forum on your site or visiting other insurance forums. You get recognition plus the ability to put a link back to your site. This is free planning idea you can use immediately.

3. Like forums, you can likewise use blogs. These are excellent when you have topics that you want others to read and respond back directly to you.

4. Use the extreme power of Article writing. Get the information on the topic you wrote or paid a reasonable fee for a professional to write about your insurance topics and product uniqueness features. Get it informative and not sounding like a business ad for you or your company.

5. An article review is a low cost method often worth at least a $1,000 in short term value. Pay to have an independent opinion written and published. Then also put a copy on your website for added credibility. The experienced writer may be able to boost your website ratings on the keywords carefully injected. These will produce traffic possibly for years.

6. Also check into joining Business social networking sites.

7. Search website announcements to see if you can get added benefit here.

Implementing these marketing campaign planning ideas should get you started on long-term results.

General Agents Insurance Company Report - Revisiting Midland National Life Insurance Company

2009-05-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

For decades, Midland National Life Insurance Company, has stood out as one the premier insurers for General Agents to represent. Due to recent economic financial fluctuations, revisiting Midland National Life in this report is critical.

1906 was when history began for Midland National Life Insurance Company. This company aspires to the values of integrity, openness, respect, and accountability. Unfortunately, in the last few years robust selling of fixed-indexed annuity plans drove rapid net premium growth beyond initial expectations. Attempting to change from a well-known General Agents Insurance Company to a GA and brokerage combination insurer resulted in early great results, then leading to questionable financial stability.

Midland National Life Insurance Company was purchased 1n 1958 by C.A. Sammons & Associates of Dallas. Charles Sammons already was the president of Reserve Life and owned eight life insurance companies. Today the two key subsidiaries of the Sammons Financial Group of Chicago are Midland National and NACOLAH, North American Company for Life and Health Insurance. Actually, they are similar companies looking at the annuity brokerage, General Agents, and PPGA's, personal producing general agents. A General Agent often has insurance agents under his contract, while a PPGA tends to work independently. Over them is a District Sales Manager and/or a Regional Sales Manager reporting direct to the company.

General Agents are drawn to the insurer because of three main factors. First there was a non pressure General Agent contract that also allowed doing business with other providers. Next is the very strong line of marketable Universal Life and Term insurance policies, along with a diverse portfolio. Third, the commissions paid to GA's and PPGA's were very competitive and favorable. In addition, it was easy to receive a home office response to any question or difficulty that occurred.

Midland National Life operates in 49 states, DC, military bases, etc. The life operations are all handled out of Sioux Falls, SD with annuity activities headquartered in W Des Moines, IA. Very unique is that the company ownership is privately held with employee shareholders. The high amount of liquidity holdings might be key assets during these crucial times.

Using distinct channels of distribution Midland and North American Company for Life and Health Insurance decided to belong strongly involved in singing up brokers to sell its fixed indexed annuity products. Something now both insurers would like to report that they never were successful at selling. Having considerable risk concentrated in large fixed income investments of a security nature was clearly being in the wrong market at the wrong time.

Thanks to strong product diversification and significant liquidity before the financial bomb struck, Midland National Life Insurance Company should pull itself thru. The lowering of its ratings does not help induce confidence in the insurer. The shame is that this great General Agent insurance company is taking a huge hit because of an unwise brokerage decision. My prediction is that there is a future ahead for them, at first dim and gradually returning to very bright. Next time they are revisited the situation will definitely be changed.

What is the Magic Number in Insurance Prospecting?

2009-05-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Prospecting never ends, it's important to keep prospecting to fill your pipeline, even when business is good. Prospecting is always ranked top priority by successful insurance agents.Many successful agents are not good in doing presentation, not very well versed with the products and not able to organize things effectively but they are all great prospecting experts.

At the beginning of your insurance business, you may have to spend 80% of your time doing prospecting. Once you build a good book of business say with 200 to 300 clients, you need to review your business strategies. It is time for you to switch from being a hunter to a farmer. Hunting is the search for brand new customers. Farming is an expansion of business with the existing customers. It is prospecting within your own clientele.

Farming is a cost-effective way to increase your sales. You can find gold in your backyard. By placing more emphasis on farming, your prospecting time can be reduced to 20%. Less prospecting efforts are required once you reach the magic number or the critical mass. Once you have 200 or 300 customers in your book, you have less worry about getting new customers.

If you nurture your existing clientele and provide them with good service, you existing customers will give you good supply of referrals for you to secure new business.Taking care of your existing customers especially the top 20% of your customers is very important. This is because the top 20% of your customers bring you 50% of your income and they deserve your attention.

You need to follow up the top 20% of your customers 4 times a year to increase the case size, upgrade their coverage and get referrals. Eventually, you want to develop them into becoming centers of influence. To groom more centers of influence, you need a referral system to tap into the potentials of your clientele. An effective referral system that stresses customer service helps increase customer retention and profitability at a minimal coast.

Once you hit the magic number, you may revisit prospecting methods you currently use to identify areas for improvement. Prospecting activity never ends but changes. You may consider using another prospecting method to supplement the existing one.You may also study different methods of prospecting that you have yet to use such as cold calling, direct mail, internet leads, blogging, website marketing, seminar selling etc.

By trying and testing various prospecting methods, you can evaluate which prospecting methods work best for you and how you should invest your time or money.Reaching the critical mass or the magic number is possible. It is up to you how soon you want to reach there. Find something you like about prospecting and enjoy doing it. We always excel at things we like to do the most.

Prospecting is like fishing. You never know whether you are going to catch any fish. However if you love fishing and appreciate the virtue of staying patient, you will definitely get your catch. Find your niche. Find your market. Know who you are targeting and go after them. Help them discover the problem they have and offer recommendations to get the problem fixed. Repeat the process and soon you will hit the magic number.

Prospecting can be a science where there are steps to follow. It can also be an art where you get better at with practice and it allows you to be creative when you need to find ways to approach certain markets. Prospecting never ends, it gets a bit easier as you go along.

10 Insurance LinkedIn Groups - 100,000 Clients Waiting For Your Business Communication Skills

2009-05-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Imagine 100,000 clients waiting to hear your insurance business communication skills. Just becoming a member of 10 LinkedIn Groups provides plentiful clients waiting to make business connections.

If you were to buy a list of 100,000 various possible prospects and suspects, at $70/thousand it ends up costing $70,000. Moreover, this particular list includes a very complete business and personal file of every member with their qualifications, goals, and hobbies. Also included is the name of the company they own or are employed by. You should be thrilled to find out that the price of joining LinkedIn groups and the basic membership is free. You are even strongly encouraged to communicate with people of your choosing that have qualifications you feel are important. I would not go so far to say you have 100,000 leads, but 100,000 seeds.

This is excellent base ground for helping your career grow. If you are already failing, Goodbye. To enter a long career journey your path should intermingle with the business communication networking site of LinkedIn. I am going to give you some quick guidelines to use your insurance skills appropriately.

Here is a membership example of finding prospects that eventually could lead to prosperous insurance sales. After joining and being approved by 10 groups, you can have over 100,000 prospects and suspects free. Check the biographies of other members that share belonging to a certain group with you. Determine wisely ones you want to use your communication skills to contact. Many are very willing to connect because you share common business, educational, religious, or recreational interests with them. Once a two-way connection is established, you plant the roots to eventually sprout possible clients.

Imagining 100,000 clients waiting is not a dream. Here is proof of ten example groups to back it up.

1. Startup Specialists-worldwide-26,000 members "Invitation for people who believe they are startup specialists and love the challenges of startups." Many business startups today become the business leaders of tomorrow. See this as one of the top groups that encourage you to share your profile with other members. Can you see many of these people needing insurance shortly or in the not to distant future?

2. Google Group-all countries-16,000 approved. "This group is for people who use Google as their primary search engine! We know its YOU!" Glancing at the members listed, I was amazed at how many are either business owners or a key department head. Quite a number are self-employed.

3. OpenNetworker.com-worldwide-14,000 participants "As an OpenNetworker.com group participant you'll be able to interact with 14,000 fellow open networkers (people who are open to new opportunities and new connections). If you are serious about social business networking, here is your chance to prove it.

4. University of Michigan Alumni-everywhere-13,000 alumni "To connect all University of Michigan Alumni." If you are a college graduate, almost every US College has an alumni group on LinkedIn. You can even break down attendees by the years enrolled. Few college alumni have less than 1,000 registered.

5. Real Estate Finance & Investment Society-11,000 associates "For those interested in commercial or residential real estate... distressed mortgages, mortgage brokerage, lending/banking, etc." Looks like now is the perfect time to hook up and start placing in some perennial bulbs.

6. Marketing Executives Group-international-10,000 executives "This is a worldwide group for marketing executives who want to collaborate and network to share cases, experience, and connect." You are an insurance marketing executive, are you not? Then you qualify to make high-level connections. It seems like an opportunity to find executives willing to send referrals to you.

7. Christian Professionals-10,000 common believers "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and want to reflect this in your professional environment as well-A warm welcome to this group!" If you share this religious belief, you automatically have clients waiting with a bond of trust. The members contain thousands who are power sources in their community.

8. Retail Execs-7,000 Business Contacts "It's all about finding and being found. Retail Execs, the primary community for retailer and retail entrepreneurs. Its aim is to facilitate professional networking, learning, and sharing." If you mention in your biography that you work with retail executives, you will probably be accepted. Do not except immediate insurance sales. View large sales developing as a result of participating.

9. Hunters and Anglers-600 addicted members "This is a group meant for those of use who enjoy hunting, fishing, and the great outdoors... tell us about your greatest experiences" Do not only join the largest groups, or those that are strictly business. In checking some biographies of members I found another bond besides a hobby, and that was hard work ethics. Have fun, commenting about your hobby can land a big catch.

10. Classic Car Owners and Enthusiasts-450 classic buffs "This group joins enthusiasts all over the world of classic cars, young timers, old timers, Share your favorite driving tool with us." Learn and Earn. It you have a car passion; there are many of these social networking groups. An agent selling specialty car insurance through a carrier like Hagerty could make a number of classic sales.

Treat this 100,000 clients waiting article with care. Once you join LinkedIn, do not forget to invite members like me to connect. Reaching 100 connections will take a bit, but that certainly is just the beginning of using your business communication skills in this prime environment.

Creative Insurance Marketing Websites - Permanent 100% Guaranteed Traffic Ranking Increases

2009-05-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

The price for designing creative insurance marketing websites without a guaranteed traffic clause starts at $1,000 and increases quickly. Without 100% permanent traffic boosting content these websites are useless. Find content ranking and trafficking techniques that permanently increase visitors.

Your current website, if you have one, is probably a mansion in the slums. It is like a store paying rent in a supermall with only an occasional customer. There is no doubt that contracting and paying someone $1,000 to $2,500 to build a 5 page website will have a beautiful outside appearance. Your website contractor will probably add some bells like listing your website name on 250 search engines and directories. However, this does even promise getting listed on Yahoo, or telling you it could be a month before Google recognizes your site. So while this added $199 benefit sounds great for traffic increases, little true website activity is noticed.

Next you are brainwashed on the idea that pay per click advertising, like those small Google ads seen everywhere will increase visitors. If you set an advertising budget of $100 monthly, that is another $1,200 in expenses. While your insurance marketing website will get more traffic, what quality will it be? IF you are an expert in pay per click ads, you will probably get enough results to pay ad costs and possibly make some profit. Remember that the ad clicker could just love clicking, be a youngster, a competitor, or a curiosity tire kicker. For each click, good or bad, you pay, until your monthly ad budget is exhausted.

Do not be surprised to receive consistent invitations at today only prices to get your internet site ranked in the top 10 for a single internet search term. The reduced price usually runs $100 to $200 each. If you chose "Ohio internet marketing organization", "Dayton Ohio insurance specialists," "ABC term life insurance products," "John Smith life insurance rate quotes," and "Midwest universal life marketers," the cash outlay would be $500.00 minimum. Also there is no 100% guarantee you will be permanently in the top ten 100 days from now. I warn you of lots of tricky and appealing advertising methods attracting you to start profiting from your dead website.

CREATIVE INSURANCE MARKETING WEBSITES DONE RIGHT Realize immediately that search engines like Google could care less how much website mansions with revolving doors look like or cost. You cannot find a much blander site that that of Google's own domain. That is actually the preferred route of many top ranking sites, plain and simple with no flash.

The Internet world is built on the concept that people are searching for content. Tons of content that can satisfy their need is the mainstream bloodline. Do not expect a person who somehow clicks on your domain to stay on it more than 15 seconds if they fail to find the information they are looking for. Insurance marketing websites done right, share a common feature. That feature is creative meaningful subject matter.

GUARANTEED TRAFFIC CONCERNED WITH YOUR SUBJECT MATTER Look through the eyes of the person looking at your insurance marketing material. Television uses the concept of brand marketing, which might work for tangible goods like automobiles or food. With insurance, you are not selling something tangible, so do not expect that mentioning a brand name will do anything for you. Too often, I will see a statement like, "Disability income coverage is provided by XYZ Insurance, an A+ rated insurance company."

So what! There are well over 600 active life and health insurance companies out there. The true prospects that you want contacting you must have information first. Consider your information a closely knitted topic. The medium for writing this topical info is an article, not selling your firm or the company represented. Instead, it brings out details that prospects probably did not know. Topics could include what the function of disability income is, what disability income options are offered, how much disability insurance you figure someone should own, the statistics of needing disability income, and in depth information about the insurance company offering it. Wow, there are five meaty subject matter contents that each increase your readers sought after facts. This enhances highly the chance to make a decision about doing business with you.

100% PERMANENT PERSONAL DOMAIN SITE IMPROVEMENT You realize the internet will only care about your site if it contains the insurance details that the person searching can find. Now there are a number of options on the best way to handle article topic information. You could personally write a series of articles to cover enough topic information and plant them on your creative insurance marketing website. A better approach is to do this and then also post the topics on a well known ezine or article site. This adds the additional benefits of having your topics posted on a large site where thousands of readers constantly visit to gain info on various subjects like yours. Moreover, after reading they have a direct link to visit your website to find out more.

GUARANTEED TRAFFIC RANKING INCREASES ON GOOGLE IF ... a professional writes your article. For a professional freelance article writer to super enhance your results they must have two skills. Like most writers, they must have the creative ability to motivate you reader while fulfilling the reader's quest for the desired information. This should follow strict article writing guidelines so your 400 to 700 word topic gets approved by the ezine or news posting directory site within at least 5 to 7 business days after it is submitted. Unlike most writers, they do not write flowery headlines and article introductions. These pros have the advantage of SEO, search engine optimization skills that take years of researching and testing to obtain. They have the ability to provide guaranteed traffic increases by increasing your search recognition on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

Added benefits. This duo-talent is rare. When all is done you will not get a prize for writing excellence. However you will get what you need ... a flow of traffic that could very well continue for years.

The multi-talented person will provide writing with multiple key internet search terms that have both the main goals. This means inserting terms that are researched as being popular enough for internet insurance searchers to frequently use, plus where this same term is positioned high above your competition. Let's say a person is searching the internet for a disability insurance product with certain features like return of premium, and you wrote a topic article on this. Entering the phrase "disability income return of premium", they might find you at the top of thousand of listings, thereby prompting a click.

More paybacks. You will have much more than just a couple keyword phrases in the top ten, or thirty listings. I know some of my personal articles have up to 12 different top traffic ranking phrases for just one published topic. Once the article appears, you will be getting FREE quality traffic for years. If you have a series of articles, you could soon appear as the internet recognized expert on this topic. The hired writing professional will then give you credit as being the actual article writer. Other directory info sites and insurance sites of authority will copy your article also giving credit to you and a link to your site. You know the value of just obtaining one client, now multiply it. Here you will make many contacts, and be reimbursed many times over on your investment for traffic increases.

Life Insurance Agents Opt-In Email List Mailing For Prospect Leads - Junk Emailing Gone Wild

2009-05-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Life insurance agents opt-in email lists are in high demand. Insurance marketers want email list address mailings to find brokers and agents want to obtain prospect leads. Junk emailing gone wild is an understatement. There are thousands of insurance marketers thinking true life insurance agent email name lists exist. Here are the misconceptions and the truths.

An Encarta dictionary definition of Cheap is inexpensive in price or cost, or lower in price that might reasonably be expected. The key words mentioned with cheap are reasonably expected. Can you expect that prospecting can be so cheap, and the lower than reasonably expected price of emailing can be effective? That is like taking an inexpensive small bottle of insect repellent into the jungle at night and being eaten alive. Using an email name list for insurance purposes will go one-step further and bury you alive.

PROSPECT LEADS ARE AN INVESTMENT Are you currently investing in penny stocks, or using a piggy bank of change for building your retirement fund? Quality leads leading to sales and earnings are the only way to make the grade. So why do you refuse to understand that spending money wisely for prospecting is an investment in your future? Do you go to a casino thinking you are going to get rich on a penny or nickel slot machine? That is exact what junk emailing is. You are dropping in thousands of pennies or nickels, wishing for the big payoff.

Just look at the thesaurus meanings for cheap. They include despicable, cut-rate, bargain basement priced, shoddy, poor quality, shameful, inferior, second-rate, stingy, and substandard. That is an excellent description for a purchased email list mailing. It is the same proper words to use in portraying the firm that sold you the agent emailing names. I hope that these same words describe your competition and not you.

FOR INSURANCE MARKETING FIRMS There are many money hungry firms you can find that can sell you a list of "life insurance email addresses." FORGET IT. Every since emails started I have NEVER found one after searching and searching. Sure, these are a list of email addresses, but not of active life and health insurance agents that will be delivered. They attract the same attention as doggy doo on your shoe. They are so bad that you will never receive a copy of the list. You would find just about 15 to 25% life agents and the rest everyone else.

Do you desire to send you message to insurance claims adjusters, home office personnel, property and casualty agents, telemarketers, and hundreds or thousands of agents at the same .com location? What about those no longer selling, or phony respondents of the firm's employees, or all the email addresses that go bad very quickly? Expect to pay on average around $65 per bona-fide agent lead; however, you have no idea if the responder was qualified or really interested.

Be careful of all the lists derived from the Yellow Pages. I know of a couple of life insurers that have thousands of their insurance agents email addresses obtainable off an internet site, with all going to the same location. Imagine now many of those 15,000 will be actually be read and not deleted by the internet hosting firm.

INTERNET EMAIL GONE WILD A warning for agents on consumer lists that use email blasting. Consumers are very weary of opening an email where they personally did not request it. That is why at least 65% never gets opened. Moreover, what proof (life a postage receipt) do you get that your consumers were ever mailed? Even if they do respond, they are just an expensive suspect until you find out they are willing and able to listen to your insurance offer.

Emails might be a dime a dozen, and most inexperienced agents are worth a dime a dozen. You can prove how valuable you are by looking at how much money you are willing to invest to find buying prospects and not phantom ghosts.

OPT-IN EMAIL LIST No matter what you are told, when attempting to do a mass insurance email broadcast, here is the truth. NONE of the people, suspects, or prospects that you are emailing REQUESTED that you send them your life insurance message. If you personally obtain the email address of a person willing to receive message from you, this is an opt-in prospect. You may legally send out as many messages as you desire, as long as the person always has the opportunity to opt out of your list.

Personal opt-in email lists are extremely effective. Internet purchased insurance agent email campaigns swallow your wallet, and send you searching the Sunday want ads.

Money and insurance emailing are like oil and water. Neither combination together works, both seem cheap to mix, and when spread out, both leave long lasting bad feelings.

Dallas Insurance Agencies & Fort Worth Brokers - Skilled, Top Texas Rated Agents

2009-05-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Dallas insurance agencies and Fort Worth brokers are top rated. The state of Texas ranks third overall in reviewing the quality of skilled insurance agents. See why Dallas & Fort Worth brokers and agencies get the top city ranking.

You might easily conclude that a large state like Texas with 90,000 annuity, health, group, life, and long-term care insurance agents and independent writers would be crammed. Envisioning sales representatives fighting over obtaining clients easily comes to mind. The city of Dallas is certainly not the largest in the United States; however, its close proximity to Fort Worth is definitely a plus. This provides a unique combination of city, suburban, and even rural territory in the greater metropolitan area.

The is a wide split between the old west concept and modern insurance selling techniques. The old theory was that an agent representing one company was sufficient to cover all a person's insurance needs. Heavy recruiting still keeps this number of one-company representatives at about 55% of the total agents. However, the other agents and agencies are providing their customers with an array of insurance products to cover virtually every possible need.

Dallas & Fort Worth Brokers

Look at the company breakdown, the one company representatives are under exclusive contract with less than 40 total carriers. That means the independent brokers have a choice of representing over 350 state, regional, and national insurance companies. While most big city areas have 3.5 to 4.5 average numbers of agents for every 1,000 residents, in Dallas - Fort Worth metropolitan area, the insurance representatives equate to around only three for every thousand people in the city area.

Because they are aggressive, do not be surprised if Dallas agents come knocking if your house is rocking.

Insurance brokers are constantly on the outlook for inviting business opportunities and are well equipment to handle the needs of any living person in the house. Using sectional zip centers to define the greater Dallas and Fort Worth Area there are over 27,000 agents. Of these 12,200 are the aggressive brokers mentioned above. About 75% are well equipped to handle annuity, and financial needs. For group, individual health, and senior medical over half are ready to lend a hand. Even in harder to sell products like disability income insurance over 4,000 brokers have the needed qualifications.

A large proportion of the total agencies and individual reps are brokers. This means that they represent one than one company, and have the ability to offer prospects more than just the plan vanilla products. Products are custom designed around the client's needs and affordability. However insurance marketing organizations tend too focus twice the attention on Houston, and just as much on San Antonio, Austin, and Amarillo. Houston might be a wonderful place to live, but their agents are not twice as good or earn twice as much.

For the insurance marketing organizations, eliminating all the one-company agents, and concentrating on brokerage agencies and individual brokers will show plenty of opportunity. If you are looking to recruit insurance brokers to sell your products and service there is abundance, allowing you to find the very best.

For residents in the area, be fortunate that when local agents come knocking, your many options and prices won't be shocking.

Independent Insurance Brokers Salary Commissions - Offer 20% Or 200% Commission Increase?

2009-05-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Most independent insurance brokers would bend over backwards for a 200% salary commission increase. See how and why a brokers salary income with total commissions increasing 20% is a better offer. Marketers are not very perceptive to what entices independent insurance brokers.

Envision yourself reaching the point of being an insurance seller that has chosen to go on straight commission instead of salary. You have the freedom to choose your career direction and pace. These are the same traits that independent brokers have. Suddenly you receive a job offer promising to double or triple your salary if you follow the proven techniques to become a part of this marketing selling team. Would you do it?

As an insurance product marketer are you offering agents the opportunity to double their commissions, an increase of 200%. Some of your competitors are showing jumps using their secretly developed weapons, where you could strike making$250,000+. In fact, they prove it by showing how much one of their top producers is now receiving since employing these new techniques. Although not realistic, this is not fraudulent. Insurance marketers can manipulate commission figures and sales production making their offer seem almost guaranteed. Rarely does it do them any good.

Could an insurance marketer likewise be personally enticed? I offer you a 200% increase in salary, commission, and overrides and a new marketing firm. I use my 26 years of analysis backed by facts, and proven techniques to show how you cannot fail. Would you personally stop what you are doing, and have enough faith to take my offer? If not, why do expect agents to grab what you are offering them?

Reasons why big offers do not work. You are not thinking like a broker. For them to receive such a big offer to increase income, the marketer or brokerage general agency would have to receive almost 100% of the agent's production. As you know, the people you are targeting should not be untrained, inexperienced agents already destined to fail. You cannot change the destiny of too many agents already proven to have a failure rate of over 90%. Experienced brokers are your target.

It could be you who forgot the key steps to establishing a compatible match. A thesaurus definition of independent gives related terms such as self-reliant, liberated, self-regulating, unconstrained, on your own, distinct, detached, self-supporting, and unconnected. Brokers received all these freedom benefits when they stopped being a captive agent no longer wanting to work under the control of an agency. For these independent brokers they would have to give back many of these freedom benefits to be under your control. That is almost like asking a former prisoner now enjoying benefits of choice to voluntarily go back to a set supervised locked-in situation.

200% Commission of Nothing is Nothing Marketing people often feel they are giving insurance producers what they want. Insurance brokers are independently seeking what they need. The rarely want to give up so much of what they worked extremely hard to accomplish. They often have more faith in the lottery or casino then they do in you. You are asking for too much trust. Therefore when what you think they want is not really what they want, both you and the broker end up in a no win situation.

20% Commission of Something is Something A typical broker of five years working strictly without a guaranteed salary on solely commissions might be making $65,000. This independent insurance broker is keeping an eye out to achieve his want. His or her want is to increase income by 20% during the next 12 months. That means going from $65,000 to $78,000 by increasing commission earnings. There is no want to earn $130,000 or $250,000 if it meaning risking all that has been learned. Why venture out with no written guarantee and having to give up a tremendous amount of independence? Improving 20% by adding a new product or increasing leads or higher commissions is very logical and wanted.

The Insurance Marketer Attracting Brokers Think through the eyes of an agent. Then realize that a piece of the pie is better than none at all. Independent agents are needs based, and many that are earning $65,000 now may be the $130,000 or higher earners of tomorrow. There are eighty percent more brokers looking for ways to increase swiftly their commissions by 20%. Look at brokers as a long-term investment. First you start with then giving you 1/5 of their business. Gradually through their selling skills of yours of getting them to sell another product of yours, the amount of business increases year after year.

Anyone that lasts in insurance sales for over a year knows that this type of selling is not a dream world. Keep yourself and brokers you are targeting in the reality zone. Be realistic to them and you will be rewarded with trust, loyalty, and an income guaranteed to increase.

5 Ways to Increase Your Insurance Sales

2009-05-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

Sales is a numbers game. If you see more prospects, you are getting better at your sales skills and also having better sales results. Prospecting is the lifeblood of sales. Your prospecting activities bring new prospects into your sales cycle. You have to get in front of people if you need more sales.

There are a number of ways to help you increase your sales results as follows:

(a) See your prospect early

Get the most out of your day by seeing your prospect early. The earlier you meet up with your first prospect in a day, the more prospects you can meet in that day.

A very successful salesperson has 3 breakfasts a day. He has coffee with the first prospect, drinks fruit juice with the second prospect and has sandwich with the third prospect.

(b) Draw strengths within you

Repeatedly remind yourself of your dreams in life. Your dreams give you the energy and the strengths you need to accomplish your daily goals. Your dreams reinforce your desire to succeed.

Do self affirmation and tell yourself you are the best. Self affirmation is a form of personal empowerment that helps you unlock your potential. By acknowledging your unique qualities, you boost your confidence to step out of your comfort zone.

(c) Plan ahead

Prior planning prevents poor performance. Some agents have no idea who to see and decide to make calls only on the day itself, things do not work this way in this business. You need to have a plan or system to direct your efforts towards achieving more sales.

Develop a contingency plan so that you can still accomplish your daily goals even if the there are changes in the circumstances that make it impossible for you to stick to original plan.

(d) Associate with successful people

You see things differently when you stand on the shoulder of a giant. Get acquainted with successful agents who are willing to share with you their journey to success. Be inspired by their personal stories.

Learn their work habits. Observe the way they discipline themselves and how they overcome distractions in their pursuit of their dreams. Ask them question. Feel their energy. Benchmark their commitment to this business.

(e) Personal marketing

Increase your attraction power and get prospect exited about you. Plant the right kind of seeds in the minds of your target prospects so that you are viewed favorably. If your prospects like you and trust you, less sales efforts you have to put forth.

Good personal marketing, such as networking, a well managed website, headline in publication and articles that comment your services will build stronger relationship with your customers and convince them of your unique qualities and values.

Selling is all about creating enough opportunities to get in front of your prospects that have needs for your products. While working hard is needed to achieve your goals in life, it is also necessary to work smarter at strategies that make your efforts pay dividends.

Professional Financial Investment Advisor - Why Didn't You Sell Me a Fixed Annuity Income?

2009-05-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

A professional financial investment advisor sounds like a great title. Yet few "professional financial advisors" seek the right people to sell a fixed annuity income investment. To sell a fixed annuity income plan to an already qualified prospect is easy.

You did not ask me. Your guideline statistics ruled me out as being a fixed annuity income plan Your assumptions got you into trouble as you had no competition where spreadsheets and company comparison analysis was needed. You would not have had to fight off any objections to making a decision. You cannot have a sales opportunity when you do not know how to spot one. After all this, can you still call yourself a qualified professional financial investment advisor?

Your first wrong assumption When you decided or were directed by your sales manager to sell financially related products, you were told the style of people not to waste your time on. Almost all true advisors to investors, along with agency crowned financial representatives are headquartered in the more prosperous suburbs of large metropolitan areas. This way the rep is in close proximity to where their key clients work and live.

WRONG Pounding out freezer burned cold calls and mailers could provide a steady stream of willing investors with sizable assets. However, representative after representative is virtually knocking down their doors. Did ever think that the more unique businesses owners can choose to operate out of any location in the United States. To get away from the concrete jungle, their business is easily located in a smaller town, and still easily accessible. As their business location avoids rush hour traffic, likewise the home is also in a less populated zip code. You want to go by the teachings of your predecessors so you avoid prospects in more remote as they do not appear to fit the mode.

Your second wrong assumption As an advisor selling financial investments you want to work exclusively with executives, and business owners of a certain asset level. A list broker gets instructions by you to target zip codes where the average income is over $100,000, the house worth more than $500,000 and personal liquid assets a similar amount. Zip codes can be very deceiving for giving pinpointed fixed income information. Averages can be misleading, as a $50,000 income and a $200,000 income average out to be $100,000. There could be a large number of manufactured home communities with residents averaging $25,000 income hiding higher earning individuals. You might be wrong that using zip code selection is a good fixed annuity income strategy.

Your third wrong assumption You receive purchase a guide or lists showing the highest income workers in an area. Attorneys, physicians, and physical store owners would be among the top prospects listed. It is natural to assume that not anyone not on your occupational list or wealthy senior over 65 is worth pursuing. The non-workers as they must be bums, stuck in the middle class, or sliders on other people's income. What about people that are social security disabled or who inherited money? You completely ignore that possibilities exist.

I failed all your assumptions - I do not live or work in a large affluent metropolitan suburb. My zip code contains a few manufactured homes, many hometown USA houses, along with an abundance of beautiful lakefront small lake homes. Since I am on Social Security Disability, my income puts me in a lower bracket.

How you could have wisely spotted me My homestead is on 55 acres in a zip code of lots averaging a half to full acre. From the county office, you could have located me on a plat mat by acreage. Likewise, the tax rolls would show the excessive homestead taxes that I paid. You could have spotted dividends earned on mutual funds, when I formerly had twice as much value in them. From an internet search, you would have discovered that I own more than one piece of property. You could have checked for Corvette owners and found that I own a few.

These are all simple clues, which a flood of professional financial investment advisors could not figure out. Before the economic downturn, if even one had figured this out, he or she would have made a worthwhile fixed annuity income sale. Here is another underground method to finding overlooked leads. Look at the newspaper obituaries posted where services take place at upscale funeral facilities. This is digging, not grave digging. Right there are a listed supply of names and cities of people who may come into inheritances, or be soon changing their lifestyles.

Remember that to make money in insurance or as a financial investment advisor, adapt to conducting business in a different manner than everyone else.

Insurance Headlines Use Strategy Words For Compelling Results - Double Response Rates

2009-05-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Compelling Responses using strategy words placed in insurance headlines overwhelm readers. Eyeballs pop and emotion rips with strategy word phrases pumping adrenaline into insurance headlines. Enough dynamite is released, compelling results that double response rates. The cheapest and fastest strategy is using intriguing headlines to conquer your key insurance marketing battleground.

Grabbing undivided attention with new client audiences causes driving the message home, and rocking the client's world enough is the only compelling way to ensure response rates that can double. The strategy words using laser precision are planted into the insurance headline of the message. This authentically trumps conventional tricks and grunt work by instantly driving a fork in the road for the prospect to either use a thinly veiled excuse to block the mouth of the pathway or continue reading your perfectly balanced message. Since the insurance headline is your marketing bonanza, magnify effectiveness and send your competitors back on the chain gang.

Using strategy words produces compelling words, as that exactly why you have read this article so far. You will be provided with a whole list of these emotionally challenging word phrases to not only use in the insurance headline but to integrate in perfect balance throughout your response pounding message. Strategy words using in the above paragraph to compel encouragement to keep reading include laser precision, authentically trumps, thinly veiled excuse, perfectly balanced, marketing bonanza, magnify effectiveness, back on the chain gang, grunt work, fork in the road, and undivided attention. Use word phrases like these 10 are mightier than the sword to double the rate of attention and response received.

So much mail is pitched for the same reasons and chilly cold calls are frozen connections. The main reason for data processing was not utilized, making certain delivery was attempted on eager qualified prospects. The can be overcome by exploring the world of target marketing where only prime prospects are aimed at. The second reason is that you might have had a live client fall asleep with you initial introduction. After that, nothing could resurrect the person enough except to pitch your message or slam down the phone. Your message must start with an explosive motivational message and continue the fireworks until you make sure your communication rates a response to being interested in talking more about insurance products.

So far, you have received only 10 compelling word phrases to double your responses rates with superior motivation driving insurance headlines. Here are another 10 to zoom your quest to be the best. These phrases are move heaven and earth, 101 ways to benefit - these 3 most, a free gift for replying, accomplish the impossible, a gold mine of information, adrenaline rush, act now for this bonus, all applicants approved, affordable alternative, and allstar lineup of products.

Why stop now? Here are another invaluable dozen to see results soar. These insurance headline phrases are: alleviate the pain, all aces, always a knockout, action-packed, an explosion is coming, announcing the newest edition, around the clock services, ask yourself this question, alternative strategies, amazing discovery, attractive investments, and at last it has arrived.

Hint: It takes me almost as long to write a headline and the first few lines of message communication as the remainder of the action resulting piece. Obtaining double response rates or higher makes it all worthwhile.

Equity-Indexed Annuity Sales - Seniors Retirement Savings Stability Burned, Any Steak Left?

2009-05-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Seniors Retirement Savings placed into an equity-indexed annuity was burned. Do financial representatives have enough steak and credibility left to alter an equity-indexed annuity into safer senior retirement savings? With stability absent, should a senior's shaky annuity foundation still be indexed on an equity basis or changed?

Equity-indexed annuity sales seemed like the perfect solution to insurance companies trying to gain ground on total assets maintained in relation to their competitors. Financial representatives are be paid highly rewarding commissions, while the insurers maintain a good profitability margin. Consumers, especially the wealthy and elderly were easy to convince hold fast their retirement savings could increase. Past performance history showed saving stability and better returns than other investment opportunities. Seniors took the bait, financial reps reeled in the cash, and insurance companies profited from the catch. However seniors were never explained the crushing economic effects of surrendering all or part of their EIA policy.

An EIA, equity-indexed annuity, is similar to a hybrid mixture of mixing together features from fixed annuities and variable annuities. A guaranteed interest rate is paid out by fixed annuities. This is a similar concept to bank certificates of deposits, which many seniors had their retirement savings stability banked on. However, fixed annuities could provide higher rates and add on attractive riders than plain CD's could not. Variable annuities use sub-accounts; similar to choosing mutual fund portfolios to invest in, where you invest in the stocks of many companies.

The advantage of the equity-indexed annuities is taking the best features of fixed and variable, and allowing you to accumulate retirement savings or receive a monthly income from the accumulated values. So not only is the participant receiving a minimum interest rate, but share in the stock market, which tends to gain in value. Now it became possible to without the associated risks, earn stock market returns. Until recently, some insurance companies proclaimed it almost sold itself.

The financial representative could earn up to 10% in commissions for finding someone to invest. Selling one of these annuities with a face amount of just $50,000 could result in $5,000 commissions. Before the economic downturn, over 120 billion dollars were invested in indexed annuities, many sold to seniors who are usually not the most suitable purchasers if they are seeking retirement savings stability. Combining the tremendous stock market plunge, with initial fees, and high surrender charges EIA, equity-indexed annuity products have badly burned the wealth and the seniors.

WHAT SHOULD THE FINANCIAL REPRESENTATIVE DO? If you talk to a senior that current has an EIA, ask them personally about their feelings. Would getting out of the EIA, despite the surrender charges imposed be a true solution? The potential client has true feelings about stability, and being asked again to take risks is not right. If the equity-indexed annuity was sold to them by an inexperienced insurance/financial representative, that person is probably already out of the business. A lifetime income annuity also recognized as an immediate annuity could be solution. A guaranteed income sure beats one based on an EIA chance. This chance taken, is sending too many semi-wealthy individuals struggling to now adjust to a middle-income lifestyle.

For the future of annuity salespeople who have experience, honesty, and trust building qualities this economic disaster should be viewed as a great opportunity for gaining clients and a strong reputation. For agent trainees of improperly titled financial pretenders both are losing clients they never should have pursued. These imposters are getting a permanent kick out the door. This is just treatment for them and the insurance company that hired them for taking advantage of so many seniors and transferring the wealth of many people's assets and retirement savings into a devastating nightmare.

Generating and Buying Health Insurance Leads

2009-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

If you work in the business of selling health insurance either as a broker or as an agent, you probably already know that getting quality health insurance leads is half the battle. A good lead coverts so much better into sales than a bad one, not to mention cold calling. Good leads are literally the backbone of the industry. Without good health insurance leads you will not convert a lot of calls into sales. Of course it would be great if you didn't need leads at all, but in reality people are not picking up the phone calling you without knowing you and if you don't have a big marketing budget to spend on relevant yellow pages or magazine ads, then you will lose out to the biggest brokers who get most of their customers this way. Offline lead generation is hard these days.

Purchasing health insurance leads is something to consider. If you have never purchased health insurance leads online, you may have some reservation about doing so. Do these leads actually convert? Are they fresh? How much do they cost? All good questions to ask yourself before buying leads from anyone. Online leads are cheaper to come by than offline leads, but what is the reason for this, and how do these companies generate them?

Companies that sell leads online are usually experts in a very important field: SEO or search engine optimization. That means they are experts in attracting traffic from internet users trough the main search engines, such as Yahoo, Google or MSN. What they do is that they have a large network of websites and ads that they have optimized over the years to attract only the visitor that actively go online to purchase insurance. They do this by tweaking the content and structure of their network until they get the visitors they want, that is: visitors that are looking to buy insurance.

When you become a client with one of these companies, you get access to their real time leads. The way it works is that you choose which leads you want based on age, geography and additional information and when a potential customer fills out a 'get quote form' somewhere on the web, you instantly get the information sent to you. In most cases that means your leads will be fresh as can be and you can actually make the call while the user is still browsing the internet. That is one very good method of getting in touch with "high buying temperature" clients.

There are other benefits as well to buying your health insurance leads online. You will get a lot of freedom in which leads you purchase. Maybe you have a very specific target group that you sell to. By getting your leads online, you usually have many choices on filtering which leads you want, so you only receive those that you know convert for you. You also have the option on simply testing out these leads as most companies do not require you to buy a membership to their sites.

Insurance Unit Mangers Training - Resist Insurance General Agency Manager Ethics

2009-05-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Insurance Unit Managers face a deep internal ethics battle. They can certainly give the insurance general agency manager results, although the methods oppose their personal ethics. See the explosive conflict of interest challenging insurance unit managers within an agency.

The insurance general agency manager exerts absolute control over the life and health agency operations. His focused concentration is on maximizing insurance production. His lieutenants, selected by him to help direct the agency force are titled insurance unit managers. An insurance unit manager has to deal with conflicting figures in his mind. You could say these figures are an angel and a devil, which constantly fight to get their point across. Managers have a duty to properly train insurance agents to write quality cases. On the other hand, their agency general manager is judging them little by training and constantly referring to the quantity of premiums written.

Many career insurance companies have a reward system for the best training manager helping the insurance general manager. This means the unit manager with his or her team of agents must show significant, steady, and exceptional production growth. In turn, the general manager might then push for a nice compensation incentive. This incentive would be activated by the insurance company taking his recommendation for his "best" unit manager to head up a new office. Both the agency manager and the unit manager get rewarded. Without doubt, this golden carrot is a gigantic ego and financial upgrade few insurance unit managers could resist trying to grab.

The training managers usually number two to four at most. However, their mindset is not all set on the same channel. Frequently one will come along with the drive to please the agency general manager no matter what it takes. From personally at one time being a unit manager, I can express from personal observation what some of those driving ambitious attempts to acquire new business often entailed. Personally, my ethics would not let me mimic these same procedures.

The purpose of managing a unit of agents was to train them to successful write insurance plans on their own. This required going along on appointments and keeping lips firmly tight when an agent started going astray.Later recommendations were made by the trainer on how a possible sale could have been made. On the other hand, the aggressive manager would either do the complete presentation his or her way, or jump in and take over when a problem occurred. Of course more sales were made using this method. Even though the agent received no actual training, the general manager loved the new insurance agency sales premiums.

On applications done with an agent, the unit manager also cosigned the application. A home office underwriter usually issues these policies with less inspection, as the training manager certainly should know what acceptable risks are. On many occasions, an applicant had a health condition on a medical policy application that needed further explanation or honest reporting. The aggressive manager would step in and tell the applicant that the particular question really did not matter. Therefore, a policy that would have been rated for higher premiums or rejected was issued quickly at standard rates.

Why would this aggressive manager care? The "writing agent" would probably be long gone before a claim for this condition was ever submitted. In turn, here were more premiums stacking up on a case that probably could not have been placed if the underwriter gave close scrutiny to the application. The agency general manager again was happy with even more premiums being collected.

When it became hard to come up with good leads, an aggressive manager could always do a life insurance review appointment with a client of the company. Having access to agency records, the manager could cherry pick a nice juicy policy. Then he would have a training rookie agent set up the appointment. There was already a tricky goal in mind for the training manager. REPLACEMENT was the goal. He told the client the company was discontinuing the current coverage. The plan he presented, with a slight increase in premiums was the new official policy. The policyholder was instructed not to renew the old policy when it became due.

The agency manager was informed incorrectly that the company client agreed to buy additional life insurance coverage. So chalk up on the board another successful sale for this team. The home office of the insurance company had no knowledge of the scheme to rewrite insurance where they would again have to pay out first year commissions. The agent was not about to squeal, this was well-needed cash. The perfect crime that the devil made the unit manager do was a major career booster.

Using a combo of these three devious activities, there was no way another training manager with any personal ethics could even come a close second. Doing the right thing certainly does not always make you appear the smartest or the most qualified.

In this case, the unit manager was recommended for promotion. Soon after, when the home office opened up a new agency office a few hundred miles away, he became the proud new agency general manager.

A couple years later, as an independent managing general agent, I was no longer with the company. Nonetheless, I received some interesting news. This big insurer was taking a new approach. Instead of expanding, many of the lesser established offices were being immediately eliminated. The office this once aggressive unit manager presided over was one of them.

Sometimes good ethics are not rewarded fast, but with time dividends are received.

Insurance Brokerage Marketing Sales Tip - Target Market the Absolutely Best Brokers

2009-05-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

Rarely is insurance brokerage marketing sales tips or advice given. Target market the best brokerage brokers only is a sales advice tip. Exposing how to use brokerage marketing for targeting these insurance brokers is detailed here. Not just tips, but the actually steps that insurance brokerage marketing firms must take to ensure targeting the best brokers in this market are properly followed.

About 1,000,000 health and life agents do not broker. Of the remainder, around 480,000 could be considered brokers. Too many insurance brokerage operations focus their sales marketing on any agent, as they do not investigate the few sources that can inform them who the brokers are. The rare firms that can do this sorting are titled insurance mailing list compilers. They have researched and individually put together a listing derived from a multitude of sources. The problems exists for you the marketer in wanting to target market exclusively the best brokers. Well you can, and you will see how.

In compiling the vast agent and broker data market information, a major concern goes far beyond normal. By normal, we refer to the multitude of sources that can provide you name, address, and some phone numbers on the combination of agents and brokers. These by themselves are initially cheap sources that will financially bite you when it comes to getting results. Look at the following information to see how this is costly and not wise.

Say you are a state, regional, or national insurance brokerage marketing firm looking to recruit the best brokers for your new annuity product. The normal list broker or list informs you that there are 28,500 agents and sales brokers in the target state. The researched list compiler determines there are 8,200 annuity brokers. Your budget will allow enough money to target only 4,000 to 5,000 brokers and of course, a smart sales tip would be that these are the best annuity brokers for your product.

Now you can target market the best brokers only.
If fact you will see how you have two different optional ways to do this. If your insurance list compiler has a long experienced background with records going back many years, this feat can be accomplished. The list compiler may know what companies this broker is appointed with. Along with this comes a skill in matching companies' appointments only when possible to an insurance company specializing in selling certain product like annuities. Additionally by scanning through the broker files it can be determined often how many carriers they represent selling a certain product.

Look at an insurance brokerage marketing sales project, like the one mentioned above. Of 8,200 annuity brokers, only 4,000 to 5,000 are wanted, and only the best of the best. Only an insurance list compiler with the proper programming and skills could manage this challenge honestly and efficiently. You will be given sales tips on requesting either of two options, both of which we will look at.

Option 1 - Company Representation

There may be say 10 hot annuity insurance competitors and you want to target market the brokers that are appointed with those carriers. Usually for ethical reasons, a minimum of five insurers are required. An internal program is then run selecting out only those people representing one of the 10 providers requested. Then it makes sure each agent name is only shown once, as it is possible to represent more than one company. Result = 4,023 annuity producers. Mission accomplished.

Option 2 - The Responders
Imagine if you were promoting a $19.99 TV product, and your target list was only of people who had bought a similar product at least three times. Envision how many more sales you would get targeting them, than by just mailing to the general public. Take this concept and now apply it to limited amount of the annuity brokers requested above. The insurance list compiler does a little internal magic. First, the annuity brokers in the state are separated from all the other broker and agent names. Next, a selection is done to only pick out those currently representing three or more annuity carriers. It is the same concept as the list of people deciding to purchase a similar product they bought three times before. Result = 4,985 best of the best annuity responders. Mission accomplished.

Final comments & sales tips
To insurance brokerage marketing sales, a list of top quality similar product producers should be compared to willing, ready, and able insurance leads for agents. If you want to be the best, work just with the best.

The Truth Behind Internet Leads

2009-05-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

I am going to get in trouble for writing this article. I hope you find this article informative and make a lot of money off the information contained in it.

There is not one lead company on the planet that generates their own leads. If you work for a lead company that claims to self generate leads feel free to challenge me on this statement.

Here is the business model for all lead companies. The first step is to put up a good looking website that looks official. The second step is to generate leads through affiliate marketers. Getting in touch with affiliate marketers is easy just do a search for affiliate marketing forums. Good affiliate and C.P.A marketers have hundreds of sites with forms for prospects to fill out. Lead companies pay affiliate marketers for each form that is filled out by a prospect. The lead companies pay the affiliate marketers on net thirty or net sixty terms. So the marketer is paid after the company is paid. So once the form on an affiliate's site is filled out by a prospect looking for a life insurance quote the form is sent to the lead company. After the lead company gets the information from the affiliate, the lead company sells the information to three different agencies for fifty or sixty dollars to each agency. At the end of the month the affiliate is paid ten to twenty dollars for each lead that was generated. The lead company pays 10 dollars for each lead the affiliate generated and sells that same lead for sixty dollars. The margins in the lead business are huge. A lot of the leads these companies generate are good at first. The only problem is after talking to three different agents the prospect gets burnt out. Go to any company's site that sells leads and click on the affiliate link. By clicking on the affiliate link you are pulling back the curtain and exposing the lead company on how they really generate leads.

So now that you know the truth on how internet leads are generated getting ripped off is not an option. Rather than spend thousands of dollars on a site to generate leads why not go straight to the source.

Just because one makes their living as a financial advisor does not mean that the business model for lead companies would not work for a financial services company. After reading this article I suggest visiting an affiliate marketing forum. Once you are on the forum simply visit the classified section and see if anyone is willing to generate leads for you. This is a much better position to be in, than going through a lead company. Most affiliate marketers will be willing to negotiate terms directly with an advisor.

As a financial advisor quality leads can change your life dramatically. Never forget why you got into this business in the first place. A steady flow of leads is the key to unlock all the doors that stand in the way of your dreams.

Direct Insurance Company, Marketing Department, Or Independents - Who's the Best Value For Brokers?

2009-05-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Brokers can write cases with a direct insurance company marketing department. An independent marketing department is also a viable brokerage source. The broker's best value with insurance company providers or independents is road mapped 10 directions in this report.

As a broker, you must prioritize your values in the direct order of the best reasons for using which services. The services when dealing with an insurance company marketing department are very different that those of insurance marketing independents in areas of significance. The topics of substance are in the following brokerage areas.

1. Leads There are very few insurance agency departments let alone brokerage operations, company or independent, that provide true leads to brokers. Be wary when free leads are mentioned, as these so-called leads are of suspects with a few buyer characteristics rather than leads with full buyer traits. The best value is always leads; you cannot waste time on suspects. Look for the marketing department to assist with a cost co-op, where costs are split, and you have control of the lead style, location, and qualification process. Remember however that in either this direct company or independent choice, that a substantial amount of your business will be required if leads are involved.

2. Commissions & Renewals Look not only at first year commissions, but also at renewals. Some products are being offered with virtually zero renewals or production requirements, while a few offer second year policy payouts closer to the rate of the first year commission rate. You have to be able to sell the policy though, as 100% of nothing is nothing.

3. Ratings & Brand Name Unless you are previously brainwashed, do not think your customer is getting the best value because of an insurance company rating or its brand name. Right now, it is more obvious, but there is always constantly rating department changes occurring on a dozen or more top tier companies. If the customer pays a reasonable, price and receives quality benefits that is their main concern. Top rated companies waste millions on promoting their brand name. Part of that expenditure is often acquired from higher premiums, lower commissions, or tougher claim payments.

4. Policy Portfolio Producing all your brokerage business with one direct insurance company marketing department might be a wise choice if the portfolio of products meet your needs. However most brokers find they need alternative policies even in the same product line. Therefore, you might want to use a combo of direct company and independent connections to put your personal lineup together.

5. Minimal Production This is where many brokers are burned further down the road. They never read the contract they are signing to produce business. Your contract of receiving first year and renewal commissions can be suddenly stopped by the company if minimum production is not produced. Always remember that companies are continuously selling off product lines, or discontinuing products. These actions can suck your money in the sewer.

6. Personal Service Both insurance marketing departments and independent marketers have a tradition of providing little or no service after you are contracted. Find out what they are willing to do for you, legwork wise, when you have a problem case held up. If they do not go to bat for you, do not let them make money off you any longer.

7. Product Knowledge Often you have an unusual situation demanding some answers you do not know. Sometimes the staff at the insurance company or independent brokerage firm is made up of underpaid rookies unqualified for their position. If you know more than they do, it is time to place your cases elsewhere.

8. Policy Benefits Make sure that the policies you offer have the benefits and riders that your clients demand. There is no reason to bluff or sell an inferior plan without their best needs in mind. There are too many great direct insurance providers and independent marketers that have a solution of value for you.

9. Comfort Zone Do not get caught in the trap of being thrown outside your comfort zone. Product selling concepts that a marketing department offers can make you a tremendous amount of money. However, many times the products are very difficult to sell and the clientele are hard to make appointments with. If you are stuck where you suddenly cannot comfortable sell prospects your income will plummet to minimum wage or less.

10. Plan "B" Always expect the unexpected. You can get notice by mail that effectively immediately your main company is no longer offering your meat and potatoes insurance plan. Have a plan "B" as an emergency backup plan. You might add an additional carrier or two that you provide a little business to right now. That way if the lights go out, you have immediate backup recovery.

In the insurance business, if you are a quality broker remember that there are more direct insurance marketing company departments and independent firms that need you than you need them. Their number one concern is making a profit off you. Be a little leery, but keep looking out for opportunities to provide a big plus to you. For the best value, look at these 10 points before you leap.

Increase Sales - How Prospecting Has Changed Forever

2009-05-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

There was a time when poor prospectors could eke out a living through a ton of sweat equity. That time has come and gone. If you don't know how to effectively prospect now you'll get forced out of the industry in short order... even if you're a veteran agent.

It's not your fault the rules have changed. It's not even the fault of the insurance giants, well not entirely, that the rules have changed. You can lay blame on the fear, outrage, and antagonism an unsettled economy ripe with bailouts and bankruptcies has produced.

You've heard the expression, "He doesn't suffer fools". Well your potential buyers are done suffering fools. They have zero tolerance for the poor slobs who mistakenly approach them about buying insurance.

It's amazing how the simple utterance of the word "insurance" can transform nice even tempered folks into spit flying maniacs. It's as though the sound of the word alone immediately indicates a no holds barred open bare fisted blow out. The emotion unleashed is shocking.

Or just the opposite happens. There's absolutely no emotion other than boredom and annoyance. You are "gotten rid of" in short order.

The real kick in the shorts is that people need insurance. They even have to have certain types of insurance by law. Yet there seems to be a disconnect, a short in the wiring or something, because your buyers have no perceived need and place almost no perceived value on insurance. That is, of course, unless they don't have it when they need it most.

I hate to tell you this, but... it's all your fault. Well, okay, it is and it isn't your fault. It is your fault because you simply don't know how to communicate with your best future buyers. It isn't your fault because neither does almost anyone else who happens to sell insurance.

It's a case of the blind leading the blind into the mouth of the snorting fire breathing dragon.

Plus people are ticked off quite frankly that the greedy insurance companies not only want their premiums they want tax payer dollars to throw lavish parties and pay out totally over-the-top bonuses. And no one seems to know just who is going to fail next. All previous safety nets seem to have disappeared.

So here's what you must never forget if you're ever going to get really good at prospecting. Your best potential clients have problems and challenges. Unbeknownst to them many of those problems and challenges are directly or indirectly solved through an insurance product. Yet insurance products in and of themselves don't provide solutions. You provide solutions.

Put simply effective prospecting is the result of solving problems and selling solutions. The key is in the way you communicate that information.

Captive Insurance Agents - How to Keep Clients in THIS Economy

2009-05-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Blood in the streets. Carnage. Everyone losing their home, job or business. That's about all we're hearing, right?

And let's face it - these are hard times to be an agent. Even the die-hard, happy-go-lucky optimists are probably questioning there insanity a bit.

How Should I Be Responding to The Current Economy?

First, we've got to be honest. These are some challenging times. The very best agents right now aren't pretending the storm clouds don't exist, but they are looking for silver linings, and they are planting crops.

They're asking themselves a smart question, and it's the very best question that you can be asking yourself right now.

Here's how I learned it: I was 20 years old, sitting in a huge arena listening to Zig Ziglar for the first time. The smell of burnt popcorn and cheap hotdogs filled the air, but I barely noticed it.

I'd heard people mention the WIN Principle before, but for the first time I actually got it. In case you haven't heard, W.I.N. stands for

What's Important Now?

And that's the question for you to be thinking about in your agency, especially with everything going on in the economy as a whole and at captive companies corporate offices.

As you know, it's more important now than ever to keep the clients you've got in place. And let's face it, the timing couldn't be worse for that.

Between rising premiums and the recession, even long-time clients are looking to save money, and unfortunately often the answer they come up with is in leaving your agency and going with an independent, or worse, some discounter. (I want to name a few disreputable ones right now, but I'll restrain myself...)

Here's the Big Truth About Retention

Some people are going to be leaving your agency. There's about 10% of the population that must always go with the lowest price option. If they have a choice between Campbell's® soup and generic brand, they have no choice. They must buy the generic to save the extra 5 cents a can.

Now it's ok to feel bad for these people, but we should not be choosing them as clients. (I learned this the hard way myself, trying to sell to people who couldn't have afforded to say yes no matter how good a sales job I did!)

But some of your clients who weren't in this situation are in this situation now because of the economy. So these people are likely going to leave your agency.

So What's a Smart Agent Doing to Keep Clients Now & Who Are They Focused on Keeping?

Focus Number One - work to keep your multi-policy clients. They spend more money with you and for every one of them that leaves your agency you lose at least two policies. So focus at least 85% of your retention effort on them.

Calls, emails, letters, postcards, whatever it takes to keep them. This is the last place in your agency now that you want to be lazy or cheap, even though revenue is down and agency expenses are rising.

Every dollar you spend to keep current clients will come back two to three fold in keeping your retention up. As you know, retention is an important part of your RFG score and Expected Results, and obviously it' a huge factor in your income because of renewals.

The Smartest Move You Can Make Now Is Getting an "Iron Cage" Put Around Your Current Clients

Obviously this sounds like a lot of work, and it is. The great news is that you can outsource your retention programs. You and your staff don't have to be the ones putting in the long hours and going above and beyond to keep clients extra happy so that the best ones stay even with rate hikes. Whether you decide to out source it or do it in house, putting systems in place to keep your very best clients is what's important now for your agency and for your family's financial security.

Financial & Insurance Trade Magazine Publication News - Broker World Magazine Charms Brokers

2009-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

The quantity of financial and insurance trade magazine publications increases yearly. Broker World Magazine remains the premier insurance news magazine for independent brokers. See why independent brokers are loyal to Broker World insurance magazine for leading content news in the insurance and financial industry trades.

Some trade magazines are devoted to members of a certain insurance or financial association, thereby biasing details presented to conform to association ideals. Other news journals are devoted to a certain segment of the insurance sales market, or promote sophisticated financial principles to both regular agents and independent brokers. Broker World is ideally designed for all brokers and mainly supported by the advertising of brokerage orientated insurance companies and independent marketing organizations.

To clarify matters, some trade words and meanings often become blurred. The fuzzy terms with distorted implications are "agents", "brokers", "advisers", and "news content."

AGENTS Typically, captive to one insurer, agent turnover is a major concern. Since only 7 out of 100 agents reach their fourth anniversary, some then become professional enough to broker. Therefore, the Broker World magazine phrase of ideas for life and health professionals holds true meaning.

BROKERS This is a licensed agent who at least occasionally places business outside of one main insurer. These producers who currently number 480,000 in the United States could be further divided into two groups. Semi-independent agents are representatives under contract with a main company, yet place cases with one or more other providers.

Independent brokers decide to represent often up to a dozen insurance companies, have their own office space, and rely 100% on their personal selling abilities. Insurance brokers like those subscribing to Broker World Magazine, average 7.6 years experience and commonly are contracted with four total insurance and financial companies.

ADVISORS Until the average industry experience level of 4.3 years is bypassed, not enough knowledge or selling skills are obtained to proclaim yourself a financial advisor or insurance expert. There is one association that labels newbie insurance agents trainees as financial advisors. This same association points its news information to promote captive career agent/advisors to stay strictly with one company. Yet their advertisers differently change the concept within the ad messages. The advertising entices agents to look at brokerage style offers extensively. No wonder why career agents that endure, prefer becoming brokers.

BROKER WORLD This monthly trade magazine supports the brokerage concept from the onset. Cathy Fritz, the associate editor, has ensured advertisers that their subscribers are mainly brokers. Whereas the association magazine, one of its competitors, has five times the news recipients and not many more brokers. Company and independent brokerage firms are often unknowingly hitting a small fraction of the intended broker audience.

NEWS CONTENT What is inside the guts of the competing magazines other than an overload of ads? All fail by catering too much to prominent company leaders as being information gurus. To be fair to Broker World, there is name and picture emphasis given to brokerage group members. Still missing from all is what the brokers really want. They want and need practical tips, tricks, hints, and new ideas, from slightly above average producers where income increases of 20% annually may occur.

Broker World gets my unsolicited nod as Financial & Insurance Trade News Magazine of the Year.

Trade Publications Are Your Ticket to the Million Dollar Round Table

2009-05-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

In this article I am going to discuss trade publications and how to benefit by building a relationship with them. All of the big producers focus on servicing a niche market so why don't you do the same? Trade journals are a excellent tool to take your competitions client's right out of their own back yard.
So forget about putting together another top 100 list, let's face it your father in-law is not going to buy insurance from you.

A hot market I want to go over is the electrician market. Electricians make a good living and they need insurance. Most electricians are smart so there going to understand the need for insurance and the math behind insurance products. Further more electricians are not going to waste your time. People in this demographic are going to be straight to the point. The need for life insurance in this market is obvious, the high voltage and high altitudes often associated with electrical work makes it one of the most dangerous jobs one can take on. It is essential that electrical workers take out a life insurance policy to protect their families in case of an accident. Most employers do not provide enough coverage to provide for the electricians family in the event that something were to happen. The best way to get your message to this group is through a trade journal called appropriately enough Electrical Contractor Magazine.

The magazine is provided as a service to members of the National Electrical Contractors Association. Electrical Contractor Magazine will accept articles on life insurance if the article is informative. Feel free to contact them. Remember a sales pitch on how big your company is not going to get you in. However due to the fact that a lot of the readers of this magazine are business owners an article on the tax advantages of funding their pension plan with life insurance would go over well. If you are able to write an informative article that educates the reader on the tax benefits of life insurance this can be an extremely effective use of your time. At the end of the article you can do a short bio on yourself along with a contact number this is all you need. The magazine has a distribution of 650,000. Sit back and do the math on that one.

There is no shortage of insurance agents. So it's a good idea to focus on a niche and to use trade journals to reach these niches. This puts you the agent in a position were your not doing what all of the other agents are doing. In order to make it in this business your phone should always be ringing with people requesting your services. Not the other way around.

In addition to electricians all professional trades have trade journals. These journals all have to produce content every month. Most agents do not use trade journals for marketing their services and there blowing it. Further more I would like to point out that this method does not involve paying to place an ad. So you are getting your message in front of 600,000 people by writing an article.

Today's action plan is after reading this article do a search for trade journals in a specific trade. Try to make the trade a high paying blue collar trade. I have found that people in blue collar professions tend to be more honest than white collar. When I say honest I am referring to the fact that blue collar people will not lead you on, if their not interested in what you have to say their going to let you know. After finding a few journals that are in your niche, contact the journals and see if they"re willing to publish your article. Remember all it takes is a client base of 100 to 200 and your days of cold calling and pestering relatives is long over. Leads are your business life blood. Never forget an agent with a large base can live a life that other people can only dream of.

Guaranteed Insurance Leads Marketing Tip Just Revealed For Direct Mail Prospecting Sales

2009-05-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a guaranteed insurance leads marketing tip just revealed. You set up a revolutionary direct mail prospecting method for sales increases. It involves connecting leads and marketing skills to combine to maximize results. See how this tested tip greatly increases your direct mail prospecting sales.

Did you think you have seen every profitable insurance lead and marketing tip? You have not seen this one. Now you create direct mail marketing and prospecting leads where every insurance prospect is a winner even if they do not buy. In addition, you can, obtain opt-in email addresses of willing prospects with little extra cost or time. That alone almost guarantees extra sales. Next to making an immediate sale, building an opt-in email list is the top guaranteed means of developing future willing and able prospects for you to sell.

Revealing my lead enhancing sales marketing tip is only valuable if you put it to use correctly. My tip is to legally make every prospect an easy winner. You offer them a gift pack, and in turn, prospects provide you leads or at least their email address.

The concept of being a winner cannot be overly emphasized. It is illegal to select, or determine beforehand certain winners of a gift. If every person responding wins, that is perfectly legal. That is one of the purposes of this tip, as you need to get as many immediate leads as possible. Along with this, you gain as many future opt-in email addresses for creating a product newsletter to build future sales. Statistics reveal that most consumers slowly develop trust through repetition. For many the trust pops through over a time process. Often this does not occur until the fifth or more email message is received.

For maximum benefit, I assume that you have obtained a highly targeted list of fairly qualified prospects worth heavily pursuing.

Here is how my marketing tip is exclusively unique. If you are mailing 5,000 prospects, above each address name put one of five different six numbers "prize codes". Therefore, there should be 5 different codes above each 1,000 names. This is simple for your mailing company to add these 5 codes for you.

Besides your product highlights, you mention that one of five will win one of the five prizes packages described. Important is the fact of stating "one in five" versus announcing everyone will be a winner. It sounds superior to have extremely great odds instead of merely having a prize guaranteed. Your offer must expire in 7 days.

Prospects can easily outsmart you into thinking this is a trick to get their valuable email address. It is not a trick, as a gift is provided without obligation. So you outsmart them with a free valuable prize package, making it irresistibly hard to be left out..

Tell your potential clients to go to a page on your website where 5 winning numbers will be revealed. Their number must match one of the codes printed over their name on the imprinted address label. Show them the titles of the four books in each of the five different winning packages. Remind the prospects they can receive the prize package obligation free by responding now. Recap how easy it is. All they have to do is call (or email), supply only their name, and email address. Do not ask for phone numbers if you already have them.

A hint to getting emails addresses is that the less information you ask the more people that will respond. You have already their physical address info, so there is no need to request it again.

Within one hour to 24 hours, of a response you can email their package of ebooks and they can use their abode reader to examine the contents. Gift Packs could be on positive thinking, saving money, cooking recipes, exercise, or a variety of subjects. If they do not desire the regular designation prize pack, let them choose their favorite. You can purchase a group of a twenty ebooks at a low one-time cost, and have distribution rights to give out as many copies as you want.

With your direct mail prospecting leads, I would suggest emailing the free four packs of gifts before talking about setting up an insurance appointment. This marketing approach almost guarantees trustworthy prospects will be thankful for your gifts and receptive to phone conversations. This leads to appointments. The abundance of winners of claiming free books should easily increase your marketing and lead response towards selling a higher amount of policies. Do not ever push hard to arrange a meeting.

Now explore your prospecting goldmine bonus. These are the worthwhile prospects hesitant to give an appointment right now. This is where opt-in email works directly with direct mail marketing to develop additional sales. If you have 190 of these not yet ready people, set them up to receive an email every 3 weeks. In your emailed newsletters, keep giving them product tidbits along with an easy setup to get another free book. After six of these newsletters are sent, call these 190 warmed up prospects. You show at least 10 to 20 prospects enjoying the news and free ebooks to give you an appointment. As a result, you could have 6 to 12 more sales as an added bonus to bump up your income.

This method builds up prospect trust, which is the drawback with most lead programs. You are now viewed as a provider and problem solver, instead of a pushy insurance sales person.

Everyone wins, except those too skeptical. You cannot get them all, nor do you need to. Often people shown they have a winning number for no obligation gifts will still not collect their prizes.

Say this fantastic prospecting leads tip increases initial response from 2% to 5%. You should consider having a great selling future ahead. In insurance prospecting a strike out rate of 99% is normal and 95% is astonishing. To be the best, this tip shows how you cannot follow normal prospecting procedures.

8 Magic Words That Dramatically Increase Your Insurance Sales

2009-05-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

The words that you use to communicate to your customers can have significant impact on your sales results. Choice of words may seal a deal or kill a sale. If you incorporate appropriate words in your sales presentation, your customers would be more willing to make a purchase decision.

Some magic words are just like spices that make your presentation taste better. Used effectively and with the right kind of customers, these words can help you get the results you want.

The following are some magic words that help increase the desire of your customers to make a purchase decision:

(1) Option

Some customers like to be in control. They want to have the upper hand so that they can decide how things should get dome. They want to have a say in many things. Let them have the options to decide what they want.

Example: "Of these 2 options, which one in your opinion can better support your plan?

(2) Best

People love to have best things in life. They associate the word "best" with quality. The word "best" is always perceived favorably and has tantalizing effects on customer when used in sales situation.

Example: "You want your children to get to best possible education so that they can one day be equally successful as you if not more successful than you."

(3) New

People get excited over latest fashion or new things. New things open they eyes. People like to equate the word "new" with improved features or functions of a certain product.

Example: "This product is brand new. It is also specially tailored for people of your social status."

(4) Smart

People feel good when being praised. They love compliment. Make them feel their decision is a well thought out one. The word "smart" helps reinforce their belief that they have taken the right action.

Example: Your kids will hug you and say "Mom, you are the best! That was one of the smartest decisions you have ever made for us. Thanks mom!"

(5) Popular

The majority of the customers out there are followers, they go for popular products. Generally, people are pretty comfortable with popular products. The fact that a product is popular goes to show that it has been endorsed by many people.

Example: "This is a very popular plan. Most of my customers sign up this plan without much hesitation because they like the flexibility of this plan."

(6) Love

Love has special meaning in our heart. The word "love" carries very high level of emotional intensity that can move people's heart. Many people act in the name of love. Love triggers action.

Example: "It is a gift of love that your family would treasure most."

(7) Saving

Price is one of the vital factors when making a purchase decision. The word "saving" makes customers feel that they are given a favorable treatment. Saving allows them to make a gain in the purchase.

Example: "It is always to your advantage to get this plan now as you will get 10 percent saving. On top of that, you also get yourself a petrol voucher."

(8) Guarantee

There is always a risk factor in making any purchase. Customers need assurance. It is important for them to be certain that they are not making mistakes before letting go of their hard earned money.

Example: "You can rest assured that your family will get x amount as stipulated and guaranteed in the contract if you are no longer around."

Words have power. Enrich the collection of magic words in your toolbox. Arm your sales presentation with these simple but yet power words. You will be in a better situation to influence your customers to make decisions in your favor.

Insurance Career Sales Training Results - I Crawled From the Grave Over Agent Bodies

2009-05-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Insurance career sales training results are a never-ending nightmare. My insurance career training results were no exception. An untrained insurance manager expects magical sales results from career insurance agent trainees. This relentless training pattern I observed again and again. I was dressing like a professional and working like a slave without freedom.

I actually had a dream vision of an entirely different training scenario that never materialized. Passing a state licensing examination should have given me credibility, instead of an overload of information that I would never put to use. Alternatively, my agency instructor would place all the burden of my career sales training results and fate on my ability to follow the company training procedures. Since my first company did not even have a trainer, any sales instruction were learned from the office head chief, the general agent.

My initial insurance skills education consisted of going out on an appointment as an observer with an old time, old time thinking agent. This was supposed to have prepared me for everything that was thrown at me. Next time I was on my own and sweating through my clothing. After a few months, I realized no matter how much I learned, I was going to burn. A dozen agents hired after me were long gone and I was headed for the missing body pit. It was my sales determination to keep going and sign up with a big name company that rescued me. I became financially more comfortable, but quickly learned that big company, small company I was just a pawn.

I never allowed myself to have water boarding applied or sell my soul to the company. Making sufficient sales for a new agent was a sink or swim situation with no lifeguard manager to rescue. Every week agents trainees I barely had a chance to acquaint myself with were leaving, while new hires kept appearing. The office entrance was like a revolving door of new agents walking in with thoughts of profitable careers on the entry side. On the way out was a succession of representatives leaving in higher debt than when starting out.

It took almost be thrown alive in a pit of hopeless agents bodies and roaming among the dying to startle myself awake. No insurance company personally cared about me. The office management was concerned about how my premium I could write. The insurance hierarchy had their prime interest on how much profit they could make. Deadly agent turnover is irrelevant, as agents do not have to worry about being fired. Putting groceries on the table and paying bills soon overwhelmed them to where the agent seeks life saving greener opportunities.

This is how I crawled from the grave. My results triggered a very financially rewarding insurance career. These are tips of insurance career sales training to keep your results above ground.

1. You have to read lots of positive thinking, self-confidence, and motivation books or Ebooks on a consistent basis. The odds are against you, so be constantly determined that you must keep them in your favor.

2. Spend what money you can into obtaining quality prospects. This money is an investment in you. Poor leads mean a 20% to 30% closing ratio. Quality leads result in closing ratios over 60%, automatically doubling your income.

3. Spend your time on presentations and developing business social networking. The internet group, LinkedIn can help you start make good connections for further business. Cold calling only provides freezer burns.

4. Become a specialist with selling a certain clientèle group like seniors, self-employed, construction workers, medical providers, etc. Choose a few main products and leave the other 50 product brochures in your trunk collecting dust.

5. Drop as quickly as possible the handcuffs of being manipulated by one insurance carrier. Professionals need more than just one selling tool. Going independent and getting say 30% more commission dollars on sales will increase your career income a minimum of 30%.

6. Increase your training of sales skills and strategies by reading a variety of insurance and other selling articles. Frequently you will find tips, hints, tricks, and ideas helpful in providing new career sales training results you can apply.

7. Think outside the box. You will not learn much following what the stars of insurance selling do. You must develop your own patterns and constantly adapt your prospect base or presentation to maximize your performance.

I crawled from the grave grounds of failing insurance agents perishing from false hopes. They thought the company was going to be their salvation. It took me a few years to reach millionaire status, and the journey was initially very rough. If you want to parallel a path to success, follow the seven steps above. You will see the results of sales training yourself in an insurance career as worth paying the price to obtain.

Insurance Social Networking Review - Use a Social Network As a Top Local Lead Source

2009-05-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

Review any publication on insurance social networking and they reveal lead sources that are not new. A social network can reroute a new local lead source. Start socializing, using time wisely, and networking properly to develop a source for top leads..

Insurance social networking, cold calling, and a consistent lead generation program are the three methods engaged by insurance sales women and men to find prospects to sell insurance. Right now, you should virtually eliminate cold calling. Lead generation and social networking are career proven methods. Nevertheless, the two ways need to be applied in the proper manner and proportion.

This review shows the various sources of social networking salespeople should look microscopically at. Otherwise, it is too easy to assume that building a social network only points to success. It might be wise to compare insurance social networking with getting referrals. Any agent that says the majority of their leads come from referrals made by a sale, must have either a very long nose, or below average sales. Referrals are a bonus for work previously done. In a different direction, social network prospects mature into lead sources, with sales as a bonus reward for efforts you are currently putting forth.

Clearly, there are some wrong concepts used in molding an insurance social network. You must impose quality conduct, time, and honesty. Some insurance men and women feel that building up a social network of 1,000 to 2,000 people is worth more than a closely network group of a hundred. Networking works on quality versus quantity. Most networks are easy to join and become accepted into, therefore choose wisely. Be aware that time refers to how much time you are willing to give back and help others. Do a self-analysis of why you want to join a group. Be honest to yourself about this. Are you joining only to extract insurance sales from contacts? If so, the other members will spot your intentions like a flashing caution light.

Remember that insurance social networking is not a source of quickly increasing sales. It takes time to develop this into a lead source. See each social network you belong to as a time investment in yourself. The time you invest should benefit both you and the group. Interacting with the members, advances the time for your sincere interest to be rewarded. Be careful to consider first if any new group is a close enough match. A community real estate group might be convenient, but unless you are selling homeowners insurance there is not much of a match. Look first at organizations of which you are already a member.

If you are a 10-year member of a local church, it has great potential because you personally know men and women there. Do not do something stupid like putting your business card in the collection plate or putting flier on all the cars in the parking lot. Think of planting roots that will blossom. These include interest in becoming a deacon or getting on a planning committee. Placing a small ad in your church directory, sponsoring a church team, or organizing a charity car wash are two worthy ways to get your name out. The more you volunteer, the more people will start associating your name with trust. Then you can watch the benefits begin. Nonetheless, never invest all your time in one only one social network.

Other common, yet valuable social networking groups include the local chamber of commerce and becoming a member of the welcome wagon. Start one, if one no longer exists. Join the neighborhood watch committee, a food bank, or an adopt-a-pet center. In fact, look for anywhere you can group together with other members to discuss issues. Try assisting people you otherwise would never have had a chance of meeting. Yet, unless your heart is entrenched into the ideals of the network groups, insurance networking will not mature into a lead source. It is not hard to turn insurance networking into an advantage. A strong commitment from you of determination and time to build contacts is required.