`Six Little Secrets` To `Unlimited` Lead Generation Success
Transcription
`Six Little Secrets` To `Unlimited` Lead Generation Success
‘Six Little Secrets’ To ‘Unlimited’ Lead Generation Success By Lew and Jeremy Nason "Developing the Next Generation of Sales Leaders for the Insurance and Financial Services Industry!" IPS Publishing Group Affiliated with the famous Insurance Pro Shop 150 Watson Drive, Dallas, GA 30132 - USA 877-297-4608 www.insuranceproshop.com This E-book may be distributed free by anyone, as long as it is not altered in anyway. It may not be SOLD, but can be included as a free bonus. Please advise the author should you use this E-book as a free item for your website visitor. Lew and Jeremy Nason’s Bios... Lew Nason, RTIA, LUTCF, RFC, with his son Jeremy Nason, RFC are the creators of the famous Insurance Pro Shop™ -“The first affordable, full service insurance marketing and sales resource center for today's Financial Pro, and Found Money Management™, a system dedicated to helping Middle Income Families to ‘Live Debt Free and Truly Wealthy!’ Lew is a college graduate in business, with 3 decades of experience in the financial services industry as an Account Representative, Business & Estate Planning Liaison, Branch Manager, Regional General Agent, Recruiter, Speaker, Trainer, Consultant, Coach and Mentor. As an Account Representative, Branch Manager, and RGA, he has qualified for numerous sales conventions and prestigious awards with Met Life, Jefferson Pilot Life, and Aviva Life and Annuity. He is a LUTCF Graduate in: Personal Insurance and Business Insurance, and a Met Life Insurance Graduate in: Personal Insurance Planning, Business Insurance Planning, Estate Conservation, and Wealth Accumulation Planning, Retirement Planning. Lew and Jeremy hold the Registered Financial Consultant (RFC) designation from the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants, Inc. Lew and Jeremy are regularly featured columnists in various industry publications, including The IARFC Register®, Producersweb, Financial Services Journal Online, Probe, and the 87year old Financial Services Advisor magazine. For three decades, Lew’s and Jeremy’s unique perspectives, on how to truly help clients, have enabled scores of agents and advisors to reach the top levels of their profession.. Legal Notice While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This publication is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice. The information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and/or local laws or regulations may apply to the user’s business. The reader or purchaser of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, both federal and state and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. The author assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional. Copyright © 2015, Insurance Pro Shop, All Rights Reserved 2 Introduction Dear Agents, Advisors and Planners, Would you like to double or triple your sales and your income, in the next 30 to 60 Days? Would you like to never worry again about having enough people to see... and be working 10 to 20 hours less each week? Then, learn the ‘Six Little Secrets’ that the ‘Super Producers’ in the financial services industry know, aren’t telling you and hope you’ll never find out... These ‘Six Little Secrets’ are about how to position yourself as the ‘Financial Specialist’, the ‘Ultimate Expert’ for the people in your local community. It’s learning how to keep your name in front of these people so that ‘year in and year out’ you will have a steady stream of the RIGHT ‘High Quality’, Qualified Prospects contacting you. These ‘Six Little Secrets’ will ‘supercharge’ your marketing and lead generation efforts. You’ll learn how to deliver YOUR special message, to the RIGHT people, at the RIGHT time. Your message will consistently be in front of the people who need, want and can truly benefit from the services you offer. Your message will consistently be in front of the ‘Right Prospects,’ so when they are ready to buy... you are the first one they think of and contact! Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind… Is A Deadly Mistake For Any Sales Professional! When you learn how to properly market your services to the people in your local area, you will eliminate cold calling completely and you will get as many qualified prospects as you want to call you. You’ll spend less time prospecting... You’ll spend less time traveling to see prospects... and prospects will come to you! The end result is... you‘ll spend more time making real money? Marketing is the life-long process of getting and keeping clients, in such a special way, that they’ll buy from you over and over again for years to come… and they’ll refer everyone they know to you. 3 You see, contrary to what you’ve been lead to believe... It really doesn’t matter how much you know about insurance and investment products! It doesn’t matter how many closing techniques you’ve mastered! It doesn’t matter how many designations you have after your name! Or, if you have the latest, hot, new sales idea! All of these things are useless, if you don’t have the marketing skills to get prospects to talk to you. On the other hand, when you learn these ‘Six Little Secrets’ to supercharge your marketing efforts, you’ll be able to get all the prospects you’ll ever need to call you, instead of you having to chase after them! Please, read these ‘Six Little Secrets’ over and over again. Imprint them on your brain. They are a key difference between being a top producer and having a career of mediocrity. Failure to understand the importance of and implement these ‘Six Little Secrets’ is why the majority of marketing and sales systems being offered today are only generating mediocre results for most agents, advisors and planners. Yours in success, Jeremy Nason, RFC, FMM A 9 Out Of 10 Guy... Consultant, Coach… You have the choice to be successful, or not to be successful. It's entirely up to you! You can sit back, do nothing and hope that things will change. Or, you can take action right now to make things change! What have you done in the last sixty days to increase your sales? Why not learn the marketing, prospecting, appointment setting and sales strategies that most of the leading agents, advisors and planners on the planet use? Jeremy & Lew Nason "A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed, you ain't got nothin'." Leo Burnett 4 ‘Secret #1’ Make Your Agency Stand Out From The Crowd Earl Nightingale once said; "Don't copy, create!" Be unique. Be original. If you want to attract more prospects to you, then the name of your agency, in just a few words, should tell people what you do, what you have to offer, and what makes you different from your competition. Think about all the company names that have become household words for a specific product sold by many other companies: Kleenex - for all facial tissues, Scotch Tape - for cellophane tape, White Out - for correction fluid, and Qtips - for cotton swabs. What products do you attach to names like Kellogg's, IBM, H&R Block, and McDonalds - cereal, computers, tax returns, and hamburgers! Make Your Agency Name Original You want your agency name to be memorable, and be on the tips of your clients and prospects tongues. When they think about insurance, investments, financial planning or anything to do with finances, you want them to think of you (Not The Company You Represent). Most insurance agents, financial advisors and financial planners tend to use agency names like John Smith and Associates or The Smith Insurance Agency. What does this tell clients and prospects about them and what they do? Are they memorable? Now, think about names such as ‘Mr. Long Term Care’, ‘The Found Money Manager’ and ‘The Retirement Doctor,’ is there any question as to what they do? Are these names memorable? Create Your Tag Line The second part to creating a memorable agency name is to add on a tagline. A tagline is a short statement, usually 5 words or less, that complements your name and says it all. Consider these taglines: ‘Squeezably Soft’ - Charmin, ‘Kills Bugs Dead’ - Raid, or ‘The Midas Touch’ - Midas. You can do this with any name… ‘Found Money Management’ “Helping People to Life Debt Free and Truly Wealthy” or ‘Retirement Resource Management’ - “Making Your Retirement Dreams A Reality”. How to Use Them It‘s not enough just to have a memorable name and tagline. You must use them. They must be on included on all your correspondence - faxes, email, stationery, newsletters, brochures, and business cards. Remember to look at every part of your business. Everything you do should include your memorable name and tagline. How do you answer your telephone - “John Smith Agency, John Smith speaking”? Instead, how about saying – “John Smith ‘The Insurance Doctor’ - Providing the cure for 5 your insurance ills.” Does your voicemail message say, "We are unable to take your call right now, please leave ..."? How about instead you make your message work for you. Let’s change it to something like… "You've reached John Smith, ‘The Financial Freedom Planner’. I’m currently showing homeowners how to pay off their mortgage 5 to 10 years early and save thousands of dollars in interest payments. If you wish to leave a message, or you would like to receive my free report ‘Six Steps to Financial Freedom’, please leave your name, address, and telephone number, after the tone. Thank you for your interest in ‘The Financial Freedom Planner!" The Financial Doctor - Your Source for Making What Matters in Life - Happen! "Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others." Orson Welles "If you can DREAM it, you can DO it!" Walt Disney 6 ‘Secret #2’ Create Your Unique Selling Proposition What do you tell people when they ask what you do for a living? If you tell them you are an insurance agent, financial advisor or financial planner what happens? Does it pique their interest? Or, do they walk (or run) the other way? Your Unique Selling Proposition or USP is that single, compelling ideal or benefit, that makes people want to do business with you, instead of your competition. To put it another way, your USP is that distinct and irresistibly appealing idea that sets you and your agency apart from every other competitor. Almost every successful business, not just insurance agencies, whether small or large, has a USP. In fact, that's how small businesses grow into giant corporations. For example, both Domino’s Pizza and Federal Express became billion-dollar corporations in a very short period of time… because of their powerful USPs. Federal Express' USP was, ‘When it absolutely and positively has to be there overnight.’ This statement tells the potential customers if they want to be 100% certain their mail will get delivered the next day, then they must use Federal Express. Domino’s USP was, ‘Hot, fresh pizza delivered within 30 minutes – guaranteed – or it’s free!’ Your USP, when formulated powerfully, can propel you to the top of the financial services industry in a very short period of time, just like what Federal Express and Domino’s USPs did for them. So, if you want to start improving your business, and quickly become the number one sought after finacial advisor in tou local community, then you need to invest whatever time necessary to create a compelling USP and implement it in your business, immediately! Remember, all of your prospects want to know what benefits they’ll gain from doing business with you. So, unless you can answer this question to their satisfaction, you have no chance of getting them to meet with you, let alone buy from you. The main reason the prospecting and marketing materials or systems currently used by most agents, advisors and planners are so ineffective is they don’t answer the prospects’ most important question… “What’s in it for me?” They don’t give their prospects a good reason for wanting to do business with that agency or agent. 7 Create Your USP Right Now… 1. Your USP must be one sentence. 2. Every person on your team needs to be able to articulate it easily. 3. Your USP is either Pain or Pleasure oriented. Since most people will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure, you might want to model your USP around the pain that your product or service removes. 4. Make sure your marketing theme, campaigns, and business plans evolve around your USP. Did you ever see a business who's marketing pushes had nothing to do with their USP, and it made it look like that company had a values conflict? 5. A mentor of mine, Hilton Johnson, gave us this formula for designing your USP: "Do you know how _____________________[state the pain or problem the prospect has]" "What I do is __________________________ [state the solution your product/service solves]" 6. Your USP should address a void in the marketplace, with a promise your firm can honestly fill. 7. The true test of whether you've designed a good USP or not, is if it sells for you in the marketplace. Does it define your edge and does the marketplace value it with their pocketbook? Don't say, "My name is John Smith, and I am an insurance agent specializing in retirement planning." Rather, say, "My name is John Smith of ‘Business Financial Planners’. I specialize in helping business owners save time, effort, and money by simplifying their retirement and benefits programs." Do you see the difference? "Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make." William Bernbach "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain 8 ‘Secret #3’ Separate Yourself From The Competition By Specializing The biggest mistake, most people in the financial services industry make, is thinking they need to tell everyone that they offer every insurance product, investment and/or financial service. They believe that by consistently telling prospects that they offer more products and/or services they will get more business. They try to be all things to all people. Nothing can be further from reality. The reality is that if you want more business, you must specialize. The biggest success stories over the years have been businesses that have had a very focused product line or service: H&R Block - income tax preparation; Federal Express - overnight delivery; Jiffy Lube - oil changes; and Block Buster - video rentals. If you want to generate more sales you must stand apart from the competition, you must associate yourself with a specific idea, concept or problem. Whether you are selling a product or a service, look for what is unique - what is specifically yours. An insurance agent working with just teachers, for retirement planning or income protection will make more sales than the typical insurance agent. Specialization casts an aura of superiority and exclusivity. When you deal with a specialist, you will automatically assume that this person has greater expertise, has greater knowledge about the field, and offers greater service since, by catering to a unique market, it implies that he or she will have a better understanding of your situation, needs, and concerns. Differentiation is the magic word. Agents who look like all the other agents are like all the other agents. This is how your customers think. Your task is to find distinctions that make a difference to your customers and to stress these in everything you do. Schick, the number two razor company, emphasizes a safe shave, an issue that's particularly important to teens. The appearance-conscious teens want to avoid nicks and skin bumps. While Gillette wins the close shave race, Schick goes after a niche where safety is an issue. Don’t Allow What You Sell To Become A Commodity Unfortunately, this has become a big problem for many insurance agents, financial advisors and planners. But it doesn’t have to be a problem for you, if you specialize and separate yourself from the competition. 9 According to a recent study, the insurance industry receives a "D" when it comes to customer satisfaction and barely earns a "C" on performance. This is the second year the industry has received low marks in "The Quality Scoreboard," published by the Risk and Insurance Management Society and the Quality Insurance Congress. That probably is no surprise to millions of "insured’s." Repeatedly, insurance salespeople make their products commodities when they say, "Insurance is bought only because it's a necessity." Our industry has allowed its products to be promoted as commodities that can be purchased off the shelf by engaging in an endless quoting frenzy. Our customers have learned how to play one insurance broker against another to drive the price down, without much concern for fundamental information issues such as product quality, exposures and coverage's. Again, it doesn’t have to be this way, and you can make a difference! The basic issue in sales, in the years ahead, has little or nothing to do with selling techniques. Today, the critical element in the sales process is information. What we know about customers, how well we understand them and how much we are committed to finding ways to give them the experience that satisfies their needs and want will make all the difference. Specialization is the key. "People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts." Robert Keith Leavitt “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Bill Cosby 10 ‘Secret #4’ Focus On Lead Generation Marketing Another huge mistake insurance sales people, advisors and planners often make is trying to sell themselves or their products directly, in every communication they produce. When meeting people for the first time, they blab on until the cows come home. When sending out information, they send packages that make shipping crates look like a joke! Is it any wonder people run the other way, when we tell them we are an insurance agent, financial advisor or planner! There is a better way. If you offer a specific product or service that caters to a specific target market, then you can find ways to make your prospects come to you, with a minimal effort on your part. This is called ‘Lead Generation Marketing.’ The best way to do this is to offer a freebie. Being in the information age, the “Free Educational Workshop” or "Free Report" are our favorites. The workshop or report doesn't have to be product or service-specific, industry-specific, or benefit-specific. As long as it targets an audience that logically fits within your demographics, you're ahead of the game. Let's say you're a financial planner. Your product involves services centered around mutual funds, stocks, and retirement savings plans. Rather than place an ad that directly markets your services, you could advertise using a small classified ad promoting a free course, seminar, or report on helping people to “Eliminate debt with no additional out of pocket expense and without sacrificing your current life style!” The idea is to have people come to you rather than you to them. Remember, the incentive you offer doesn't have to relate directly to what you do. As long as it logically appeals to the same target market, you're on your way. If you recall from an example I used earlier, you can turn your answering machine into a 24-hour salesperson for you. Your free offer should therefore, be included in the message people hear; they must be invited to act somehow. ("You've reached John Smith, ‘The Financial Freedom Planner’. I’m currently showing homeowners how to pay off their mortgage 5 to 10 years early and save thousands of dollars in interest payments. If you wish to leave a message, or you would like to receive my free report ‘Six Steps to Financial Freedom’, please leave your name, address, and telephone number, after the tone. Thank you for your interest in ‘The Financial Freedom Planner!") http://www.insuranceproshop.com/booklets/ In essence, look at lead generation marketing or advertising as a form of job search. People often send bulky résumés to potential employers in an attempt to sell themselves as much as possible, when very often their attempts get filed away - into file #13 that is! 11 Successful career consultants stress the importance of summarizing a résumé as much as possible, include one's past accomplishments and bottom-line results (not one's duties and responsibilities from previous jobs), and putting it all on one single page. Why? Because, simply put, the résumé is not meant to land a job, but to land an interview. Lead generation should be regarded in the same way. It must be small, contain a concise message, stress an immediate benefit, (Solve a problem) and cause the prospect to want to know more. And this can be applied in all markets and all types of products or services. What can you offer your prospects to arouse their curiosity and interest? What can you give away for free so to entice them to get more? If you're giving something away, something that's somehow tied to what you do, you'll realize that what you're really doing is not giving away free stuff, but generating better leads. Nevertheless, the cost of giving away free stuff can be far less than the cost of mass marketing! "Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make." William Bernbach "The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones." John Maynard Kynes 12 ‘Secret #5’ Deliver Your Message ‘To The Right People’ The following is probably the greatest secret in Marketing. Now that we've talked about lead generation marketing, the key to having a large quantity of pre-qualified prospects come forward and call you is to have your information noticed and read by a the ‘Right Group of People’ as much, as often, and as effectively as possible. General publications won't do that and they certainly cost a lot of money. Specialized publications, on the other hand, have the distinction of appealing to a specific audience and thus increase the chances of it being noticed as well as read. For example, if one newspaper has a readership of 100,000 but only 25,000 of this number fits into your demographics, where another has a readership of only 40,000, but all of which fits into your demographics, which one do you think will give you the greatest exposure and response? In other words, rather than fishing for small fish in the middle of the ocean, you'll be a catching big fish in a small pond. Think of the specialized publication as sonar that will help you to find the kind of fish you really want. Sending out your own monthly newsletter is also a powerful way to attract prospects. If you haven't yet started one, get on it. The idea is to have the people who read it want more information and come forward to get it. Or, you may want to buy advertising space in a newsletter written by another firm that caters to your target market. The possibilities here are endless. http://www.insuranceproshop.com/Newsletters.html With information being one the major shifts the business world has experienced, the information super-highway (the Internet) can help to make your presence known in a much better, much quicker, and much cheaper way. If you're not on the internet, you're losing out big time! But if you are, your site and e-mail addresses, which should appear in all your business literature, should be made available to everybody you come in contact with, even as part of your signature on any other form of correspondence. E-mail helps prospects to come forward in the privacy and convenience of their own homes or offices, and it also gives you a chance to respond to them immediately. It's truly a dynamic form of communication that, to this day, is still often overlooked. If you haven't already, create a Web Site. Many people think that this is expensive, and it can be, if you want to actually sell on it. However, if you create a web site strictly as 13 information-oriented resource identical to a book or newsletter, then it can be very affordable. Your homepage can be designed to advertise you, your company, and the products and services you offer. If you have a free report or newsletter you can provide access to it on your site. By having it available via the Internet, people can access your free information and print it themselves at home or at the office, without costing any money, time, or postage on your part. However, don't make your free report available directly on your homepage. You’ll want to collect the names and email addresses of the people who want the free information, so you can contact them later. Have a special section of your web site that includes your free report, but it is only available to people who have a password. Or, once they sign-up for the report you can send them a link so they can download it. Once they can read your report, they now have access to super-useful information and feel part of an elite group of educated members. In essence, it's all part of a lead generating system, and you know what "system" stands for, don't you? It stands for... "Save YourSelf Time, Effort, and Money!" "Marketing is not an event, but a process... It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely." Jay Conrad Levinson "The key to success is not through achievement, but through enthusiasm." Malcolm Forbes 14 ‘Secret #6’ Become A Celebrity Publicity is much different than advertising. There are many different ways to get publicity out there. But, the idea behind publicity is not to directly market yourself! Your goal through publicity is to get yourself known and be known as an expert in your field and local community. If you have narrowed your focus to a very specific, highly specialized field, publicity will come easy to you. The media loves to receive information from people who are uniquely qualified in their specialty. Do you write articles for your local newspaper? Do you send out press or news releases to all the local TV, newspaper, and radio stations in your area? Do you offer free educational workshops in conjunction with non-profit or not-forprofit organizations and during fundraisers? Do you offer yourself to speak at luncheons, clubs, and organizations such as the Rotary or Lions Club? Do you offer free services to charities or sponsor community projects? And the list goes on. These are all things you can do and get publicity for you and your services. I know of an insurance agent who decided to specialize in life insurance for newlyweds and newly established families. His company didn't require it, but he decided on his own to develop an expertise in this area. You'll often find him at bridal fairs, bridal shows, home shows, home-buyers seminars, home furnishing stores, banks and mortgagelending institutions, and so on. Now, for a typical insurance salesperson to do this kind of stuff may or may not be a waste of time. But, how much more effective will he be if he promotes himself at those special events or locations as an insurance agent, financial advisor or financial planner strictly catering to new couples and new families? Yup. Much more! Do you have your free report written by now? If so, then write a query letter to newspapers for an article you wish to contribute. A query letter is one in which you address the editor and propose a topic, on which you have an expertise, for an interesting article you would like to write. Make sure that the headline of your query grabs their attention and makes them want to read it. Make your article somehow related to your free report. Give them a brief outline of your article along with a summary of your free 15 report as a sort of "tickler." Don't forget to include in your query letter that you're not looking for any compensation (at least, not for now), but ask if you can add a by-line. A by-line is a small note at the end of your article stating who the author is and how he or she can be reached. Send the same query letter to as many newspapers as you can, especially specialized publications read by your target market. By the way, always ask for publishing rights, so that the paper doesn't prevent you from having your article published elsewhere. Now, write! Your article may contain some highlights of your free report. Your by-line may say something like, “Jeremy Nason of the Insurance Pro Shop” is an insurance marketing consultant specializing in helping agents develop their business. If you wish to learn more about the ideas written in this article, you can obtain a free copy of the complete report, ‘Six Little Secrets’ To ‘Unlimited’ Lead Generation Success! by calling toll free to (877) 297-4608 or e-mailing him at coach@insuranceproshop.com Work hard at being ubiquitous There is nothing worse than being somewhat visible or slightly visible. The truth is that low visibility is no visibility! Impact is everything. This is why major companies commit major resources to making certain they are quoted in the press and that news stories about them appear regularly. "Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can't." Morris Hite, Adman: Morris Hite's Methods for Winning the Ad Game, 1988 “Visibility is the power that triggers the mind to action. When the moment of need or desire arises, will customers think of you? This is the key question.” Not sure we can help, or if our services are right for you... Don't Wait... Call us Toll Free to schedule a No Obligation, Free 15 Minute Consultation with Lew or Jeremy. We guarantee you'll be glad you did! 877-297-4608 (M-F, 9AM-5PM, EST) www.insuranceproshop.com 16 Lew Nason presents the Insurance Pro Shop’s… Trusted Advisor Success Training! "Many of our industry super-achievers owe a large part of their success to Lew Nason." Mehdi Fakharzadeh, "The most successful living and active insurance sales agent in the United States." Leader's Magazine Insurance Pro Shop ® Helping Agents and Advisors create endless streams of new, repeat and referral business… www.InsuranceProShop.com Toll Free: 877-297-4608, Phone: 770-443-2852, Fax: 800-901-6837 Insurance Pro Shop, 150 Watson Drive, Dallas, GA, 30132 17