One of the biggest concepts of marketing insurance agents need to understand is testing. Testing different strategies, different offers, different audiences. I recently launched a Facebook community, The Profitable Insurance Agent Community, for insurance agents. After spending the last decade in the insurance business and a couple of years of discovering online marketing strategies that I applied to build a business online, I decided to combine two of my passions.
Starting out as a newbie all those years ago, I remember telling my agent friends if I can only figure out how to generate my own leads. Purchasing leads that I felt were overpriced to only have the lead tell me they didn’t send in the form or had already talked to an agent, certainly didn’t give me warm fuzzy feelings at all.
Now before you start to bash my appointment setting skills, yes I know how to overcome those objections and get the appointment. Here is the truth though, how many do you really close after forcing your way into an appointment?
I heard this saying years ago in the business and it has stuck with me. I believe it to my core… all “leads” suck and some just suck less. So where does that leave agents when it comes to the prospecting and lead generation game?
DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE TO LEAD GENERATION FOR INSURANCE AGENTS
In an ideal world, insurance agents would have people reaching out to them for help. That just makes me smile thinking about seeing comments and messages that people want to talk to me about my products.
How do you make that happen as agents? I have found four components to a successful process so you can build a solid brand that will have people raising their hands and asking for your help.
PROPER MINDSET FOR INSURANCE AGENTS
The first step of the process is mindset. I know you hear mindset, mindset often… let’s talk about what it takes when it comes to building a brand and generating your own leads.
You have to have a mindset of delayed gratification. Marketing is a long term game that you play. It is based on the concept of sowing and reaping. You will sow value and the reaping comes later. You continue to provide value to your audience to build your know, like and trust factor with them. I recently read a quote by John Maxwell, “Small disciplines repeated with consistency everyday lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.” That sums up the art of building a brand for lead generation. You have to show up consistently and sow those seeds to your audience.
The second mindset adjustment is the mindset of abundance. Realize there are millions of people online each day needing your products or services. Accepting the abundance in the world will allow for less focus on the outcome and more focus on the activity. Agents have to fall in love with the activity of the business and focus less on the result of the appointment. Knowing in your heart there are an abundance of people needing your products, makes those missed sales less painful.
The noise agents hear has to be silenced. Whether it is the internal noise of negative self talk or all the people from the sidelines, you have to become laser focused on the end zone. Focus so on where you are trying to go in your business and why you are showing up each day that you no longer pay attention to the people on the sidelines with noise.
DEFINE YOUR IDEAL CLIENT
Once you have the right mindset, it’s time to focus on who your audience is. Not having a clear idea of your ideal audience or customer, will land you with fewer leads and fewer clients. You have to understand your ideal clients not only on a surface level but on a deeper, emotional level. You want your messages to speak to them.
Agents can be so desperate to make sales they try to sell to everyone. When you try to sell to everyone, you may sell to no one. You have to understand your ideal client on such a level that they feel like you are in their heads. Your content and message is the thoughts that they are having.
Pick up my free ideal client worksheet to help you zone in on who your ideal client is.
I will advise against trying to skip defining your ideal client. Every part of business is created around knowing who your ideal client is based on who you want to work with and who has problems that your product will solve.
If you need help on understanding what your ideal client is thinking, you can do keyword research. This will allow you to see what your prospective clients are searching for on the internet.
There are several handy sites you can use to research common questions clients have. Take a look at:
- Yoast SEO
- Google AdWords Planner
- Yoast Suggest
- Answer the Public
- Keyword Surfer
PROFITABLE PRODUCTS
The third component in the MAPS blueprint is the product. What products do you have to offer your clients? I have been an independent agent my whole career, so I have always embraced the ideal of having a portfolio of products available. This puts you in a situation where you are able to serve the clients. You leave no hole unplugged, and it will lessen the chance of another agent attracting your client. If you can solve every problem your client has, then why do they need to contact another agent.
I always advise new agents to get their health, life & accident licenses at one time. As an agent you can create a package or an offer to serve your client. You want to leave your client satisfied they have their needs met. Satisfied customers lead to referrals.
CONVERSION PROCESS
The fourth and final component to the process is you have to have a conversion process. There has to be a process that takes a prospect from cold to close. What customer journey will lead them to become a customer?
Identifying the customer journey begins with how will you attract them to you?
- Paid ads
- Freebie opt-ins
- Content marketing
- Referrals
- Purchased leads
Once you have the person as a lead, how will you nurture them through the journey until they reach a buying decision. I believe 90% of people who opt-in as a lead have an interest in what you have to sell. It is the agent’s job to break down those beliefs that will lead them to see they truly need what we have. The benefits our products will bring to them.
Objections are nothing more than a limiting belief needing to be flipped to an empowering belief. When you reframe your thought process to realize every objection, you get is an opportunity to guide a client from a limited mind set to an empowered mind set, growth and profits will be exponential in your business.
CONCLUSION
In review, the main four components of any successful business begins with the proper mindset, defining their ideal client, having good products available, and a defined conversion process. If any of those four components are missing, it will be impossible to be successful in business.
If you would like help with growing your insurance business through developing a lead generation system or increasing your sales abilities, come join my free community, The Profitable Insurance Agent Community. In this community, we discuss weekly ways to grow your business to reach the goals you want for you and your family.
Look forward to meeting you and seeing you on the inside.
Go be profitable!