http://www.aiat.org/blog/View Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas's Website Blogen-uspostmaster@www.aiat.orgInsurance Website Builder - www.insurancewebsitebuilder.comurn:uuid:70f0aa1d-e767-4e90-b742-3a88df302694urn:uuid:8d5acf19-69fe-40a7-9908-49dab20e6f5b<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png' align='left' />Social networking is the wave of the future and is going to change the face of marketing as we know it&mdash;certainly you&rsquo;ve heard someone say this, but how do you know where the truth about the possibilities offered by social networking turns...Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:41:13 -0600<em>Social networking is the wave of the future and is going to change the face of marketing as we know it</em>&mdash;certainly you&rsquo;ve heard someone say this, but how do you know where the truth about the possibilities offered by social networking turns into exaggerated fiction? The truth is more likely that social networking won&rsquo;t replace traditional methods of marketing, but that it will have an important, perhaps even vital, place in the success of your future marketing efforts as well as the reach of your marketing campaign, since it allows you to build relationships with individuals that you otherwise wouldn&rsquo;t and allows you to get your message out to a very different set of prospects.<br /> <br /> One of the most popular and misunderstood forms of social networking currently available is a social networking platform called Twitter, a service that streams links, conversations and comments from people who are in your Twitter network. It's almost like a chat or instant messaging program, but allows you to chat with thousands of people at once with just a single message. Some call it micro-blogging because there is a 140 character limit, but it is actually more effective when used for 2-way conversations or as a link spreader. <br /> <br /> <strong>How Your Agency can benefit by Using Twitter<br /> <br /> </strong>If you&rsquo;re wondering how you can bring Twitter&rsquo;s cheap (actually, it&rsquo;s free), instant gratification into your office to benefit you, look no further. At its very core, Twitter acts as the perfect platform to develop and build relationships with insurance consumers in your area. How?<br /> <br /> <ol> <li>You can use many different third-party services and Twitter tools to find and follow potential clients in your area, find local conversations about insurance and to interact with the individuals having the conversations, thereby showing how accessible and knowledgeable you are. </li> <li>You can use this interaction as a means to promote your website or blog and to encourage even more questions and conversation. </li> <li>&nbsp;Twitter is also a great tool in niche marketing. Not only will the system itself introduce you to people who fit a certain demographic, but you can use third party applications to find individuals who fit the description of your target client. </li> </ol> Twitter has other practical business benefits too. You can find out what your competitors and clients are saying by following your competitors&rsquo; and clients&rsquo; Twitter accounts. Then, you can respond to complaints and even use Twitter to provide customer service. In addition, you can follow the Twitter accounts of industry leaders, insurers and even some state regulators to keep up on the ever-evolving insurance industry.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /> <strong>Tips for Using Twitter<br /> <br /> </strong>Twitter is a powerful tool for agency success, but it can also be the catalyst for agency destruction when used incorrectly. The most important step to starting out with Twitter is to watch how others are interacting. When in Rome, do as the Romans do; when on Twitter, do as other Twitter users do. Do not try to bend the system to work on your terms&mdash;you&rsquo;re already totally outnumbered. <br /> <br /> As you watch others interact on Twitter, you should notice some of the following points:<br /> <ol> <li>SPAM is not popular: Twitter users who do nothing but send out links or information about their company or service without actually interacting in conversations are not popular. Not only that, but they are not effective or influential. Twitter users are sophisticated and they don&rsquo;t respond to SPAM. It&rsquo;s not wrong to be upfront about the fact that you are there for business, but relationship building by interacting with actual members and conversing is vital to your success.&nbsp; </li> <li>Use link shorteners: Because you have a 140 character (not letter) limit on Twitter, you&rsquo;ll need to use a service like bit.ly to shorten your links when you send them out on Twitter. Another benefit is that many of these services track the number of people who click the link and you can use this data for additional market research.&nbsp; </li> <li>Create a profile and upload a picture: Going on Twitter anonymously is like standing on top of a building and shouting. No one can see you, no one knows what your point is, and everyone feels a little bit uncomfortable about it. Instead, upload a picture of yourself, your staff or even your agency logo. Include a web address and some information about your agency in the portfolio. If you need detailed instructions for creating your portfolio, visit Twitter support.&nbsp; </li> <li>Let people know where to find you: If you don&rsquo;t put a link to your Twitter profile on your blog or website, email signature or newsletter, then some people who might WANT to follow you will not. You must let the clients you have and the prospective clients you reach out to through other means know that they can find you there too. </li> </ol> <p>Twitter use doesn&rsquo;t constitute a full agency marketing plan, but it should be part of one. It doesn&rsquo;t grow your business overnight, but if you give it time and let it evolve organically, you&rsquo;ll get a real understanding of the value of this platform.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" style="margin: 5px; float: left;border: 0px solid;" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png" /><br /> <a href="http://www.insurancegeek.net" target="_blank"><strong>AnMarie Bozick, CIC</strong></a>&nbsp;is the Communications Director for <a href="http://insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corp</a>.&nbsp; She started her career in Florida working for a multi-line insurance agency.&nbsp; In the late 90s, she opened her own independent agencies in San Antonio.&nbsp; In the next ten years, she grew the agencies to four locations.&nbsp; AnMarie served as the President of AIAT from 2004 - 2006.&nbsp; She sold her agencies in 2006.&nbsp; </p>urn:uuid:ee46456d-aea8-4653-a7c6-a812ece6d582Whether you have acclimated or not, you are in the information-rich / information-now world.&nbsp; The problem is controlling the information to the relevancy of your life and not crashing your brain from the information overload. I admit, compared t...Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:07:53 -0500<p>Whether you have acclimated or not, you are in the information-rich / information-now world.&nbsp; The problem is controlling the information to the relevancy of your life and not crashing your brain from the information overload.</p> <p>I admit, compared to most 40 somethings I know, I am obsessed with getting information,sharing information, and learning as much as I can from the information.&nbsp; I've learned over time that I have to control the information I allow to reach my eyes, otherwise, I would never look up and I might go on the fritz. </p> <p>I select my controls based on topic. So, for BusinessTalk purposes, lets look at insurance.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <a href="http://businesstalk.typepad.com/businesstalk/2010/07/become-an-insurance-twit.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #eff2d5;">Read more ...</span></a></p>urn:uuid:f96a8519-41b8-4974-9bdb-125bd3ea0458&nbsp; The long awaited day is finally here - letters to vehicle owners identified as uninsured will begin June 14th. However, there is a problem. &nbsp; As many of you know, AIAT was in the forefront of the successful passage of SB1670 which resulte...Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:59:32 -0500&nbsp; <p>The long awaited day is finally here - letters to vehicle owners identified as uninsured will begin June 14th. However, there is a problem.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> As many of you know, AIAT was in the forefront of the successful passage of SB1670 which resulted in the implementation of TexasSure, the Uninsured Motorists&rsquo; Verification System. It was a long and very expensive battle, particularly against those insurance companies that would rather not deal with the type of clientele that has the tendency to allow their mandatory auto insurance to lapse. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> It was AIAT's position that increasing enforcement of the law would serve all citizens of this state in several areas, including but not limited to, reducing Medicare costs for low-income victims of uninsured drivers to increasing the general revenue for the state. After almost a decade of constant uphill battles, we finally got the bill passed in 2005.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> The next battle we faced was the implementation of the system. Again, those same insurance companies insisted the state rollout an unproven system that would place undue burden on small insurance companies. Their suggested interface system would also put DPS officers in harm&rsquo;s way because of the time required to receive a response on whether or not a vehicle was insured. It is imperative the time DPS officers must spend on the side of a road at a traffic stop be minimal. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Fortunately, due to the close relationship AIAT had developed with the Department of Insurance, Doug Hite, the IT manager from American Southwest Insurance Managers and I were asked to serve on the implementation committee headed by TDI.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> During our time on the committee, other battles arose, including our opponents proposition that Texas only identify drivers as uninsured AFTER they were pulled over or AFTER they were involved in an accident. We stood firm - in order to effectively decrease the number of uninsured drivers on our roads, we needed a system that would be Pro-active, not Re-active. We wanted the drivers that chose not to comply with the law to be notified PRIOR to causing injuries to fellow citizens and their property. We continued the battle over the next year and eventually the implementing agencies agreed and a vendor was hired that would implement the system AIAT had pushed for since day one.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> The Texas Department of Insurance contracted with HDI Solutions to implement a database system that would be accessible by law enforcement. In addition though, a Pro-active approach would be achieved by creating a letter campaign to those identified as uninsured. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Before any enforcement measures could be taken, insurance companies first had to submit policyholder data to the vendor, HDI. Essentially, HDI would determine who was not insured by matching a key field of those policies, the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), to the VIN numbers on vehicle registrations. With over 17 million registered vehicles in the state, this was an enormous task, but HDI used complicated and proprietary algorithms to match as many vehicles on policies to registrations as possible. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> To limit the possibility of a vehicle owner in compliance from being incorrectly tagged as uninsured, the Department of Insurance insisted the program would not begin until 99% of VIN numbers reported by insurance companies were successfully matched against registrations. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Texas was the first state in the nation to accomplish this task, therefore, in June of 2008, the Department announced the TexasSure system would be accessible in the vehicles of all DPS officers and volunteering city law enforcement by years&rsquo; end. The program was well received throughout the state and our journey to decreasing the number of uninsured drivers began.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> An additional attempt was made to increase the accuracy of the data.&nbsp; Earlier this year a letter campaign was mailed to vehicle owners whose reported VIN number could not be matched against a registration. AIAT received reports from some of our members their clients received letters, however, they were easily able to rectify the problem.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Then finally, after a decade and half, the email arrived. The Texas Department of Insurance announced effective June 14th, 2010, vehicle owners identified as uninsured would be notified the state was aware they were breaking the law. These letters would advise the vehicle owner they had 10 days to correct the problem.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> BUT &ndash; there was a problem. The letter went on to reference a website, <a href="http://www.HelpInsure.com">www.HelpInsure.com</a>, for these uninsured drivers to visit to &ldquo;explore many auto insurance options&rdquo;. This was the first I had heard of such a site. Perhaps I missed the memo? Looking into it further, I found that while I was enjoying some time off after selling my four agencies in 2006 apparently someone came to the conclusion that the insurance agents and companies that do business in our state were incompetent with their marketing efforts.&nbsp; Therefore, legislation was passed requiring the Department of Insurance to spend taxpayer dollars to create a website that would include a comparative rating system for auto and home insurance AND a service by which consumers could be REFERRED to agents/companies near them. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Unfortunately though, the communication efforts used to advise agents they needed to register to receive these referrals must have gone unnoticed by a majority of auto insurance agents in the state. When I conducted a search on this website to locate insurance agents willing to sell auto insurance, I found the following:<br /> <br /> </p> <div style="text-align: center;"> <table style="width: 80%; border-collapse: collapse; background: white;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="80%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; width: 1.75in; padding-right: 0in; background: #d1d8db; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">City</span></b> </p> </td> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; background: #d1d8db; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"># of Agents Displayed</span></b> </p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; width: 1.75in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Fort Worth</span></p> </td> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; width: 1.75in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">San Antonio</span></p> </td> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; width: 1.75in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Houston</span></p> </td> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">5</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; width: 1.75in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dallas</span></p> </td> <td style="padding-bottom: 0in; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;border: #f0f0f0;"> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">5</span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <p>To make matters worse, the comparative rating system provided did not ask a fraction of the questions needed to provide an even close-to-accurate quote. When visiting this site, the consumer is unable to enter crucial information such as:</p> <ul> <li>Any additional drivers, </li> <li>Specify the type of vehicle driven other than whether or not it was a car or truck </li> <li>Only one car could be quoted, </li> <li>Only liability coverage can be selected, </li> <li>The consumer selects what they feel reflects their credit rating,&nbsp; </li> <li>No field to indicate whether or not a current policy is in force,&nbsp; and so on. </li> </ul> <p ><br /> So, for kicks, I entered my information to get a quote.&nbsp; GEICO came up with a fantastic rate $267 a year!&nbsp; Unfortunately, when I called GEICO, advised them of the second driver (my husband with four at fault accidents) and my college-age daughter, and my other two vehicles, they quoted me $4,000 every six months.&nbsp; Just slightly different than the state's website indicated...(yes, I am being sarcastic).<br /> Have you ever misquoted a customer, say by thousands of dollars? How happy do you think they would be to do business with you after that?&nbsp; And how do you think they will react when the State of Texas told them it was cheaper than what you have quoted?<br /> &nbsp;<br /> I immediately contacted the Program Coordinator for the TexasSure program and expressed my concerns about this HelpInsure.com website. A copy of my letter can be accessed here.&nbsp; Let me stop here and go on record by saying I have worked with this person throughout most of this process and have the utmost respect for them. Never at any point in time did I doubt that they had the well-being of the citizens of this state first and foremost in their objectives during this entire process. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> With that said, in my letter to her, I requested reference to this website be removed from the uninsured letters. Unfortunately, the program coordinator for the TexasSure program has no say in what goes on over at the HelpSure department.&nbsp; The response I received was not what I had hoped for.&nbsp; The program coordinator stated that due to the printing process, changes to the letters cannot be made for four to six months. To do so would cost the state an enormous amount of money. But in the meantime, she will forward my letter to the appropriate department and they may get back to me.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Therefore, we are advising agents interested in writing auto insurance for the millions of drivers about to receive these letters to visit <a href="http://www.HelpInsure.com">www.HelpInsure.com</a> immediately and register to receive referrals from the Market Connection. Now, the good news is a maximum of 25,000 letters a week will be mailed to those identified as uninsured.&nbsp; At that rate, it will take quite sometime to get notices to all of the FOUR million uninsured drivers in this state.&nbsp; <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Instructions, provided by the Department of Insurance, to register for this referral site on HelpSure.com can be accessed by clicking here.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br /> There are several flaws in this Referral system titled "Market Connection". At this time, the Department acknowledges they are unable to register agencies, even licensed agencies. Only individual licensed agents can register for this referral service.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> In addition, nowhere on the site is an agent allowed to dictate what zip codes they write business in. When a zip code search is conducted by a website visitor, the results will ONLY include agents whose license is listed in that zip code. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> The Department of Insurance has advised AIAT when a consumer conducts a search by city instead of zip code though, all agents whose license lists that city will appear in the results. Doesn't do much good for those whose license address is listed at home or for those agents with multiple locations.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Also,&nbsp; it appears if a website visitor abbreviates a city, such as &ldquo;Ft Worth&rdquo; vs entering &ldquo;Fort Worth&rdquo;, no results will be provided, nor will an error be displayed. The consumer will most likely just assume there are no agents in Ft Worth that sell auto and/or home insurance.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> As a member of the Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas, you are afforded the collective representation of many professional agents throughout the state. When necessary, AIAT has hired attorneys and lobbyists to fight for the rights of our members and our members&rsquo; clients. AIAT won the battle against the Department of Insurance when they attempted to outlaw agency fees and as you can see above, we won the battle against those that could care less if our roads were filled with uninsured drivers.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> AIAT will continue this fight, but be aware, with the current economic conditions, our funds for political activities are minimal. These battles cost money. Government entities are not always as eager to change their ways as we would like them to be and sometimes we have to resort to legal counsel to defend our rights. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> I encourage you to send a contribution to the association. Be rest assured, other than our executive director &ndash; NO officer or volunteer of AIAT is paid for their service, nor are they reimbursed for their expenses. Everyone of our Board Members not only has been responsible for their own costs, they have also made individual financial contributions out of their own pocket to this association. They serve you completely out of the commitment they have to our industry, to our clients, and to independent agents. Every dime you donate will go directly towards representing your interests as an independent insurance agent. We are the ONLY Texas Insurance Agency Association that is able to state such.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Also, please encourage the companies you represent to take an interest in your association. For your bottom line helps their bottom line.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> On one last note, I would like to acknowledge Empower Insurance Group for their commitment and dedication to protecting the interests of the independent agent and this association. They have already been a tremendous resource for us with this current issue.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> I appreciate your time. We will keep you apprised of the situation as we hear of new developments. <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Sincerely,<br /> AnMarie Bozick, CIC<br /> Past President of AIAT</p>urn:uuid:56b229ec-8a80-456d-9db4-4d2457d1f93a<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png' align='left' />A blog, orginally called a "web log", is a chronological online journal.&nbsp; In a business setting, blogs are best used to&nbsp;provide valuable information to&nbsp;consumers on subjects relevant to the product being offered.&nbsp; For instance, an...Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:06:11 -0500<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" id="ctl00_body_tbl_content"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">A blog, orginally called a "web log", is a chronological online journal.&nbsp; In a business setting, blogs are best used to&nbsp;provide valuable information to&nbsp;consumers on subjects relevant to the product being offered.&nbsp; For instance, an auto insurance agent could use a blog to offer safety tips to drivers, what to do in the event of an accident, and so on.<br /> <br /> By providing information that is directly relevant to your agency's services and products, you are providing keywords to search engines that potential customers search for when shopping for your services.&nbsp; In addition, keeping fresh content on your website is one of the most effective ways to increase your page ranking with search engines.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"><strong>How to Start a Blog<br /> </strong>Blogs are another way to brand your agency.&nbsp; Therefore, to receive the most benefit from a blog, it should be integrated within your website.&nbsp; The blog should have the same domain name and the same look and feel as your current website.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> There are several blog products available.&nbsp; There are&nbsp;very elaborate blog software packages available, however, initially you may want to sign up for a free blog through a service such as&nbsp;</span><a href="//http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Word Press</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"> or </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Google</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">. While your abilities will be limited with a free blog service, they are a cost-effective way to get your feet wet.<br /> <br /> Our gold plan members that subscribe to our Insurance Website Builder package enjoy built-in blogging capabilities with enhanced features on their websites.&nbsp; Additional information can be found&nbsp;by visiting </span><a href="http://www.insurancewebsitebuilder.com"><span style="font-size: 13px;">www.insurancewebsitebuilder.com</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">. <br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"><strong>What to Blog About?<br /> </strong>The subjects available to an insurance agent are endless.&nbsp; Take a moment and think about all of the questions you are asked on a daily basis.<br /> <br /> </span> <ul> <li>Is anyone covered to drive my vehicle? </li> <li>Do I have a grace period? </li> <li>What can I do to lower my premium? </li> <li>Replacement Cost vs Actual Cash Value </li> <li>Does Homeowner's Insurance Cover Flood? </li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">You are answering these questions consistently.&nbsp; Now all that is required is to sit down and write out those answers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"><strong>Advertise Your Blog<br /> </strong>Let people know you have a blog.&nbsp; Tell your customers, your companies, casual contacts, etc.&nbsp; Advertising your blog can be as easy as including a link in your email signature, a note in letters sent to customers, or mentioning it in your on-hold message.&nbsp; Also, using social media venues, such as Facebook and Twitter,&nbsp;to advertise your blog and blog posts is a very effective way to increase traffic to your website.<br /> <br /> Initially creating a blog can appear to be an overwhelming and time consuming task, but it doesn't have to be.&nbsp; Share the responsibility among your staff.&nbsp; What better way is there to learn then to have to prepare to teach?&nbsp; Assign each&nbsp;staff member a topic and give them time to research the topic.&nbsp; There will be staff that are reluctant because they lack confidence in their writing abilities.&nbsp; Writing is perfected with practice and blogging is the perfect opportunity to practice those skills.<br /> <br /> Having an blog for your agency offers a list of benefits - increases your website traffic, develops loyalty and trust with customers and prospects, and expands your knowledge as you and your staff research&nbsp;topics.&nbsp; The time you invest on your blog will offer great returns.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" style="float: left;" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png" /> <p>AnMarie Bozick has over 20 years of Property and Casualty insurance experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;She began her insurance career in Florida working for a multiple line agency. In the late 90s, she&nbsp;opened two insurance&nbsp;agencies, specializing in personal lines insurance.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In 2004 -2006, she served as President of the Alliance of Insurance Agents of Texas (AIAT).&nbsp; </p> <p>She is the&nbsp;Communications Director for <a href="http://insurancetechnologiescorp.com/" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corporation </a>(ITC).&nbsp; ITC has been providing automation solutions to the insurance industry since 1983.</p> </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </span>urn:uuid:129b0a63-faf2-4016-99d2-928f9494c528SEO: The Layered Strategy Approach? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a very complex and difficult concept for agents to understand.&nbsp; However, it is important to realize that in spite of this fact, it should be considered as being a very ...Mon, 24 May 2010 08:33:18 -0500<p><b><a href="http://iwbseotips.blogspot.com/2010/05/seo-layered-strategy-approach.html">SEO: The Layered Strategy Approach?</a> </b></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a very complex and difficult concept for agents to understand.&nbsp; However, it is important to realize that in spite of this fact, it should be considered as being a very important aspect of an overall interactive marketing initiative.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Quite simply because your prospective clients trust the search engine service providers like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> As a busy agent you may not be aware of the unprecedented paradigm shift that has been occurring in your industry.&nbsp; This paradigm shift is the ever growing transition of traditional marketing expenditures moved over to interactive marketing expenditures.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> One dynamic of interactive marketing is SEO.&nbsp; A prudent surface level approach to SEO strategy needs to communicate the often complex dynamics in a way that provides clarity.&nbsp; One way to achieve this is by what I call the "Layered Approach".&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So how does the Layered Approach work?&nbsp; Well the approach is broken down into logical dynamics that when put together are very easy to understand.&nbsp; Here is the approach:<br /> <br /> <b>Layer #1</b>: Achieve maximum exposure.&nbsp; This means a goal of getting to the first page of the search engines.&nbsp; This is critical because if your listing is not on the first page you do not have the <i>very best </i>chance of being discovered.&nbsp; Research tells us that less than15% of searchers go past the 2nd page of results (source: Georgia Institute of Technology).&nbsp; Therefore, getting to the 1st page is imperative.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>Layer #2</b>: Make your listing stand out.&nbsp; Now once you have achieved that coveted 1st page ranking, what is it about your snippet or listing that is likely to compel someone to click on yours instead of another listing?&nbsp; The answer lies in just exactly how well your title tag and meta tag has been designed.&nbsp; If your listing does not have a "call to action" and/or some sort of "hook", it is less likely to be chosen. Take time to really think about what it is that you bring to the table in terms of a unique value proposition in your market.&nbsp; Be sure to make it clear and concise.&nbsp; You only get a limited amount of space in this listing so make sure you are achieving the highest level of efficiency possible. &nbsp;<br /> <br /> <b>Layer #3</b>:&nbsp; Provide an easy to acclimate environment.&nbsp; Now that your visitor has arrived, what is it that is going to make them stay a while and check out what you have to offer?&nbsp; This is difficult to control but there are some things you can do to raise your chances of keeping the visitor's attention and preventing a high bounce rate metric.&nbsp; Here are some questions to consider:</p> <ul style="list-style-type: disc;"> <li>Does your site offer a clear "call to action"? </li> <li>Is it professional? </li> <li>Is it easy to navigate? </li> <li>Does it provide "click efficiency" </li> <li>Does it effectively communicate your value proposition? </li> <li>Does it provide a logical navigation menu? </li> <li>Is the content practical and have the potential to satisfy your visitors "pain points" </li> <li>How fast do your pages load? </li> <li>Does it provide dynamic up to date content? </li> </ul> <p>The "Layered Approach" strategy enables you to be able to grasp the initiative in a way you can understand.&nbsp; If you are looking for just the right SEO marketing strategy for your agency, please feel free to call me for a FREE consultation.&nbsp; I can be reached at 1-800-383-3482 x-160.</p> <br /> About the Author:<br /> <br /> <img style="margin: 5px; float: left;" alt="Mark Goldsberry" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/Markspic.JPG" /> <p>Mark Goldsberry is the Search Engine Optimization Specialist for <a href="http://www.insurancetechnologiescorp.com/">Insurance Technologies Corporation</a>.&nbsp; Mark has over 20 years background in sales and marketing and specializes in internet marketing for insurance agencies. &nbsp;For more information about how your agency can increase its internet presence, contact Mark at (800) 383-3482 x160 or <a href="mailto:mgoldsberry@turborater.com">mgoldsberry@turborater.com</a>. &nbsp;</p> <br />urn:uuid:2b1bf40f-5ce1-4d3e-bfd5-8c3c8e26b1d1<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie.png' align='left' />With the passage of Senate Bill 14 in 2003, auto insurance companies were permitted to file their own auto policy forms, with the Insurance Commissioner&rsquo;s prior approval. This was a new concept for Texas auto agents and I must admit, when I had...Sat, 22 May 2010 12:05:15 -0500<p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">With the passage of Senate Bill 14 in 2003, auto insurance companies were permitted to file their own auto policy forms, with the Insurance Commissioner&rsquo;s prior approval. This was a new concept for Texas auto agents and I must admit, when I had my agency, I shuddered at the thought of&nbsp; learning different policy forms for each company, let alone, trying to pass that knowledge onto my employees. Having started my insurance career in Florida, a state that allows companies to file their own forms, this wasn&rsquo;t a new concept for me though. </span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Initially, I shied away from offering the new policy forms. I spent an enormous amount of time and money educating my employees on underwriting and procedural changes with the carriers we wrote, the last thing I wanted to do was to add more to my workload, let alone increase my exposure for errors and omissions claims. Yet, as time went on and I started seeing more and more new forms being approved by TDI, I realized this wasn&rsquo;t just a fad and I needed to take my head out of the sand. &nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">The next thing I could only hope for is that there was consistency in the policy language from company to company.&nbsp; I soon learned, I had&nbsp;no such luck.&nbsp;&nbsp; After reading over several of the new policy forms, I found the coverage from company to company (MGA to MGA) differed significantly.&nbsp; Even coverage from MGAs writing on the same County Mutual paper adopted different endorsements to the policy, therefore, even in that case I couldn&rsquo;t be assured there was a consistency between policies.&nbsp; What I did find though, was two common areas of coverage that insurance companies addressed. </span></p> <p><b><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Non-Owned Automobiles</span></b></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">The most common change I saw in several of the new forms was the restriction or exclusion of coverage for non-owned autos (newly aquired / replacement autos and&nbsp;rental cars).&nbsp; On the most part,&nbsp;the carriers I wrote for that filed their on auto policy, they reduced the days of coverage for physical damage from 30 days down to 10 or 14 days.&nbsp; However, I saw just a few of the carriers excluded coverage all together.&nbsp; Unless the vehicle was listed on the declarations page, physical damage coverage did not apply &ndash; period.&nbsp; Therefore, that meant if the insured purchased a new car on the weekend &ndash; he&rsquo;d better leave it parked at the dealership until the endorsement can be done.</span></p> <p><b><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Permissive Use Drivers</span></b></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">The next major deviation from the Texas Standard Auto Policy was how coverage applied to permissive- use drivers.&nbsp;&nbsp;In my days as a marketing representative, I heard many agents tell me &ldquo;limited policies&rdquo; just meant coverage didn&rsquo;t apply to any driver that was not specifically listed on the policy.&nbsp; Unfortunately, that is simply not the case.&nbsp; How coverage applies to permissive-use drivers differs quite extensively from one company to the next.&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">The Texas Standard Auto Policy covers all household residents, unless specifically excluded (thus the reason those pesky underwriters always want signed 515As).&nbsp; Coverage also extends to occasional drivers that have been given permission by the insured to drive the vehicle.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Unfortunately, any agent that has sold a few auto insurance policies in their time, quickly learns there are a large number of parents out there that conveniently forget they have driving-age teenagers living at home with keys to the car.&nbsp; There is also the spouse on occasion that has had one too many tickets, accidents, or DUIs that the insured swears will never drive the vehicle.&nbsp; Based on the Texas Standard Auto Policy, when the undisclosed driver takes the car out and wrecks it, the insurance company still has to pay, even though the insurance company&nbsp;was not permitted&nbsp;to collect the adequate premium needed to cover the risk.&nbsp;&nbsp; To address this common occurrence in an attempt to keep premium/loss costs under control, many Texas insurance companies filed language to curb their exposure to undisclosed drivers.&nbsp; However, how the coverage applies (or doesn&rsquo;t apply) to these permissive-use drivers is quite different from company to company.&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Companies that took the conservative approach essentially wrote their language to cover:</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Named Insured and drivers listed on the application;<br /> </span><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Occasional Non-Resident drivers; and<br /> </span><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Drivers listed on the application</span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Other examples of policy language&nbsp;include:</span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Example 1:</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Named Insured and drivers listed on the application;<br /> </span><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Permissive-use driver&nbsp;for up to 24 hours (consecutive or cumulative) and only minimum liability limits for those that drive the vehicle 24 hours or less<br /> </span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;"><br /> Example 2:</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Named Insured and drivers listed on the application<br /> </span><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Liability coverage extends to the&nbsp;Named Insured, Listed Household residents with no coverage for Unlicensed drivers or Unlisted household residents; and<br /> </span><span style="font-family: symbol; color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">&middot;<span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">Physical Damage - NO coverage for ANY driver that is not listed on policy</span></p> <p><span style="color: #292828; font-size: 10pt;">On a good note though, I soon realized with the significant differences in policy language, Texas auto insurance agents were now permitted to sell on more than just price.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To accomplish this, the communication between the company and the agent - and the agent and the consumer - must be&nbsp;clear and concise.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> With that said, do not be afraid to ask your marketing representative for a copy of their auto policy and all applicable endorsements.&nbsp; Read the language yourself, ask questions, and make sure you and your staff are fluent with the policy coverages you sell.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you are currently appointed with <a href="http://www.affirmativeinsurance.com/" target="_blank">Affirmative Insurance</a>, I highly recommend attending Keith Moon's (VP of Business Development for Affirmative) continuing education class "Auto Policies - What's the Difference?"&nbsp; Keith does a tremendous job outlining the coverage differences from several&nbsp;common&nbsp;carriers in Texas.<br /> <br /> Another common misconception among insurance agents&nbsp;only "non-standard" auto insurance companies customized their auto policy and limited coverage.&nbsp; I assure you, that is not the case.&nbsp; After SB14 was enacted, it didn't seem to take&nbsp;long for most Texas auto insurance companies to adopt new language.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> I know I would be naive if I thought every agent in Texas would always sell the best coverage for the best price, not just sell the best price regardless of the coverage. With different policy forms being filed though,&nbsp;customized auto policy forms present a&nbsp;great opportunity for the professionals in the Texas auto insurance&nbsp;industry to set themselves apart from the rest. A professional takes the time to familiarize themselves with the products they sell and educate the consumer on the options available.&nbsp; While these customized forms do take more time to learn, more time to explain, the benefits for the consumer in price savings and the company is reduced loss costs can outweigh the inconveniences.<br /> <br /> About the Author:<br /> <br /> <img alt="" style="margin: 5px; width: 100px; float: left; height: 140px;" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie.png" /> <p>AnMarie Bozick has over 20 years of Property and Casualty insurance experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;She began her insurance career in Florida working for a multiple line agency. In the late 90s, she&nbsp;opened two insurance&nbsp;agencies, specializing in personal lines insurance.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In 2004 -2006, she served as President of the Alliance of Insurance Agents of Texas (AIAT).&nbsp; </p> <p>She is the&nbsp;Communications Director for <a href="http://insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corporation </a>(ITC).&nbsp; ITC has been providing automation solutions to the insurance industry since 1983.</p> </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:uuid:30340a67-7025-44d1-bb48-b00f3ddb4af7<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/GoogleSnippet.jpg' align='left' />Ever wonder what exactly makes up the pieces of the search results you see at Google?&nbsp; Before that question can be answered, the process of how Google delivers results must be understood. There are three key processes in delivering search engine...Thu, 20 May 2010 09:29:03 -0500Ever wonder what exactly makes up the pieces of the search results you see at Google?&nbsp; Before that question can be answered, the process of how Google delivers results must be understood. There are three key processes in delivering search engine results. <br /> <br /> First, Google "crawls" the world wide web and accumulates information about websites and their content.&nbsp; The program Google uses to accomplish this task is referred to as Googelbot.&nbsp; Googlebot uses an algorithmic process to determine which sites to crawl, and how many pages to read from each site.&nbsp; Next Google compiles a massive index of all the words and locations of the sites it crawled.<br /> <br /> When a Google user enters a query, Google returns a result they feel is most relevant.&nbsp; The results that are displayed are referred to as Snippets.&nbsp; In general, Google reserves the right to display what they feel is best for their users.&nbsp; However, you have a great deal of control about what is displayed about your agency on Google.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" style="width: 600px; height: 141px;" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/GoogleSnippet.jpg" /><br /> <br /> There are three primary components that make up a Snippet. <br /> <br /> <strong>Title</strong> <br /> The first line of the Snippet is the title.&nbsp; The title displayed comes from the title of your webpage.&nbsp; We have found many websites where the designer will overlook this very important step when designing websites for their customers.&nbsp; WebPages not titled will appear in search results with the title as "Untitled" or "Home Page" which does not encourage the consumer to click and learn more.&nbsp; Whereas a title listing your agency name and a slogan or short concise description of what your agency offers would encourage the consumer.<br /> <br /> <strong>Description</strong> <br /> The description listed by Google typically comes from one of three places.<br /> <ul> <li>Open Directory - If for some reason, when Google attempts to "crawl" a site and they are unable to read it, Google will then sometimes rely on the Open Directory Project, which is listed at <a href="http://www.itcdataservices.com/processlink/itclink.asp?ITCURL=http://www.dmoz.org&amp;ITCSource=EM&amp;ITCOptional=Google1">www.dmoz.org</a>&nbsp; </li> <li>Within the Page - Sometimes, Google pulls the description from within the page.&nbsp; Google determines what part of the page it will use so the description gives some context as to what the page contains. </li> <li>Meta Description Tag - the most preferred method and where you have the most control of what description is displayed is the Meta Description Tag which is included in the code of your website.&nbsp; By including a Meta Description Tag, you have the ability to dictate what is displayed about your site </li> </ul> <br /> <strong>Descriptive URLs</strong> <br /> The last component displayed is the link to your website or the page on your website that meets the searchers' query.&nbsp; Providing a descriptive URL is another key aspect to converting a searcher.&nbsp; For instance, a URL such as www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/page.php?id=5134, doesn't tell the searcher they have landed in the right spot, whereas a URL such as http://www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/automobile/car_insurance_quote.aspx will.<br /> <br /> About the author:<br /> <br /> <img alt="" style="margin: 5px; width: 100px; float: left; height: 140px;" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie.png" />&nbsp;AnMarie Bozick, CIC<br /> Communications Director for <a href="http://www.insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corp</a>&nbsp;(ITC)<br /> <br /> &nbsp;<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/bozickanmarie" target="_blank"><strong>AnMarie Bozick</strong></a>&nbsp;has been in the insurance industry since 1993.&nbsp; She started her career in Florida working for a multi-line insurance agency.&nbsp; In the late 90s, she opened her own independent agencies in San Antonio.&nbsp; In the next ten years, she grew the agencies to four locations.&nbsp; AnMarie served as the President of AIAT from 2004 - 2006.&nbsp; In 2005,&nbsp;was asked by Texas Department of Insurance to serve on the SB1670 Workgroup that was charged with the implementation of the Uninsured Motorist Verification System passed by the 79th Legislature.&nbsp;&nbsp; In 2006, she decided to sell the agencies and pursue new avenues.&nbsp; After being an ITC customer for the decade she had her own agency, she&nbsp;landed her dream job at ITC as their Communications Director.<br /> <br /> <strong>Insurance Technologies Corp</strong> is a leading provider of automation solutions for the insurance industry.&nbsp;Their website solution, <a href="http://www.insurancewebsitebuilder.com" target="_blank">Insurance Website Builder</a>, provides insurance agents with interactive, professionally designed websites that have built-in search engine optmization features to promote ranking placement with&nbsp;search engines like Google and Yahoo. With no programming knowledge whatsoever, Insurance Website Builder gives insurance agents&nbsp;complete control over the content of their websites. Editing their websites is as easy as using any word processing program.&nbsp; The sites are professionally designed with&nbsp;artwork&nbsp;customized for each agency and include&nbsp;quote forms for any line of insurance increasing conversion rates tremendously.&nbsp;&nbsp;A sample Insurance Website Builder website can be seen at <a href="http://www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com">www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com</a>.&nbsp; <br />urn:uuid:1c5ec12d-8782-4915-b557-fbcf5b5ebf56ISO announced the filing of its new 2011 countrywide homeowners program On April 16, 2010, ISO announced the filing of its new 2011 countrywide homeowners program, along with the mobilehome supplement to the program. This long-awaited new program wi...Wed, 12 May 2010 15:30:30 -0500<h2>ISO announced the filing of its new 2011 countrywide homeowners program</h2> <div class="entry"> <p>On April 16, 2010, ISO announced the filing of its new 2011 countrywide homeowners program, along with the mobilehome supplement to the program. This long-awaited new program will be filed in all jurisdictions except Hawaii, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. A proposed effective date for the vast majority of jurisdictions is May 1, 2011.</p> <p>Some of the key changes in the 2011 program include the following.</p> <ul> <li>In response to caselaw, the definition of &ldquo;insured&rdquo; is amended. One court ruled that the phrase &ldquo;any person named above&rdquo; in the existing definition could have more than one interpretation and was thus ambiguous. This reference is thus deleted so that other resident persons under age 21, if they are in the care of <em>any</em> resident relative, are included within the &ldquo;insured&rdquo; definition. </li> <li>The deductible provision is clarified to explicitly state that it applies on a per-loss basis. It also stipulates that when two or more deductibles pertain to a loss, the highest deductible applies. A broadening of coverage is provided with this latter change. The provision is also relocated in the Section I conditions since it applies only to Section I losses. </li> <li>Personal property located in self-storage facilities are now explicitly referenced with an applicable sublimit of 10 percent of the personal property limit. Increasing this limit can be achieved via a new endorsement. </li> <li>Introduction of a $250 sublimit for antennas, tapes, wires, records, and other media that are in or upon a motor vehicle is a lessening of coverage. Conversely, a sublimit increase from $500 to $1,500 for property off the residence premises but used primarily for business purposes is a broadening provision. </li> <li>More clarity is provided to collapse coverage, in response to caselaw. One court said the existing provision provides coverage not only for a collapse loss, but also for the <em>risk of loss</em> involving a collapse. This provision could be interpreted as providing coverage for a building in danger of falling down. As a result, the language is firmed up to indicate that only an <em>abrupt</em> collapse resulting from specified named perils is covered. </li> <li>Related to the above collapse provision amendment, the phrase &ldquo;risk of&rdquo; is deleted from the &ldquo;perils insured against&rdquo; provision. The lead-in phrase now says &ldquo;We insure against direct physical loss &hellip;&rdquo; </li> <li>Loss from &ldquo;vermin&rdquo; is deleted since it lacks a scientific definition and can be interpreted in numerous ways. In addition, any loss arising from the nesting or infestation of any animals or the discharge of any waste products or secretions by such animals is explicitly excluded. The first change broadens coverage, and the second change reduces coverage. </li> <li>Theft coverage is broadened for an insured who is a student living away from home. Personal property coverage for the student while at the residence he or she occupies to attend school is expanded to apply as long as the student has been at the residence at any time during the 90 days (up from 60 days) immediately before the loss. </li> <li>An amendment to the earth movement exclusion is made to track for consistency purposes with the revised water exclusion. It reinforces the scope of the exclusion to apply whether caused by an act of nature or otherwise caused. </li> <li>The water exclusion is amended to incorporate the language contained in the mandatory water exclusion endorsements introduced in 2009. </li> </ul> <p>Liability coverage for motor vehicles used to service a residence is expanded so that a loss arising from a motor vehicle that is occasionally used to service any residence (e.g., a neighbor&rsquo;s yard) is covered.</p> <p>More &ndash; <a href="http://www.irmi.com" target="_blank">IRMI &ndash; Personal Lines Pilot </a></p> </div>urn:uuid:57a62ae0-aa47-4139-823b-1cdd7ab287a4Join&nbsp;All About Insurance and Infinity Insurance&nbsp;on May 13th to watch the talented students at West Hurst Elementary School perform. We expect attendance to peak at 500 students from junior kindergarten to grade 6. They will be playing songs...Wed, 12 May 2010 12:09:29 -0500<div class="description">Join&nbsp;<a href="http://www.allaboutins.com" target="_blank">All About Insurance</a> and Infinity Insurance&nbsp;on May 13th to watch the talented students at West Hurst Elementary School perform. We expect attendance to peak at 500 students from junior kindergarten to grade 6. They will be playing songs they wrote themselves and performing short skits to help raise money for the school.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;<a href="http://www.allaboutins.com" target="_blank">All About Insurance</a>&amp; Infinity Insurance are sponsoring this year's event. <br /> <br /> "We are very proud of the teachers, students and staff of the West Hurst Elementary to put this show together. We hope you can support "Performance in the Park" by bringing your families and friends this evening to enjoy some food and fun while supporting a great cause." says Christine Huddleston, owner of All About Insurance. All About Insurance and Infinity Car Insurance will be offering hot dogs, chips and soft drinks, to be sold for the benefit of the PTA of the event. <br /> <br /> For more information, visit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=174349569245#!/event.php?eid=126536684023366&amp;ref=mf" target="_blank">All About Insurance's Facebook page</a>.</div>urn:uuid:f1d59e17-627d-43bc-9aa5-cde69978fc89<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/MotenRalphAmericanSouthwestInsManagers.jpg' align='left' />Several years ago a golf pro attended one of my seminars. The topic was "MINOR DETAILS MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE". During the break he approached me, explained what he did for his livelihood, and said "I&rsquo;ve got an interesting statistic for you. I...Wed, 12 May 2010 08:50:05 -0500<p>Several years ago a golf pro attended one of my seminars. The topic was "MINOR DETAILS MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE". During the break he approached me, explained what he did for his livelihood, and said "I&rsquo;ve got an interesting statistic for you. If you consider ALL of the players that participate in the P.G.A. (those that have earned their P.G.A. card), and then tabulate their annual scores, there is only 3% difference between the rich and famous and those that we&rsquo;ve never heard of". <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Think about that &middot; &middot; &middot; three percent difference between Tiger Woods and the guy who didn&rsquo;t make the cut. The difference in earnings, however, could be MONUMENTAL! In horse racing the outcome is often determined by a photograph &middot; &middot; &middot; A "Photo-Finish". Yet sometimes the horse that wins first, wins ten times the amount of the horse that placed second. Is the winning horse ten times faster &middot; &middot; &middot; Ten times better bred &middot; &middot; &middot; Ten times better trained? NO! It&rsquo;s just better by a nose &middot; &middot; &middot; a little bitty bit. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Our organization deals with hundred of agents daily. We see this very same exact phenomenon manifested on a regular basis. My intention in this article is to expose you to a number of proven, tested models and strategies that could possibly contribute to building your agency. If they appeal to you, use them. If you find them lacking, contrary to your style, too complicated, too difficult, or too labor intensive, disregard them entirely. How you run your business is &middot; &middot; &middot; YOUR BUSINESS! <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Now, if you&rsquo;re still reading this, there is a possibility that you&rsquo;re at least curious about the three "P&rsquo;s" in the title. They are &middot; &middot; &middot; PRODUCT &middot; &middot; &middot; PEOPLE &middot; &middot; &middot; PROCESS. Each of these is foundational to the function of an agency, or any business for that matter. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>We could begin by arguing about priority, sequence or importance but instead let&rsquo;s attempt to agree that all three of these components are necessary ingredients for our agency building formula. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>First we need to determine the "Fifth Point" on our map. The compass gives us the four primary points &middot; &middot; &middot; North, East, South and West, but before we can embark upon our journey we need to determine the "Fifth Point" &middot; &middot; &middot; Where we are NOW! It is as difficult to get to someplace you haven&rsquo;t planned to go as it is to come back from someplace you "Ain&rsquo;t Never Been". (Pardon the dangling preposition and other grammatical flaws but it just don&rsquo;t read right without&rsquo;em) </p> <p>The point however, is painfully true. Unless we have an accurate assessment of our current position and status how can we begin to move towards improvement? Someone once said, "If you can&rsquo;t measure it, you can&rsquo;t manage it." </p> <p>Once again we find ourselves constrained by the lack of space afforded us by a written format, but I think I can provide enough of a shove in the right direction so that you can establish your own momentum. I feel compelled to warn you that there is a modicum amount of tedium attached to this task. You&rsquo;ll actually have to sit down, get pen and paper and make a few lists. Occasionally you&rsquo;ll need to consult your files. In short this procedure requires some judicial self-analysis. Therefore it will involve some time and a small amount of simple mathematical calculation. </p> <p>Let&rsquo;s take it from the top: </p> <p>PRODUCT &ndash; From a basic marketing standpoint the companies with which you contract represent your inventory. Let&rsquo;s consider a clothing store for a metaphorical comparison. The store owner has categories that are based upon the requirements of the consumer; dress apparel, business, casual, sportswear, ad infinitum. He then must consider size ranges, such as how many smalls, mediums, larges, extra larges, etc. so he can maximize his potential sales opportunities. </p> <p>An agent faces a similar challenge. While many of our agents are "Auto Only" in terms of category, others offer homeowners, motor cycles, life and health and other types of coverages. Since our focus is Auto Insurance I&rsquo;ll limit my comments to that portion of an agents "Inventory". Our company, American Southwest Insurance Managers, has specifically tailored our product mix to correspond with what we see as four distinct echelons in the Texas marketplace. </p> <p>A recent calculation of our in-force policy count determined that less than four percent (.0385) of our business emanates from our "Monthly" product. At the opposite end of the spectrum over fifty percent of our book was found in the renewals that evolved from our entry-level programs into the safe haven of our "Preferred" program. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>The reason I mentioned this is to emphasize the significance of MEASUREMENT in order to establish balance. An obvious question would be, "Why bother with a program that only equates to 4% of your book?" Good question. The answer is that our most recent survey indicated that 57% of our agents (that&rsquo;s you) wanted us to maintain the monthly program. When we asked "Why?" we were told that if a customer mentioned "tags" or "inspection sticker" in their conversation they could possibly have short term intentions. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>We then learned that these agents monitored this portion of their book and if the policyholder made their 2nd or 3rd payment, the agent moved them to a six-month policy. Although this program is not a big premium factor for us, to 57% of our agents it is an important service consideration. It&rsquo;s win, win, win.<br /> <br /> </p> <p>If you, as an agent, sign up with any company that walks through your front door and then always write the lowest rate, you accomplish three things simultaneously. First you spread yourself so thin you automatically become UNIMPORTANT to everyone. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Secondly you lose the opportunity to establish a bond that relates to the service level you need to function efficiently. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Poor service at the company level is a hidden cost factor. Bad service loses business at the policyholder level and takes valuable time from your sales effort. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Finally, an over abundance of contracts inadvertently results in a higher percentage of underwriting errors, uprates and cancellations. Your staff faces the unrealistic challenge of being well versed with an inordinate number of underwriting guidelines. Consequently, your error rate increases. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>OK! So what is the optimum number of contracts? That takes us back to "Measurement" and "Balance". Here&rsquo;s where the work comes in. Pull a sampling of files, (you pick the number, but AT LEAST one month&rsquo;s average production is needed to accurately define your policy profiles) look at your variables; age, sex, marital status, liability only, etc. and then determine who writes what. Make note of the companies that appear most often. Consider their service level. Evaluate the relationship factor. Some of our agents operate quite well with four companies, others require fifteen. Only you can determine the current number for your agency. I&rsquo;m simply suggesting that you invest the time to investigate instead of operating on guesswork. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>The second "P" is for "PEOPLE." Here we encounter a paradox &middot; &middot; &middot; How to OBJECTIVELY evaluate SUBJECTIVE skills and talents. We&rsquo;re going to dispense with the most obvious basics such as personal hygiene, dress code, work ethic, attendance, punctuality, etc. For the purpose of this article I&rsquo;m going to assume your people know how to bathe and can find their way to your office. Since we&rsquo;re focusing on "Agency Building" let&rsquo;s spend our time with two issues, training and compensation. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Recruiting and selection, of course, precede the training sequence. Although we&rsquo;re limited as to space and therefore can&rsquo;t elaborate on the hiring process I do want to emphasize the importance of this initial step as it relates to the "People" factor in our "Three P&rsquo;s" formula. <br /> <br /> </p> <p>Many of the individuals I encounter in agent&rsquo;s offices appear to have been hired by utilizing the "Mirror Method" of recruiting.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> If you&rsquo;re unfamiliar with this discipline it involves placing a small mirror under the applicant&rsquo;s nostrils. If the mirror then fogs up . . . the person is hired. A bare bones standard might be "If you wouldn&rsquo;t buy something from this person, don&rsquo;t hire them." <br /> The "AXIOM" that headlines this article is almost impossible to argue with. Is there an exception? Yes. The exception is if you recently inherited a staff or the people have less than 90 days of "real life" insurance experience you are then in a temporary "Safe Zone." After that they "represent what you have taught them or allowed them to become." <br /> <br /> My personal experience has been that office personnel in the majority of agencies I visit are expected to perform multi-functional job duties. They often answer incoming calls, process policies, file, underwrite at the point-of-sale, sell, do internal administrative work plus deliver customer service. Yet the only training they receive is of the "On the job" variety. "On the job" training is better defined as "When you encounter something you haven&rsquo;t done before I&rsquo;ll stop what I&rsquo;m doing and show you how to do it" training. Professionals in the training industry can verify that this is one of the least effective and ultimately most expensive training approaches. <br /> <br /> If you really want to build a professional staff that has the potential for longevity and loyalty, take the time to structure, implement and monitor their training. You can accomplish this by determining training priorities, preparing procedural information, explaining why each element is important, showing them HOW to do these things, observe them doing them, and finally supervising their progress. <br /> <br /> Before we leave the "PEOPLE" portion of this article allow me to address one remaining provocative issue &middot; &middot; &middot; compensation. As I said earlier "How you run your business, is YOUR BUSINESS." I also said I would "&middot; &middot; &middot; expose you to a number of proven, tested models and strategies" I recently visited with an agent that was concerned about cancellations and renewals. A portion of our conversation logically explored how his people were paid. They were paid on an hourly basis with incentives attached to new business and fees. <br /> <br /> Not surprisingly, if a policyholder came in to make a payment a little late, instead of taking advantage of the E-Z start or Re-instatement options many companies offer, the C.S.R. would re-write them, often with a different company. <br /> <br /> Of course the new down payment and an additional fee resulted in more cash outlay than their upcoming monthly payment. Consequently customers were often lost due to this additional expense. <br /> <br /> Why would the C.S.R. take this approach? To quote Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, when he was asked "Why do you rob banks?" his reply was "Cause that&rsquo;s where the money is." That&rsquo;s why the C.S.R. re-wrote them.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> <strong>If you want your staff to show up at 9:01 A.M. and leave at 5:59 P.M. pay them hourly. <br /> <br /> </strong>Now don&rsquo;t read too much into this example. I&rsquo;m not recommending any particular pay basis. I&rsquo;m simply attempting to illustrate a point.<strong> <br /> <br /> </strong>Professor LeBouff of Tulane University authored a book entitled "The Greatest Management Principal." Training professionals who are proponents of this theory refer to it as "G-M-P". To summarize the entire book into one sentence it translates into "Reward the behavior you want repeated." If you want your staff to show up at 9:01 A.M. and leave at 5:59 P.M. pay them hourly. <br /> <br /> If you want active, focused behavior that will assist in building your agency&rsquo;s business, develop a compensation plan that encourages their contribution. <br /> <br /> Pay them for their productivity. I&rsquo;ve done numerous "Sales Sessions" for agents that have such pay plans in place and also for agents that compensate solely on an hourly or salary basis. <br /> <br /> Guess which group has the highest attention level. The incentive oriented group views the training as "an opportunity for growth." The other group thinks of it as "a meeting." <br /> <br /> The remaining "P" represents "PROCESS." Admittedly this is a very broad category. As it relates to "Agency Building" it encompasses not only the "PRODUCT" and "PEOPLE" components, it also involves procedural aspects, structure, scheduling, training, discipline, work assignments, human resourcing, advertising, promotion, customer service, public relations, management and a number of other considerations. <br /> <br /> On one end of this spectrum you have the overly structured "Standard Operating Procedure" mentality where everything is required to be "by the book." General George C. Patton is quoted as saying, "It&rsquo;s OK to fight a war by the book, as long as the S. O. B. that wrote the book has been in the war!" <br /> <br /> On the opposite end of this same spectrum you encounter the totally unorganized, "fly by the seat of your pants", or, "management by crisis" approach. Somewhere between these two extremes lies a realistic compromise that provides enough structure for efficiency and offers an appropriate amount of flexibility for effectiveness. The obvious challenge is determining where you are on this scale and then isolating areas for improvement so you can then begin developing systems and processes that will result in our aforementioned purpose &middot; &middot; &middot; "Agency Building." This take us back to "The Fifth Point on the Map", where we are now! &middot; &middot; &middot; judicial self-analysis. <br /> <br /> "OK" you&rsquo;re probably asking, "Where do I start? You start with pen and paper. Let&rsquo;s revisit the "P&rsquo;s". <br /> <br /> &middot;<strong> &middot; &middot; PRODUCT &middot; &middot; &middot;</strong> </p> <ul> <li>List your contracts </li> <li>Calculate your premium percentages <ul> <li>Company A - 40% </li> <li> <p style="text-align: justify;">Company B - 25%</p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: justify;">Company C - 20% </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: justify;">Company D - 7% </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: justify;">Company E - 4% </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">Company F - 3% </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">Company G - 1% </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">Companies H &ndash; L 0% </p> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Rate the service levels &ndash; 1 through 10 (10 being the best) </li> <li>Rate the relationships &ndash; 1 through 10&nbsp; </li> </ul> In addition, remember that what are often thought of as "intangibles" can actually be hidden cost factors. Claims handling, policyholder satisfaction and poor customer service can erode your profitability. Additional time involvement on your part subtracts from time better spent on sales and service. NOW you have a starting point! <br /> <br /> <p><strong>&middot; &middot; &middot; PEOPLE &middot; &middot; &middot;</strong> </p> <p>This element is, without a doubt, the most exasperating. Ready for more "P&rsquo;s"? You need to determine, individually, if you have a PROVEN PERFORMER, POTENTIAL PERFORMER OR A PROBLEM PERFORMER. Again back to "HOW?" </p> <p>RATE THEIR SKILLS 1 THROUGH 10&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE &ndash; Underwriting, Coverages, Etc. </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">PEOPLE SKILLS &ndash; Sales Skills, Phone Skills, Service Skills, Personality, Etc. </p> </li> <li> <p style="text-align: left;">PROCESS SKILLS &ndash; Accurate Applications, Filing, Organization, Etc.</p> </li> </ul> <p>If they score 25 to 30 you have a "Proven Performer." Congratulate them. Thank them. Love them. Hug them. Buy them dinner. RECOGNIZE THEM! Recognition is the most effective, least expensive and most often neglected motivator. Since these people require very little supervision they sometimes receive very little attention. Express your appreciation. Better yet, involve them in training your other staff members. It creates a feeling of importance. </p> <p>A score of 15 to 24 indicates a "Potential Performer." Often these people are primarily functional bodies that are "too good to fire but not good enough to keep." Ironically these same folks are often the best investments in management and training time. If they can be directed and motivated towards the "Proven" category, you&rsquo;ll experience a geometric increase in their productivity. </p> <p>1 to 15 qualifies as a "PROBLEM PERFORMER." Usually not only are their skill levels suspect but they often exhibit punctuality and attendance problems, a lack of dedication and work ethic, plus attitudinal issues. They do, however, deserve an opportunity to pursue improvement. This is best accomplished with a serious interview that clearly defines what you expect, where they are lacking and offers a reasonable time frame for correction. One of two things usually occurs at this point. One, they secure other employment, (which is a blessing) or two; they develop the inspiration of desperation and mend their ways. Both are OK. Remember "your people represent what you have TAUGHT them or ALLOWED them to become." </p> <b> <p>&middot; &middot; &middot; PROCESS &middot; &middot; &middot;</p> </b> <p>For an eye opening experiment try this. Make a list of job responsibilities, procedures and then connect them to the appropriate staff members. This can include opening the store, emptying the trash, filing policies, answering the phone, all the way to depositing your money in the bank. Then ask your people to list their responsibilities. Compare them. Sit down before you do this. It&rsquo;s not uncommon to discover that what you thought was common knowledge of your required procedures didn&rsquo;t make it to their list. My first suggestion is to re-read "Creating an Employee Manual", written by our recently elected President, AnMarie Bozick (Flagwaver Volume 8, Issue 1, June 2003 Page 6). It&rsquo;s accurate. It&rsquo;s concise. It&rsquo;s industry specific and I&rsquo;m not dumb enough to attempt to improve on it. It&rsquo;s exceptional advice from an exceptional agent. </p> <p>At American Southwest Insurance Managers our internal computer system can generate over thirty marketing reports, charts and graphs. Some of these I use often, some occasionally, some hardly at all. One I often look at depicts agent productivity by individual location in descending order. </p> <p>In preparing for this article I noticed that on our TOP 20 agent list, eight of those entries were single office operations. Why do I mention this? Because, if you&rsquo;re still reading this article and you&rsquo;re not a big multi-office agent you are quite possibly thinking "This doesn&rsquo;t apply to me", "I don&rsquo;t need to do all of this stuff", "I don&rsquo;t have time to attempt this type of analysis" or "I already know all of this." You could be right. Most of our small agents think this way also. Except for the eight that appear in our TOP 20. </p> <p>If there is a common thread that runs through all of this it&rsquo;s evaluation and training. Like bacon and eggs they are common partners. INVEST the time to analyze the balance (or imbalance) you have in this agency building triangle comprised of PRODUCT, PEOPLE and PROCESS. Then dedicate yourself to an effort to train and direct your people. If you want a list of training resources, I have one. If you would like a one-page form that offers a quick assessment of sales ability, I have one. If you&rsquo;re satisfied with what you&rsquo;re doing and your current status you&rsquo;ve probably just wasted ten minutes of your time reading this article. But you&rsquo;re probably use to that. Aren&rsquo;t you? </p> <p>I shoot on a weekly Skeet league. One of my team members is an agent that recently left the independent agent category and joined the standard agent population. This particular company requires three weeks (120 hours) of initial training before they can begin writing business. </p> <p>As part of their training regimen they bring in agents that produce in excess of ten million of premium to share with this audience of new agents the strategies and tactics that have contributed to their agency&rsquo;s growth. </p> <p>My friend told me that after these successful agents selflessly shared their ideas with this group two things became very apparent to him. Numero uno, these proactive agents carefully monitored and managed every aspect of their agency operation with a thorough concentration on what we&rsquo;ve described as the "Three P&rsquo;s". Numero Dos, many of the most seasoned agents in his group cavalierly dismissed this advice with an "I already know this" shrug of the shoulders. My compadre said "Knowing these things only remotely relates to the challenge of doing these things." <br /> <br /> </p> <p>"Doing" is what ultimately separates the agent that merely survives from the agent that truly succeeds. <br /> <br /> </p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;About the Author </p> <p><img style="margin: 5px; float: left;" alt="Ralph Moten, American Southwest Insurance Managers" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/MotenRalphAmericanSouthwestInsManagers.jpg" />Ralph Moten, Marketing Director of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americansouthwest.com/" target="_blank">American Southwest Insurance Managers</a> has been involved in sales, marketing and management training since 1972. He has conducted over 2,500 seminars. </p>urn:uuid:3be85228-0f8a-43f8-a108-517b271822ea<img src='http://www.aiat.org/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png' align='left' />It's not an easy thing to talk about even though it's been several years and I've shared the story many times.&nbsp; I'm still embarrassed and feel guilty that I didn't have a better system in place to see the warning signs sooner. I had been in bus...Wed, 05 May 2010 15:02:56 -0500<p>It's not an easy thing to talk about even though it's been several years and I've shared the story many times.&nbsp; </p> <p>I'm still embarrassed and feel guilty that I didn't have a better system in place to see the warning signs sooner. I had been in business about five years.&nbsp; We just opened our third location and I was keeping myself busy tending to getting it off to a good start.&nbsp; Cindee had worked for me over the course of four years.&nbsp; Working side by side with someone for that many years, you tend to feel as though they are part of the family.&nbsp; We attended social and family functions and our children often played together.&nbsp; She was a friend, or so I thought. </p> <p>Since the day I opened my agency, we had used handwritten receipts.&nbsp; It was a system I had become accustomed to from the time I started my career in the insurance industry.&nbsp; But is was that manual process that allowed her the freedom she needed to forge the books and pocket my customer's premiums.</p> <p>I had made two fatal errors - I put too much trust in her and I did not utilize my agency management system to its fullest extent.</p> <p>I was aware my agency management system had a way to issue customer receipts and also a way to reconcile deposits, but I was too busy to sit down and take the time to learn the system and to develop a new workflow process.&nbsp; If things aren't "broke", why fix them...right?&nbsp; Wrong.&nbsp; Of course, when I caught on, Cindee was fired and later prosecuted.&nbsp; Now I had to set about making things right for my clients and for my agency.&nbsp; </p> <p>It took about six months to do a complete audit and come up with an estimate of how much damage was actually done.&nbsp; In the end, I was able to identify that one-hundred of my customers had been affected.&nbsp; It certainly could have been more.</p> <p>It took a lot less time to learn the accounting features in my agency management system and to develop new procedures for handling customer premiums.</p> <p>First and foremost, I developed a written policy for employees to follow when handling monetary transactions.&nbsp; The key points of that policy included:</p> <ul> <li>All monetary transactions, Customer Premiums, Commissions, etc would be recorded in the agency management system. </li> <li>At the end of each day, every employee was required to balance against their Daily Transaction Report.&nbsp; With this process now being automated, it just took a few minutes out of the day to complete. </li> <li>As long as everything was in balance, the money and the Daily Transaction Report was turned into the Office Manager to be verified. </li> <li>If things didn't balance, the bookkeeper and/or agency principal was to be notified immediately, prior to anyone leaving for the day. </li> <li>A separate employee was charged with reconciling the bank statement. </li> <li>Surprise audits were made randomly and employees were made aware they were happening. </li> </ul> <p>There is no fool-proof method to avoid employee theft.&nbsp; However, after I made full use of my <a href="http://www.insuranceproonline.com" target="_blank">agency management's </a>accounting features, it was enough to deter future employees from following in her footsteps.&nbsp; </p> <br /> <img style="margin: 5px; float: left;" alt="AnMarie Bozick, CIC" src="/img/~www.aiat.org/BozickAnMarie_thumb.png" />AnMarie Bozick, CIC<br /> Past President of Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas<br /> Communications Director for <a href="http://insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corporation</a>urn:uuid:50f686d0-f6e3-47c2-81a9-038e3a1ff030It is actually a simple, yet effective marketing strategy, re-engaging old customers.&nbsp; We gained their trust at one point, thus the reason they initially did business with us. &nbsp;Yet, for one reason or another they decided to take their busin...Mon, 03 May 2010 11:45:53 -0500<p>It is actually a simple, yet effective marketing strategy, re-engaging old customers.&nbsp; We gained their trust at one point, thus the reason they initially did business with us. &nbsp;Yet, for one reason or another they decided to take their business somewhere else.&nbsp; For instance, some moved out of state; some found a better premium; others were introduced to a new agent; or there is even the case when newlyweds end up listed on the spouse&rsquo;s policy.&nbsp; For one reason or another, they are no longer our customers.&nbsp; These lists of old inactive customers, however, can be more than just data taking up hard drive space.&nbsp; In our agencies, these lists present an inexpensive opportunity for us to put business on the books.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p>The customers I typically target in this campaign are those that have not been with the agency for the past two to seven years.&nbsp;&nbsp; I am easily able to mine these old clients through my agency management system.&nbsp; Using customer data that old can present the obvious problems though, such as the phone number is no longer valid or the customer has moved.&nbsp; For this reason, to increase our ability to make contact, we use postcards.&nbsp; By listing &ldquo;Resident&rdquo; instead of the customer&rsquo;s name, the postcard is delivered regardless if the customer still lives there.&nbsp; While it may be considered impersonal, doing so decreases the chance the postcard will be returned and increases our opportunity to get our agency&rsquo;s name in the hands of the current resident.&nbsp; </p> <p>As with any marketing effort, sometimes indicating the exact piece that initiated a customer&rsquo;s inquiry isn&rsquo;t always as easy as &ldquo;How did you hear about us?&rdquo;, so tracking the closing ratio on these cards can be a bit tricky.&nbsp; Sometimes the customer may just indicate they were a prior customer, not that they had received a postcard.&nbsp;&nbsp; Initially though, when I started this campaign back in 2008, the typical results would yield about seven new policies a week.&nbsp; </p> <p>There have even been cases where customers will hold onto the postcards for months before they decide to come back.&nbsp; One customer held onto the postcard for over a year before he called in.&nbsp; He had been without a car for that time so he said he kept the postcard handy until it was time to buy a new one. </p> <p>Whatever the case may be, this campaign to re-engage old customers is working.&nbsp; Postcards have been a simple and effective marketing strategy for our agencies.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s generating phone calls and getting old and new customers in the door.&nbsp; Printing and postage costs for the postcards are rather inexpensive compared to our other marketing efforts.&nbsp; Therefore, to achieve a return on investment only requires a few policies to be written.&nbsp; </p> <br /> <br /> Brian Jackson<br /> <a href="http://www.abcautoinsurance.com/" name="ABC Insurance Agencies of TX, LLC">ABC Insurance Agencies of TX, LLC</a>urn:uuid:3a56ba31-bf0b-4215-b2d0-89eb2c50dde2AIAT is no longer just a group of agents with their focus on automobile. The Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas has expanded their interests in all product lines and continues its efforts to grow the association even in these difficult times. Network...Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:17:57 -0500AIAT is no longer just a group of agents with their focus on automobile. The Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas has expanded their interests in all product lines and continues its efforts to grow the association even in these difficult times. Networking is the very least advantage of membership. As a new Commercial Lines MGA, associate membership allows growth opportunities for all. <br /> <br /> We often hear “United We Stand, but Divided We Fall” . These are important times for the Insurance industry! <br /> <br /> Jeff Watters, Marketing Director <br /> <a href="http://www.pieins.com" target="_blank">Professional Insurance Executives</a> <br /> Garland, Texas urn:uuid:09b8857d-8072-462a-b988-048d7e9cc11fAlliance Insurance Agents of Texas (AIAT) Launch New Website AIAT announces the launch of their new website at www.aiat.org.  With interactive features such as online registration forms, join our email list, news center, and informative blog, AIAT’s ...Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:07:19 -0500<p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Alliance Insurance Agents of Texas (AIAT) Launch New Website</p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i>AIAT announces the launch of their new website at www.aiat.org.  With interactive features such as online registration forms, join our email list, news center, and informative blog, AIAT’s newest website is designed with insurance agents in mind.  </i></p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b>For Immediate Release</b></p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">AUSTIN, TEXAS (Press Release) March 16, 2010 – AIAT has a long standing reputation of standing for the independent insurance agent since 1993.  Our association has a commitment to provide independent agents a forum for open discussion, formulate educational programs, and provide legislative representation.  As a demonstration of that commitment, we have launched a completely redesigned, interactive website at <a href="http://www.aiat.org/">www.aiat.org</a>.  </p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The new design was specifically devoted to provide a more comprehensive source of insurance information and services for prospects and our current membership.  In-depth information for the insurance industry professional can be obtained through the useful articles, events section, and a news center posted on the site.  The site features a modern look and streamlined site navigation.  </p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The site is provided and hosted by <a href="http://insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corporation</a> through their <a href="http://insurancewebsitebuilder.com" target="_blank">Insurance Website Builder</a>.  Insurance Website Builder, the premier insurance agency website, was designed specifically for insurance agents to have a fully interactive, lead generating online presence.  We want to extend our thanks to ITC for their continued commitment to our association and the independent agent.</p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">AIAT aims to provide a social network for independent agents, carriers, and vendors to meet and explore avenues to make our industry better.  Visit our site at <a href="http://www.aiat.org" class="ApplyClass">www.aiat.org</a> for more information.</p> urn:uuid:7dfc8b9b-2ebd-4a70-88f6-1d7f9819eb2fAs an Independent Agent, I've come to realize I must strive to be creative in how I market my agencies.  Times have drastically changed and competition is tough.  We all basically have the same product, so I had to do something to set us apart from e...Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:29:08 -0500As an Independent Agent, I've come to realize I must strive to be creative in how I market my agencies.  Times have drastically changed and competition is tough.  We all basically have the same product, so I had to do something to set us apart from everyone else to get new customers in the door.<br />  <br /> Last year I began the process of coming up with different ideas to set my agencies apart so we would have something unique for people to remember.  We began what we call "Cookie Friday" at each location and we bake Otis Spunkmeyer cookies every Friday morning to hand out to our customers.  The feedback we've gotten has been very positive and people actually tell their family and friends about us and to come in on Friday's because we have the best cookies!  The FedEx, UPS and Mailman also enjoy this little perk and they've even referred us business!<br />  <br /> All agents need to find something that sets them apart from the "guy down the street" to make that new customer give you a chance.  Bottom line, good customer service will usually keep them coming back, but sometimes the biggest challenge is getting them in the door to begin with.<br /> <br /> Christine Huddleston<br /> <a href="http://www.allaboutins.com" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank">All About Insurance<br /> </a><br /> urn:uuid:fc4b5a3e-dc1d-49e2-8202-ccf565afd3f2<img src='https://www.insurancewebsitebuilder.com/img/~www.aiat.org/GenBoxes.jpg' align='left' />An annual review of equipment needs, staff performance, marketing objectives and so forth are all essential analyses to keep an insurance agency performing at its peak.  However, many agents overlook reviewing the needs of their consumers on a consis...Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:03:41 -0600<span style="font-size: 13px;">An annual review of equipment needs, staff performance, marketing objectives and so forth are all essential analyses<img alt="" style="margin: 5px; float: right;" src="https://www.insurancewebsitebuilder.com/img/~www.aiat.org/GenBoxes.jpg" /> to keep an insurance agency performing at its peak.  However, many agents overlook reviewing the needs of their consumers on a consistent basis as well.  Consumers' requirements, especially with the technology available today, consistently change. Taking the time to re-familiarize yourself with your consumer base can provide an opportunity to improve their customer experience while also decreasing your customer support costs.<br /> <br /> According to a survey released by </span><a href="http://www.itcdataservices.com/processlink/itclink.asp?ITCURL=http://www.comscore.com&amp;ITCSource=EM&amp;ITCOptional=IWBCustSrvc1"><span style="font-size: 13px;">comScore</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px;">, between 2006 and 2008 there was a 20 percent increase in policyholders that chose to service their policies online. The primary reason for this rapid growth can be attributed to generational differences.  Generation Xers are becoming more confident and comfortable with doing business online while the Gen Y population <em>expects</em> the ability to digitally communicate with those they do business with.  With Gen Yers now reaching their mid-twenties, their population in the insurance consumer base is ever increasing.  Therefore, the demand to provide online customer service based options is becoming higher. <br /> <br /> An interactive website, one where the consumer has the ability to submit and request information specific to them, can improve the customer’s experience with your agency.  These features give your customers the ability to communicate with your agency 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. Providing online options for customer service is a great opportunity to differentiate your agency from your competitor. In addition, online requests do not carry the expectation of immediate handling as a phone call does, therefore, processing the requests can be streamlined, which in turn, decreases support time and costs.<br /> </span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Blog post submitted by:<br /> AnMarie Bozick, CIC<br /> Communications Director<br /> <a href="http://www.insurancetechnologiescorp.com" target="_blank">Insurance Technologies Corporation<br /> </a><br />