An easy way to make sure you update your insurance agency blog is to use RSS feeds to have potential blog content and ideas pushed to you. You can riff on information provided for you, but be sure to put some kind of unique spin on it. What does the information mean to businesses and consumers in your market area? Could you expand on some key points?
If you don't know what an RSS feed is*, you owe it to yourself to check it out. RSS feeds can be quickly and easily set up to 'push' content from most news, blog (and other websites) to a RSS reader of your choice (Google Reader, My Yahoo!, etc.).
One feed you should definitely set up is to the Insurance Information Institute's blog. They post regularly, and often include statistics and study related information that can be effective in your agency blog.
By the way, you can set up an RSS feed to this blog, and if you take the plunge and set up an agency blog, you should definitely encourage others to set up feeds to your insurance agency...
RSS in Plain English*
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Blogs in an Insurance Agency Ecosystem
Blogging remains a foreign concept to many insurance agents and many larger businesses as well: only 12% of Fortune 500 Companies are using blogs in their communication mix. But smaller companies have caught on to the business benefits of blogs. A recent estimate put the number of business related blogs at over 850,000. Unless your insurance agency has an active blog (or two), you are missing on an effective and virtually free way to get more customers, quality control information you provide to consumers,and increase website content and generate more site traffic (i.e., even more new customers).
One tool, one tactic, and a multiplicity of benefits. What are you waiting for? The trick is to find a way to take a concept unfamiliar to many insurance agents (blogging) and embed that concept in your agency practices in a way that quickly breeds familiarity.
Here is how a blog might fit into an agency ecosystem:
Scenario:
In the above scenario, the blog posts substitute for email content, and they present little extra effort. Responsibility for blog content is distributed across all staff vs. becoming a burden for one person; and by extension, responsibility for website content refresh is also shared. The blog would be a resource first for individual customers and insurance agency staff, and later, a resource for a wider audience, either as blog posts or edited posts migrated to agency website content.
Someone in the agency will have to review content for quality periodically; this is probably not being done now (with emails and phone conversations), and would constitute an additional task. But quality reviews are a good practice for a number of reasons. Using a blog as outlined above makes quality control possible in a way that would be far more difficult to manage with emails and phone conversations alone.
I can see some objections to inserting a blog into daily communications, but all objections will basically boil down to this consideration: Blogs and other Web 2.0 tools are routinely used by other businesses, and growing number of consumers - especially Generation Y. Is your agency willing to adapt to new communication tools to improve agency service and acquire new customers, or are you satisfied with the status quo? If capturing new customers and improving the quantity and quality your agency can deliver for basically no cost are objectives for your agency, then there is really no valid objection to blogging.
One tool, one tactic, and a multiplicity of benefits. What are you waiting for? The trick is to find a way to take a concept unfamiliar to many insurance agents (blogging) and embed that concept in your agency practices in a way that quickly breeds familiarity.
Here is how a blog might fit into an agency ecosystem:
- Blog set up with all producers and CSRs with ‘author’ permission (that is, everyone can post to the blog).
- Your insurance agency web administrator monitors your blog weekly
Scenario:
- Customer calls or emails CSR or producer with a question.
- CSR or producer determines if question is account or customer specific, or applicable to a broad cross section of customers or prospects.
- If the question is account specific, the CSR or producer can answer the question via email or on the phone.
- If the question and answer have broader applicability, the CSR or producer post the Q and A to the agency blog, then email the blog post linkto the customer.
- Agency website admin reviews blog posts weekly; content is edited for accuracy, etc. Some content, with small modifications, can be moved to the agency website as an FAQ or article.
In the above scenario, the blog posts substitute for email content, and they present little extra effort. Responsibility for blog content is distributed across all staff vs. becoming a burden for one person; and by extension, responsibility for website content refresh is also shared. The blog would be a resource first for individual customers and insurance agency staff, and later, a resource for a wider audience, either as blog posts or edited posts migrated to agency website content.
Someone in the agency will have to review content for quality periodically; this is probably not being done now (with emails and phone conversations), and would constitute an additional task. But quality reviews are a good practice for a number of reasons. Using a blog as outlined above makes quality control possible in a way that would be far more difficult to manage with emails and phone conversations alone.
I can see some objections to inserting a blog into daily communications, but all objections will basically boil down to this consideration: Blogs and other Web 2.0 tools are routinely used by other businesses, and growing number of consumers - especially Generation Y. Is your agency willing to adapt to new communication tools to improve agency service and acquire new customers, or are you satisfied with the status quo? If capturing new customers and improving the quantity and quality your agency can deliver for basically no cost are objectives for your agency, then there is really no valid objection to blogging.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Flesh and Blood and Circuits Revisited
I saw a press release yesterday about Allstate providing mental/visual acuity exercises via software from www.positscience.com. It is geared toward helping older drivers process more visual info – something that deteriorates with age. Interesting, proactive, and forward thinking. In the grand scheme of my script/consultation program, this is a product an agent might suggest, and a conversation to be had when a customer reaches 50 or 60. That’s an age when your driving skills haven’t deteriorated much, but you are completely sober about the reality and inevitability of the decline. Waiting until a customer hits 70 is too late; by then they are in denial. Or maybe you have the conversation with customers who are in their 30’s about their parents.
(note: at the time of the press release, I could not find anything on the allstate website about the service. oops!)
(note: at the time of the press release, I could not find anything on the allstate website about the service. oops!)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Connecting the Dots: Insurance Agency Service and Technology
I was doing some light research while drafting copy for target market website landing pages, and once again, allowed the internet to pull me into a digressive side alley. So of course I have to drag you all in with me.
The cover article in a periodical widely read by agents and companies, Rough Notes caught my eye. The September, 2008 issue features an agency that is able to provide high levels of service thanks to technology: Technology Backs High-Service Approach at 7-Person Agency.
What is instructive about the article is that all the ‘technology’ referenced in the piece is internally focused: insurance company-to-agency via download and real time rating, internal efficiencies gained going paperless (that can mean several different things, but that is a post for another day). There are a handful of platitudes about ‘service’ in article: ‘customer-focused’, ‘service “through the internet'; ‘Technology has allowed us to communicate with the younger generation…through email’; ‘We’re able to meet with clients more frequently, assist with claims, and provide them with quotes from other companies if that’s what they want’. These are the same kind of general, ‘service’ claims agents have been making since eight seconds before the advent of dust.
My point is not to cast doubt on the featured agency's ability to deliver these service generalities better than other agencies. The point is that too often we assume internally focused technology and efficiencies result in better service. There is an old and well validated axiom: work expands to fill the time available. If we create time through efficiencies, but do not explicitly fill that time with measurable, customer focused activities, the void is often back filled with more internal work.
What caught my eye about the article's title was the juxtaposition of the words 'technology' and 'high-service'. My mind leapt to the assumption that some kind of customer facing technology was at work in the featured agency. That I made the assumption is my problem, but it does raise another point. Technology for pushing data around the agency, or to and from the company, is not technology that consumers care about. Too often I still see agency websites touting a 'state of the art computer system' when all there is to brag about is an agency management system and some kind of comparative rater. That will engender a great big, consumer yawn every time. If a consumer is to care about technology, direct benefits need to be described - that is, here is how you will save time, or here is why your protection will be better. Indirect benefits - we're more efficient so we might be able to spend more time with you - just don't resonate.
There is nothing to suggest that the featured agency is using technology to systematically develop their customers and differentiate their agency. It’s all about saving time, and putting that time savings to work in an ad-hoc way will result in'higher-service' that is inconsistent at best.
I don’t mean to suggest that efficiency is not important; it is a key to profitability and sanity. But having more time is not the same as providing value-added service (which the Rough Notes cover suggests the article is about). That is a point we felt was being missed too often when we conceived Confluency Solutions four years ago, and the point is still being missed, I'm afraid.
The cover article in a periodical widely read by agents and companies, Rough Notes caught my eye. The September, 2008 issue features an agency that is able to provide high levels of service thanks to technology: Technology Backs High-Service Approach at 7-Person Agency.
What is instructive about the article is that all the ‘technology’ referenced in the piece is internally focused: insurance company-to-agency via download and real time rating, internal efficiencies gained going paperless (that can mean several different things, but that is a post for another day). There are a handful of platitudes about ‘service’ in article: ‘customer-focused’, ‘service “through the internet'; ‘Technology has allowed us to communicate with the younger generation…through email’; ‘We’re able to meet with clients more frequently, assist with claims, and provide them with quotes from other companies if that’s what they want’. These are the same kind of general, ‘service’ claims agents have been making since eight seconds before the advent of dust.
My point is not to cast doubt on the featured agency's ability to deliver these service generalities better than other agencies. The point is that too often we assume internally focused technology and efficiencies result in better service. There is an old and well validated axiom: work expands to fill the time available. If we create time through efficiencies, but do not explicitly fill that time with measurable, customer focused activities, the void is often back filled with more internal work.
What caught my eye about the article's title was the juxtaposition of the words 'technology' and 'high-service'. My mind leapt to the assumption that some kind of customer facing technology was at work in the featured agency. That I made the assumption is my problem, but it does raise another point. Technology for pushing data around the agency, or to and from the company, is not technology that consumers care about. Too often I still see agency websites touting a 'state of the art computer system' when all there is to brag about is an agency management system and some kind of comparative rater. That will engender a great big, consumer yawn every time. If a consumer is to care about technology, direct benefits need to be described - that is, here is how you will save time, or here is why your protection will be better. Indirect benefits - we're more efficient so we might be able to spend more time with you - just don't resonate.
There is nothing to suggest that the featured agency is using technology to systematically develop their customers and differentiate their agency. It’s all about saving time, and putting that time savings to work in an ad-hoc way will result in'higher-service' that is inconsistent at best.
I don’t mean to suggest that efficiency is not important; it is a key to profitability and sanity. But having more time is not the same as providing value-added service (which the Rough Notes cover suggests the article is about). That is a point we felt was being missed too often when we conceived Confluency Solutions four years ago, and the point is still being missed, I'm afraid.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Flesh and Blood and Circuits
I have been ruminating lately on a tale of unusual personal service, and have found myself considering the lessons for local, independent agents in a wired world.
I traveled across the country recently, and was able to catch up with an old friend. During my visit, we started swapping stories about kids becoming teenage drivers and he shared with me a service provided by his insurance agent that, more two years after the fact, still engendered a sense of wonderment in the telling.
His agent called dad and lad in for an hour long meeting about the nuts and bolts of liability and driving responsibility. It seems that this particular agent used to counsel the kids solo, but she was so effective that many of the new drivers tossed their keys to their parents on their return home, muttering they weren't ready for the responsibility.
A lot of us think that 'risk management' isn't really part of personal insurance, but this is an example of risk management at its finest. Not only that, the teen driving counseling story has been told countless times to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and... me. Two years later, the story is still going strong. You can't buy word-of mouth referrals like that. And what about the improvement in retention resulting from this kind of service? (For more on that, take a look at the August 2008 National Auto Insurance Study, published by JD Power, and the effect improved loyalty has on price sensitivity. 36 percent of auto insurance customers have actively shopped for a new insurer in the past year - how many of your agency customers actively shopped for a new insurer or agent?)
Too often we are tempted to compete head-to-head with GEICO by providing online quotes, leaving a personal insurance prospect or customer to figure out their own needs, and manage risk on their own. There is nothing wrong with having articles, videos and helpful information on your agency website to help mitigate teen driving accidents. But when those web resources can be combined and promoted along with personal counseling service, a value is created that is unassailable by blandishment of quick quotes and arms-length relationships - even in the face of massive advertising.
I traveled across the country recently, and was able to catch up with an old friend. During my visit, we started swapping stories about kids becoming teenage drivers and he shared with me a service provided by his insurance agent that, more two years after the fact, still engendered a sense of wonderment in the telling.
His agent called dad and lad in for an hour long meeting about the nuts and bolts of liability and driving responsibility. It seems that this particular agent used to counsel the kids solo, but she was so effective that many of the new drivers tossed their keys to their parents on their return home, muttering they weren't ready for the responsibility.
A lot of us think that 'risk management' isn't really part of personal insurance, but this is an example of risk management at its finest. Not only that, the teen driving counseling story has been told countless times to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and... me. Two years later, the story is still going strong. You can't buy word-of mouth referrals like that. And what about the improvement in retention resulting from this kind of service? (For more on that, take a look at the August 2008 National Auto Insurance Study, published by JD Power, and the effect improved loyalty has on price sensitivity. 36 percent of auto insurance customers have actively shopped for a new insurer in the past year - how many of your agency customers actively shopped for a new insurer or agent?)
Too often we are tempted to compete head-to-head with GEICO by providing online quotes, leaving a personal insurance prospect or customer to figure out their own needs, and manage risk on their own. There is nothing wrong with having articles, videos and helpful information on your agency website to help mitigate teen driving accidents. But when those web resources can be combined and promoted along with personal counseling service, a value is created that is unassailable by blandishment of quick quotes and arms-length relationships - even in the face of massive advertising.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Video on Your Insurance Agency Website, Part III
Professional or Amateur?
There’s a lot that can be done with video, and having video production capabilities in the family (the kid with the Mac)gives you options. Clearly there is a place for professionally done video production, as well as a place for (reasonably professional), low/no cost, self-made videos (the 50-something with the digital camera).
In fact, there was a recent news item featuring CNN’s opening of ‘bureaus’ in seven cities where they previously did not have one. Expense is a determining factor in opening and maintaining a network news bureau – equipment, technical personnel, etc. The new CNN bureaus will provide broadcasts via web casts, ‘directed, filmed, and produced’ by the reporter. The vastly reduced cost of that kind of production makes it possible for CNN to provide direct coverage in more areas – an example of how fast and inexpensively produced video can coexist with higher production value programming. In fact, CNN has taken this a step further with their iReport service, where virtually anyone can report news and publish video 'story'.
You have to wonder if there is a 'best' balance between videos that are slick and professional, and videos that are not edited with layered soundtracks. I'm sure there is no one right answer, but I'm going to throw this out there: providing only slick, commercial grade videos may suppress total views. Allstate Insurance has had a YouTube video channel for over two years, and the total views have been somewhat underwhelming at 7,114 (and 4 videos account for nearly 75% of all views). There are 37 videos on the Allstate channel, most have been seen fewer than 200 times. I'm not suggesting that Allstate has not achieved acceptable ROI from its YouTube channel; remember, production and publishing costs should be low. I am suggesting that commercial grade videos may not always be the best way to go on the web, particularly when videos are published to a social site like YouTube.
What does this mean for your insurance agency? Don't be afraid to have employees, customers, and others in the community produce videos for you. Worry less about matching TV quality production values, but focus on quick publication and community relevance. Your video views, and site traffic, should go up.
There’s a lot that can be done with video, and having video production capabilities in the family (the kid with the Mac)gives you options. Clearly there is a place for professionally done video production, as well as a place for (reasonably professional), low/no cost, self-made videos (the 50-something with the digital camera).
In fact, there was a recent news item featuring CNN’s opening of ‘bureaus’ in seven cities where they previously did not have one. Expense is a determining factor in opening and maintaining a network news bureau – equipment, technical personnel, etc. The new CNN bureaus will provide broadcasts via web casts, ‘directed, filmed, and produced’ by the reporter. The vastly reduced cost of that kind of production makes it possible for CNN to provide direct coverage in more areas – an example of how fast and inexpensively produced video can coexist with higher production value programming. In fact, CNN has taken this a step further with their iReport service, where virtually anyone can report news and publish video 'story'.
You have to wonder if there is a 'best' balance between videos that are slick and professional, and videos that are not edited with layered soundtracks. I'm sure there is no one right answer, but I'm going to throw this out there: providing only slick, commercial grade videos may suppress total views. Allstate Insurance has had a YouTube video channel for over two years, and the total views have been somewhat underwhelming at 7,114 (and 4 videos account for nearly 75% of all views). There are 37 videos on the Allstate channel, most have been seen fewer than 200 times. I'm not suggesting that Allstate has not achieved acceptable ROI from its YouTube channel; remember, production and publishing costs should be low. I am suggesting that commercial grade videos may not always be the best way to go on the web, particularly when videos are published to a social site like YouTube.
What does this mean for your insurance agency? Don't be afraid to have employees, customers, and others in the community produce videos for you. Worry less about matching TV quality production values, but focus on quick publication and community relevance. Your video views, and site traffic, should go up.
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