My partner Leah Bumphrey is currently helping an insurance agent – for free – because he is a friend of a friend. She wrote me about some difficulties she is facing. This was my response. I hope you find it helpful – RHW:
Leah,
I have one observation and one question:
Observation: Insurance agents are like travel agencies. Many people feel they are obsolete because society is moving in a different direction. When you can learn everything you need to know – 24/7 – about airline schedules, rental cars, accommodations, attractions, and all possible discounts from the comfort of your home; why would you insert a travel agent into that process?
I suspect insurance agents are facing a similar dilemma. (Is this a tide that we can turn back toward the ocean from whence it came? I doubt it.)
You need to ask your client to convince you of the value he adds to the process of buying and having insurance. “Why shouldn’t a person just buy their insurance online? Doesn’t every online insurance company have a staff of expert Customer Service Representatives available a telephone call away? If you need you to convince me of why I need you so that I can convince the world.”
I’m sorry if I haven’t shared that before, but it is a very important question to ask. Business owners who are being crushed by a societal trend often reach out to advertising people in the hope that a few magic words from us will turn back the relentless tide of that trend.
You have often heard me talk about the way I “cheat.” The most important way that I cheat is by declining to help people that I suspect are going to lose the battle regardless of what I do. This might not be the case, however, with your insurance client. If he can convince you – in your heart – that the inconvenience of adding an insurance agent adds enough benefit to make it worth the trouble – then you have your strategy, and your copy.
If he cannot convince you in your heart, walk away with a lesson learned.
Question: What offer could your insurance guy make that a person would feel is valuable enough to take him up on it? Then, the only thing you would need to do is insert that offer into a wrapper of delicious customer bonding. He is in a situation that demands sales activation.
You mentioned the direct mail campaign I did for Woody Justice. But in that situation I knew the people on my curated mailing list were definitely going to buy A LOT of JEWELRY from a local brick-and-mortar store during the next 12 months. My job was simply to get those people to walk into Woody’s store rather than someone else’s. To make this happen, all I had to do was establish Woody as a person those customers felt like they “knew.”
Additional Thoughts: It is notoriously difficult to get people to go the the trouble of changing insurance companies, because most of us feel that insurance companies are more alike than different. In essence, they are interchangeable. Why would I move from one insurance company to another when the coverage, the deductible, and the price of the policy is going to be pretty much the same wherever I go?
I wish I had a happier answer to give you.
But Leah, never forget:
I cheat by declining to help people that I suspect are going to lose the battle regardless of what I do.
I cheat by declining to help people that I suspect are going to lose the battle regardless of what I do.
I recommend the same to you.
Roy