Liberty League International, Easy Marketing Methods with Letters, Post Cards, Referrals and Testimonials

[Super Star]

Liberty League International, Easy Marketing Methods with Letters, Post
Cards, Referrals and Testimonials

Easy Direct Marketing Methods for Insurance Agencies

This Month: Strategies for Letters, Post Cards, Newsletters, Testimonials,
Referrals.

Selling insurance is tough: too many agents selling too few clients, and
ouch - trying to show value when all you are selling is a piece of paper
that no one really thinks he needs... until it's too late. But you knew all
that. Here's how to get more business and keep the customers you have.

Send a "Thank you for your business" letter.

I'll bet you ten bucks that I know the last piece of correspondence your
customer received from you or your providers: it was a bill. Right? OK - 99
out of 100 of you pay up. Break this cycle of insurance bills with something
refreshing. Send a bottle of champagne. Just kidding. Send that bottle to
me, Schramsberg/NAPA is just fine. To your clients and prospects, send a
couple of refreshing "Thank you" letters.

Spend the 74¢

To keep customers happier and longer, twice a year send them a letter simply
thanking them for being a customer. Let them know their business is
appreciated. Paint a picture of your firm on high alert 24 hours a day: if
they need you - you'll be there. Let them know you appreciate their business
and that you are eagerly waiting to serve them. Your customer retention rate
will soar. Your customers will be happier; therefore, your customers will be
your customers, longer. As for me, I'm still waiting for that bottle of
Schramsberg.

Now I'm not talking about the pre-printed "Thank You" card you get from your
accountant each Christmas. Ugh. That's close to worthless (don't tell your
accountant, I'll start getting nasty letters). I'm talking about a real,
bonafide letter. Signed personally by you, or at least someone who works
with you who is willing to sign all those letters with your name in a blue
pen. Yes - twice a year. Cough it up: postage 74¢. That's not much of a cost
to retain a customer. Do you know what other agencies call your best
customers? Prospects. I personally think a letter is the cheapest customer
retention strategy you can use, and the most effective. Hummmm... cheapest;
most effective.

See, nice guy that I am, I started off this article with my best tip first.
It's all downhill from here. Or is it?

Don't start a Newsletter.

That's right, don't. You've got to be crazy to start a newsletter. 90% of
the ones I get are terrible: no direction, poor copy, lousy photos...
everyone's dressed. Nothing like that Hooter's newsletter I, er, a friend of
mine signed up for 2 years ago. What? What do you mean you don't think
there's continually fresh and interesting news from a restaurant chain?

Most newsletters are written with no clear objectives, and some just ramble
on in a dialog "about" and "by" the president... like someone cared about
his babble on the new boat he just bought. In reality - where I virtually
think we are - newsletters are just a lot of work. They may start out with
some enthusiasm, but soon become the drudgery of month after month of hard
work, eventually assigned to someone as a thankless job no one really wants
to do. Without lively copy, great design, consistent frequency and timely
delivery, newsletters lose all effect of branding and building customer
loyalty.

Case in point: Q. The number one priority of a newsletter? A. It must be
read. To be read it must be fascinating and interesting beyond belief.
Remember, if it ain't read, it ain't working. See my article on newsletters
elsewhere on this site. Or visit www.dobkin.com for this and other articles
of marketing tips I've written.

Instead, create a series of post cards.

That's right, slightly oversized 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" post cards print nicely
2-out of an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet. Spend some time on graphics and copy to make
them really interesting and clever. Since I just mentioned "newsletter," I
know some readers are now hell-bent on creating a newsletter, so you guys
can title your post card "The World's Tiniest Newsletter." Then design it
like a tiny newsletter. Well, I hope that made your day. Still stuck on
newsletters? Call this number and complain: 610-642-683. If I really cared,
I'd have given you the last number, which is 2. It's our fax machine. Or at
least the fax machine of our competitor.

Post cards can look good printed simply in one or two colors... so they can
be inexpensive to print. While I don't mind one color printing, I do always
prefer an upscale sheet of paper (like bright-white Cambric Linen). Don't
use glossy stock unless your post card is printed in 4 colors, as the post
office mail sorting rollers will leave black marks on it. Mail post cards
once a month to every 6 weeks for consistency, or to maintain Top-of-Mind
awareness.

Write about anything... as long as it's interesting. The limitations of
space ensure the brevity of copy; this generally will make sure the card
remains interesting to a good degree.

Somewhere, somehow on the card, say "Call for a quick quote!" to encourage
people to call. If the objective of the card is to generate a call and it
doesn't, it didn't work, did it?. Supersize the phone number and follow it
by a longish laundry list of all the types of insurance your firm offers (or
that you can get for your customers). If it's a long list - and it should be
- set the list in small type - and print it on the lower portion of the
bottom of the card.

Here's an example: Since you live in Nebraska, boat insurance probably isn't
your main livelihood, or flood insurance either, so most of your customers
probably don't know you can get these kinds of coverage for them along with
their tractor insurance. By listing all the kinds of insurance policies you
sell on this card, all your customers who own boats (both of them) will get
the message that they can call you for a quote. Other customers and
prospects will see what they need also - and call for quotes, too.

The list of services is not the main message in the card, but it lets
clients know that you offer a full depth of different products, and they can
get all their insurance quoted and placed by a quick phone call to your
office. Remember, if you don't get calls from your post cards, and thus
additional business - they didn't work. Then let me guess: Your mailings
went into your "we tried direct mail and it didn't work" file. How
unfortunate. Know who's getting those phone calls if you're not? Your
competitors. Their post cards went into their "Holy Cow! Look how much money
we made from this little post card mailing!" file.

Why are phone calls so important?All your business starts with a phone call.

Any time you can make the phone ring - especially for a quote, you have the
opportunity to generate a sale, or perform a service for your customer.
Either way, if you look at this more closely as an opportunity, you'll find
a phone conversation is a great way to increase a client's loyalty and
endear them even more deeply to you and your company.

If you can get the phone to ring from a mailed piece, the piece is a total
success, even if you didn't get any business at that exact moment. Here's
why I say this: I've been in direct marketing for... OH MY GOD AM I THAT OLD
ALREADY!. Anyhow, it's tough to sell something from a sheet of paper,
especially insurance, which is sometimes tough to sell anywhere, even in a
stuck elevator for 12 hours with 6 doctors whose medical malpractice
policies have an ex-date of tomorrow. Come to think of it, if you want a
business decision from a doctor you'll have to ask his office manager or his
wife. Either way, a "yes" answer will take a month.

By trying to sell something directly from a sheet of paper, you get no
feedback, no buying signals. You can't tell where the hot buttons of your
clients are. When do you back off? When do you press for a close? All this
may come subconsciously when you're selling in person, but I assure you a
lot of thought has to go into a printed piece to get to these specific areas
with just the right timing, correct pace and selling proposition to close a
sale from a flyer that you sent in the mail.

Armed with the knowledge that it's very difficult to sell anything off the
page, don't even think about trying to sell anything from your mail piece.
The objective of 99% of the letters, mailers, post cards and brochures I
create for clients don't sell anything -- the objective is simply to
generate a phone call. My client is the one that does all of the selling.
With your brochure, you do the selling when they call.

Face the further fact: create letters and mailers with the sole objective of
making the phone ring. When the phone rings - the piece worked. Voila. Now
we know it was successful. Then you sell the client.

For an article I've written on post cards, just drop me a letter requesting
it: Jeff Dobkin, P.O. Box 100, Merion Station, PA 19066. No, an email won't
work. I'd like to make sure you really want it and an email won't show me
this - I don't want to get 5,000 emails requesting stuff like the last time
I offered something free on the Internet. Ugh.

OK, let's get back to more tips about your post card mailings. Sending post
cards every four to six weeks keeps your agency in "Top of Mind" awareness
of your clients.

When they need new policies, or a quote... when they have friends that need
insurance services -- they'll think of you. Whoa. When they have friends???
Can you say "referrals?"

Referrals and Testimonials

I don't know about you, but I hate asking people for referrals. So here's a
way to get them, and how to use testimonials in your marketing. It's even
tough for me to write a personal letter asking for a referral without
sounding like a bleeding heart solicitation piece I once wrote for the
"Friends of Kaballah" association who needed money for guns, but... a post
card can serve this function just right.

www.libertyleagueinternational.info

www.libertyleagueconference.com

www.beyondfreedom.com