August 1, 2008

Solitary Success

Posted by Rey Villar

Going solo means you’re the big gorilla of your own domain. But being the king of your own little jungle is no walk in the park. Most long-time entrepreneurs will tell you that it often required hiring an admin to help you run your office and a sales staff to expand your production.

But it’s a new world now. Today’s technology and the web now allow thousands of independent agents to run and grow profitable offices — all by themselves.

Whether you’re looking to start your own one-person shop or grow the one you currently run, technology can eliminate almost all your tedious admin chores. More importantly, it
can help you generate and close more leads in less time and less cost.

Yes, technology also lets agents and brokers save money while working more efficiently. Here are 5 sets of tactics and tools you can use right now to increase your sales, profit margins and free time.

A Virtual & Faster Office
Communicating with your clients, carriers and prospects is necessary whether you run a one-person shop or manage 100 agents. Web-based tools and modern technology now offers
cost-saving solutions that weren’t available to most corporations 10 years ago:

• Web-based fax
Faxes are slowly going out of style, but we still need them to some degree. But you can now kiss fax machines, paper and toner goodbye if you use a web-based fax service. A
web-based fax lets you send and receive faxes using your email.

For as little as $3.95/month, Packetel.com gives you an exclusive fax number and lets you receive an unlimited amount of faxes — which they then email to you as a PDF
attachment. Their only drawback is that they don’t let you send outbound faxes. For affordable two-way service, consider efax.com, rapidfax.com or myfax.com.

• Smart cell phones
You can now also say goodbye to landlines. A smart cell phone gives you greater mobility and
flexibility, especially when it’s synchronized with your calendar and address book. Also,
conference calling and voice mail is included with most systems. I do recommend that you keep your home land line as a back-up, just in case a storm knocks out the local cellular antenna.

• All-in-one printers
Invest in a combination laser printer that includes a feed scanner. The scanner lets you convert documents into a PDF file that can be emailed or e-faxed to clients. But it
also lets you run a more paperless office by digitizing all your files.

• Open source programs
Don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on popular office programs like
Microsoft Word, Powerpoint or Excel? You don’t have to if you access of one of the many readily available “open source” software programs now available for immediate download. These alternatives to programs like Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop have comparable
features—and they’re free.

Check out OSalt.org for a list of available open source alternative programs that you can use right away.

• Online document storage
Using the web also means that one-person offices don’t need a lot of space. All you really need is a desk for your computer and printer. You can get rid of those big filing cabinets if you scan and upload all your files to a secure Internet back-up. Companies like iBackup.com and GoTo- MyFiles.com will cost you as little as $100 a year to store your files in a secure server.

In addition to saving space, using a document storage service may help you recover faster from disasters. Even if a fire, storm or accident destroys all your paper files or crashes your computer drive, you can quickly access all your digitized documents and get back to work in minutes.

Look Online For Customers
Successful one-person agencies rely on the Internet to efficiently increase their marketing and sales pipeline. And with much of their business coming through the Internet, the
need for a well-designed website is more urgent.

Your website is your virtual storefront. It’s probably the only visual image your online clients will ever have of your agency. Make sure that it creates a sense of trust, experience and professionalism.

Some basic ingredients for creating that online image are lots of educational materials for info-hungry shoppers, a detailed “About Us” page, and a personalized style that lets
online shoppers see that there’s a real person behind the website.

The bottom line is that you want a website that can attract visitors and turn them into leads.

Speaking of leads, top producers also understand that higher sales volumes andfull pipelines mean buying Internet leads. Health leads driven by search enginemarketing (SEM) offer better quality and higher conversion rates because they tend to be consumers actively shopping for health insurance.

And if you’re looking for an even cheaper route, consider using your Internet fax. Just fax your documents to yourself, and your fax service will automatically convert them into PDF files and email them back to you.But make sure to get an Internet fax service that allows for unlimited fax reception.

Quote Engine and E-Applications
For many top producers, a national quote engine is the bestthing since sliced bread. Instead of taking half an hour or more running quotes manually, an effective quote engine can generate quotes from dozens of carriers in seconds.

The industry leading Norvax quote engine, for example, provides the most up-to-date pricing on 74 of the nation’s leading carriers. Agents can compare multiple plans side by side with their prospects and then generate a detailed proposal in seconds.

Embedding it into your website is like hiring 24-hour sales assistants. Online visitors can compare multiple quotes from your available carriers and even see how various riders, deductible levels and optional benefits affect their premiums. As soon as they run a quote, that online insurance shopper immediately becomes a valuable lead — an EXCLUSIVE lead.

And if they’re ready to lock in their purchase, they can complete an online application that can be immediately submitted to the carrier they select from your list. Many of these e-applications are now smarter, anticipating many of the mistakes and omissions that can delay an underwriting decision — and your commission.

CRM
As those leads start coming in, you’ll need a way to track, manage and guide them toward a sale. That’s when you’ll need a customer relationship management (CRM) program.

A CRM is more than just a database or address book. It’s a sales-oriented program that helps you stay on top of your leads and prospects.

How do they help you work better and sell more health insurance?

Only a handful of CRM programs are designed specifically for health insurance agents. One such CRM tool,BrokerOffice, keeps all your lead contact information and your sales brochure online for easy access.

You no longer need an admin to set appointments, email a reminder or pull a file to get contact info about your prospects. It’s all online, and you can access it from
nearly anywhere in the world.

There’s also no need to manually input any leads, as CRMs like BrokerOfficer will automatically input leads generated by your website-embedded quote engine.They’ll even import leads you purchase from third-party providers.

Automated Drip Marketing
Experienced agents know that not all leads are ready toclose right away. Many need time. Sadly, most agents are forced to permanently abandon those “long term” leads so they can focus on their most ready prospects.

The key to converting those long-term leads is drip marketing. This strategy requires sending a periodic stream of marketing messages to stay in touch with prospects. Larger companies employ whole marketing teams for this task.

One-person agencies can achieve similar results with little effort using an automated drip marketing program, such as an email autoresponder. You set the mailing schedule at the
beginning, and your autoresponder does all the work to keep you in touch with thousands of unclosed leads at a time.

With an autoresponder such as LeadMiner, you can even get personalized pricing updates embedded in each email. Each lead can then receive monthly reminders with a note about the current premiums on the plan they previously selected.

And when they’re finally ready to complete an application, your drip marketing emails will help to ensure that your contact information, up-to-date quotes and e-application link will be at their fingertips.

Delaying the Hiring Decision
The biggest cost factor with any agency’s growth plan is normally the expense of hiring additional sales and admin help to handle the extra volume. The traditional way of running an agency required more people and money to build up and maintain their lead pipeline, as well as more of the same to convert them into submitted apps.

Technology and the web help agents delay that hiring decision. Together, the above tools are a substitute for an expensive team of administrative assistants and sales agents. It’s a virtual staff that can be available 24 hours a day — without complaint or pay.