To Selling, Building, and Growing Your Brand

The Agent’s GuideThe Agent’s Guide

Start organizing, automating & growing your agency right now!

AgencyBloc helps life and health insurance agencies grow their business by organizing

and automating their operations using a combination of an industry-specific CRM, commissions processing, and integrated

marketing automation.

What is ?

2

In this eBook...You’ll learn sales tips for building, growing and maintaining your brand to be a successful salesperson.

Traits of A Good Salesperson.............................4Building Your Brand............................................9 Transparency Communication Education

Growing Your Brand.........................................14 Referrals Cross-Selling Social Marketing Online Marketing Email Marketing

Maintaining Your Brand...................................22 Client-Focused Organized

What is AgencyBloc?.........................................27

3

Traits of a Good Salesperson

4

Seven TraitsSales isn’t for everyone. In fact, only three in five salespeople reach their quota, while the other 37% struggle with closing the deal. A good salesperson needs to be able to not only converse easily with their audience but appeal to them in a way that will prompt them to buy.

Being able to connect with your prospects and close the deal relies heavily on your personality. You must be a stellar seller and a marketing ninja to be successful. So, what are the traits of a stellar seller/marketing ninja? NextGen Leads found these seven traits to be the best for salespeople. How many do you see in yourself?

5

Not to be confused with egocentric, ego-driven people are achievers that pursue a project with excitement and feel accomplished and uplifted upon completion. Having the ambition to pursue a project through to the end is essential for a salesperson who has to follow-up with a prospect on a regular basis to close the deal.

“Ego-drive is not ambition, aggression, energy or even the willingness to work hard. The ego-driven individual needs achievement in successful persuasion, not only for the material benefits but for the feeling of satisfaction that comes from the victory.” NPCA

Feeling comfortable in a variety of settings will help you relate to a wider audience. By definition, ambiverts possess qualities of both extraversion (outgoing) and introversion (homebody). Studies have found that ambiverts have outsold both extroverts and introverts since they’re able to relate to both sides of the spectrum.

Ambiversion

Ego-Drive

6

You need to be able to understand others’ feelings. Many modern day consumers already believe that the insurance industry is cold-hearted; prove them wrong by providing your clients with that human-to-human connection. Not only will it make you relatable, but it will build their trust in you. Once prospects believe that you understand and can relate to them, they will be more apt to buy in to the product you’re selling.

A combination of hard work and perseverance, grit is what pushes you to achieve your goals. The Bridge Group, Inc. found that individuals with grit tended to perform better than those without, and it can account for 49% of the variance in quota achievement.

Having a positive outlook on the future and believing the possibility of achievement can make a world of a difference. The New York Times found

Empathy

Grit

Optimism

7

The last, and most important, trait a successful salesperson should have is the ability and willingness to learn. For us to personally grow and mature, we have to learn. The same is true for salespersons. To improve your strategies and expand your client-base and business, you have to learn and grow from your past. To stay relevant and successful, you should always be learning, growing, and improving your sales strategy.

Salespersons often work on their own in the field; therefore, to be successful, you must be able to work autonomously and push yourself to achieve the goals you set for yourself. InsightSquared defines conscientiousness as achievement and dependability, key traits a salesperson working alone must have in order to meet their quota.

that insurance agents that had an optimistic attitude sold 37% more than their pessimistic counterparts, and the pessimists were twice as likely to leave the insurance world.

Conscientiousness

Learning

8

Building YourBrand

9

Defining Who You AreOne of the most important parts of your business is your brand. Contrary to popular belief, your brand isn’t your logo, or your product, or even you. Your brand is what others think about you, their gut feelings when they see your product, your logo, or you. Your brand is the reaction your audience has to your company.

Building your brand is essential when you’re a new insurance agent. To build a successful business, you need to build a successful brand. Here are three things to keep in mind to help make your brand strong and well-received:

1. Transparency2. Communication3. Education

10

A big part of keeping your clients loyal is being transparent and honest with them. Doing so will build the trust they have in you. Many modern consumers rely heavily on their initial gut instinct. If they get the feeling that you’re not being completely honest with them, then your chances of keeping them are next to nil. Keeping them satisfied is important because if they aren’t happy, they aren’t afraid to leave.

Transparency

26%32%

of consumers have no loyalty to their insurance providers

of consumers will stop doing business with at least one of their providers in the next 12 months

MattersightMattersight

11

Communication

LifeHealthPro found that only 11% of consumers trust insurance agents and brokers. 11%! Your clients need to know that they can trust you because you’re the one they will go to during a disaster. They need to know that you will be there for them when no one else is, that you will support them, and that they will be covered when something devastating occurs.

This is why communication is important. They don’t want to think about their insurance on a day-to-day basis—they need to be able to trust you fully. Communication will help you build that trust. You need to be communicating a lot and often with your clients. Communication is a top priority for many clients and often the reason they seek out a new agent or agency.

Listen. Learn. Understand.

81%of insurance clients leave due to

lack of communicationRocket Referrals

12

EducationDon’t just sell to your clients and prospects, educate them. Your clients will be looking to you as their expert advisor for what they should do. They want to learn and understand. Building your brand around the platform of education will differentiate you from your competitors.

Take time and explain the inner working parts of the policy, be patient and answer all of your client’s questions, provide them with relevant material that could be of help to them, and, most importanwtly, don’t just sell to sell, make sure they’ll actually benefit from it. Doing this will impress your clients and boost their trust in you because they will feel a stronger connection to you and be more apt to trust you.

Educating your clients while you sell to them will help build the confidence they have in you, heighten their respect for you, and will humanize your brand. You will stick out in your client’s minds, and your brand will be stronger for it.

13

Growing YourBrand

14

Expanding Your ReachOne of the key components to starting out in sales is marketing your brand, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend an arm and a leg. Here are some marketing options that are substantially cheaper and easy to use that will get you brand recognition and agency growth:

1. Referrals2. Cross-Selling3. Social Marketing4. Online Marketing5. Email Marketing

Referrals

Referrals are practically free. They promote your business, your services, and your brand. This is one of the easiest ways of growing your business. The best way to boost your referral-base is by providing outstanding customer service that caters to the individual needs of your clients and makes them

15

priority. Providing a higher level of care will impress your clients and prompt them to want to bring their friends.

Cross-Selling

Just like referrals, cross-selling is also practically free. One of the easiest ways we’ve come to think about cross-selling is the question, “Would you like fries with that?” Think about it, you go to your local burger joint, order your favorite meaty and cheesy ensemble of heavenly goodness when the cashier asks you, “Would you like fries with that?” You think to yourself, yes, of course I do! It hadn’t crossed your mind at that point, but now it only makes sense.

The same works for health and life insurance agencies. If your client has their health with you but their dental with another provider, ask them if they’d like to put both under you. They’ll step back, think about it and realize how much easier it would be having their policies with the same provider. One person to call. One less account to maintain. Easy.

16

Want to learn more about how to gain referrals and identify cross-selling opportunities? Check out our eBook for more tips and information:

17

Social Marketing

Name five people you know that don’t use social media. It’s hard. Virtually everyone is on one platform or another. This makes marketing on social media essential because you’ll reach the widest audience and be able to connect with them in a variety of ways.

Choosing a platform can be difficult. We recom-mend 2-3 main platforms and focusing your energy across them. Identify the platforms most used by your target audience. You could poll friends and family that match your audience, research outlets most commonly used by your prospects and then be present on just those. Here at AgencyBloc, we focus mainly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with a little YouTube and Google+ mixed in. We’ve found these to be the most prosperous platforms to reach our audience and would highly recommend them to you for starting out.

18

Social media is a great place to stay in touch with your audience. You can write or share relevant industry information that your clients and prospects need to know, and it gives your audience an easy way to contact and find you.

When thinking about social marketing, here are some stats you should keep in mind:

19

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

of Americans use Facebook

50+million buisinesses of users engage with

brands regularly

64%

130 310million monthly usersusers discover new products

via Twitterthousand active

advertisers

32%

42%

of key decision makersare on LinkedIn

are more likely to buy when they interact with a

brand on LinkedInmillion US users

12849% 50%

Google+40%

70%375of marketers use

Google+ million active users of brands useGoogle+

Statistic Brain

Besides social media marketing, you should be focusing on your website (and we highly recommend you have one).

Online Marketing

The important things to remember when building your website, and this goes for social media as well, is to keep the voice, brand, and message consistent and create easy ways for your clients to contact you through lead forms. AgencyBloc makes this simple with customizable lead forms you can generate and place on any website. Having a seamless display of who you are across all digital platforms is essential to brand awareness and growth.

Email Marketing

Spending your entire day prospecting on the phone isn’t feasible, so using email marketing to keep in touch is vital. Setting up trigger emails that are tailored to your clients and prospects will save you a ton of time and will get them the information that they need. In AgencyBloc, automated emails are one-time set-ups that will send at the right time to the right person.

20

Your clients will feel like you’re giving them the attention they need and providing them with pertinent information. You will have more time to focus on other aspects of business and grow your brand.

• Welcome emails• Birthdays• 65+ changes• Policy renewal reminders• Other relevant policy information

Not only is email marketing perfect for client retention, but it can also be profitable for your business. Venture Beat found that for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can generate up to $38 in ROI (return on investment). You can invest in trigger emails, drip campaigns, and mass emails to stay in touch with your audience without spending your entire day on the phone or all of your money.

Here are some of the types of automated email campaigns you could set up:

21

Maintaining YourBrand

22

Creating a LegacyYou can create and market the most innovative insurance selling brand in the world, but if you aren’t organized and client-focused, you're unlikely to be successful. Maintaining those two aspects of your brand will be the building blocks for your long-term success.

Client-Focused

Strong, positive relationships are the stepping stones to success. Keeping relationships in mind is essential for building loyalty and referrals with your clients. The relationship you cultivate with your client and how you maintain it throughout their journey with your company will make all the difference. Keep your optimism and capitalize on the human element—then keep going.

23

You want to create strong, loyal relationships—going mobile is a great way to build and maintain them. You’ll be able to answer your client’s questions in real time without having to put them on hold or call them back. Being responsive and providing them with the information they need will be essential to heightening your client’s experience and happiness with your brand.

A successful start is always dependent on the mindset you adopt going in, and research has shown that mindsets that revolve around relationships have consistently been the most successful. I call this the

“relationship mindset”. It starts the moment you make contact with a prospect, and continues throughout

your professional relationship with that client.A Brief Guide to Successful Relationships with the Modern Insurance Consumer, page 1

“

24

To maintain positive relationships with your clients, you also need to be organized and prepared to best service them. Automating your agency can help you become more productive and serve your clients better. Having your book-of-business in an agency management system will make your daily tasks easier because you can automate most of them and you will be able to accomplish more in your day. You will be able to focus more on your clients, manage your brand, and grow your agency.

Organized

44%

65%

22%

65% of sales reps using a mobile CRM achieved their sales quotas vs.

the 22% of sales reps that did so using a non-mobile CRM

Innoppl

of agencies report feeling “significant” productivity increase after

implementing an AMSIndependent Agent

25

A cloud-based agency management system will prove to be invaluable for your agency. The cloud-based system can safely store all of your client’s sensitive, private information on secure servers that are protected and backed up in the case of an emergency like a power outage. Additionally, having your entire book-of-business stored in a cloud-based system can give you the flexibility to run your business from any location with an internet connection. This means you can serve your clients whenever they need you when you’re working remotely.

Other agencies have found the benefits of implementing an agency management system (AMS). If you’re considering the option, take a look at AgencyBloc and chat with one of our sales specialists about the benefits you could find from an AMS.

Schedule My Personalized

1-on-1 Demo Today!

26

Want to see more resources from

AgencyBloc?

Check out BlocTalkBlocTalk is a resource of valuable content to give you and your agency a competitive edge. Hear

from industry experts and keep up-to-date on the technology you need to stay competitive in today’s

tech-driven insurance industry.

BlocTalk

27