Don’t Ask Your Life Insurance Marketing To Do Too Much!
What exactly are we trying to accomplish when we market?
You see, if we truly understand what we are trying to accomplish, we have a million times better chance to actually get what we want. So, let's walk this through, step by step.
When you think about it, there can be several different options on what the desired result of your life insurance marketing can be. They can be things like:
- Phone appointments from new life insurance leads.
- Leads call you on telephone.
- The prospect taking your call.
- Receiving a report.
- Coming to a seminar, etc.
And with this variety of choices comes a corresponding array of methods we should consider to get what we want. And there are no right or wrong answers. Only right or wrong ways to find the answers.
And that's what this is all about. How to find the answers! The answers that will allow the most efficient and cost effective marketing that works for you, and your business.
You see, many of us still don't know what we are trying to accomplish with life insurance sales and marketing. Yes, that's true. What I mean by that is that we see life insurance agents making mistakes over and over again.
Mistakes that come from not knowing what they are trying to do.
Mistakes that cause marketing efforts to be frustrating and unproductive, because we don't understand the mission.
Trying to Do Too Much
A member was complaining about the seminar mailer he uses provided by his seminar marketing company.
It was a typical "Free Meal" type of seminar, and typical mailer provided by the seminar company. He had received a very poor response, and wanted to know why. I told him, with my usual tact, that, besides the fact that the mailer way too BORING and PROFESSIONAL, it was trying to do too much.
The mailer asked them to respond to the seminar pitch and talked about why his firm was so awesome and why people should hire him.
Now, if the mailer was a good, emotional response mailer, he might have had a better chance. But still, it would be a limited success story. The reason is that it is a lot to ask of someone to make a decision like this in one step.
You see, I think it is expecting way, way, way too much to have a mailer do all the selling for you. Way too much. You're asking the prospect to make a whole bunch of decisions in one fell swoop. You're asking them to:
- Open the envelope.
- Read the mailer.
- Respond to the message.
- Figure out if they are free that night.
- Find out if they can get someone else to come with, or get a baby sitter, or whatever.
- Figure out if you are the right kind of planner for them.
- Compare you to other planning/advising firms.
- Think about whether they want to hire you.
That's a lot of stuff to have happen in one move. The likely (and almost always actual) result is that since there is so much involved, they totally ignore your pitch in great numbers, and with great vigor!
See what I mean? We are all so caught up in how great we think the seminar is, that we forget that they have families, and schedules, and work, and aerobics classes, and bowling, and so on.
Break it Down to Just One Call to Action
What if we took the same ultimate goal, and broke it down into smaller and easier to manage pieces?
Like using a mailer to simply attract the people who are interested in something. And, then, when they get the thing (report or whatever), have it be a pitch for your seminar.
Keep in mind that a mailer is fleeting. It appears once, and can be tossed in the can with haste.
If, on the other hand, we get a report in their hands, it has a much longer shelf life in their kitchen, or den, or whatever. They have the ability to go back to it, and reread it if they choose. Or to put it down when the kids are driving them crazy, and pick it up again later. And hold it in their hand when they call their spouse at work to talk about it.
Do you see the difference? In my opinion, the ads should only be used to do one thing.
TO GET THEM TO CALL!
That's it. Period. Take it one step at a time.
Let's get them to do a little task. Then, we'll move on to the next step.
So, the mission of the mailer is simply to get the ball rolling. To get a spark ignited. Slowly. Without asking too much. The mailer’s job is relatively harmless, and crucial to the sequence.
How Do I Do It?
What kind of mailer will work for this first step? What will work to serve its master well?
Well, our members can use any of the ads/mailers we have them, like “Investors Frustrated And Disgusted With 2% CD’s!” And so on.
Because the mailer's mission is to get a response, we need to find a way to stir up the most curiosity possible.
Since we know that these headlines have worked over and over, why not use them to deliver a report?
Notice that the mailer should get people curious about the report, not the seminar. Now, you send them a killer, long letter that pitches the seminar. Or, that gives them the option of making an appointment and/or coming to a seminar.
Follow Up Process
The mission of the letter is to get your life insurance leads to be interested in meeting with you, either in person, or at a seminar.
Then, you follow up the letter with a phone call.
The mission here is to gently remind them of the seminar date. Then, you follow up with another letter, or postcard, or two more letters, and a postcard, or whatever.
Each step has a particular mission. Each step is designed to build on the previous step. Each step is doing no more than it need do, to work towards the ultimate goal.
Is this making sense? What we are doing with these steps, is gently entering into our prospects mind, without asking him for more than he is ready to handle. You notice I said, that he is ready to handle. Not what you want him to be ready to handle!
Remember to Understand Your Leads’ Point of View
Keep in mind that we work with this stuff so much, that we forget to understand the lead's viewpoint. He needs to be coaxed into a level of understanding at a pace he can absorb. Not your pace. His, and only his.
This is such a key point. When we try to push them along before they are ready to move to the next square, we run the risk of turning them off. For good. If they are sensing (or vividly seeing) things moving too fast, they have a simple solution. To shut you down.
They control the pace. Not us. That's why using the step by step marketing models are so critical to success. And that's why we need to test our assumptions before we roll out the big guns.
|
