Marketing 101

Jim Eggleston

The Small Business Advantage

• You know your local market area better than anyone

• You know what your customers like about your products

• You know the benefits of your products better than anyone

• You have the ability to adjust your marketing as needed

The big business disadvantage

• They don’t know your local market• They don’t know your customers• They hold things like focus groups to try to

determine the needs of their customers• They have to find offers that resonate with

prospects all across the country

Marketing 101

• Play to your strengths• Start of small (Don’t bite off more than you

can chew)• Test, measure, test, measure, repeat

Start in your own backyard

• Why? I thought we were talking about marketing?– This is all about trying out your approach on a

friendly audience– Tracking your approach to find what works– Adjust your approach based on the tracking

Referrals

• You have to have a reason to call– Birthday– Anniversary– Recent policy renewal or recent order• Thanks for your business• One of the ways I build my business is to ask the

customers whom I've helped to save money to refer me to a friend that I can also help them save money. I’m not asking for a dozen, maybe just one?

Referrals

• Now, the beginning of your marketing journey!– Don’t just pick up the phone and call!• Take 15 minutes and write down all of the approaches

and offers you can think of

Approach and Offer

– Introduction• Hi I’m Jim Eggleston, your local Allstate Agent

– The key here is clarity. Tell them who you are.– Next and almost as important is the simple word “local”. It

differentiates you from THEM. Those unknown people who call

Approach and Offer

– The approach• I just wrote a new policy for Bob Smith and was able to

save him a bunch of money on his homeowners insurance• Bob Smith is a good customer of mine and gave me

your name• Your neighbor Bob Smith recommended that I call you

The only way to know what works is to alternate your approach , track the results and see which works best.

Approach and offer

• The offer– I would like an opportunity to quote on your

homeowners insurance to see if I’m able to save you money like I was able to for Bob?

– Could I set an appointment to stop buy and prepare a quote for your homeowners insurance

– Is there a better time when I could ask you a few questions on the phone to aid in the preparation of a quote on your homeowners?

Once again, track and measure

Referral campaign benefits

• In your career you’ll always find that working referrals is your best revenue generator.– This approach will make you more successful at

working renewals, plus– It will provide you with the foundation you need

to be success at the next level in direct marketing

Finally, what I came to hear about, MARKETING

• Not so fast.– While this is what most people want to hear, those

who fail are those who didn’t do their homework– Knowing what approach and offer work best is

absolutely key to a successful marketing campaign– Never, never buy a list, pick a postcard with a

pretty picture, and mail it to everyone. You’ll fail, every time

Marketing

• Now you know the approach and offer• Next is finding the prospects– Once again don’t leave this to chance

• Take a look at your ten best customers– How old are they, what’s their home worth, how long have they

lived there, where do they live?– In Cole products we offer customer cloning to make this part easy– For Insurance Agents we also offer expiration dates of their

homeowners insurance

• Now take those characteristics and find a list of people that look just like them. They’re your best prospects!– Not 10,000 or 5,000 or even 1,000. Let’s pick the top 200

Marketing

• Why only 200 and why am I still calling?– You need sales and this is the quickest way to get

them– You also want to make your marketing self

funding, meaning you use the proceeds from these sales to fund your next campaign

– You need to take what you’ve been practicing and raise it to the next level outside of the friendly confines of referrals.

(Remember? Track your results)

Marketing

• Don’t bite off more than you can chew– Start by making no more than 10 calls per day• You have a lot of other responsibilities in the day, if you

spend to much time on this other parts of your business suffers and you’ll stop calling.• Don’t burn yourself out, this is a tortoise and hare thing• You’re still should be more interested in finding out

what works and what doesn’t as you are selling

Marketing

• 20 days later– What happen?– Take an honest look at the results• What approach worked, what didn’t• Who agreed to a quote, who didn’t • What, in detail, does your best prospect look like.

– Now go all in. • Use the approach that worked best• Download a list of your best prospects okay maybe 400

this time. That’s 20 calls per day.

Direct Mail

• This is where most novice marketers lose money!– Why?• Because they didn’t understand who to talk to, how to

talk to them, and what is the offer that most likely will result in a sale. • But, you do!

Direct Mail

• Start off small!– Don’t go looking for a printer, mailer, or

advertising agency– There are many providers out there that will

custom print a postcard for you at very low cost.• Vista Print, Postcard Builder, Sharper Agent

– Your approach and offer should mimic your successful prospecting phone calls

Direct Mail

• Start off with a goal of mailing 50 cards per day, so you’ll order 1,000 postcards, a one month supply.

• Print the labels from your computer list• Whatever you do, don’t mail more than 50 per

day, you’ll get tired of doing it and you’ll stop• Don’t forget, you’re still making 20 phone calls

per day.

Expectations

• By now, you’re contacting 70 people per day (20 by phone and 50 by mail)

• Your spending about $25 per day in mailing cost• Industry information would lead you to believe

that this should result in 10-12 opportunities. (Not sales, but legitimate opportunities to make a sale)

• Out of these, it really is up to you and your product, but you should expect to make 1 or 2 sales.

Expectations

• Now for some math– If you spend $25 per day on mailing and– $60 per day for 30 minutes of calling and 15

minutes of mail prep, your daily expense is $85.– If you make a sale, your commission/profit is $?

Summary

• Start small (you want your marketing to be self funding)

• Take advantage of your local presence, nothing beats local.

• Track everything you do (What is your approach and offer, what does your new customer look like)

• Keep track of what works• Do more of what works

Questions?