Proof in the Pudding Nov. 26th, 2019
When I started writing this article months ago, I wanted to share with our agents some ideas that work for marketing and some ideas that do not work. You might recall, I discussed an agent who works out of a bank and who shared with me the idea of buying a mailing list from a vendor called USADATA? The emphasis here is not on the vendor, but rather on purchasing a mailing list in order to generate new sales.
Sean McBride
800.541.6705
Well, at least some of you took this advice and utilized it and today I want to share with you what I feel is a tremendous success story based on this marketing strategy.
There is a Property and Casualty Insurance Agency located in Southwest Kansas in an area that can only be described as rural America. Like many rural areas in the Midwest, there is an undeniable trend in the population demographic, they are getting older. Per the United States Census, 25.6% of the population in the county where the agency resides is 65 or older.
While it is unfortunate that the population is aging, this trend does provide Medicare sales opportunities. I had visited this agency before and introduced the idea of getting involved in Medicare sales, which if you are a Property and Casualty agent you know this is not something on your bucket list to do. The word Medicare is not very sexy, so asking a Property and Casualty agency to dive into something like Medicare is a BIG ask. To this agency\’s credit, they saw the opportunity and took it.
Getting started we needed to find a way to introduce the agency as a place where Medicare beneficiaries could come to get guidance on their benefits. In discussing different ways to do this I remembered the agent from the bank had had success with the mailing list. They decided to begin their marketing plan with a mailing list and a letter that simply stated the agency was able to assist during this year\’s Annual Enrollment Period. That was it, they simply wanted people to know that they could take care of their Medicare benefits as well as their property. Without the letter, no one would know they were open for Medicare business. They mailed out 197 letters utilizing a mailing list filtered for people age 65 or older in their area. In a little more than 2 weeks, they have generated 11 Medicare Supplement sales and they\’re still counting. In fact, it is going so well they have begun advertising in the local papers.
So, let\’s do the math on this. They have purchased 197 addresses for $50 and put those in the mail at .50 each for postage. The cost of the mailing list and the stamps come to $148.50. They have already made 11 sales, if those 11 sales stay on the books for 6 years the agency will have made over $20K in commissions (this assumption is based on street level comps and 100% persistency).
I would like to mention, the agency hand wrote the address on the mailers for the purpose of getting the mail recipient to open it. Computer-generated labels are viewed as junk mail, don’t use them. In my book this is an incredible success story, it wasn’t an expensive marketing campaign, but it was one suited for their region. The question now, what is your marketing plan to reach new clients?
As always, I truly appreciate each and every one of you. If I can help or our friendly staff at Producers XL, please give us a call. Happy Turkey Day!
Sean From the Field
Be Kind, Make A Difference!