InsuranceNewsNet Magazine February 2012 : 48
How Technology Has Changed Prospecting Forever By Maribeth Kuzmeski I delivered a presentation on market-ing strategies at MDRT’s Annual Meeting. Today, just six years later, that presentation would be very differ-ent—including aspects of marketing that didn’t even exist then. Today, marketing includes new media, social media, viral marketing, video, vir-tual seminars and managing your online reputation. If you’re thinking that your marketing doesn’t have to change and new strategies like social media and viral marketing don’t affect you—I’d like to share that times truly are changing and continue to progress. Even the way we get our “bread and butter” referrals has changed. And the reality is that, with-out adding some of these new aspects of marketing into your plan, the results you are having may begin (or already have begun) to dwindle. I believe that change in marketing is good and here are four examples: 1) Referral acquisition is no lon-ger reliant on word of mouth: Just a few short years ago, in order to culti-vate referrals, financial and insurance InsuranceNewsNet Magazine February 2012 professionals needed to deliver good products and service, communicate con-sistently and give clients an experience to talk with others about. Today all of that is still true, but it becomes mean-ingless unless what people are ultimately saying about you matches what can be found online. If someone says, “You have to go see my agent, she will help find the right solutions,” you have only reached the first step. Before coming in to see you, that person will likely search for you online and that is where it gets critical and very different from the past. Today, nine out of 10 people will search for you online before coming in to visit with you. Why? Because they can (and should) do some due diligence before sharing per-sonal financial information with some-one. The problem begins if they can’t locate you online or what they find is not up-to-date, clear and shares about “THe aTTenTion sPan Today is 17 seConds” you and your firm. Or, even worse, if what can be found out about you after a Google search doesn’t come close to matching the perception that they had in their mind of you after being referred. It is a big reason for not converting referrals into appointments and sales. Ask yourself; does my online presence, including my website and online bio, match with who I really am? 2) Diminishing attention spans require standing out like never before: The attention span today is 17 seconds. That means that it is more important than ever to share what makes you unique to attract the attention of potential prospects. You need to give yourself a fighting chance to have some-one pay attention and remember you—oth-erwise you become a gray suit on a gray wall and blend in with the rest. Standing out from the crowd for an advisor is not an easy task. There are 48
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