Remembering Dick and Myra Larkin - National Association of ...

and when they used a search engine.Because consumers are bombardedwith matches after a search, they startbrowsing around the results and neverquite make it to the site they originallyintended to visit, according to the Yahoosurvey. The point is, when a consumeruses Google to shop for insurance, evenif they know exactly who they are lookingfor, the Google results page will displaymyriad of other choices.Given that Internet consumer searcheshave become so congested with confusing,and sometimes irrelevant results,it would seem the search engines willeventually have to adapt so the consumerexperience is better. Usually when somethingpopular or useful becomes unwieldy,the market will develop a bettersolution. For the time being though, thesituation is as follows: when consumersuse search engines, they get millions ofresults in the insurance category, therebyeasily exposing them to new brands.Managing the Online MarketFor the present, what every marketingcompany and sales person faces is anInternet consumer market that is inundatedwith competitive offerings. Witha generic insurance search, the consumeris probably not going to have much luckfinding a local agent and worse, the agentis not going to have much luck findingtheir local geographic market online.Controlling your online presence has createdan industry of its own – “ReputationManagement” – because of the rampantsearch engine results.The industry is at a point where marketingonline requires a level of Websitedesign and Internet ad buying that is farmore sophisticated than the marketingsavvy of the average insurance salesperson.And, to make matters worse, thereare questionable companies who claimthey can set up a Website to guaranteebetter search engine results. They mayhave just a little more knowledge aboutsearch engines than the average person,but they portray themselves as experts.Some use what are called “black hat”practices - trying to manipulate the searchengine results. These black hat techniquesare eventually detected by the search enginesand then “punishment” is meted outby moving the company to near the bottomof the results page (for car insurancethat would be at the end of 98 million listings).So it is important to hire help that isknowledgeable, reputable and referencedby others. Otherwise, their “help” couldbe worse than nothing.Selling to the Online ShopperJust as the online shopper is difficultto track down, the shopper has differentexpectations of the sales process too. Ifyou are contacted by an online shopper,or if you buy from online lead generators,you need to react differently. First of all,you must react very swiftly. Users of theInternet expect quick, if not immediate,results. They want a quote right away, andexpect you to produce it when you callthem. Also, they have been exposed tomany competitive offers via the Internet,and they will comparison shop. You mustbe prepared and understand that they willprobably be considering other options, soyou should provide your best offer.In a survey of online insurance shoppers,InsureMe reported that many consumersdid not receive a follow up call,and would have bought if they had acall back. Other consumers complainedthey had to repeat their information so,if you purchase leads, try not to ask theconsumer the same questions that are onthe quote request form. In another surveyby InsureMe, consumers mentionedthat some agents were rude and pushy. Itis possible that since online shoppers arenot meeting face-to-face with agents, theagents might not being as gracious as theywould be in person. So even if the lead isfaceless, you need to have your game faceon and present yourself and Allstate in thebest possible light at all times.The online lead will never be the sameas the friend referred by your mother, butbecause there are so many of them, theonline market is too big to ignore. It isimportant for agents to allocate some oftheir marketing dollars to online prospectingand when a lead comes in, workit quickly and politely. Until the nextgreat marketing phenomena, the Internetand its search engines will continueto be your best friend and strongest competitor.It’s up to you to leverage it toyour best advantage.Lori Reed is Director of Marketing for InsureMe,a Bankrate company. InsureMehelps millions of consumers find the rightinsurance, while providing thousands of insuranceagents with high-quality, real-timeleads. For more information, go to www.insureme.com.I Want to Help You sell More AFS!I Have Some Tipsthat Can Help You Achieve Your Expected Resultsthis Year. Learn from a Pro when You Join NAPAA.Ranked #1 in AFS Production Credit in4 of the past 5 Years.To Learn More Contact Gerry Flores at(563) 564-1800 or at GERBEAR_61@HOTMAIL.COM22 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2009