Insurance Agent Forum

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Do you guys offer any of the same free reports that Dean Cipriano offers? I love having to put my email in to get info.

[Markingriffin]

Postcards are the best. People don't have to open them to read them. Most people will read them on the way back from the mailbox. Plus, you save some money on stamps.

Rosenthal Financial Services, LLC.

[Expat]

Originally Posted by senior-advisor-indiana

Do you guys offer any of the same free reports that Dean Cipriano offers? I love having to put my email in to get info.

Me too.

[wildcat]

Originally Posted by Markingriffin

Postcards are the best. People don't have to open them to read them. Most people will read them on the way back from the mailbox. Plus, you save some money on stamps.

Post cards have always worked pretty well for me. They are mainly sent to my current prospects. I've started mailing to a list which I am also calling on. I don't send out many, only a few hundred per month, but I get calls from them!

Beach Broker I like the idea of hand writing the address. A nice touch. That'll keep my wife busy.

[schealthagent]

Healthagent - when you had no luck with mailers, what kind of demographic criteria were you using? How about any of you other guys - aside from the obvious criteria for MP. I have a friend who does direct mail for politicians and he had some interesting ideas - for instance he said I could target married males 30 and over, registered republicans and independents, who earn x $$ per year. Not trying to spark any political debate here but the rationale for republicans and independents was that they are more likely to be small business owners or work for small companies and less likely to be waiting for King Barack to come and save them. Of course, I didn't want to exclude anyone, but his point was that if it costs .40 per piece no matter who it goes to - wouldn't you rather be a little more choosy about who it goes to?

Anyone done a joint health / life campaign?

[Beach Broker]

Marc, no problem on the question. I'm posting a reply to your Private message here, because the PM wouldn't go back to you. I hope you get it.

I've had a lot of experience in this area.

Blanket statements like "Postcards are best" is not the best advice in the world .

Of course it takes testing. For some offers postcards may prove betters, some times self mailers, and some times letters.

I've had much more success with self mailers than postcards, and I mailed to the exact same list multiple times. What does that tell me?

Hmmm, not hard.

I can assure you that most people never use letters the way I've described, and so they can't say whether they are effective or not, can they?

There's a couple of ways to get your mail opened. There is a long line of data and statistics pointing to letters as a better way to get response than postcards, but for your question specifically, I'll address that.

What is your target's biggest PROBLEM when it comes to what you offer. Is it too expensive? Too complicated? Scary? Confusing, Frustrating?

After you have identified what you most often hear in terms of a problem, (from your clients) then turn that into a headline.

I'll use price because that tends to be a popular way that we agents sell ourselves.

"How A Legal IRS Loophole Allows Angelina Jolie To Save 27% on Her Health Insurance Premiums...And You Can Too!" OPEN TO LEARN MORE...

Then I would go into how the IRS allows business owners to write off 100% of their health and dental insurance premiums.

Why Angelina Jolie? 2 REALLY good reasons. (She's a business owner of some type so that's the tie in.)

1. She's a hot superstar and you can put her picture in there to capture attention.

2. She is in a movie right now that is doing a ton of marketing, and you'll be able to leverage their marketing to enhance yours.

Now you will show them how they can set up a company that will only cost them $12 per year to maintain and it will save them hundreds, even thousands in taxes over the course of the year, or several years. (of course hypothetical, but you get the idea.)

Another example headline would be "How Savvy Americans (use your specific city for a better effect) Are Beating The Skyrocketing health insurance Costs." Open to learn more...

Also, have you downloaded the 100 Power Headlines and 32 Great Headline Templates from our video site? Insurance Marketing Mavericks
If not, it will be a great help to you, watch the video on Copywriting for maximum lead attraction or (maximum response), put in your email address and go download the tools.

Don't worry, I'm not going to spam you. But I am giving a lot of value, and I need an email address to update people on the new content we put up. (For those who are offended...don't do it.)

Hope that helps,

Beach Broker

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by James

If a mailing is going to work or not shouldn't be guess work! Did you test it first with say a run of a couple of hundred? I still maintain and have had good success doing neighborhoods, as in personalizing the mailer. And a whole lot less expensive! Yet you do have to call after you do 1 or 2 mailings and if you do ten thousand there really isn't a good way of doing that, at least for me.

Mulitple hits, such as several mailings, flyer insert in paper, calls (such as a person that actually lives in the neighborhood, that gonna cost about ten dollars an apt.) a personal call from yourself, and anything else you can dream up. Such as a local event too label a envelope with. In other words you need to have a plan that you can mail out consitently over the course of the year, year in and year out. One mailing I fear is nothing more then asking for failure. Yet I hope you success and achieve a 3% return, did you use a Mail Replier within your letter? A telephone and website is a good thing but the Mail Replier will really help!

What is a Mail Replier?? I'm just beginning a direct mail prospecting system with AdvisorsProShop. I know my letters will have a telephone number and I website, along with my email. But I don't remember hearing anything about a Mail Replier. Thanks!
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Originally Posted by Kyle Henson

Direct mail works if...

1. You can mail to a targeted market
2. You mail on a regular basis--most responses come after the fifth time receiving your piece.

My last mailing is at 2.56% response so far and leads are still coming in.

That sounds great. I'm looking at putting together a direct mail campaign. Can you expand on what you do for direct mail? Are you doing it yourself or using a company? Thank you for your help!

[arnguy]

You must obtain a Business Reply account from the U.S. Postal Service that allows you to imprint a "No Postage Required if Mailed in the U.S." indicia imprint on a card that is perforated and is part of the postcard you sent out. The individual recipient tears off the reply card fills it out and drops it in the nearest mailbox. You can access the Postal Service website www.usps.com for the details and costs involved.

[1manshow]

Been trying to decide if this little program is worth 3 bills to test on my next direct mail campaign. Anybody want to go half?

copydoodles.com

[stuy119]

Instead of targeting a "mass mailing," identify who your best customers are and look for a smaller list of people who fit that profile.

Send them FedEx letters. People always open FedEx letters, especially businesses.

Make it personal. Follow up with a phone call.

Make money.

[djs]

Originally Posted by 1manshow

Been trying to decide if this little program is worth 3 bills to test on my next direct mail campaign. Anybody want to go half?

copydoodles.com

There is nothing about copydoodles that you can't do yourself. It does make it a bit easier to be creative though, since it is put together, you don't have to think how to draw an arrow!

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Originally Posted by 1manshow

Been trying to decide if this little program is worth 3 bills to test on my next direct mail campaign.

Very pricey...

[InsuranceKid]

I would say neither. In my experience with Penn State's Dance Marathon (THON), I have realized how much of an impact the internet has on sales. As a student body we raised $7.5 million for the Four Diamonds Fund, which does pediatric cancer research. We did this through a mixture of canning, sending envelopes, and through the internet. In a down economy, the only explanation for the 10-15% increase in donations was how effective the internet fundraising was. I donated online and it was simple. You just input how much money you want to donate and put in your credit card information. Also, students could send personalized emails to prospective donors, which costs nothing compared to sending actual envelopes.

When it comes to selling insurance I think the same theory holds true. If you can send personalized emails or have a site that people will go to for information, then you will have more sales opportunities, which means more sales in general.

- Dave