Inside Members Resource Guide to Maximizing

WINTER 2013 • VOLUME 31 • ISSUE 1 INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS OF IOWA

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BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresidentPaul Pohlson - Grinnell

President-ElectTerry McDonald, CIC - Iowa City

TreasurerScott Morningstar, CPCU - Lisbon

National DirectorDean Brooks, CPCU, CLU, ALCM - West Des Moines

DirectorsJerry Mease - WintersetEldon Hunsicker - OttumwaTerry Friedman, CPCU - DubuqueTim English, CIC - DyersvilleJohn Dalton - Council BluffsSteve Madsen - MarshalltownDavid Rowley, CPCU, CIC, AU - Spirit LakeScott Wirtz - EmmetsburgJamie Krist, CIC, MBA - West Des Moines

Past PresidentBrian Petersburg - Decorah

IIAI OFFICE STAFFChief Executive OfficerBob Skow, CPCU, CAEbob@iiaiowa.org

Membership Operations CoordinatorMelissa Meinersmelissa@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 15

Technology & Communications AdministratorJeanne Reynoldsjeanne@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 17

Membership Services CoordinatorMarilyn Paul, CPCU, AIT, AAM, CPIWmarilyn@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 11

Membership Services CoordinatorBrenda Kluger, CIC, CISR, CIIP, CRMbrenda@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 14

Customer Service RepresentativeMegan Kincymegan@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 16

ReceptionistCindy Grimcindy@iiaiowa.org • Ext. 12

Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa4000 Westown Parkway

West Des Moines, Iowa 50266(515) 223-6060 • FAX (515) 222-0610

800-272-9312 (In-State only)

Advertising EditorMelissa Meiners

MISSION STATEMENT: The Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa will be an unrelenting advocate of the business, professional and political interests of its members; doing so by working in the public’s best interest and with the highest ethical standards.

Viewpoint is a publication of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa. Viewpoint is published quarterly: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Viewpoint is mailed to Iowa insurance agents, Iowa Home Office Executives, Affiliate members, and other state associations and organizations.

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President’s ReportGOVERNMENT UNABLE TO PROPERTY FUNCTIONAs of this writing, our government seems to be unable to property function (again), so I am hopeful out elected officials can get down to business and cooperate among the parties to do the kinds of things they were elected to do.

by Paul PohlsonPage 5

National Director’s ReportATTRACTING YOUNG PEOPLE TO OUR BUSINESSAnother subject near and dear to me — the issue of attracting young people to our business and, more importantly, retaining them. The average independent agency owner in this country is in his mid-fifties and has no perpetuation plan.

by Dean Brooks, CPCU, CLU, ALCMPage 7

In This IssueWhere to Find it — A Resource Guide to Trusted Choice® Benefits

Page 11

Build Your Agency Brand with a Great Website

Page 14

Tech Talk — Top 6 Tips for Shooting Great Video with your Smartphone

by Steve AndersonPage 17

10 Easy-to-Avoid Advertising No-No’s

Page 21

Seven Keys to a Powerful Sales Presentations

by John ChapinPage 22

Succession Planning

by Bob Skow, CPCU, CAE -Chief Executive OfficerPage 25

WINTER 2013 | | 5

president’s REPORT

PA U L P O H L S O N

Winter now embraces us, as those cold dark nights seem to linger on forever. Winter is

not my favorite season, but know as each day passes, we move that much closer to spring and the light minutes increase each day.

Your Association office & Board are still hard at work dealing with the issues that concern you and your customers. Issues such as Crop Insurance, Health Insurance and Market issues seem to always be on the top of the list each year. As of this writing, our government seems to be unable to properly function (again), so I am hopeful out elected officials can get down to business and cooperate among the parties to do the kinds of things they were elected to do.

By the time you read this most likely Insurance Day on the Hill on February 5th will be history. Always an important event, a day to meet your legislators and visit with them about the import issues facing our industry.

I encourage you to “Stay on Top” of the various issues in our insurance business, and help your Association deliver the best services possible to our customers. I know how hard it is for our customers to understand rate increase and coverage

government unable

function.

changes which are being imposed on them by the insurance industry. If you need help understanding how to handle all of the quickly changing issues, please feel free to contact the Big “I” Office, you will find a most knowledgeable and helpful staff.

Remember in 2013 to volunteer for the various committees in Iowa, as the

Association is truly about you and your customers. (Committee sign-up forms will be in the mail late February.)

I wish you the Best in 2013 and I am hopeful that our severe weather subsides in 2013.

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national director’s REPORT

D E A N B R O O K S , C P C U , C L U , A L C M

attracting young people to our

business.The timing of this report finds me in

between National Board meetings. I already have reported to you on

last September’s Board meeting and the upcoming January Board meeting takes place just after the due date for this article. So at this time, there are no new national updates to bring you. I will report on the January Board meeting in the next issue of Viewpoint.

This does give me the opportunity to talk about a couple of issues that I hope are of interest to you. One is the tremendous opportunity offered by Project CAP to recapture personal lines market share for your agency. As agents, we know all too well the customers’ proclivity to shop their auto insurance. Like it or not, the harsh reality is that roughly 35% of all consum-ers shop their auto insurance annually and another 25% seek quotes every two to five years. The national quote conversion rate is 51%, which translate to a switch rate of around 18% annually. Approximately 75% of all consumers will go online to at least explore what options are available to them, even if they don’t all buy online. Independent agents must have a more sophisticated internet presence to com-pete effectively in this environment.

CAP provides you with the website strategy and online marketing tools to connect you with more prospects so you

can turn them into customers. To find out more about this opportunity, contact projectcapmarketing.com or call 855-372-0070.

As with any new undertaking of this magnitude, there are a few implemen-tation issues, so some patience will be required in the early stages. I’ve talked to a few agency owners around the country who have struggled to one degree or another with some of the internal mechan-ics of implementing CAP. Others seem to have fewer problems.

What I have noticed in my conversations with agents who are moving forward with CAP is that the typical “older” (a relative term) agency owner who tries to handle the website mechan-ics gets frustrated very quickly. On the other hand, young agency owners and/or young agency employees “get it” and already know a great deal about how to make internet marketing work. Plus, they have the patience to deal with all the details necessary to get up and running. Personally, I believe if CAP is to work in the typical independent agency, the

agency owner needs to make the commit-ment to the program, then immediately assign the youngest person in the agency to be the contact person and the one with responsibility for implementation. Then, most importantly, get out of the way. Something about old dogs and new tricks comes to mind here.

This segues nicely into another subject near and dear to me — the issue of attracting

young people to our business and, more importantly, retaining them. The average independent agency owner in this country is in his mid-fifties and has no perpetu-

ation plan. This should be cause for a fair amount of

concern not just for those agency owners but also for the insurance

companies represented by those agencies as well. I know that most companies express concern privately about perpetuation issues with their agency plan, but that concern doesn’t move beyond internal conversations to any sort of specific actionable plan. Our “partner” companies certainly could do a great deal more than they have in the past to help their agencies recruit young

8 | | WINTER 2013

producers with the potential for acquiring ownership of the agency in the future.

On the subject of “agency-company partnerships”, I just read a short white paper released by Ward Group in early December entitled “Selecting Agencies for the Future”. The basic premises is that there currently is too much sub-jectivity in company evaluations of their agencies and that a true statistical approach to measure an agency force is necessary in order to provide consistency for evaluating agency performance and bring credibility to the management process. This sure sounds a lot like yet another adaptation of predictive modeling to me. The hook could be found in the very last sentence of the report: “When performed correctly, a company can lower the combined ratio 3 to 5 points and drive sustainable long term value.” The author provided no substantiation to back up this combined ratio claim. To say the least, I’m skeptical about this at several levels, but I’ll bet Ward Group would be just the vendor

that could provide that “true statistical approach” for a nice fee.

Overall, the paper was pretty basic but one piece of information I found of particular interest was that while over 80% of companies tier (evaluate and rank) their agencies, only 50% inform their agencies of their ranking within the tiering program. Are you kidding me? I thought open communication was one of the hallmarks of a good relationship. It takes a lot of time and effort on the part of a company to annually evaluate and tier its agencies. Why would a company go through this exercise and not discuss the results with their agencies? Wouldn’t discussing a ranking with the agency open up the opportunity for all sorts of conversation about how to improve and grow the relationship? If nothing else, at least it could result in a more efficient use of time in the event both parties agreed this was not a year for growth. Maybe the discussion could even wander off into the area of agency perpetuation and how the company could help the agency attract

young new producers and future owners into the agency ranks.

In the majority of independent agencies in Iowa and across the country, the owners are old white males. Mind you, there is nothing inherently wrong with old white males — my lovely wife is married to one. But if we don’t have agencies and com-panies working together creatively to find ways to bring more young talent into the agency side of our business, our demo-graphics will catch up with us in the next decade. This has serious implications for independent agencies, companies and our Association.

As always, I appreciate any comments or questions you might have. You can email me at dbrooks@mfhins.com or call me at 515-868-0484.

Des Moines Branch: 800.362.2227 | Home Office: Des Moines, IA www.emcins.com

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? ➤ Facebook presence: go to www.facebook.com/trustedchoice

BENEFIT #4 – INCLUSION IN THE AGENCY LOCATOR ON THE TRUSTED CHOICE® CONSUMER WEBSITE➤ Viewing your agency profile on the Trusted Choice® agency

locator: go to www.trustedchoice.com, enter your zip code in ‘Find an Agent’ and click ‘Go’

➤ Creating/Updating your agency profile for the Trusted Choice® agency locator: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents and click on ‘Updating your company profile’

BENEFIT #5 – INFORMATIVE CONSUMER ARTICLES➤ Consumer oriented articles (content) for use in newsletters,

website and Facebook: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Public Relations’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on ‘Public Relations Articles’

BENEFIT #6 – CUSTOMIZABLE PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATES➤ PR – press release templates: go to www.trustedchoice.

com/agents, mouse over the ‘Public Relations’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on ‘Press Release Templates’

BENEFIT #7 – SYNDICATED CONTENT FEED ON WEBSITE➤ Automatic content feed for website (RSS feed): go to www.

trustedchoice.com/agents; see information on the home page, including the RSS script

➤ Current RSS feed content (text only): go to http://www.ceva-dopartners.com/index.php?page_id=500

➤ Sample website containing RSS feed (integrated into the feel of the site): go to http://afsinsurance.com/news_307.html

where to find it — a resource guide to Trusted Choice® benefits

BENEFIT #1 – CUSTOMIZABLE ADVERTISING MATERIALS➤ Creating a media plan: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents,

mouse over the ‘Advertising’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on ‘Advertising Articles’; click on the article ‘Ten Tips for Creating a Media Plan’

➤ Trusted Choice® tagable TV, radio, billboard and print ads: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Advertising’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on the advertising media is of interest

BENEFIT #2 – LICENSED USE OF THE TRUSTED CHOICE®

LOGO AND PLEDGE OF PERFORMANCE➤ Trusted Choice® Logo and Logo guidelines: go to

www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Logos/Pledge’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on either ‘Logo Examples’ for logos OR ‘Logo Rules’ for guidelines

➤ Pledge of Performance: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Logos/Pledge’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, click on ‘The Pledge of Performance’ in the dropdown

➤ Value of the Pledge, including ideas for the 24/7 pledge point: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Logos/Pledge’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, click on ‘The Value of the Pledge’ in the dropdown

BENEFIT #3 – NATIONAL ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPOSURE➤ National Ad schedule: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents,

mouse over the ‘Advertising’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on ‘Ad Flight Schedules’; click on the article ‘Ten Tips for Creating a Media Plan’

WINTER 2013 | | 11

BENEFIT #8 – TRUSTED CHOICE® COMPANY PARTNERS➤ List of company partners: go to www.trustedchoice.com/

agents, click on the ‘Companies’ tab; scroll down

➤ Company co-op funds: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Advertising’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, in the dropdown click on ‘Advertising Articles’; click on the article ‘Leveraging Company Co-Op As Dollars’

BENEFIT #9 – MARKETING REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM (MRP)➤ Marketing Reimbursement Program

(MRP) complete details: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents and click on the link on the home page OR go to www.trustedchoice.com/mrp

➤ Getting MRP reimbursement for adding the logo and pledge to your website: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents and click on the link on the home page (OR go to www.trustedchoice.com/mrp); click on ‘MRP Guidelines

GETTING THE TRUSTED CHOICE® BRAND STARTED IN YOUR AGENCY➤ Zoom in on Branding guide: go to www.trustedchoice.com/

agents, mouse over the ‘Branding Basics’ tab until the drop-down menu is revealed, click on ‘Zoom in on Branding’ in the dropdown (available on the page are a PowerPoint and the individual phases in PDF format)

PHASE 1: Getting Started: Educating and engaging your agency personnel and forming a brand team.

PHASE 2: Evaluate Your Brand: Review your agency’s current image in the marketplace.

PHASE 3: Redefine Your Brand: Develop a brand promise and examine your agency’s brand identity

PHASE 4: Integrate Trusted Choice®: How your agency can benefit from this national brand.

PHASE 5: Rethink Your Infrastructure: Review products, services, workflows, employees & technology.

PHASE 6: Create a Marketing Strategy: Develop a comprehensive marketing plan.

PHASE 7: Direct Marketing: Begin branding promotions with a direct marketing campaign.

PHASE 8: PR & Special Events: Learn to utilize “free media,” both in print and broadcast, to tell your story.

PHASE 9: Print, Web & Outdoor Advertising: Make the biggest impact for the smallest amount of money.

PHASE 10: Broadcast Advertising: Advertise wisely and effectively on both radio and television.

➤ Member branding checklist: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Branding Basics’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, click on ‘Branding Articles’ in

the dropdown; under the ‘Live the Brand’ headline, click on ‘Branding Checklist’

➤ Live the Brand guide: go to www.trustedchoice.com/agents, mouse over the ‘Branding Basics’ tab until the dropdown menu is revealed, click on ‘Branding Articles’ in the dropdown; under the ‘Live the Brand’ headline, click on the ‘Live the Brand guide’

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Ask many agents to discuss their online marketing strategy and often you’ll hear one of two

responses: 1) “We have a really nice website,” or 2) “We don’t believe in selling on the Internet.”

First, just having a really nice web-site is about as useful as having a really pretty telephone. If no one uses it, it doesn’t really matter how good it looks. Second, a web strategy doesn’t have to include online sales, but all agencies should be looking at how to use the web for marketing and customer service. Why? Because consumers increasingly look to the Internet when researching a purchase—whether it’s a stereo, a car or insurance—even if they ultimately want to buy from a live person.

So, how your agency is perceived in cyberspace—and a consumer’s ability to find you on the web—has a direct impact on your business and your brand. Here are some ideas for how to expand your net-thinking and thereby enhance your agency’s brand value:

Step 1: Enhance Your Agency WebsiteWhile most of you already have a website, it may be time to audit and enhance it. Ideally, a site should reflect your brand

Build Your Agency

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“How your agency is perceived in cyberspace—and a consumer’s ability to find you on the web—has a direct

impact on your business and your brand. Here are some ideas for how to expand your net-thinking and thereby

enhance your agency’s brand value”

qualities, position your agency positively for prospective clients, and provide information and services for existing customers. Specifically, you should determine if your agency meets the following criteria:

Easy navigation and loading. It should be simple to find information on your site, and not require multiple clicks to get any-where. Pages should load quickly, so keep graphics small and to a minimum.

Visual link to brand identity. Your site should resemble your other marketing materials in colors, fonts and style. Avoid looking busy or using cheesy clip art.

Keep it classy, even if you err on the side of simple.

Your brand promise and personality. A good site tells the shopper why they should select you as their insurance pro-vider. This is your opportunity to shine, so quickly brag about your expertise, the professionalism of your staff, the services you provide, the quality of your company partners. The Argus Agency in Yakima, Wash., even posts excerpts from “fan mail” on its site.

Contact options. Don’t limit contact to a general e-mail; include phone, fax and physical address so prospects can choose

14 | | WINTER 2013

WINTER 2013 | | 15

the manner in which they want to reach you. Berger & O’Neal Insurance Group in Alpharetta, Ga. provides a picture, short bio and contact information for each staff member, which further personalizes the contact for a web prospect.

Consumer information. Include frequently-asked-questions, tips on risk management and claims, and news releases on current issues. Including these on your site will establish you as an expert in the mind of the consumer and encourage them to use your site for future questions. (This is especially important if you are positioning your agency as a media contact.) The Walrath Insurance Agency in Orofino, Idaho, cleverly links FAQs on its site directly to the Trusted Choice® consumer section.

Customer service capabilities. Many agents were shocked when the Trusted Choice® survey released a few years ago indicated that 87% of personal lines customers and 70% of small business customers want 24/7 service from their insurance providers. And, many agen-cies still are struggling with how to offer that kind of meaningful access without compromising data security or going broke. (The Trusted Choice® Pledge of Performance requires 24/7 accessibility, but it leaves to agents how to deliver that service.)

To help you determine what kind of services you should offer, consider what consumers really want. According to a survey of agency customers using its after-hours services, idNet/CSR24 found the following: • 52% have general questions; • 14% want to change, add

or delete something in their policy;

• 13% want certificates; • 11% want to report a claim; • 8% want to review their

policies or personal information; and

• 2% want auto IDs or evidence of property insurance.

Great agent websites offer their customers some or all of these options—satisfying customer needs without costly staff interface. Some possible means of providing a measure of online service include the following:

• Invest in a real-time service that pro-vides your customer with read-only access to their records, along with the ability to request changes;

• Invest in a certificates-on-demand system that can provide commercial clients with proof of insurance any time of day or night;

• Offer e-mail from your website. Of course, you can use XYZ to deliver some 24/7 capabilities.

Quoting and sales. If you’ve mastered the list above and are interested in reach-ing that segment of insurance buyers that will purchase coverage online, we recommend reading Gary Savelli’s Selling Insurance on the Internet, which offers independent agency-specific guidance.

Remember that the denizens of cyber-space are accustomed to an ever-changing world, so refresh your site often and keep up with what your competition is offering online.

Final thought: Customers and pros-pects want to see your people, not just your policies and services. Your agency website is the ideal place to show them off. No cheesy Polaroids, please. Bite the bullet and hire a professional pho-tographer to come into the agency for a half day. Post these updated, consis-tent-looking shots of your entire staff on the website.

Step 2: Promote and Link Your SiteToo many agencies stop after Step 1, leaving their sites to fend for themselves in the vast Internet wilderness. If you want customers and prospects to visit

your site, you have to drive them there. Of course, include the site address on all agency materials, including the following:• Stationery and

business cards• Marketing and

quoting materials• Agency signage• Renewals

• Direct mail • Advertising • E-mail signatures.

But your activities need to go beyond that. Celebrate the “birth” of your new website with announcements, even an

open house for customers. E-mail clients when you post new consumer guidance on the site, such as seasonal tips (i.e. hurricane preparedness, holiday host liability).

Link your site to other sites that will generate traffic from quality prospects such as real estate agencies, chambers of commerce, builders, trade associations, auto dealers and city sites. You may have to pay for the privilege, so look at what kind of traffic (who and how many) before ponying up.

If you are a Trusted Choice® agency, be sure your agency profile is current so that you can receive qualified leads from www.TrustedChoice.com. Every day we hear about agents who are getting quality busi-ness from Trusted Choice®, and with more national cable TV and Internet advertis-ing, that success only will continue. Catch the wave.

Step 3: Advertise on the WebLocal web advertising can be effective for agencies if executed well. There are two general ways of paying for online ads: per click (how many people click your ad for more information) or in a package based on a promised number of impres-sions (people who will see your ad but not necessarily click on it).

The ad itself must be compelling if you want viewers to click on it. So, make an offer or a call to action: Free Consultation, Special Offer, Policy Discounts, etc. Keep the ad short and simple; cyberspace moves quickly and verbosity kills. Talk with an ad firm that specializes in electronic marketing for guidance.

Note that even small, classy ads on local community sites that don’t necessar-ily drive a lot of business can help build name recognition—and brand awareness.

Step 4: Track and AdjustKnow from where your leads come. Tell your IT manager or consultant to track the source of online leads. Monitor the hits, do an assessment of your return on investment (ROI), and adjust your web marketing strategy accordingly about twice a year.

Go to www.TrustedChoice.com for more branding tips.

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tech.talk

Top 6 Tips for Shooting Great Video with your

SmartphoneBy: Steve Anderson

STEVEANDERSON.COM

Always feel free to email me with comments, new ideas or products that have worked

for you. I will check them out and spread the word!

V ideo should be a key part of every insurance producer’s sales toolkit. Smartphone video has improved in quality to the point that today’s phones allow you to take High

Definition (HD) quality video quickly and easily. Insurance pro-ducers currently can use video to create great connections with people they can’t see in person, explain complicated processes to an underwriter, and demonstrate why certain coverage is import-ant for a prospect to consider.

But, creating a good video is not as easy as pushing the start button. With the right knowledge, skills, and equipment anyone can transform your mobile device into a powerful video camera to record effective video.

Here are 6 key things to remember when using your cell phone to shoot video:

1. Audio is KeyPeople will put up with lower quality video with good quality audio much longer than the reverse. It is important to take steps to record the audio well. Unfortunately, the built-in microphone in most smartphones is not very high quality. And, it is suscepti-ble to recording wind and other ambient noise.

WINTER 2013 | | 17

If at all possible, record your video in a quiet place. You also might want to invest in an external microphone that plugs into your phone. There are a number of different types you can use to improve the audio quality of your video. Simply search for “audio microphone [Your smartphone brand]” to see listings of possible products.

2. Hold it SteadyAs with all cameras (both still and video), a steady hand is the key to achieving a shot that’s free from blurring and distor-tion. Grip the phone with both hands when recording video, taking care to avoid block-ing both the camera and the onboard mic with your fingertips. If you have a tough time limiting movement, consider resting

your phone on a table to help add stability. You also can pur-chase a small tripod that will help steady the camera.

3. Shoot HorizontallyMost people are accustomed to holding their cell phone handset vertically; however, video recorded like this doesn’t look very good when it’s replayed on a horizontal computer screen or television. Once you’ve launched the video camera, hold the camera horizontally during all video shoots to maintain consistency between clips.

4. Get CloserSince most mobile phones do not offer an optical video zoom feature, you’ll need to move closer to your subject to ensure your subject is clearly visible on the video. This also helps your viewers know exactly what the subject of your video is, since video that’s shot in widescreen can be confusing and filled with numerous subjects that distract from your main point.

5. Light it UpAim to record cell phone video in well-lit areas to prevent shad-ows and dark areas on the clip, however, don’t aim directly at any light source – this will make your video virtually impossible to watch. Because the sensors in cell phone cameras tend to be

very basic they are unable to handle wide variations in lighting, so be sure to record in an area that has a steady light source.

6. Make Sure There’s RoomVideo files are large and can quickly max out the onboard mem-ory on your mobile phone. Before you begin recording, check how much memory is available on your device. If possible, expand the memory capacity of your phone by adding an optional memory card such as a micro-SDcard.

By following these 6 tips, you’ll be able to record great videos using your cell phone or other mobile device.

Test Your WebsitesUsing Multiple Browsers

Browser market share statistics as of September 2012 are:

• IE-38% • Firefox-25% • Chrome-21% • Safari-8% • Mobile-7%

This means your websites must render correctly on at least these 5 different platforms. You should make sure to test your website on each browser platform to make sure the pages and content displays correctly.

You could install each browser on both a Windows and Apple computer so you could load your website and test all of the pages. However, this is at best a cumbersome process.

Enter Adobe BrowserLab.

Adobe BrowserLab is a free, web-hosted, cross-browser compat-ibility tool that lets you test both modern and legacy browsers, including all of the browsers listed above. The BrowserLab platform provides a number of ways to view pages, including a full-page view in a single browser, as well as side-by-side com-parisons of browsers as well as an onionskin view.

This service works by taking screenshots of your webpage using hosted versions of each of the browsers that you select. You can create predefined browser sets that contain the specific brows-ers you want to test. This allows you to test only the browser versions you are interested in, although you should test every browser (including multiple versions).

The service is hosted and provided by Adobe. To use the ser-vice you will need to create an Adobe ID and password. If you currently use other Adobe products you may already have an account set up.

There is no cost to use this service as of today. Adobe could change this and charge for the service at any time. Test your website by going to Browserlab.adobe.com.

FINDING YOUR LOST MOBILE DEVICE

You can’t find your phone and you start to panic. There is perhaps nothing more stressful than leaving your phone someplace or having it stolen. Losing your phone is like losing your wallet with $700 in cash, plus your emails, contacts, and passwords. And if you use it for business, the data breach implications are huge.

There are several ways you can track and, hopefully, find and recover your lost or stolen mobile devices — if you take steps to install one of the many services that can help find lost devices. Some are platform specific, others work with a variety of smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Following are a few suggestions:

Find My iPhone (iOS: free): Very popular for finding an Apple device. It has key features including geolocation, remote alarm, and remote wipe. All you need to do is enable the app from your device settings.

Prey (iOS, Android, Linux, OSX, Windows: free and pre-mium): This works across platforms including phones, tablets, and laptops.

Lookout Mobile Security (iOS, Android: free and pre-mium): The free version lacks remote wipe and lock, but does include other features like security and data backup.

Dropbox (iOS, Android, Linux, OSX, Windows: free and premium): While not generally thought of for mobile security, this service has a hidden feature that could help you find a lost device. The Security tab of your Dropbox account shows a list of devices that are linked. Under “Most recent activity” you will find the last logged IP address. You can use this to look up the location.

Lojack for Laptops (Windows, Mac OSX: $39.99/yr): Like Lojack for your car, this software offers remote file, geolo-cation, and remote locking with message display.

For your own peace of mind, I suggest you do something to help you locate your device if it is ever lost or stolen.

18 | | WINTER 2013

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WINTER 2012 | | 21

Remember the saying that if your doors are open, you should be

advertising. Silence is not an option; if you are not adver-tising, the competition will be defining your brand for you. When done well, adver-tising can have the impact of making you appear to be a bigger player than you are—it can establish or enhance your credibility as a serious business.

To get the most for your advertising buck, avoid these 10 no-no’s:

1. No plan. If your firm doesn’t have an advertising plan, the ad sales reps are still glad to take your money. Start out with a modest plan, but have a plan. That plan should include specific target audience sets.

2. No budget. Best Practices agencies typically budget 2 to 3% of revenues for advertising and promotion. You can’t just run a couple of newspaper ads and expect results.

3. No customer contact. Don’t advertise to strangers unless you have a top-notch, tested, consistent plan to reach out to your current customers.

4. No clear and pre-tested messages. Why dream up slogans and ad copy on your own? You can draft copy, but let your employees—and some customers—provide feedback first. Leverage the language contained in the Trusted Choice® Pledge of Performance—remember you’re communicating to the consumer exactly the things they say they want in an insurance counselor!

5. No unified look to all materials. Your dollars work harder—and your brand communications are more consis-tent—when all your creative materials have the same look and feel.

6. Do-it-yourself design. Okay, so someone on staff has some artistic talent, but that’s probably not going to cut it for a professional, modern look. If you can’t afford a full-service ad agency, hire a competent, local designer.

7. Not showing your people…or customers. Customers can’t remember

what’s in their BOP policies, but they sure remember their CSRs and agency owners. Feature them in your ads. Go a step further: Find very special clients willing to talk about your agency in TV, radio or print ads. That depicts true part-nerships.

8. No staying power. Agency owners often get discouraged when they don’t see immediate results from advertising. Remember, it takes at least a two-to-three-year commitment. If your ads are good, there will be a cumulative effect over time. Be patient.

9. “Spray and pray.” This is the worst offense of all, and it’s perpetuated by ad sales reps. “We’re having a summer special,” the radio rep will tell you. “You get 100 ads for only 100 bucks.” What a deal, right? Not if the ads are running different weeks, days and times—and you can’t get him to tell you how many drive-time spots you’ll get. Like anything else, you get what you pay for in the advertising business.

10. Not tracking results. You must put someone in the agency in charge of benchmarking your calls and referrals and track-ing results each quarter of your campaign, or campaigns.

Trusted Choice® national advertising is running TV ads two weeks out of every month, so it’s a great time for agents and brokers to take their agencies out to the media.

And remember to check out www.TrustedChoice.com/agents for more branding and advertising tips.

10 Easy-to-Avoid Advertising No-No’s

22 | | WINTER 2013

now educate the prospect on how your product or service fills her unique needs and desires. Show caring, understanding, and empathy for the prospect, and show that you are seriously inter-ested in helping her out.

Make sure you focus on the benefits and what’s in it for the prospect. Features are fine, but you must articulate what those

features mean to the pros-pect with regard to what is important to him or her.

4. Deliver your presentation in a clear, concise, and articulate manner.Your sales presentation should be easy to under-stand, to the point, and it should be delivered in terms that the prospect will understand. You want to use as few words as possible while at the same time, using the most effective words possible. Also, no acronyms or other terms and phrases that the prospect may not be familiar with.

Finally, keep your initial presentation to a maximum of three solid points. If you overwhelm the prospect with too many points, you will probably hear, “I want to think about it” or “send me some information”. If you have other legal items and disclo-sures that you have to cover, save those for the paperwork phase after the prospect has decided to buy.

5. Your presentation should lead naturally to the close.

Your sales presentation should be designed in such a way that it walks the prospect smoothly through the presentation, address-ing all needs and concerns, and flows right into the close. If your presentation is straight-forward, conversational, and covers all the bases, the close is simply the natural conclusion of the pre-sentation.

1. Make your presentation interesting and to-the-point.

Your presentation needs to catch and keep the prospect’s attention and interest. Make it interactive. Ask the prospect questions and involve her in ways that make her an active member in the proposed solution. Use interesting examples and stories that mirror her situation and spell out how others have benefited from using you and your company in simi-lar situations.

2. Deliver your presentation with energy, enthusiasm, and emotional logic.

You need to show energy, enthusiasm, and excite-ment for your product. At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm the prospect with too much energy and excitement. If your prospect is a high-en-ergy individual, match their energy level. If your prospect is more subdued, show energy and excite-ment that is one level above theirs.

In addition to showing energy and enthusiasm, you need to back your presentation up with logic. Remember: people buy on emo-tion and justify their decision on logic.

Bottom line: Put life, energy, and enthusiasm in your voice, and make sure your sales presentation makes good logical sense.

3. Address the specific needs, desires, and concerns of the prospect, and speak to her hot buttons.

Each presentation will be different because each prospect has different needs, desires, and concerns. If you’ve done your work properly during previous calls, you understand what the prospect is looking for and you’ve uncovered some hot buttons. You will

B Y J O H N C H A P I N

Seven Keys to a Powerfulsales presentations.

WINTER 2013 | | 23

6. Have a presentation script.While each presentation will be differ-ent based upon the individual prospect’s needs and desires, most of the pieces remain the same, you’ll simply use different ones and arrange them differ-ently. Each feature and benefit, story, and piece of information you need to convey, must be well thought out, well prepared, written down, committed to memory, and most important, proven to work. Some people believe that having a written presentation is too unnatural—you may sound as though you are reading (if on the phone), or canned (if in person). The way to avoid this is by practicing, drilling, and rehearsing your presentation pieces to the point where you know them verbatim.

The goal of a script is to make sure you cover everything you need to cover in as few words as possible while at the same time, using the most effective words possible. Writing out each piece of your presentation and committing them to

memory will ensure consistency through-out your presentation, it will also help identify any problems with your presen-tation.

Note: Don’t reinvent the wheel, get a presentation script that you know works from one of the top people. You want their results, so use what they use.

7. Continuously update and improve your presentation.

The pieces of your presentation can always be better and you can always be more effective, so keep working on your presentation, keep honing it, and keep improving it. You can always use more effective words, examples, and get better at delivery.

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Recently, I met the spouse of an independent agent who suddenly passed away without a succession plan to discuss how best to proceed with

selling the agency. It seems as if this unfortunate event happens too often; the agency owner dies with no succession plan in place. Family members are left with a bad situation and their clients have no clue who is handling their insurance. In cases of smaller one-owner agencies this can create a difficult problem for next of kin. But, even in larger multi-owner agencies a sudden death of an owner can create issues for the survivors. While the conversation of “who will take over if something happens” may seem difficult, in reality it is a compliment to recognize the value you bring to your agency and clients; one that every agency owner needs to have.

We suggest owners have a plan for emergency succession, and the plan should be shared with family members. A planned succession is a dialog and full awareness of anticipated transition between you and other owners, staff or maybe another agency you want to take over. A written agreement with timelines, predetermined value and instructions on how your interests will be transferred should exist. I know it is a difficult task,

but trust me, it is much tougher for your family if all of a sudden you die and they haven’t a clue what to do.

The perpetuation problem exists for every agency, regardless of its form of organization. It is equally important for a corporation as it is for a partnership or sole proprietor. No question about it the issue is greater the smaller the agency is, because a successor who can continue the agency may not be readily available. Unless there is someone available who is qualified to operate the agency, a forced sale at less than market value could hap-pen. And, let’s be candid, most of us want a fair price for our book of business.

The sole proprietor has several possible solutions, possible surviving family mem-bers might want to take over…have you asked them (even if they are not in the

agency)? If there isn’t a family member, is there someone currently working in the agency who would have an interest in becoming an owner? Then of course, you could pre-execute a buy/sell agreement with a competitor. Each of these are via-ble ideas that should be explored.

Partnerships usually dissolve imme-diately upon the death of a partner or within a few months. This is something that contractually should be understood. At the very least, partners should have a pre-agreed value and a written agreement on how the ownership is transferred. Sometimes surviving partners don’t want to own or buy the deceased’s interest. A discussion and agreement about what would happen if one partner could no longer work should be part of the plan. A plan should be in place on how and who would join the agency and purchase the interest of the descendent and how that person would be selected if not pre-determined.

When there are multiple owners often we see stock or shares of ownership being held by multiple parties. But, that in itself does not solve the perpetuation problem. Usually shares become part of the deceased stock holder’s estate upon death. The estate will require cash for death taxes and other costs. If the shares of stock represent a significant part of the

B O B S K O W, C P C U , C A E – C H I E F E X E C U T I V E O F F I C E R

planningSuccession

WINTER 2013 | | 25

Celina Commercial Lines is Want to learn more? Contact Iowa Marketing Representative Keith Krueger: Phone: 515.419.1065 keith.krueger@celinainsurance.com

Hey Iowa Agents!

estate, and if no advance arrangements have been made, there may be no alterna-tive to convert the shares into cash. Also, if the shares do not involve control, it may be difficult for the estate to find a buyer at a fair price. Again, it is important to have a written agreement in advance of a problem.

A bit of planning now not only could assure ownership values at the time of an emergency sale will be fair, but clearly even for a well thought through retirement will be much easier. Pre-determining value of agency ownership is good risk management. I find it interest-ing people wouldn’t pay $100,000 for a piece of real estate without an appraisal, yet they might sell or purchase an agency and spend considerably more without consulting someone who is qualified to evaluate an agency!

Today, make yourself a promise that you will sit down and make sure you have a succession plan. Even if you have one, you should annually review it. Make sure your key family members have a copy of it. Hopefully, you will never need an emergency succession, but even voluntary agency departures are better served by having a plan well in advance.

Q: “We are an independent insurance agency in the process of purchasing another independent insurance agency. We are looking for samples of purchase agreements so

we can have a blueprint to use to create our purchase agreement.”

A: We get requests frequently for sample contracts. The prob-lem is that each agency purchase is unique and there is simply no “sample” agreement that will fit all situations. I

ran this by our agency management guru and got these representa-tive responses: • After going through three deals the last 8 weeks, there is no

such thing as a representative sample agreement. What type of transaction is it? Assets only? Retention or guaran-teed price? Does it involve a sole proprietor, corporation or LLC? How many owners involved? Purchase agree-ment is only one part...what about a promissory note, guaranty, security agreement? Closing statement? What about due diligence? Schedules? Exhibits?

• I would suggest hiring a consultant who has structured dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of these deals. They will pay for themselves many times over in saving money often left on the table, plus making sure you protect your-self from potential liability and adverse tax and other financial consequences.

Here are some VU articles that provide some good advice and you can go to the bio area of the “Ask an Expert” service for contact information on agency management consultants who do this type of work:

http://www.independentagent.com/Education/VU/ Agency%20Management/Valuation/default.aspx

http://www.independentagent.com/Education/VU/Pages/ faculty-bios/agency-management-bios/agency-management.aspx

26 | | WINTER 2013

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