Working with Insurance Agents

Insurance agents can be a great source of new business -- but the challenge is building the relationship initially. The first insurance agent you should network with is YOUR insurance agent. You will already be speaking with him/her because you'll need to line up business insurance for your new home inventory service business. Ask him or her how you can work with them to increase awareness of the need for a home inventory. (After all, most insurance companies either recommend or require a home inventory from their customers.)

Perhaps you can do a co-branded postcard to the insurance agent's customer database. This is a postcard YOU pay to print, produce, and mail, but the agent provides the mailing list and an "implicit endorsement" of you by allowing his/her name to appear on the postcard.

It might read:
"State Farm recommends you maintain an inventory of all of your possessions to maximize your insurance coverage. When you need to make a claim, will you have the information you need?"

Include a few tips for conducting an inventory, and close with the tag: "If you need assistance with compiling your home inventory, contact (YOUR NAME) at (YOUR BUSINESS NAME)." Include your phone number and website address.

For best results, include your photo and the insurance agent's photo and contact information. I recommend using "oversize" (at least 5x7) postcards. The total cost should run you about $1.00 per postcard (including printing and first-class postage).

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Want to expand your network of insurance agent contacts?
Have clients sign a release of information form for their insurance agent. Send a letter to the insurance agent, notifying them that an inventory has been completed on (date) and enclose your contact information for their file in the event of a claim. For best results, make the release form a two-part NCR (carbonless copy) form. Send 1 copy to the agent and retain one in your client file.

Effective Networking

Some people are just downright overbearing in their efforts to network. They confuse “schmoozing” with true networking, which is a collaboration between two or more people, designed to benefit both individuals.

Opportunities to network are everywhere. Joining the local Chamber of Commerce gives you the opportunity to meet individuals who may be in the position to refer others to you, and to whom you may also make referrals. (This last part is the key -- remember, it's not all about you, even if you are desperate to build your home inventory service business.)

Understanding that knowing each other will benefit you both, you can network successfully, with effective results – more business for your business and theirs.

The first step is identifying the type of individual who would best be part of your network. For a home inventory business owner, that might be insurance agents, cleaning service business owners, owners of disaster service recovery businesses (i.e., national franchise Paul Davis Restorations), real estate agents, new home builders, estate attorneys, financial planners, and more...

All of these individuals have contact with the types of clients who might need your services. In addition, your clients might also need their services. This gives you the perfect opportunity to create a natural referral network.

Meeting these individuals is the next step. You can take advantage of the networking opportunities of the Chamber of Commerce or you can simply call and introduce yourself to someone who meets the definition of the type of person you’d like to have in your network, and ask them out to lunch – in order to find out more about what they do and how you can help them get more business. Rarely will someone turn down the opportunity to find out how they can get more business for their business.

Be sure to emphasize how you want to help the other person, not how you want the other person to help you. At lunch, ask him or her, “How can I know if someone I am talking to is a good prospect for your services?”

Learn how to identify prospective clients to refer. The favor will surely be returned, although that is not the reason you want this information. If you are able to help someone else to get more business, they will be grateful forever.

If you meet a prospective networking partner at an event, after you introduce yourself, invest 99.9 percent of your time asking that person questions about him or herself and about his or her business. People like to talk about themselves, and knowing more about that person can help you develop a stronger connection — which is what networking is really all about.

Stay At The Top of the Mind

Networking does not always have to be done in person. As you look through the newspaper each day or week or as you read magazines each month, look to see what bits and pieces of news or information affects those in your network. If it has to do with them, their profession, or their personal interests or hobbies, clip it out and send it along with a short note.

Keeping your name in front of others is essential in networking. Send your networking prospects a notepad every month or so to keep you on their mind. If you publish a newsletter, arrange with the individual to display your newsletter in his or her offices (and offer to do the same for him or her).

Create personalized thank you notes. Send them every chance you get. Thank the person for allowing you to get together for lunch. Let them know how much you learned, and that you’ll be on the lookout for prospects who may be in need of their services.

Also send thank you notes to new clients and to referral sources. Thank you notes to clients can be one way to build your network. Each client has a “sphere of influence” – people that they know who might need your services. Their sphere might include other service professionals of the type identified as potential members of your network.

Work Together
Also consider a joint project with your networking partners. For example, you might team up with an insurance agent and disaster service recovery firm and create a booklet, “Putting Your Life Back Together After A House Fire” in which all members of the network contribute short articles and resource guides to help the individual/family understand the process after a house fire. (What to expect, what to do, how to prepare before a fire -- that's where you come in!).

Each person’s contact information appears in the booklet, and each member of the network distributes the booklet to individuals who may be in need of it.

You could also send a news release on your booklet topic to the media and receive additional exposure in that way.

Joint promotions are also a good way to use your network.

Collect the corporate brochures of your networking partners to distribute to your clients who may be in need of their services. The corporate brochure contains a great deal of information that is useful for you, also. You can find out about the experience, education and training of your networking partner, plus contact information (phone, fax, website and e-mail information), the range of services that the individual provides, and more.

Knowing this type of information will help you keep an eye out for articles in magazines and newspapers for your networking partners. Keeping in touch is the best way to effectively use your network. Remember, “out of sight is out of mind.”

The most effective networkers are those who try to help others. The benefits of these relationships will naturally come back to you, so focus on helping others build their businesses. If you do this, your networking will pay off in terms of more referrals and more business!

• Add them to your mailing list for your newsletter
• Send them note on special accomplishments — birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, business goals met.
• Jot and mail thank you notes to your network for any referrals they send your way.
• Clip and mail articles from magazines and newspapers, along with a short note – “thought you’d be interested in this…”

Who's In Your Network?

Wondering how to get your first dozen clients or so under your belt? Here's a list of potential prospects. Offer them a 50% discount for being one of the first 10 inventories you complete as part of your new business launch! But they must also agree to serve as testimonials and referrals for you if they are satisfied with your services (and they should be!) Then you'll be able to feature them on your website and in your marketing materials. (Be sure to get a signed release form giving permission to feature them in your advertising, without revealing details about their specific inventory -- and be sure to take pictures of them -- and you -- while the inventory is in progress. You might bring along a friend or family member to take these "extra" posed photos of you "in action" with clients.)

You can make up little business-card sized "Grand Opening Certificates" which offer the discount, either to a specific number of people or with a time limitation (valid on inventories scheduled by Aug. 31, 2007; subject to availability). Staple those to your brochures and include them in the letters you send to your network (see below).

Who's In Your Network?
* Friends
* Relatives
* Parents of children's friends
* Parents of your friends
* Relatives of your friends
* Club members (country club, swim club, town club, collecting club, sports club)
* Common interest associations/affiliations
* Military service people
* Your holiday card list / personal address list (send a letter, brochure, and business card to each and every one of them announcing your new venture)
* Sorority/fraternity
* Cousins
* Neighbors, block-party attendees
* Sports team members

Professional / Third-Party Contacts
* Real Estate Brokers
* Financial Advisors (especially for estates)
* Attorneys (especially real estate attorneys)
* Bankers (again, look for ones who work with estates)
* Insurance Agents

Business Contacts
* Current and previous associates and managers
* Consultants
* Vendors, Suppliers, Salespeople
* Professional associations
* Seminar, conference, and workshop attendees
* Business owners (a wholly separate market to target)
* Insurance and financial industry associations (NAIFA, IIA, SFSP, FPA -- all of these have local chapters and usually newsletters that you can advertise in -- good for "name recognition" before you send your letter and make the follow-up call -- remember, it takes 9 impressions before you become memorable!)

Educational Contacts:
* Elementary, middle, and high schools friends and teachers
* College friends, alumni associations (they will often put in a notice about your new business in their "Alumni Update" newsletter -- great if you're still "local")
* Professors, coaches, advisors
* Adults education teachers and/or classmates

Community Contacts:
* Civic and political leaders
* Clergy/congregation (You should DEFINITELY put an ad in your church bulletin if you're active in the church)
* Volunteer affiliations, PTA
* Health club members
* Local organizations; boards, scouts

Most of these (in contrast to insurance agents) will be "warm" referrals already -- that is, you can reference a personal association in your correspondence or conversations. They should "know" you or be at least 2 degrees of separation from you (in the whole 6 degrees of separation world). That is, if they don't know *YOU*, they know someone who DOES know you.

The idea of reaching out to collector's clubs is a wholly separate one -- find them (check your local library for the Gale "Encyclopedia of Associations" and see which ones meet locally -- or find some of this information online) and offer to speak to their group about home inventories. These are individuals who have a LOT of money invested in their items. They might (or might not) have catalogued their collections, but they also need home inventories, because a lot of them have custom display cases and specially designed rooms that would probably not be valued appropriately if they had a claim. You could also offer a special, time-limited savings offer for inventories booked within 30 days of your talk, and you could write an article for their newsletter (trade out for an ad in a couple of issues), if they have one.

Also, while you're cultivating referrals, consider contacting the manager of any local extended-stay apartment complexes (these often offer fully-furnished units). Offer a "group rate" to inventory all of them.

Does your town/city have a "small business suite" complex? Approach the manager and ask if you can bring in breakfast (preferred, it's cheaper -- donuts and bagels and juice) or lunch one day in exchange for being able to hang out in the common area and pass out your business cards and information to the business owners who rent space there. (Do it on your lunch break, or take the day off work to focus on business development.) We have units like this in Omaha ranging from 10 small suites up to buildings with 40-50 offices. If you charged $100 per room (most of these are small offices with rooms that are 8x10), you could easily make $1000 or more from one contact -- well worth the $30 in food and paper plates! Bring your schedule along to book direct appointments, but also *collect* business cards from people you meet, and add them to your mailing list. If the common area is slow, walk around and see which doors are open and just take a minute to introduce yourself and drop off a brochure. (In the first years of my business, we leased space at two of these kinds of buildings, and would have people come around a couple of times a month.)

Check and see if there are any "business inventory" specialists in your town -- you know, the kind that count widgets and stuff. Contact them and exchange information -- you're likely to get some calls for *that* type of inventory service, and you'd appreciate *their* referrals for home inventory services or small businesses looking for "non-sale" inventories.

Finally, I'd second the thought that there are business networking meetings that meet at ALL hours of the day. And if there's not, YOU should start one! (Contact Business Networking International for details). I used to belong to one that met for one hour at 7 a.m. every Friday morning. I did it for about a year, and then I remembered that I'm *not* a morning person! Fortunately, by then, many of my other marketing efforts had kicked in.

("Who's In Your Network" handout compiled by Linsey Levine, MS)