Act cFluent Newsletter, January, 2007 - Subscribe today Subscriber benefits include early evaluation of new products and discounts. - Tell a friend

Information for independent insurance agents about issues at the confluence of technology, consumerism, marketing and agency practices. Subscriber benefits include free trial evaluation of new products and programs.

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Part III of a multi-part series (Parts One and II) that explores what you can do to make your website relevant to your agency, your employees, your customers and your prospective customers. These articles focus on agency strategies and initiatives apart from the internet and then suggest ways to make your website tools pay off in the context of those initiatives.

Sending calendars to customers as the New Year turns over is an insurance agency and business practice that probably dates back to Gutenberg. Sometime later, independent agents starting sending road atlases to customers at the onset of vacation season and emergency medical and claim kits in appreciation for new business. More recently still, many agencies started delivering fuel and Starbucks Coffee ™ cards to customers who were thoughtful enough to refer friends, neighbors and family. So what does any of this have to do with your agency website? Plenty.

Not everyone uses paper calendars today. Many calendars have taken up residence on PDAs and laptop computers. Likewise, vehicle and handheld GPS systems have started elbowing paper maps and road atlases aside. What's the point in sending someone a calendar or atlas if it gets tossed in the trash like so much junk mail? If only you could tell which of your customers would want to receive the retro gifts and which have moved on. You can find out, if you just ask, and that's where your website comes in.

By using your website you can determine your customer's preferences and offer a choice (an appropriate subliminal message for an independent agent!). Instead of slavishly mailing off yesteryears merchandise ask your customer to go to your website and tell you what they value most from a few options - and then send the appropriate item out. You can do that by phone, mail or email. Maybe you don't have their email address; that will change. Here are some additional benefits for your agency:

1. You will capture an email address (if you set up the shopping cart/request form the right way).
2. You will reduce your mail and handling costs by sending gifts only to those customers who value them.
3. You will have introduced customers to your website. Websites with value and convenience functions for customers will move your agency down the path to increased loyalty, reduced costs and time savings.

What are the most difficult and frequently occurring questions that arise from phone calls? Is it why insurance premiums shoot up so much when a young driver is added to a policy? Maybe it's trying to explain the relationships between replacement cost, market value and insurance-to-value? Or perhaps you would like your staff to spend a moment explaining the need for identity theft protection, home business coverage or adequate personal property limits to renters or condo unit owners.

Does your website contain articles or FAQs addressing those important issues? If not, it should. Because if it did you and your staff could wrap up phone calls by asking for an email address so you could send a link to a value-added resource on your website. Doing so will save time and insure uniformity in the quality of explanations provided. And again, you will have captured another email address and introduced another customer to the value and convenience of your website.

Website Articles You Can License

Website FAQs You Can License

Why We Are Different (Flash demo with audio)

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About This Newsletter - Newsletter Archive
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Act cFluent
Information for independent agents about issues at the confluence of technology, consumerism, marketing and agency practices.
Tell us what you like, dislike, agree or disagree with.
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About Confluency Solutions
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Confluency Solutions specializes in solutions that generate growth through high customer satisfaction. Easy to implement technology combined with traditional independent agency strengths vault your agency into the ranks of the top performers. Confluency Solutions provides complete business solutions, not just technology. We free you up to compete at an advantage, with any size competitor, in a way that just isn't possible without the right tools and without knowing how best to use them. Confluency Solutions makes the web work.
   >> Learn more about us: http://ConfluencySolutions.com