A simple Google search of "insurance" gives you 664-million results. What's in those results? For one thing, reviews of insurance companies. Here's a sample from insurance.freeadvice.com. It shows the results of a survey of the overall satisfaction with about 400 insurance firms. I do not know how reliable these numbers are. However, what's important is that this is what your target market is looking at.

Let's look first at AIG:

Of course AIG has gotten some bad press in recent months, so let's look at one of the other most recognized names - AAA:

Notice how similar the numbers are. That surprised me, so I dug deeper, and the only firm I could find with positive numbers was Geico:

Note. I don't mean to pick on those firms, just to give a sample of the consumer-focused content available online. The site gives reviews of about 400 insurance firms.

Since the emergence of social media, the buying public now relies on those sources for information, rather than the one-way content delivered by the companies' marketing departments.

The Solution

When you shift your focus to understanding clients and involving them in the design, development and marketing of products, you'll be better positioned to meet their current and future needs. When you proactively measure your ability to deliver what your clients want, you'll be on your way to becoming truly client-focused.

What does the client care about?

Research by Redline Advisors indicates that clients consistently look for four or five specific types of attributes in virtually all products, whether tangible or intangible:

• Ease of use
• Timeliness
• Certainty (consistency, accuracy, reliability, predictability, safety)
• Cost to own/use
• Variety/choice

Putting the client at the center

It is unrealistic to expect any organization to dramatically change overnight. So, let's look at some things you can begin to do that will improve your positioning:

• One simple way is to begin adding client-focused measures. Rather than focus only on short-term goals, reward sales people based on how many connections that add to their network of relationships, or their contributions to a client information databank.
• A second way is to refocus marketing so it is accountable for results. Borrow a page from direct response marketing and continually test to measure and improve results. What drives results? Delivering to the target market a product that those people want, and communicating the benefits in a language that they are comfortable with. Give them choices and initiate a dialog with them.
• A third way is to establish an open blog or forum where your clients can post comments about you and your service. This is a pretty frightening idea. If you're afraid of what those people will say, then you might question how client-focused you really are.

In Conclusion

The point of this article is that the world of consumers is moving very fast, faster than the world of financial and insurance firms. As a result, firms are seen as less client-focused. And, the result of that is consumers are turning to other sources of information. Are those sources reliable? Maybe not. But, until the industry addresses this issue, consumers have no option. And, that situation affects you.

Each of your clients represents a possible relationship with you. Each relationship represents a possible network of prospects and referrals. How can you capture them?

Your Reward

If people want to get information about you, they go to your website. If your site does not focus on them, and their situations or needs, you risk losing them before you ever talk to them. In our effort to give you the most valuable help possible, I'm offering to review your website for client-focus. Time permitting, I will review the site and report back to you on how to make it better. As always, there is no charge for this - it's your reward for reading my articles. To get this reward, copy this paragraph into an email and send it to me. Be sure to include your contact information! [email protected] This Reward expires on September 1, 2010.