Email services

Whether they are at their desks or looking at their phones, people check their email constantly. So sending an email newsletter to your clients is a no-brainer. Free services like MailChimp, where you do most of the heavy lifting, or paid services like Constant Contact can help you create, send and track emails—an easy way to get through to a lot of clients at once.

Mary Heidbrier, of Boulder, Colo., based MLJ Insurance Specialists, sends e-newsletters to her individual and group clients every three weeks, and she has seen firsthand the difference direct communication makes. Within five minutes of sending out a recent newsletter, she heard back from an individual client who had just started at a new company.

“They needed a new broker, and I have a 12-person group from it,” Heidbrier says. “We always have somebody emailing with questions or giving us a referral right after we do a newsletter.”

Wisely, Heidbrier stays away from the hard sell in her newsletters, focusing instead on topics she knows clients will have questions about: out-of-pocket limits, underwriting, exchanges and so on.

“I feel like we're getting information out there, people appreciate it, and I know it keeps us top of mind,” she says. “It reminds them who we are and that we're interested in them.”

LinkedIn

Think of it as Facebook for the business world: Here, brokers can connect with other brokers and agents, clients, carriers or broker groups. Another important reason to be on LinkedIn? To stay up-to-date on health insurance, health reform and other regulatory news. Industry insiders suggest following groups that are posting that news and information, and then sending that information on to your clients.

“LinkedIn is one of the best for brokers, as far as social media goes,” Krout says. “It's just one of the best educational opportunities out there right now because there are so many brokers all across the nation that are putting out really good content. [Other] brokers can repost it and forward it to their clients—it's pretty exciting what they can do. It can make them look good to their employers.”

And the networking side of LinkedIn can be a huge help when it comes to finding clients or preparing for meetings, says Chad Schneider, Aflac business developer manager, in Irvine, Calif.

“I, as a carrier, have actually introduced myself and got in the door to several very large brokers 100 percent on LinkedIn,” he says. “I didn't call them, I didn't email them, I found them on LinkedIn and all of a sudden we've got a meeting. It's great. That's how it should be.”

And on pre-meeting days, Schneider will use the site to see what groups or contacts he has in common with potential new clients.

“They want to know who you are,” he says. “[When you're able to say], 'By the way, we have 20 mutual contacts,' it's great. It opens up a whole different level of introduction and warm-up.”

Webinars

Here's a tool that some claim will save you time and money—rather than drive all over town for the same routine meeting with different clients, ask them to log in to a service like Yugma or GoToWebinar and do your presentation just once, at your location, while they follow along online. Maha Roberts, a specialty group sales executive at WarnerPacific in Denver, suggests using webinars to conduct monthly meetings with clients and to help them enroll online.

“I [recently] did one and I had one group client on it, but I didn't drive all the way to south Denver to give her personal attention,” Heidbrier says. “Even though that was the only person that ended up being on the webinar, I was still happy because I got done in 30 minutes what it takes me an hour and a half or two hours to do when I have to go meet with somebody.”

Facebook

Sure, this popular social media site is mostly for people showing off their vacation photos and linking to their favorite cat videos, but Facebook also can be a valuable tool for brokers looking to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

That's the word from Schneider, who says that insurance sales “are no longer about spreadsheeting.”

He says it's about developing yourself as a brand. And Facebook is the perfect place to “tell your company's story,” Schneider says.

“You want to think your clients know what you do for them on a day-to-day basis, but at the end of the day, do they know your company's story? You can get a cup of coffee anywhere, but Starbucks creates an experience,” he says. “In the insurance world, you can do the same thing—here's what this person is all about; here's why you're hiring this person. Let's face it, in the insurance world, that's really the only thing that separates you, in the grand scheme.”

Heidbrier echoes the sentiment. Even with just 200 followers, she says, she's able to let people know more about who she is and what she can do for them.

“I'm just happy to get my business name out there—to get people to think a little differently about insurance companies, about agents, and to let them know that I'm reputable, I'm here. I'm not some vague person on the phone,” she says. “A lot of my business is over the phone and on the Internet. We do emails, we don't do in-person meetings hardly ever; we can't afford to. So this has been a way to give us more personality.”

Facebook also is a road for two-way communication with customers and prospects. You can post news articles and FAQs for customers about things that affect them—small business tax credits and advantages of an HSA, for example—and respond to their questions and comments with more good information.

YouTube

Those webinars you're conducting? Archive them on the popular video-sharing site. Or use your cell-phone camera to record a short video about you and your services.

“People today—especially younger people—they buy based on recommendation,” Schneider says. “Your dad can say, 'You need life insurance,' but if somebody explains why, and here's a cool video as to why the need for life insurance and everybody else is doing this whole life insurance thing, all of a sudden people are going to buy life insurance. That's where they that create that environment.”

Videos also are a great way to put a face to a name, as Schneider found out when he ran for national secretary of the National Association of Health Underwriters.

“Rather than sending that email that is so normal and kind of passé these days, what if you sent a video email?” he says. “What if you were to create video you could put on your website? I did video emails for my campaign—sitting in my office, saying 'vote for me,' and at the conference, everyone knew who I was.”

It's no fad

Whatever tools you use, it's important to adopt them permanently. Have a Facebook page? Update it every day. Did you just send out an e-newsletter? Don't forget to send another in a few weeks. The web and social media are here to stay.

“A lot of people are scared of this, but it's not going away,” Schneider says. “It's not a fad; it's fundamental communication.”

Consider these facts: 96 percent of millennials are on a social network; 80 percent of companies use social media for recruitment; and 78 percent of consumers trust recommendations. Some universities no longer issue email addresses, as kids instead migrate to social media for information sharing. And the insurance industry is at the forefront of the social-media revolution: as an industry, insurance has the most Facebook pages, Schneider says.

“I think today more than ever, consumers are looking for resources and freaked out about what's going on,” he says. “A broker that can have that media presence, give them tools and resources to be able to take a look at it, connect them to exchanges and resources and how-to's and white papers and whatever those tools might be, those are people that are going to get more traction.”