Feature Non-Owner Producers in Agency Promotions

Whom does your marketing promote: the agency or the agent? Traditionally, property/casualty promotions focus on the office in general and not the individuals who actually sell the insurance. At first blush, this strategy seems solid. After all, producers are employees and not independent contractors. Plus, there’s always the risk that dissatisfied agents might walk away with agency-owned business. So, it makes good business sense to invest your promotional dollars plugging the agency and not the people who work for it. Right? Not always. Sometimes, it’s wise to help your employees to sell themselves along with the agency. This way, management demonstrates its dedication to its staff while eliminating a common source of internal friction: no sales help. Here are a few ideas.

Print Ads

Buyers like to look at ads that contain photos of real people, not just clip art images of picture-perfect models. They enjoy matching up the faces with the names. Yet, many agency ads only include basic promotional messages, contact information, and maybe an image or two. There are rarely photos of non-owner agents. In fact, individual producers are seldom mentioned at all. So, be different. Promote your sales staff (and the agency) by running print ads that feature under-promoted producers. As for who gets featured is a matter of agency policy. Use these placements as rewards for achieving specific goals or to simply showcase your bullpen. Provide the ads as a fully paid benefit or ask commissioned agents to share in their cost. If you go co-op, permit producers to select where their ads will appear, but insist that they give you a monthly report of the response totals and sales generated.

As for the ads themselves, feature a recent photo of the agent and a call-to-action that asks the reader to phone or e-mail the producer, not the agency in general. However, still prominently display the agency’s name, location, and logo. Regularly run the ads in community and organizational periodicals, the shopping news, and in the trade publications that align with each producer’s specialty. Give each placement a consistent look, especially if you are running them for multiple agents.

Radio Spots

When you listen to stock reports on the radio, a specific individual at a local stockbroker’s office frequently gives them. His or her brief reports over the course of the day build positive familiarity with the person and their firm, regardless of whether the market is up or down. You too can run radio ads that mimic this proven concept. Run an insurance news report that’s read by an agency producer several times during the day. Highlight which cars are most frequently stolen and which suffer the most damage in a head-on collision. Report on the affordability of term life insurance premiums; recite lesser-known ways to save on car and homeowners insurance, cite oddball claim settlements, etc. This type of “news” is widely available from many sources including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at www.nhtsa.dot.gov and the Insurance Information Institute at www.iii.org. To build familiarity, run the 15-second or 30-second spots two or three times each weekday. Rotate the producers that you want to promote once per quarter.

Web Space

Give each producer his or her own Web page and agency-affiliated URL, such as www.xyzagency.com/nameofagent. Allow producers to use it on their stationery [see below] and business cards. Their Web space might display a current color photo plus brief details about the producer’s experience, education, designations, selected memberships in local organizations, areas of insurance specialty and maybe a testimonial or two. Also present a producer direct phone number and a Web form for contact purposes. Keep everything down to a brief page.

Individualized Stationery

Provide individualized sets of agency letterhead to each producer with their name prominently featured upon it. Do this for each agent in the office, just as you do with business cards. With their own set of “real” stationery (not just notepads) agents feel that they have tangible value to the firm.

Conclusion

None of the steps suggested in this column involve outlandish investments, but they do represent management’s willingness to support their production staff with more than platitudes. These actions, and others like them, help non-owner agents to establish their own identity while promoting the agency’s. Furthermore, they help to make producers feel as if they are trusted and important players on the team. But trusting or not, managers must still protect their firms with ironclad employment contracts for all producers. Check with your friendly agency attorney for details.