It is easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about marketing your business. These slides were given in a presentation by Jim Eggleston, a marketing veteran of 25 years on how to simply, and effectively create and execute a marketing campaign. www.coleinformation.com

1. Marketing 101 Jim Eggleston

2. The Small Business Advantage You know your local market area better than anyone You know what your customers like about your products You know the benefits of your products better than anyone You have the ability to adjust your marketing as needed

3. The big business disadvantage They don’t know your local market They don’t know your customers They hold things like focus groups to try to determine the needs of their customers They have to find offers that resonate with prospects all across the country

4. Marketing 101 Play to your strengths Start of small (Don’t bite off more than you can chew) Test, measure, test, measure, repeat

5. Start in your own backyard Why? I thought we were talking about marketing? This is all about trying out your approach on a friendly audience Tracking your approach to find what works Adjust your approach based on the tracking

6. Referrals You have to have a reason to call Birthday Anniversary Recent policy renewal or recent order Thanks for your business One of the ways I build my business is to ask the customers whom I've helped to save money to refer me to a friend that I can also help them save money. I’m not asking for a dozen, maybe just one?

7. Referrals Now, the beginning of your marketing journey! Don’t just pick up the phone and call! Take 15 minutes and write down all of the approaches and offers you can think of

8. Approach and Offer Introduction Hi I’m Jim Eggleston, your local Allstate Agent The key here is clarity. Tell them who you are. Next and almost as important is the simple word “local”. It differentiates you from THEM. Those unknown people who call

9. Approach and Offer The approach I just wrote a new policy for Bob Smith and was able to save him a bunch of money on his homeowners insurance Bob Smith is a good customer of mine and gave me your name Your neighbor Bob Smith recommended that I call you The only way to know what works is to alternate your approach , track the results and see which works best.

10. Approach and offer The offer I would like an opportunity to quote on your homeowners insurance to see if I’m able to save you money like I was able to for Bob? Could I set an appointment to stop buy and prepare a quote for your homeowners insurance Is there a better time when I could ask you a few questions on the phone to aid in the preparation of a quote on your homeowners? Once again, track and measure

11. Referral campaign benefits In your career you’ll always find that working referrals is your best revenue generator. This approach will make you more successful at working renewals, plus It will provide you with the foundation you need to be success at the next level in direct marketing

12. Finally, what I came to hear about, MARKETING Not so fast. While this is what most people want to hear, those who fail are those who didn’t do their homework Knowing what approach and offer work best is absolutely key to a successful marketing campaign Never, never buy a list, pick a postcard with a pretty picture, and mail it to everyone. You’ll fail, every time

13. Marketing Now you know the approach and offer Next is finding the prospects Once again don’t leave this to chance Take a look at your ten best customers How old are they, what’s their home worth, how long have they lived there, where do they live? In Cole products we offer customer cloning to make this part easy For Insurance Agents we also offer expiration dates of their homeowners insurance Now take those characteristics and find a list of people that look just like them. They’re your best prospects! Not 10,000 or 5,000 or even 1,000. Let’s pick the top 200

14. Marketing Why only 200 and why am I still calling? You need sales and this is the quickest way to get them You also want to make your marketing self funding, meaning you use the proceeds from these sales to fund your next campaign You need to take what you’ve been practicing and raise it to the next level outside of the friendly confines of referrals. (Remember? Track your results)

15. Marketing Don’t bite off more than you can chew Start by making no more than 10 calls per day You have a lot of other responsibilities in the day, if you spend to much time on this other parts of your business suffers and you’ll stop calling. Don’t burn yourself out, this is a tortoise and hare thing You’re still should be more interested in finding out what works and what doesn’t as you are selling

16. Marketing 20 days later What happen? Take an honest look at the results What approach worked, what didn’t Who agreed to a quote, who didn’t What, in detail, does your best prospect look like. Now go all in. Use the approach that worked best Download a list of your best prospects okay maybe 400 this time. That’s 20 calls per day.

17. Direct Mail This is where most novice marketers lose money! Why? Because they didn’t understand who to talk to, how to talk to them, and what is the offer that most likely will result in a sale. But, you do!

18. Direct Mail Start off small! Don’t go looking for a printer, mailer, or advertising agency There are many providers out there that will custom print a postcard for you at very low cost. Vista Print, Postcard Builder, Sharper Agent Your approach and offer should mimic your successful prospecting phone calls

19. Direct Mail Start off with a goal of mailing 50 cards per day, so you’ll order 1,000 postcards, a one month supply. Print the labels from your computer list Whatever you do, don’t mail more than 50 per day, you’ll get tired of doing it and you’ll stop Don’t forget, you’re still making 20 phone calls per day.

20. Expectations By now, you’re contacting 70 people per day (20 by phone and 50 by mail) Your spending about $25 per day in mailing cost Industry information would lead you to believe that this should result in 10-12 opportunities. (Not sales, but legitimate opportunities to make a sale) Out of these, it really is up to you and your product, but you should expect to make 1 or 2 sales.

21. Expectations Now for some math If you spend $25 per day on mailing and $60 per day for 30 minutes of calling and 15 minutes of mail prep, your daily expense is $85. If you make a sale, your commission/profit is $?

22. Summary Start small (you want your marketing to be self funding) Take advantage of your local presence, nothing beats local. Track everything you do (What is your approach and offer, what does your new customer look like) Keep track of what works Do more of what works

23. Questions?