From 7500 to 382 contacts

This is part of an ongoing audit that has been happening for about a year. It coincides with selling my shares in a prior venture, a long stretch "on the sidelines," and the launching of a new venture that will combine much of what has worked for the last ten years.

What happened? Around ten years ago, I read an excellent sales/business book by entrepreneur Harvey Mackay. One of "Mackay's morals" that he learned from his dad was to keep the contact information for everyone he met. It seemed like a good idea, so I tried it. Fast-forward, and I'm in the midst of reassessing a lot of life in the spring of 2019. Call it whatever you'd like, but I really went deep in the mirror and began to audit the previous fifteen years or so of business and how at intertwined with life. Just a lot of things that could have been better. A lot of things I'm committed to doing better in the next fifteen. 

A lot has happened, and after a while, this process and the results have become rather unruly. My Google contacts topped out around 7,500. After an initial scrub of duplicates and misspelling, it was around 5,000. Factor in 10+ years in BNI, various chamber and charitable stints, boards of directors, lots of networking events, a few trade shows, kids activities, and helping a few hundred people a year review insurance. I'm sure I missed some people and deleted others. Some were just emails, some names with emails, some names/emails/phones, and some BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH with some actual notes.  

Now, I am at 382. It took a while, but it is certainly worth it. Why? Because I am certain that the data you have is worth more than data you don't have. I'd bet this goes beyond insurance but, having now reviewed seven businesses including my own data, I like my "proof."

So what else did I find? More holes in the process than I'd care to admit but will anyhow and several lessons;

Statute of limitations as it pertains to keeping in touch

• How long is too long between contacts? It depends on the relationship, prior events, etc.
• How long is too long between valueless or minimal value contacts? I'm not sure. Yes, I've gone years between hearing from people, but what is the strongest number? It looks like two years. But, it also looks like 4 years can be recoverable.
• At what point do you forget about people? I suppose this depends on your memory and your intent. Despite some mild cte symptoms, my recall is quite good. Especially if you give me some prompts. 
• The bigger question might actually be, at what point does a transaction and/or relationship go stagnant? Nothing negative happens, but maybe you've just done as intended for each other and things just sit on a plateau. On the other hand for as good as I think I did at keeping things going, industry, time and financial constraints certainly had more of a negative than a positive impact. 

 I'm really busy

Yes, in 2016 things really picked up and I was just busier, priorities shifted. And, I can assure you that you likely don't need a full-time marketer if you have a good plan and stay consistent as well as persistent, stuff you already know. It falls apart, the best I can tell, with several things.  

• Not being to keep up with demand. That's right, keep up with demand. If you have been consistently working for three years in personal lines insurance exclusively, or, to a degree as a generalist doing some small commercial, that means you have done a minimum of 260 quotes a year Figure about one per weekday. 130 or so went unsold and you also had several other conversations where data was gathered but, for a variety of reasons no quote was completed. This number is massively higher if you are more than a 1-3 person business, in business 5-50 years, etc. The only reason you feel you "need" an SEO strategy, blog posts, etc. is because it may seem easier than actually cleaning your data. It is also tough to avoid those conversations if you read industry publications or spend any time online.
• But how often should you audit? Fully audit? Partially audit? I think it really should just be a part of how a business is run. Now, is auditing remarketing? NO, but remarketing is a piece of auditing. Now, of course, there is a lot of danger in this. You'll discover things you didn't know before and they'll mess with your carrier mix and your schedule and your ethics. But, think about it, you knew some of this already since you accept every friend request on facebook. Maybe, you use Centers of Influence COI, as a strategy and some have crossed from acquaintance to friend, long after an application was submitted. And whereas pro-active remarketing is, overall, a PROFITABLE activity, ethically sound, worth your time, good business, etc. The forced remarketing due to non-pay, change in life circumstances, etc. is often much more challenging.

What else did I find;

• Well over 100 emails to authors based on articles I read. Most were just me complimenting and attempting at dialogue. But, does it really matter since so few were actually replied to? Now, this is 5 -9 years ago so before I had really dove into twitter, where you at least get a heart or a re-tweet. I'd still do it, since like this writing, you never know what comes of it, and worst case you cleared your brain. File under owning your labor and not the result and "just ask."
• Google and Gmail are amazing, they also leave a lot to be desired. Maybe you know, but by searching someone's email you can often find a lot of information. And yes, I know a company that can do this at scale, but I do not have a place to put it all once you have it. **Now, even though you can do this, it gets a bit dicey since there is often a lack of context. It's like the clickbait headline that leads to a pathetic article, or an article that doesn't relate to the headline. We are looking for glue and puzzle pieces that fit, not more pieces.**
• Sure AI and big data are awesome, but do you know what to do with that data. So many of my counterparts seem like they may be interested, but they are either misinformed by others, overwhelmed, or realize, the insurance system is so big, they don't really need to care. And I'm not even sure that what I'm talking about is either of them. It's just mostly publicly available data, combined with some that have to be volunteered. Then, you start to glean context and nuances. This is enhanced by being genuinely interested in viewing people as people. Consider calling them acquaintances instead of leads. Giving EVERYONE my best effort and not being above humans that need more help than others.  
• Yes, I think my memory is good, especially if primed with a little info. But, one of the most robust problems all agencies face is how to store information in a CRM or AMS and not primarily in the brains of our people. Sure, you will lose some context and may not have the same tie to the customer But, if Zappos and others can do it, so can you. This is a flaw you can see with most, if not all, digital-first brokers who think tech and speed are the "secret sauce." They're not. You can expand this further by exploring the concept of Customer Acquisition Cost, CAC, and simply asking them how much of their business comes referred by existing customers vs. paid affiliates.
• But, even before that, you just need to make a decision on how you are going to operate. Yes, these are tactics, techniques, and procedures, but I cannot see how they'll work without a commitment.
• Connecting with everyone on social media isn't for everyone. I'm one it's just not for. As always, you do you.  But, there was a long stretch when I did accept all facebook requests, was on Instagram as well. See my earlier notes about underwriting and remarketing.
• It sure felt like I was doing really good work for many people. Hundreds if not a thousand times or more I did more than just help them buy a policy. Yes, this is part of the way I work, find something beyond the Insurance. And, no, this needs to be more than just linking up on other social platforms. But, the results here are mixed. It felt good, certainly cemented the purchase, but the world has changed a lot over the last year, let alone ten years.  
• Yes, I am confident that the actions of others have made this harder. What do I mean? Well, how many emails, phone calls, and texts do you get? How many are you happy to see? Are you sure you see all of the ones you want to see?  
• Expanding on that, imagine that you were just valuable and people wanted to keep in touch. I guess I didn't do as good as I thought here, or maybe Insurance, despite the narrative pushed by independent agents, is more often just another commoditized product. The question has long been "what else" but often they only wanted Insurance and had no need or interest in "what else?"

NUMBERS; What will this lead to? Well, it almost always feels good to clean up. Tidy the place up For me, this is part of a much larger initiative; for you, it may not. That's fine. Yes, this will open the door to about 300 conversations and likely lead to revenue. This will make the next acquisition even better and will set up the syndicate I'm building to be even stronger.  It will also lead to, I hope, a rekindling of some relationships.

The truth is, and this is tough for many to accept, everything I've described here can scale. It will also do what I've looked for in every Insurtech I've researched;

·      Helps the top line

·      Helps the bottom line

·      Positive impact on all three silos simultaneously; Sales/Marketing, Underwriting, Claims

If you've read this and want to know the tactical side, feel free to reach out