Lessons from my local insurance man

Yesterday I spent some time on the phone with my insurance agent. Let's get this right.

I CALLED HIM!

He is Steve Weber in Paso Robles, CA. When we moved out here almost a year ago, I needed to change agents. I heard a commercial of Steve's on the radio while driving around Paso Robles learning about the area. Since I was on the lookout to get a new agent my ears perked up.

Long story short: I got along well with Steve at our first appointment and I became a client. He was very professional in our discussion and showed me that he cared about my financial well being. Since then I've met with Steve in other business presentations and at civic meetings in town.

When I called him yesterday, I quizzed Steve about what works and what doesn't work for him in advertising.

The best results he gets are:

1. the big sign in front of his business that is on a main artery in town
2. yellow pages
3. radio ads

Steve has good Internet presence but he feels that does not generate many new clients. Not many people get an insurance quote from his website.

People are using the Internet to uncover information they can use to make decisions but in my experience they are not buying from the small business websites.

Some reasons?

1. They are not ready to buy when they get to your website. They just want information.
2. Your sales copy needs work
3. You, the business owner, did not get the email address to communicate with the website visitor in the future, hopefully at a time when they ARE ready to buy.

I will talk about list building for the small business owner in another issue of this blog.

See you next time!

Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com