Alternatively you could take a different view.  I’m proud of our industry’s heritage and tradition but it also feels ripe for challenge and change.  As competition increases, as the economic outlook improves, is now actually a great time to develop ideas that make us more efficient, drive sales or improve customer service?  We also want marketing activity to deliver strong returns yet many intermediaries struggle to articulate unique selling points.  In the future will “we are local, experienced and give good service” be enough to be successful?    

Many innovative organizations display particular qualities and behaviors.  They are also usually good at tapping into the ideas and creativity of their own people.  Most often I have observed these qualities in small brokers who have just started out.  They have energy, an ability to collaborate, try things out quickly and there is an absence of red tape and processes getting in the way.   Maintaining that culture as your business grows is a real challenge. So what practical steps can you take to make innovation live in your business?  Here are ten tips to consider:

• Strong Leadership: be clear about the role of innovation in your business, the reasons for it and your level of ambition. Without this endorsement and clarity there is a risk that innovation will take a back seat

• Decide how you will manage innovation?  This isn’t a huge governance framework but it is being able to describe how you will approach simple things like how ideas will be assessed and prioritized.  Without this colleagues can become disillusioned.  Take inspiration from brands you have heard about or admire and create a process that is going to work for your business.   

In Google for example they have a well-known 70 / 20 / 10 rule.  It simply means that employees spend 70% of their time on their core search business, 20% on projects related to their core business and 10% of their time on completely unrelated business.  Google believe that giving people time to explore ideas outside of their day-to-day jobs is essential for innovation.  It’s a completely inclusive model where every employee has a role to play in innovation and generating ideas.  Contrast that with Apple where the real idea generation happens within a very small team close to Steve Jobs.

• Give your team what they need. This might be time, resources, the right environment, skills or just the opportunity to get really close to customers and obtain new insight. 

• Effective Communication.  If innovation is important to your business then let this be reflected in the amount of activity spent in this area.  Leaders of creative companies often do this well by talking a great deal about successes and failures in equal measures.     

• Recognise and reward innovation.  Make innovation relevant to individuals through clear roles and targets.  Celebrate and reward innovation when it delivers and even when it doesn’t!  Trying new things requires bravery and how you react to and learn from a failed project sends a powerful message about the culture of your business. Being able to demonstrate how you recognise and reward innovation also makes your business more attractive to creative talent in the market.      

• Search for telling insight. Innovation is often described as insight x ideas x implementation.  Creative businesses therefore invest time and energy in intimately understanding their customer’s issues and tend to be less reliant on sources of secondary information or research that is available to everyone.     

• Encourage the right attitude.  We live in a world where cynicism is respected, often seen as clever and even rewarded.  It can however destroy the belief that innovation is important and deter people from sharing ideas.  Make clear what behaviors are acceptable in your business and integrate that into how you manage performance.     

• Allow young ideas to grow.  It’s relatively easy to find reasons why an idea may be impractical or difficult to implement.  Discounting ideas quickly can save time but we also run a greater risk of never seeing ideas develop into their full potential.  Let ideas mature before making your judgment and never let an opportunity slip away.

• Create momentum.  Making new things happen is difficult and along the way you can expect obstacles and setbacks.  Creating momentum amongst your team can help you get through these times.  It’s not about working even harder but understanding the value of the application of focus and energy.  Ultimately it’s about prioritization and since time is not free, it’s about finding it from elsewhere.  

• Bring your ideas to life quickly.  We write an awful lot in our industry……… Presentations, emails, business cases etc. The trouble is that too much detail can actually hinder innovation and the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” really is true when it comes to ideas.  The secret is to do this quickly and don’t seek perfection.  If it’s a new product or service mock up an advert, slip it inside a copy of Insurance Age and pass it round the office. You will get more feedback more quickly than a presentation ever will!   

Mike Butler. Ignition.

General Manager and Innovation Practitioner.

Whatever you’re selling, there are a few simple things to take care of. So take some time to read our top tips for exhibition success – it pays to get it right.

1. Get organised. Whoever said “It’s all in the detail” perhaps needed to add, “which involves a serious amount of planning.” It may help to have one person in charge of every aspect of the exhibition. Then nothing should get missed.

2. What do you hope to achieve? Think about why you’re exhibiting, and what you want to achieve. Have some specific targets in mind. You may want 300 new sales leads, or 50 research interviews. Whatever your goals, once they’re clear in your mind you can design your stand accordingly.

3. We know you’re there somewhere, we just can’t find you. Make sure your exhibit stands out, and any advertising or invitations you’ve sent, show exactly where you’ll be. You may get a shock when you arrive and see how many other stands there are.

4. Get the right team on board. Most of  your stand’s success will be down to the staff. So recruit the best you can. And keep them focused and motivated with daily team debriefs.

5. It’s worth stating the obvious. Once you have the best people on board, train them well. And start with the basics. Remind them to turn their mobile phones off, and not to eat on the job – so they can concentrate fully on the task in hand. It may sound obvious, but if you appear distracted for even a moment, your prospects will go elsewhere.

6. OK, you’re ready to roll, but make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. Have a rota to ensure your stand is manned at all times. Because, guess what people do when they approach an empty stand? They move on, very quickly.

7. Always put your best side forward. Never forget, it’s a prospective customer you’re talking to. So this means having a team who are well presented, make eye contact and smile.

8. Actually, there’s a lot of skill involved too. Use open-ended questions, and listen carefully to what your prospect says, to get as much information as you can. And when responding, keep your conversation short, concise and to the point.

9. Use the information you get wisely. The contacts you’ve made are all potential customers. Categorise the leads you have and keep in touch with them, to help build your business.

10. Sell, sell, sell – but always the benefits, not the features. Forget the technical blurb… no one’s interested. They just want to know what your product can do for them.

11. The golden rule: no waffle. If you don’t know the answer – find someone who does. Your visitor will always be more impressed by your honesty.

12. And finally. If you’ve followed all the tips above, your stand will be a roaring success. So book early for next year!

It’s really interesting to see that in terms of insurance marketing, the article’s main focus appears to be on all things web-based, such as social media and email strategies. This is in line with current trends within the marketing industry and is an area growing rapidly. It’s vital for businesses to understand how these new and exciting web-based solutions can help their business grow.

Follow this link to read the full Insurance Times article and pick up some great tips. If this whets your appetite for marketing, take a look around the Ignition website to find out more, give us a call, or see us at the BIBA exhibition in May.

BIBA is the UK’s leading general insurance intermediary organisation, representing the interests of insurance brokers, intermediaries and their customers. Ignition is supporting the BIBA 2010 Conference and Exhibition and we will be in attendance throughout the event to answer you questions and share our insurance marketing knowledge with you. You will be able to find out more about us by coming to one of our conference sessions, or visiting us on our stand (D23).

For a free ticket, click on the image below, print it out and bring it along with you, or to find out more about the event visit BIBA’s website by clicking here.

In addition to our stand (no. 510), where you can visit us to discuss your situation, we will be delivering a Business Startup seminar. Ignition’s General Manager, Mike Butler, points out that “most firms say innovation is vital to differentiation and growth. So if the case for innovation is that solid why do most companies struggle to deliver it?”

This seminar will provide the essential tips and tools to make innovation integral to your business culture. For more details about Business Startup, follow the link below. We look forward to seeing you and, in the meantime, enjoy the Ignition website and don’t hesitate to contact us.

1.  Get your facts right. Make sure the data you use is accurate. If you spell names and addresses incorrectly, your mailing is much more likely to go straight in the bin.

2.  Get personal – in a professional way. Treat the recipient as an individual. Use good quality stationery and address it to a specific person. Again, if this personalised letter has been ‘written’ by your CEO or MD, it will have more impact. Focus on the things you share with the recipient, and show you understand the challenges they face. A good way to do this is by using case studies or testimonials.

3.  Don’t look like a fraud. Make sure the signature looks authentic – and not an obvious laser print.

4.  Don’t go on and on and on. Try to keep your letter short and to the point. One side is ideal but two is OK if the information is relevant. Remember, bullet points are a great way to highlight key messages.

5.  Beware of gate-keepers. Many senior managers will have their mail screened. So try to think of teaser copy for your envelope that will help you get past this point. Using an express delivery service (if your budget allows) can help. It often means your package will be opened right away. But bear in mind, getting your package opened is one thing. Your offer then needs to be interesting enough to hold their interest.

6.  Aim to get a response. Invite the recipient to find out more about how you can help, by either calling you direct or visiting your website. And don’t forget to monitor traffic to your website, so you can identify when and why people visit. This will help highlight interest that may be worth following up with a phone call.

7.  Make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch. After all, this is the main purpose of your campaign. So ensure all your contact details are prominently placed.

8.  P.S. This is a handy place to put an additional reminder, or final call to action.

Sales are crucial to any business and underpinning this should be a marketing-led lead generation strategy. Ensuring that sales and marketing work hand-in-hand is vital for maximising lead effectiveness, with common strategies and processes best supporting the bottom line. 

A familiar challenge for some businesses is that leads generated by one area of the business aren’t quite what the sales team required. These leads are either then wasted, or the sales team expend time and effort chasing leads that end up not being appropriate. Either result is costly and inefficient. So how can business units or departments within a business work seamlessly to ensure that generated leads form the best foundation for sales? 

The key starting point to lead generation harmony is agreeing upon what constitutes a lead. Simple as it may seem, having an agreed definition in place (be that between marketing and sales, or between an agency and its clients), means that the process for gaining leads is underpinned by a ’scoring system’, filtering out the non-leads from the leads. For example, take Ignition’s ‘Permission to Contact’ service. Here there are mandatory criteria of what constitutes a lead, which sets a quality standard for all lead generation work. 

The next point to consider is that lead generation work must not be carried out in silos. In other words, it must be part of a joined-up approach involving various methods of working to nurture leads. For example, using only telemarketing may result in an over-reliance on self-reported information but if this is done in conjunction with smart data selection and ongoing communication, the leads become far more robust. 

The final point to consider in maximising the impact of leads is to understand that the behaviour of these leads changes over time. Of particular interest to a sales team, is knowing when a lead enters the active phase of the buying cycle. This might be as a result of a trigger date (such as a renewal date), or could be as a result of another influence, such as a marketing campaign interaction. Essential to understanding a lead is opening a genuine dialogue with them that allows you to adapt your approach as their situation develops. Having a customer relationship management (CRM) system in place makes it far easier to track and manage leads. For example, Ignition’s C3 system allows companies to manage their leads’ behaviour all in one place, be it through tracking web behaviour, monitoring email effectiveness or recording telemarketing interactions. 

The most important benefit of following the advice above is that lead generation supports the bottom line and that those at the ‘coal face’ have the best leads possible. 

To chat about Ignition’s lead generation services, don’t hesitate to call the Ignition team on 0845 313 3500.

2. What are you hoping to achieve? Do you want to build relationships? Create brand awareness? Generate leads or sell direct? These are just some reasons why you might decide to buy data. Each reason requires a different approach. And for each, you need different data.

3. Choose your audience. Before you approach a data supplier, think about who you want to reach, what your message is, your preferred means of communication, and the timing. You can then write a specific brief to help you chose the supplier who best meet your needs.

4. Check your suppliers’ credentials. Make sure your suppliers are members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), are registered under the Data Protection Act and appear on the List Warranty Register. The register is held by the DMA and provides an assurance that the data has been collected lawfully, is up to date and complies with relevant codes of practice.

5. What else can your data supplier offer? Is their sales approach consultative? Do they challenge your strategy, goals and targets? Are they geared towards achieving results? You should also ask to see recent case studies where they can describe how data was used, and what the benefits were.

6. Ask where the data comes from. Data suppliers should be clear and transparent about their data sources. The names on some popular lists may have been contacted a lot and feel wary of further communication. So ask how frequently the data’s been used and what guarantees can be put in place against its over-use.

7. How often is the data updated? One of the biggest difficulties for business data is employee turnover. Ask when their database was last updated.

8. Quality not quantity. Once you’ve decided who to target, you need to check your supplier can get data to the level of detail you require. For example, can your supplier provide the name of the decision maker? It’s not the size of the database that’s important, but the quality of the information.

9. Be creative. You may want to use bespoke data. It may cost more, but the response rate is almost certain to be higher.

10. Consider the follow-up. Initial contact with the target audience is just the first stage of any marketing campaign. Telemarketing activity that follows an email campaign is more likely to produce results than a straight cold call. And because you can measure email, it’s possible to see who opened your email and when. This means you can time your phone call accordingly. Just make sure you have the resources to deal with any responses your campaign may generate.

11. Negotiate a guarantee. Best practice guidelines state that data should be at least 94 percent accurate. In other words, no more than six percent of the data should incur ‘goneaways’. Some suppliers offer their customers two additional contacts for every one ‘goneaway’ – so check what guarantees you have in place.

12. Know your budget. Data prices vary enormously depending on quality and quantity, and whether it’s for a single use or for use over a period of time. Set your budget and stick to it. Remembering that if you buy significantly high volumes of data, you should be able to negotiate a discount.

The reality is that competitive intensity within the commercial insurance sector is increasing  within an uncertain economic landscape. Many brokers are considering some sort of lead generation activity as a solution to the problem of customer churn, often as a result of a price sensitive market. So how do you fend off the dogs and look after your own?

Brokers do  have options. You could accept that you will lose some customers to rival broker lead generation whilst employing the same tactic to do the same to others… growing  to stand still. You could rely on traditional methods of business development and wait for the ‘referral’ phone to ring.  Welcome but unpredictable. Or you could hone and develop the customers you already have, by locking them in and giving them no reason to look elsewhere.  It’s your choice but  its vital to get it right.

Proper, planned, targeted and relevant Customer Relationship Management is one way to protect your customers from walking away to the next  price driven offer.  There  is more to it though than simply relying on good customer service, it’s about  working closer, becoming tighter and adding more value to their businesses through your expertise, to ultimately become their broker, rather than just a broker. Would you move your business to another supplier if they demonstrated value to your business?

True CRM is  about effective communication with customers,  learning along the way and building loyalty over a period of time. Knowing what they like, don’t like, need and want, all at the right time. It’s no more complicated than that.  To facilitate true CRM, a broker needs to be able to interpret data intelligently and communicate with customers in a regular and relevant way, demonstrating usefulness and value to a customer (it’s not just about a newsletter!). Advice is available on how to create a simple plan and putting it into action, utilising the right tools. Get it right and you can not only protect your hard earned, happy and loyal customers from attack, but also enhance your profit and reap organic growth at very low cost.

If you do want to operate growth on all fronts by adding to the external pipeline, I know a few chaps who do a mean line in lead generation too…