Automated marketing redefined—eSemc.com marketing toolkit helps agencies generate sales opportunities and manage the process 05/08

TECHNOLOGY

Automated marketing redefined

eSemc.com marketing toolkit helps agencies generate sales opportunities and manage the process

By Nancy Doucette

If you’ve been in this business awhile, you’ve been through at least one soft market cycle. When it rolls around, chances are you dust off the “sales and marketing campaigns in a box” you bought the last time the soft market struck and you try to muster the discipline to stick with the program this time.

“One of the biggest problems we hear about is the lack of follow through and coordination of multiple sales and marketing campaigns,” notes Steve Andrews, founder and managing partner of eSemc.com, a commercial insurance sales leads and marketing system.

Andrews explains that the eSemc marketing portal is different from campaign management products that have been available in the past. For one thing, it’s a subscription-based Internet service. Being a subscription service, repeat business is important, he acknowledges. So he and his staff check in with subscribers regularly, he says, especially if they see that the subscriber isn’t using the service. “We’ve been doing this for nearly five years,” he points out. “So we know what it takes for an agency to achieve a successful implementation of our services. The decision to work with eSemc requires a commitment.”

eSemc is more than just a tool to ward off the effects of the soft market, Andrews continues. “Given the impact of the Internet, the influence of the GEICO gecko, and all the other penetrating challenges to the standard sales model of the past, agents need to be able to consistently market to the target segments that they want to go after,” he emphasizes. “Additionally, you have to tell both customers and prospects who you are, what you are, and what you can do if you want to generate more revenue.”

Maintaining momentum

Bob Barsanti, vice president and sales manager for Sanford & Tatum Insurance Agency in Lubbock, Texas, reports that the agency has been in a growth mode since it put “more structure around the sales function,” by creating the sales manager’s position. Since he joined the agency as sales manager eight years ago, it has doubled in size. “We’re about $5.5 million in revenue,” he says. “In 2007 we grew by close to $1 million in revenue. That’s why we’re grabbing tools like eSemc. We don’t want to lose the momentum.”

Under Barsanti’s leadership, Sanford & Tatum’s production staff has grown from five producers to 14. The agency is about 85% commercial. There are 11 P-C producers, one life specialist and two health/benefits producers. The producers work from five offices in Texas.

Not all the producers use eSemc, he confides. One seasoned producer in particular follows the strategies he learned from a Marsh, Berry and Company consultant whom the agency worked with. “This producer wrote over $200,000 in new business commissions in 2007,” Barsanti says. “Whatever he’s doing is working.”

With newer producers, though, eSemc makes Barsanti’s job a bit easier. In fact, it was two new producers who spoke highly of the product after they learned about it, as well as other products, at the National Alliance producer school they attended. Barsanti investigated it, discussed it with the agency owners and they decided to give eSemc a try. That was over a year ago. “Linda Bach, our contact at eSemc, has been very helpful in working with my producers,” he says. “If the producers are slow in getting started with eSemc, she’ll communicate with them on my behalf to get them on track.”

Andrews points out that “paradigms are shifting. You can no longer hire a producer, get that person licensed, get some training for the individual and then give them a desk, a phone, the Yellow Pages and a pad. It doesn’t work that way anymore.

“If you’re investing thousands of dollars in a new producer—training, spending time to build the book, etc.—what kind of tools are you going to provide to help that individual be successful? What requirements are they going to have to stick to in order to be successful?” he asks.

Andrews says that more agency owners are starting to require producers to keep better records related to the prospecting and sales process. “eSemc can show how many calls a day or week a producer is making,” he explains. “From a manager’s point of view, they can sign on to eSemc and, in just a few minutes, look at a report to see what specific producers are working on.”

“You always worry about the Type A salesperson adopting technology,” says Jerry Messick, CEO of InLight Risk Management, an 11-person agency based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that specializes in insurance for the health care industry. Before choosing to work with eSemc, Messick says he and the agency vice president of operations sat down with the agency’s three salespeople to find out what they needed to manage their prospect/suspect lists. They demo’d a variety of pipeline management systems. They decided on eSemc, he says, because the company blends prospect/pipeline management with the marketing element. “It’s brand development. I haven’t found another agency-specific product that does that.

“Opportunity is not our challenge,” Messick says with a smile. “Managing it is. We actually have too much opportunity for the system that we used before switching to eSemc.” InLight has an exclusive relationship with a solutions provider to the health care industry. “We have direct access to over 30,000 health care members across the U.S., which takes a very flexible system to coordinate. Currently we have some 1,600 prospects in eSemc that we’re managing.

“When we began using eSemc in January 2008, they integrated our six-step sales workflow into their product,” he reports. “So now I know if our producers are working the prospects according to our process. I know how many prospects they’ve called, how many they’ve set appointments with, how many are pending, how many are in under-writing, how many proposals have been submitted, and how many weren’t interested or how many we sold.

“I receive an e-mail each evening from eSemc that lists every account that was modified, added or deleted. I know the success ratios and I know the failures.” Messick says. “Not everything works,” he says referring to campaign materials and approaches. “So we tweak it and we go again.”

He adds that the weekly sales meetings have changed since the agency subscribed to eSemc. “Now we talk about eSemc—how’s it working? How can we make it better for the producers? We already know what’s going on with the prospects or particular accounts thanks to eSemc.”

Off to a good start

Andrews says that the eSemc support team will help agencies construct a marketing campaign. Additionally, the eSemc creative staff can help with messaging of the direct mail pieces. “We’re not an ad agency by any means,” he emphasizes, “but we can help agents communicate their value proposition. In order to establish brand, there needs to be consistent messaging. What’s more, we can direct mail or fulfill advertising specialty items.” Costs for these services are in addition to the annual subscription.

For agencies using the lead generation component of eSemc, Andrews says eSemc has a relationship with LexisNexis—a global business information provider. “On demand, agents can buy leads segmented by industry class, geography and some sizing parameters such as employee count or revenue from the eSemc portal.”

There’s a byproduct to using eSemc for campaign management, he adds. “As you market to various businesses in your area of operation, you acquire intelligence about them. The data that you capture and enhance beyond the basic contact record will be available for reporting in any way that you want.

“Even if those businesses stay with the incumbent agent, you’ve learned which carrier they’re currently insured with,” he continues. “Suppose that carrier exits the market. You can sort your eSemc data to find those businesses and approach those firms with a marketing piece that includes a message that’s tailored to their situation. Something that refers to the withdrawal of the carrier from the area and the fact that you have a program that meets their needs.”

Some agencies use the marketing co-op dollars that their carriers make available to utilize the creative skills that eSemc offers. “Suppose the marketing rep for the carrier drops by the agency to discuss what their appetite is for that particular quarter,” Andrews says with a bit of tongue in cheek. “The agent can reply, ‘Sure. I’m willing to work on that if you’re willing to offer a subsidy on the marketing/communication side of the messaging for a couple of campaigns.’

“Agencies are realizing that they need to get more aggressive about their marketing and branding because there’s more competition for the business. At eSemc we’re all about exploring ways to bring more commission income into agencies,” Andrews concludes. *

eSemc Components

The eSemc solution offers three major components according to Steve Andrews, founder and managing partner of eSemc.com.

Leads. “Campaigns need to have contact data,” Andrews explains. “Agencies can use their own contact data for a cross-sell/up-sell campaign or they can obtain a list of contacts from us if they’re interested in acquiring new accounts. We have a relationship with LexisNexis, which has millions of business prospects in its database.”

Personalized pre-approach. “You then need to decide how you’re going to approach those clients or prospects with some form of advertising and a message,” he says. “The eSemc system allows you to generate personalized, 4-color direct mail pieces using digital print technology. It’s all done online—the setup, the proofing and the print release.”

Tracking. “Measuring the success of your campaign is key to understanding what works. eSemc can track activity by appointment, quote ratios, hit ratios, and more.”

For more information:
eSemc.com
Web site: www.esemc.com