Going Head-To-Head With The Internet

Talk about a time waster.

But, if the advisor doesnt sift through the distortions and half-truths for the client, something worse may occur: The person may not obtain necessary coverage, and the advisor may not get a new clientto say nothing of a new sale.

What to do?

Here is a suggestion for advisors that might help reduce the time wasting and increase the time advising: Do a search on the product/service class(es) in which the advisor specializes. Use words that consumers are likely to use. Check out each site that comes up on the first 2 or 3 pages (which is probably as deep as most visitors will ever go before moving on).

Then, identify both the accurate and the inaccurate information in those sites. Put those "findings" into a chart along with any personal comments. Use this chart as a reminder of points to make with clients, particularly "surfer clients" who have probably already been to those sites.

Many producers tell me clients often refer to "the Internet" as if it were an authority, as in "the Internet says that product is a rip-off." If that happens, the advisor will be well prepared, from having done this research, to address many of those concerns.

Naturally, some agents are very skilled at meeting Internet challenges without doing searches and building charts. More power to them. But, from what I hear, its getting harder for most advisors to address those challenges convincingly, without also demonstrating that they, too, have "gone to the Net" and have seen those very same sites and statements.

No doubt, being Net savvy can actually bolster advisor credibility among the surfing crowd. It positions the advisor as someone who is up to speed and who can discuss what "the Internet" has to "say" on insurance.

Offering strong client education and information up front is, of course, the best strategy. Advisors who do this on their own Web sites and in their client meetings will help keep misinformation from rearing its head in the first place.

Chances are, advisor-educated clients will not even go to "the Internet" for financial information. Or, if they do, they will view the content they find with an informed eye. And thats as good as it gets, when advisors go head to head with "the Internet."

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 30, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.