Top 10 Marketing & Prospecting Ideas

4. Signage — Take advantage of any of your company's programs for obtaining signs. How many billboards do you see with the photograph of a local agent on them? Are you promoting yourself in your community even with a sign in front of your office? Should you be? How about the little things? Do you have pens, calendars, stress balls, coffee mugs, clocks, desk paraphernalia, and anything else you can give away that has your business' name on it? If not, you should. People love gifts of any kind.

5. Constant and Consistent Marketing — Never stop marketing yourself and your business. Marketing activities should be part of what you do each and every week. Your marketing plan should make it automatic so you don't even think about it. As one great company who has a super marketing plan says… Just what? Just do it! Marketing works!

Prospecting

Remember, prospecting is generating name flow. It's gathering names of potential suspects, someone who is not even a qualified prospect yet. It doesn't matter whether or not you know the person. You just want to get as many names as you can with contact information and if possible an introduction of some kind.

1. Make it a habit — Prospecting is either a habit or a problem but it's never both. Make prospecting a daily habit. Just like marketing, you never stop prospecting. So make it automatic: By scheduling marketing into your daily calendar and using systems to make it automatic, you'll make it a habit — and it won't ever be a problem.

2. Referred Leads — For years, we've all said referrals are the lifeblood of our industry. True. In fact, a referral with an introduction (a "power referral") is still the best thing in the world for any agent to receive. And in today's world of 'do not call' and technology, it's almost a requirement to get that introduction if you expect that referral to go anywhere.

How do you get that introduction? You ask for it. The specific words to use vary depending on the person you're talking to. In my opinion just say: "Ms. Prospect, who are five people you know who are open-minded to new ideas, just like you? If they were standing in this room or if we were walking down the street together and we bumped into them, would you introduce me to them? Thanks. Would you please introduce me to them now?"

Then either ask them to call right then, or maybe sign a note that you have already printed that you can mail to prospects telling them you're going to call.

The list method also works well. You go see Mr. Prospect and you have a list of 10 people in his company that you present to him and tell him you're planning to call all of them in the next week. "Is there anyone on this list that I should remove?" and go from there to ask for an introduction.

3. Educate yourself — Bill Bachrach, Bob Burg, Bill Cates, and others have all written great books about prospecting in one way or another. Read them. Remember, you are the person you are today because of the books you read, the people you meet, and the educational experiences you participate in.

4. Electronics — Today we are all connected with electronics in some way. E-mail is the way to communicate, followed closely by text messaging and cell phones. Use this to your advantage. I will reply to an e-mail 10 times faster than I will reply to a voice mail.

Why not find a system that will take your address book of e-mail addresses and start a campaign that will keep your name and ideas in front of those people on a regular basis? What if that system sent holiday and birthday greetings for you? What if it did it all automatically? The systems exist to do this for you. Find one you like, subscribe to it and use it regularly. It will generate name flow for you weekly.

5. Seminar Prospecting — Seminars don't require many people to be successful. Some of the most successful seminars include groups of five to 10 people. Others work great with 25 to 50 people. The key is conducting seminars on a regular basis. Whatever venue into which have an entr?e to, use it.

Maybe you have a contact in a big business and you can do seminars for the employees at lunch. Maybe you have a contact at a local high school and you can do seminars for the parents on college funding, raising financially responsible children, or general retirement concepts.

Many people will come to your seminar who won't meet with you face to face. The seminar gives them a chance to "get to know you, and the seminar gives you a chance to position yourself as an expert. If I were back in the field today I would prospect this way every chance I got.

The most important part of your business is creating systems to make sure you have a constant supply of people to contact and that your systems generate more than enough qualified prospects for you to see. Remember, 60% of people LIMRA studied said they would prefer to buy from someone they meet face to face. And 63% have never had an agent.

Chances are good that the qualified prospects are not going to call you. But you know what to do to see them on a favorable basis. It's all up to you. Plan your work and work that plan and you can't help but be successful!

R. Morris Sims, CLU, ChFC, is vice president and chief learning officer, agency, at New York Life Insurance Co., New York. You may e-mail him at .