“I know you’ve taken it in the teeth out there but the first guy through the wall always gets bloody, always. What you are doing is not just a threat in the way of doing business, but in their minds it’s threatening the game.

But really what it’s threatening is their livelihoods, it’s threatening their jobs, it’s threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it’s the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the people that are holding the reins or have their hands on the switch go bat shit crazy.

I mean, anybody who’s not rebuilding their team right now using your model, they’re dinosaurs. They’ll be sitting on their ass on their sofa at home in October, watching the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.”

Moneyball

This is a line from one of my favorite movies Moneyball.  If you haven’t seen it you should, it’s a great flick.

This line comes toward the end of the movie right before the owner of the Boston Red Sox’s offers Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) a contract to make him the highest paid manager in all of sports.

The Red Sox were so interested in hiring Billy because he just finished a season where he broke all the traditional baseball rules and took the Oakland Athletics, one of the worst teams in baseball, to one of the best teams in only one season with a team guys overlooked and unwanted by everyone else in the league.

Even though Billy turned down this offer (to stay in Oakland and live close to his daughter) the Red Sox still implemented his strategies.  And if you follow baseball at all you know that they eventually went on to break their self proclaimed “100 year curse” of not winning a championship.

In fact they have won multiple World Championships in the past 10 years.  All because they were willing to break away from the herd…and saw a change coming before anyone else did.  A change that hadn’t happened in the way things worked in the world of baseball for over 100 years.

Baseball and the Insurance Industry

I love this movie for many reasons.  I love that it’s about statistics and hard numbers.  I love that it’s about doing things differently and breaking the mold.  And what I love most of all is that the success of the team had nothing to do with age, experience or money. It all came down to one simple thing…do you want to be a winner or don’t you.

When I was watching this movie over the weekend I started to see a lot of similarities between baseball and the insurance industry.

Baseball for the most part hasn’t really changed in the last 100 years.  Specifically in the way it evaluated talent and built successful teams.  In the insurance industry, the way agents have connected with consumers to get sales hasn’t really changed much in a very long time either.  Until now.

Breaking the 100 year curse

Just as the analysis of facts and figures have changed baseball so has the internet changed the insurance industry.

This doesn’t mean that baseball scouts will just go away, in fact the great ones will be highly valuable to the right organization, it just means their jobs have changed.  This is also true for the insurance industry.  Agents aren’t going anywhere, but our jobs have certainly changed.

So the question becomes what kind of team do you want to build to take a run at a championship?  The old way that left a team in a curse for over 100 years?  Or the new way that has won the Boston Red Sox multiple championships in the last 10?

I hope you answered the latter.  And if you did I want to help get you started.  I want to help you out by giving you the fundamental piece that it all starts with.

Even though at GROW we help agents covert and run their agencies in the online world we actually go a step deeper than that when we start out with new customers.  When it comes to Social and Digital Business it all starts with your Brand.

What many business owners, insurance or not, don’t realize is that the online world works just like the offline world.  People still buy from people.  People that they like and know.  Creating business relationships still takes time. Connections and letting people know who you are and what you stand for is a process.

The only thing that has changed is the arena where it is taking place.  When you take your agency online you have to look at it no different than you would in the real world.  If you do it effectively you will be setting up virtual real-estate for your agency.  Just like you would in the real world.

Your brand, staff, and community

Creating your own brand or the brand of your agency takes commitment from you and input from your staff and community. Here are three steps to help you get started on your path:

1.  Have A Branding Mindset

I’m going to say something that depending on the type of agency owner you are it with either excite you greatly or terrify the hell out of you.  People don’t buy from your agency, they buy from the people inside of it.

Agents now have more power than ever have before.  Each year that goes by it becomes easier and easier for agents to start their own agency and non competes only last so long, they always have an expiration date.  But for the right type of agency owner this can be seen not as something to be afraid of…but as an opportunity.

We all know unhappy agents will eventually leave, so don’t give them a reason to be unhappy.  Creating your own personal brand and having your agents do the same will give you an amazing power that few of your competitors will be able to. Especially when it comes to the big boys.  Their large corporate marketing can not connect with your community like your local agents can.

So the first step is to be ok with your agents creating their own brands and even encourage them to do so because you should be doing the same for yourself.  If done correctly it will create stronger brand loyalty.  Not only for your agents but also your agency.

2. Develop a Personal Branding Message

A brand is nothing less than everything anyone thinks of when they see or hear your name.  It comes from your unique value proposition.  Your message is always an offshoot of your mission and your content.

A good brand establishes your worth.  To become a brand you have to be relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value.

Coming up with your branding message isn’t nearly as hard as you think.  Ask yourself…what is important to me? What do I stand for?  What is important to me about my community and the people in it?  What would I want someone to know most about me?

To give you an example here is our branding message at Grow…

“We believe in giving confidence to those who lack confidence in today’s online and digital world so they can achieve whatever they want most.”

Take a few minutes and jot down some ideas.  Think more about “Why” you do it instead of “How” you do it.  Before long you will be crafting your message.  But I also want to challenge you a little more on this as well.  Be unique.

Being unique is almost as important as the message you craft.  What are you willing to do that separates you from the crowd and gets you noticed.

3. Broadcast Your Brand

Broadcasting your brand is simply taking your mission and content and telling it to the world.  It articulates what you have to offer, why you’re unique, and gives a distinct reason for others to connect with you.

To do this there are many tools available to you and here are some words of advice when choosing what works best for you.

Here’s the recap

First, again remember that the online world works just like the offline.  Remember this when you speak to others or broadcast your message online.  Don’t sell all the time.  The first time you meet someone at a Rotary Club event or something of the like the first words out of your mouth aren’t “Buy from me!”.   Remember always build value first so you are seen as a credible resource when it comes time to ask for the sale.

Second, remember that every day that goes by the traditional forms of media become a little less effective.  Even though ad buys for TV get cheaper and cheaper there is a reason for this.  Ever hear of Tivo, Netflix and DVR’s?  Consumers now watch TV on their time, commercial free.  Traditional radio marketing is less effective now more than ever.  With services like Spotify, Pandora, XM and Sirius I can listen to any song I want, from anywhere, commercial free.  And as for the newspaper, well if you have followed the news at all the last decade you have seen what is quickly happening to them.  It hasn’t been good.

So what’s left?

Well, since we are talking about the online world I am sure you already know my answer.   And if you didn’t know the answer you probably would have just Googled it anyways.

Isn’t it funny how that little blue box has changed everything.  And social media like Facebook, Google+, Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and all the others aren’t far behind.  Never has it been so easy to reach so many and connect with them so quickly.  Social and Digital business is now done using these tools.  Get to know them well, these are the tools of the top selling agents of today and the future.

Now I’m not saying totally change everything about your agency tomorrow, but I hope you recognize the importance of doing some of these things and taking the first steps.  Even if you don’t make the leap to go online any time soon please at least start working on creating your own brand and branding message, it will totally change how you sell and the impact you make on your prospects and customers.

In closing I think it’s only appropriate to again take another line from the movie.   Right after Billy starts making big changes with the team and in the organization he is approached by one of the senior scouts who voices his unhappiness with all the changes happening.

Bill simply responds…

 “Adapt or Die”