Everything from Soup to Nuts my new favorite phrase that I learned last week at the Young Agents Leadership Institute.  The Big I’s national board meeting, education convocation., and Young Agents conference was held in fabulous Las Vegas last week.  Unlike the saying “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!” I’m ready to share everything that I learned. 

Erica Tucker (Peterson) and I attended the two day conference and learned what all of the other states were offering to their young agents in their states.  It was great to sit in and listen to how other states work successful Young agent programs and outings.  Hopefully I can find some excited young agents to get involved with the Nebrasksa chapter.  New ideas came flying in, everything from golf outtings to family fun nights to help fund raise for PAC.  However we do it, I’m excited to be the new staff liason for the young agents in Nebraska. 

The education convo.  was particularlly interesting considering that I learned that Nebraska is one of the only states that offer FREE continueing education to our members.  I was working to solve a problem that I blogged about in my posting called “The Western Half”.  I am working toward finding a solution for our members that are forced to drive several hours to attend our classes.  My solution thus far has been webcams and a product called GoToMeeting.  I’m pretty sure that this will work, however I got many of those stunned looks again.  I raised my hand in the sharing session a asked…”Is anyone using webcams to conference in members who are far away to an education seminar?” they answered, “Well, we are using online classes and Webinars.” I said “Yes, we offer those but I’m looking for someone who has tried out webcams.” another attendee asks, “How much are you charging, we are offering classes but we charge $50 dollars.” I said “mmm… I’m not charging anything.” Well, they looked at me like I was a crazy lady!!!  I’m getting used to this look now, so after a slight eye @@ roll I told them our situation.  Unfortunately, there were no go solutions.  So if you haven’t figured me out… I’m thinking we should just try it out! 

Marketing Idea

Call me crazy… I’m wondering if any agent out there has ever had a grill out or football party for their “clients” or friends.  It might be something low cost that would produce a high value.  If you can get one organization to come than your party could get bigger every year.  Remember four positive contacts a year that don’t involve selling. 

IIAN EVENTS

Annual Convention

Racing Into The Next Century

Holiday Inn, Kearney, NE

October 21-23, 2008

I’m sure you have all seen all the articles that have been floating through the media as of lately that discuss Web 2.0.  Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the Midwest Tech. conference in Kansas City.  Carol and I road tripped down to spend some time talking with our state ACT (agents council for technology) representative Phil Harr and the other agents that were able to attend.  

We went down on Wednesday and caught the tail end of the ACORD sessions.  The ACORD sessions seem to be extremely productive for both company and agency representatives.  The closing session of the day was a question and answer session where both companies and agencies were able to discuss things that are working and not working.  These sessions really help give ACORD a view that is unseen from working in the office. 

I realized on Thursday how important Real time was to an agency.  Don’t get me wrong I have always been aware of how important it was but listening to the speakers, Cal Durland and Peter Van Aartrijk, made the whole picture come together.  If you are asking yourself “Liz, what’s real time?” then check out the Realtime to get the best description.  Real time unfortunately is sometimes confused with comparative rating software, which is not the whole picture.  It is a direct connection between your agency management system and all of your companies.  It can make a huge difference in agency production and agency E&O loss control.  At the Big I we view it as a paramount connection that could very well make or break the perpetuation of your agency.   It makes servicing and quoting a one step process and a single work flow.  A great place to get more information about real time is www.GetRealTime.org.  It is a great website that can explain all the things that you have questions about way better than I can! 

Thursday afternoon we all separated into our specific tracks that we chose, the four tracks were AMS, Applied, Instar and Management.  Carol and I chose the management track which had four different sessions to attend.  The morning session with Peter Van Aatrijk covered how to make your website more effective.  Peter had effective and easy solutions to making your agency website more visibly pleasing and easier to find in the sea of insurance websites. 

The remainder of Thursday and Friday were topics covered by Steve Anderson of The Anderson Agency.  My favorite sessions were ”Taming your Outlook in box” and “Communicating with Gen X&Y”.   Who knew that an Outlook Inbox could ever be empty!!! Carol nor I have ever experienced such an enlightening discussion about email.  I realized that most of the day when spent in the office was dealing with email.  Carol probably spends most of her waking hours dealing with email and deleting email.  So with great pride a can tell you all that I only have 20 pieces of email in my in box!!! WOO HOO!! Thanks Steve!  (on a side note…. If this sounds familiar you should probably think about giving me a call… maybe I can help!) 

Communicating with Gen X & Y of course was my favorite session simply because I believe in it.  If you haven’t read my article “The Future of Insurance Marketing” scroll down and take a look.  Granted I am Gen Y so I know and believe that the way we will communicate with each other will drastically change with they Gen Y graduates entering the workforce.  It amazed me how well Steve was versed on the topic and how he actually taught me a few things.  I think I’m so used to being the only person aware of what’s out there that it was a breath of fresh air to meet and listen to someone who knew something I didn’t. 

So overall the trip was awesome.  I’m so excited to move this association into the next generation of technology and communication.  I feel privileged to experience changing times and growth for our association of agents. 

Next week Carol and I are heading to Vegas Baby!! We have our national board meeting, I plan to attend Young Agents seminar and some of the education seminar to learn whats really out there.  It will be a great trip for me to learn and see what national has to offer our Young Agents in the state. 

On a personal note I’m sad that fall is coming, as most of you know my husband and I are avid campers and fall means snow and winter soon to follow.  Bummer.  It also means the beginning of my fall semester of classes… I’m taking Accounting and a Clothing History class both needed for my graduation some day.  So far the semester has been good and haven’t gotten too overwhelmed!  

I hope after reading this someone new might consider attending the Midwest Tech conference.  It really was extremely helpful and fun conference to attend.  I would love to hear more comments and questions from those reading!!!

Best,

Liz  

MARKETING TIP:

I am the first to say that our culture has become that of a virtual one.  We rarely talk and share most of our lives with each other over a text message or the computer.   I still send out hand written thank you notes to members and friends.  I love getting real mail especially when it’s not a bill.  If your friends or clients recieve a personal hand written thank you note don’t you think they are likely to feel special?  I know I would!

Direct mail can be a great way to reach your target audience if you are using the right piece.  Check out www.vistaprint.comfor your printing needs on postcards.  Try out an over sized postcard.  These are more expensive to mail but are also easier to see in the mail for the receiver.  I know several agents and agencies that have sucess in using postcard campaigns. 

EVENTS:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR ANNUAL CONVENTION!!!

OCTOBER 21-23, KEARNEY, NE  START YOUR ENGINES RACING FANS!!!!

Below are photos from Midwest Tech. Conference!!!