Wise Road, Pompey, NY - Named after my Great-Great-Grandfather

Following the conversation on family and personal stuff, we turned to work. Knowing my pursuits, my friend shared thoughts about Social networking. After listening to his perspectives on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., I asked him, “I heard you refer to ‘Social’ in the midst of everything you were saying. Let me ask you a question. When you said ‘Social’, describe what you had in mind? What concepts did the word ‘Social’ bring to mind as you were talking about it?”

He said, “The noise, the clutter, non-important things… you know, Social.”

I clarified, “So water-cooler-type talk… weather, sports, family life, community – that kind of thing?”

“Yes, exactly. I just don’t have time for all that. Like I said, when I’m in work mode, I need to stay as focused as possible on work – no distractions. I see my wife and daughter spending a lot of time on Facebook, and frankly that concerns me. Now I know they might say I spend a lot of time watching TV or playing golf. But I can’t see myself spending my precious free time on Social networks. I hear people talking about Linkedin at work, but it doesn’t seem to be productive. I also know I’ll be asked to help people – not that I don’t want to help people, but if they want my help, all they have to do is call me. I see people using Social Networks to relive the past or trying to get the next new job. Since I don’t want to do either of those, I just don’t see a need to do Social networking.”

Does that sound familiar? The conversation went on from there. I explained that unfortunately, while understandable because of the traditional use of the term, thinking of ‘Social’ Technologies as ‘personal’ or ‘non-essential’, non-business related, etc. etc. is perhaps one of the biggest misnomers in the executive ranks.

[Curious: Do you agree? Are many executives under an incorrect assumption about ‘Social’ technologies as being more about personal, non-essential stuff? Especially in the insurance vertical?]

From a business perspective, Social is NOT ‘Social’. Think UGC – User-Generated Content and all the implications therein – “Crowd” solutions (e.g. Crowdsourcing, Crowdvertising, Crowdfunding), Ratings, Online Reputation Management, professional communities, Social CRM, Rivers of Information, Customer Intel, Revenue on Demand, e-Word-of-Mouth to name a few.

I made a case that in his position, at a bare minimum, he wants to consider what’s called Online Reputation Management. What do people find when they search for him?

Going further, he wants to be thinking about what’s next, what’s beyond the brand and title on his business card? No doubt about it – no matter how successful, both brand and title will inevitably change, won’t they? And when they do, perhaps quite suddenly, will he benefit from a steady effort to build a Social network? Will he correctly understand his Social relevancy in business? And will he be in a position for broader long-term business influence, again beyond his immediate circle with the current brand and its client base?

Lastly, like the MBA process he went through a few years back that lifted his IQ substantially in a short time-span, he wants to consider tapping into brilliant content creators, peers of his that are beyond the faceless Wall Street Journal writers, his preferred info-source. Sure, WSJ writers are no doubt great writers creating a steady stream of great stories. But what about peers of his who are sharing insights and creating dialogs via blogs and Social networks? Could these insights and conversations lift his IQ in a very meaningful and practical way – directly relating to his field?

What do you think? Are Social Technologies a ‘waste of time’? Do many executives in your experience feel that Social is purely Social?

Next up:

ICMG in Phoenix. #ICMG2012 (You heard it here first: I’m facilitating a 1.5 hour session on Linkedin on Wednesday morning before the Meeting starts. Yeah, I’d rather be playing golf as well, but I was asked, so what could I say.)

PIMA in Palm Coast, Florida. #PIMAAssn Rolling out the rebranding work Bill, Al, Shannon, Denise, Mona, Ed, me and a bunch of others have done in the past year…

Hope to see some of you there.

Speaking on eWOM at World Usability Day - funny image!

You can look at this enterprise topic from multiple angles. Two angles for sure are:

1. How do we as Clients, Partners, and Fans engage WITH the Brands we do business with?
2. How do we as Brands earn, foster, and build engagement FROM our Clients, Partners, and Fans?

I’d like to shine the light on the latter. Restated, what specific activities can we as the enterprise do to earn engagement and interaction from our Clients, Partners, and Fans, specifically within the Linkedin environment. And how will these efforts payoff in measurable ROI.

A note to readers. If I may be quite direct, as I’ve been saying for the last three years, “Lurking is Lame”. I’ll go further than that now – it’s quite unacceptable to consume only, never Comment, never Share, never add value. Here’s the thing: If you’re going to take the time to absorb content, and if you find it helpful, don’t you see how just walking away without contributing is a bit off? It would be like attending in person a session that someone put effort in to develop, and that you paid for in either time or money, finding value in it, and then simply walking out without even taking the time to acknowledge, stop and thank the speaker, perhaps grab a business card for follow-up, or asking a question or making a comment during the session. So please consider some sort of action – do something with the content you consume. At a bare minimum, if you like the post, Share it. It only takes a few minutes to add value. Make a habit of it. (Btw, that adds to YOUR ORM and OV, right???)

First, what does it mean to “earn” engagement FROM our Clients, Partners, and Fans? I’ll use the analogy of the conference again. Suppose you are a new member of an association and you go to the first couple association meetings. At those meetings, you (and probably your boss) are so excited to be in the presence of all these new, targeted prospects, and driving so hard to justify the expense, that you go up to everyone you meet, introduce yourself, and immediately launch into a pitch about your products and services. So for two meetings in a row, you done nothing but “sell”. No listening to what others do, no volunteering to help the association in some way through your talents, no fostering conversations at the breakfast tables, instead “just sell baby”. Obviously an extreme example (though not really, I’ve seen this recently as I’m sure you have as well), but you get the point. If this were the case, would you reasonably expect anyone in the association to give you any positive props or mentions at any point at all? Probably not.

Now contrast that with the flip side. All you do is listen and volunteer and never mention exactly what you do. So everyone ‘Likes’ you but no one has any idea why you’re there or what you do. Also an extreme example on the other end of the spectrum. Also not appropriate.

Relative to the concept of ‘earned media’, the holy grail lies somewhere in between. That’s the goal, that’s the target. How do we do enough selling/marketing so that people know what we do and we stay top-of-mind for that function (and rank high in search along the way), but we also listen, help, and add value along the way? And what is that balance? I’ve heard it said that you can think of it in terms of a 10:1 ratio – 10 acts of added value for every 1 act of selling.

It’s critically important to understand this point. Earned media is/will be an essential element in the near future of sales and marketing.

What does “Earned Media” look like inside of Linkedin? Here are the spots to look for earned media and mentions. Once you understand the locations, and then combine that with the a for-mentioned concept of sales-versus-valueadd, you’ll quickly get the point. Again these are all Linkedin spots:

1. Company Page Recommendations
2. Company Page Status Updates
3. Individual Recommendations
4. Individual Status Updates
5. Group Mentions
6. Answers Mentions
7. Company Buzz Mentions
8. Twitter-integration Mentions
9. Of course, Employee Mentions
10. Employee Activities

These are a few of the hot spots. If you know any others, please Comment.

So what to you do with these and where does earned media come into play?

Company Page Recommendations:

Obvious caveat: The brand must do a great job in adding value and servicing its clients. “Astroturfing”, or getting your brother-in-law to say something nice about you in spite of poor service, inflated prices, etc., will be discovered and exposed, and will further exacerbate the original problems. Trust that.

Sample Linkedin Product Recommendation on a Company Page (click to enlarge)

Once you have the Company profile in place on Linkedin, be sure to add the tabs that allow you to feature your products and/or services. At that point, in these early days of Linkedin, it’s a simple matter of asking some of your Clients, Partners, and Fans to hit the page and make a Comment. Here’s a great example from HubSpot. Notice the inherent Linkedin functionality associated with the Recommendation and how it reinforces the relevance and influence of the Recommendation. Notice also that there is a Share button on the page. Did you know that brand advocates are 83% more likely to Share a page, all the more so when they’ve engaged with the content in some way, put their personal virtual fingerprints on the page? Do you see how these things work together to create earned media and viral marketing? (see more stories on this here)

Company Page Status Updates:

We all know that personal Status Updates (aka Shares on your Linkedin Homepage newsfeed) have the potential of being seen by your network. Going further, most know that if your network Likes or Comments on something YOU shared, THEIR network has the potential of seeing it and sharing it – and so on. (I saw one guy who posted a bet he made with his boss that his boss would give him $1 for every Like and Comment he got on a post about the utility of Linkedin. At that point, the guy had the usual couple hundred Connections. Well, his update went viral inside Linkedin. I’m not sure I remember exactly what I last saw or where it sits today, but after a few weeks the guy’s boss owed him SEVERAL THOUSAND bucks.)

As with personal, the same functionality applies to Company Status Updates. The Status Updates are obviously not earned media, but Likes, Comments, and Shares of those updates are. When the Status Updates appear in Followers Newsfeeds, if people are fans of the brand and appreciate the content of the item, there’s a good chance they will Likes, Comments, and/or Shares, especially if they’ve advanced in their Social maturity beyond the previously mentioned lurking stage. Those actions then become the earned media, the holy grail of Social Media Marketing. Nuf said.

Well, that’s all I have time for at this point. I’ll continue the dialog on the finer points of the other seven items next time.

Meantime, I’m greatly looking forward to ICMG first week of February, PIMA the next week, perhaps the ACT Conference, perhaps SWSX in March, and a VERY exclusive Enterprise Social Tech day-long Boot Camp for C-level insurance executives, also in March in Charlotte – a busy Q1.

Again, please Like, Comment, and Share. Let’s see if I can earn some media myself! Thanks in advance. Merry Christmas!!! Emmanuel.

Fall 2011 on Clairhaven

Frequently I’ve heard and seen the following Comments about Linkedin and Social Technologies….

“I don’t really know that much about it. I’m accepting connection requests, but that’s about it. Who has the time for all that anyway…”

“I’ve joined a couple industry groups, but to be candid, I’m not really participating. I’m barely keeping up with regular email, let alone social networking…”

“I’ve got a profile in there, but I can’t remember my password…”

“I really don’t get the whole Social Networking thing. When I need to speak with someone, I just pick up the phone and call them. If they’re interested, they’ll call me back…”

“I doubt people ever search for me online. Why would they do that, anyway?”

“Social networking is for people that sell to individuals, not businesses. Insurance AGENTS should be using that stuff, but not me. I sell to company executives and they don’t use Linkedin and all that…”

“It’s impossible to keep up with all that Social stuff. As soon as I’ve got something at least somewhat figured out, they go and change it on me…”

“My company blocks access to Social sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Linkedin is open, but people frown on it when you update your profile or status. People think you’re looking for a new job…”

“Look Mike, I can see why YOU want everyone to use all these Social things because you’re in that business. But… I’m a deal-maker… OR I run an insurance agency… OR I’m selling services to insurance marketing executives… OR I work in the Senior market… OR I recruit, train, and support 1000s of agents…. I don’t have time for Social Networking. Plus the people I work with aren’t using it or even asking about it. So it’s a waste of time for me. I’ve got a job to do and numbers to hit…”

On the surface, these are all legit Comments, no doubt about it. However, we all know the common euphemisms that apply to Comments such as these. I won’t take the time to restate the common and standard responses, such as “Well, if ‘everyone else’ is jumping off a cliff, does that make it right?” Instead, let me point out some statistics and other data-points that might lead the reader to decide to take a different path, more forward-looking and though-leader’ish.

A few data-points about Social Networks in general:

65% of Adult Americans that use the Internet use Social Networks
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx

93% of Americans believe that a company should have a presence on social media sites and 85 percent believe that these companies should use these services to interact with consumers.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_social_media_presence.php

The top age group, by volume, that uses Social, is 35-44; second is 45-54.
http://derekshowerman.com/2011/07/07/age-demographics-for-social-media-usage/

Retirees age 65 and older are the fastest-growing group of social networking site users.
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2011/08/30/retirees-fastest-growing-users-of-social-networks

Social network use among Internet users 50 years old and older has nearly doubled to 42% over the past year.
http://mashable.com/2011/04/06/baby-boomers-digital-media/

A few data-points about Linkedin in general:

In June 2011, LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier. (1)
As of March 2011 the service had 44 million users in the US and 56 million outside. (1)
LinkedIn members are on pace to do more than four billion searches on LinkedIn in 2011. (2)
The average American has 634 ties in their overall network and technology users have bigger overall networks. (3)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkedin
(2) http://blog.linkedin.com/
(3) http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks/Part-3/SNS-users.aspx

Lastly, a few data-points about the ICMG Group on Linkedin specifically:

Just like the Annual Meeting itself, it’s a big network and growing, but also includes non-members who are participants in the industry.

ICMG Linkedin Group has 450+ Members and growing daily.

Going further, many of the Group Members have over 500 Connections on Linkedin themselves. Most have at least 150+ Connections. If a study were done, it would not be surprising to find that the average ICMG’er on Linkedin is connected to over 100 insurance industry professionals and colleagues – and all these numbers are in growth mode right now.

The Group activity is meaningful.

Up significantly in 2011, Group Discussions have been used for announcements like new insurance products and distribution partners/channels, links to relevant articles on topics like health insurance and PPACA, and Q&A on different challenges and solutions native to our business and industry.

So as an industry participant, “What’s in it for me?” you may ask.

Think about it. If you post something in the ICMG Linkedin Group, 450 people in your industry have the chance of seeing it. If you post something INTERESTING in the ICMG Linkedin Group and 10 people make a Comment, add 10×100 or 1000 MORE potential industry views of your Announcement, Comment or Question. And what is the cost? Time.

What about research? Need a warm introduction to a potential strategic partner? Need to do some research on someone before starting a relationship? Looking for a service provider in your network? By connecting with industry colleagues and participating within industry discussions, can you see how both sides of this coin can be satisfied?

Others:

1. Never make a cold call again.
2. Never start a strategic relationship without great information about the prospect or the company.
3. Always go into meetings prepared with current information on the topic and the people.
4. Communicate with your target audience in a relevant manner for free.
5. Constantly increase your IQ on a variety of topics.
6. Shorten your sales cycles.
7. Draw your clients into your information stream, increase exit barriers and competitive advantage, and cross-sell new products and solutions.
8. Understand the inherent accountability to peak performance and trust that Social Networks build and reinforce.
9. The list goes on and on and on…

Are these helpful pieces of information that might change your mind about the environment? If so, you might then ask, “OK, Mike. I see what you’re saying here. What should I do to take advantage of all this opportunity?”

First, get in there and update your profile – completely. Manage your property. If you want to see a good example of all the parts and pieces, arrangement, keywords, applications, and so forth, feel free to browse my profile. I’ve done a LOT of research – every single element is done for a specific reason. Use me. Pay attention to the details – they each have a purpose. Above all, make sure your profile is connected to your professional email address. The general concept in play is “Online Reputation Management.” Nuf said.

Daily Activities
5 Minutes: Update your status with something useful. Reply to any Comments as quickly as possible.
10 Minutes: Scan your network’s status updates. (Here’s the thing: Build the Shares newsfeed section into a powerful part of your river of information.)
As you scan, by all means, Like and Comment on other Shares, as appropriate, remembering that your network will then see the updates that you Comment on and Like. Try not to read-only, instead add value with insights and promotion of content.
5-10 Minutes: Open and scan the Group email blasts as they come in. At least look at the subject and author.

No time to add 20-30 minutes a day to your schedule? Look for something to cut.

Weekly
5 minutes: Look at the network Recommendations on the Home page Network updates. Float your mouse over unfamiliar names that have recommended influential people in your network or vice-versa. Are these potential business partners?
10-30 minutes: Try to make a few Comments in a few Groups to add value and build influence.
If you haven’t already, look at the member list and send Connection requests to people you know. Send warm introduction requests to people you want to know.

No time to add 15-30 minutes, perhaps an hour a week to your schedule? Use down time in between things – JUST NOT WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING, PLEASE.

Monthly
10 Minutes: Update your profile with any material changes to your job, interests, awards, etc.
30-60 minutes: Make/Ask for 3-4 Recommendations for/from current clients wrt projects, etc.

No time to add a half-hour to an hour a month to your schedule? Make time – get up earlier or do it while eating breakfast. (Do you really need to watch one more game/show/movie with undivided attention?)

Two final comments:

All boat rise with the tide.
Don’t get left behind.

Good luck. Happy to help. Please Comment and Share. I wanna know. Thanks.

“I’m Mike Wise, President WebWisedom. I’m helping insurance companies and agencies with e-commerce and Social Technologies. I’m also working on a viral video of the conference. I’m wearing a safari hat because I’m looking for insurance creatures in their native, natural habitats! (chuckle) So I’ll be at the bar and on the golf course!!! (laughter)”

Thus went my 30-second introduction at the kick-off of ICMG 2011 at Doral two weeks ago. The people I subsequently met appreciated the attempt at humor. To my surprise, they were also more than happy to share with me sound bites that included their take-away from the meeting as well as what their favorite wild animal is – and what kind of noise it makes!!! The video is in review by the Board at this point. I think it’s hilarious. Look for something shortly, possibly even today.

My take-away? ICMG gets better every year. This year set a record for registrations and tied a record for on-site attendees. “Snow-pocalypse” in the Midwest cost about 30 people, but there were about 40 walk-ups as well. On a bizdev level for WebWisedom, I’m encouraged that the group is moving towards more and better e-commerce efforts. Social Technologies, Social Media Marketing, and Social Networking is starting to become more commonplace in their language. So good things.

What seemed very worrisome to the group (based on informal conversations) is the whole PPACA debacle and its adverse impact on the brokerage community, not to mention the carriers. Obamacare seems to be causing serious issues in the health insurance industry – loss of commissions, increased risk, lower profitability, fewer people covered. It seems to be getting clearer all the time that the way the legislation is crafted, the actual impacts are turning out to be the exact opposite of the intended impacts: fewer people will be covered, higher costs on premiums and care, and decreased quality of care. At the same time, other legislation, new federal government programs, and actions by the Treasury seem to wrecking an already weakened US economy. So I left the conference pleased with ICMG but once again upset with the administration and the direction of the economy in general and “health care reform” (which is really health insurance reform now).

Next on the horizon? Follow-up conversations with ICMG’ers about Socially Facilitated Selling and teaching the large blocks of agents how to leverage Social Tech in their sales efforts. Whether independent agents, career, or captives, the agents in the field are dealing with an increasingly savvy constituent with meaningful, powerful, and growing Social Networks.

In fact, 3 out of 4 American use Social Networks. And 85% of Social Network users expect to interact with their brands and service providers via Social Networks and Social Media.

So the obvious question for the ICMG folks is, “What is your strategy for dealing with this situation? And is it working for you? Is it driving sales?” If not, that’s where I come in.

I’m hoping to spread the word among the group that I’ve spent quite a bit of time learning about Socially Facilitated Selling and crafting effective ways to communicate the concepts of Socially Facilitated Selling to insurance executives, managers, and train feet-on-the-street sales guys.

Mobile seems to be a critically important aspect of Social Tech, not only for content distribution, but also for access to information, Social updates and Sharing, signing up for stuff, of course dreaded email, but also app’s like calendars, navigation, search local businesses, photo’s and video, etc. My one recommendation is for sales people to seriously UPGRADE their mobile technologies. In order to play in the Social space, like anything else, you have to have the tools and equipment, n’est ce pas?

What comments do you have? Were you at ICMG? Whajathink? What about insurance agents and Social? I heard a few concerns at ICMG. What are yours? Share in the Comments below and see if we can leverage the crowd of readers to learn and grow relative to insurance agents and sales within the Social era. Thanks in advance for the Comments. I’ll pipe in as well. And thanks again to all who participated in a great ICMG 2011. Solid effort.

Perfect segway. This week, in the flow of an off-line conversation someone characterized me as “…a digital person living in an analog world.” The reference was spiritual in context, but the second thing that popped into my head was how well that comment translated into my professional life as well. I’m curious if you, those of you that know me well, see this to be a true statement and why? Further, if true, I’m curious if this is a good thing or a bad thing? Does this bode well for me in business, enhancing my value-prop and increasing my chance to successfully add value and thereby generate revenue, or am I in the wrong space doing the wrong thing, eventually destined to fail. Perhaps you would be kind enough to lend your perspective.  I’ve got two focus points:

1. Social Tech and Insurance – teaching the insurance-related enterprise about Social & e-Commerce
2. Socially Facilitated Selling, or my new term: Amplified Influence – teaching B2B sales people how to leverage SocialTech

What’s your comment? Please share. I’d be extremely grateful for either encouragement to press on or a reality check. Really.

*******************A few other quick Shares*******************

Check out these forecasts from World Future Society.  LOT of Social Tech stuff in here. Especially noted the comments on the classroom and customers having the power of CEO’s.  So much more… Maybe this is the year I finally go to a WFS meeting. Anyone care to join me and share costs? It’d be a hoot I’m confident.

I’m signed up for the 2011 PIMA (yes those are my pics on the site) & ICMG (check out the viral video I made for them) Annual Meetings later this month.  Those of you tracking with me in the insurance space, hope to see you at either or both of these events. They both look like they will be well attended and should offer great chances at getting something for the money. And how great that they are back to back in the same city – and a warm, fun one at that. In between I will be running around the area meeting clients and working on the Amplified Influence book (I know, I still have to finish last year’s book. Maybe I’ll integrate all that content.)

I got this from my daughter who’s also into Social Tech, smartly starting to build her own River of Information. Interesting data on Millenials and their habits and preferences. Gee wiz, if you’re selling to these folks, shouldn’t Social be a big part of your sales and marketing strategy? “Tech is in their DNA and IT ENHANCES THEIR LIVES” (emphasis added). Do you get that, Babyboomer marketers and decision makers? Facebook, Smartphones, etc. is ENHANCING, not diminishing, their lives as boomers so often say. If you don’t get it, how many stories like this do you need to read before you get a smartphone, a Macbook, a blog, a Twitter, and start understanding what Social Tech is and why Millenials in particular, and now other generations, are using it so heavily. It’s not then, it’s you. (OK enough of my rant – sorry, I get passionate sometimes.)

You gotta love Shoutlet. As I said a lot in 2010, they are doing some really great work in the SocialTech space with respect to content distribution, control, and reporting. Here’s their prognostication for 2011. Take it to heart. Call them and get started with their tool. Ask for Jenny. (No, I’m not on their payroll.)

Favorite tweet from this week:

@barbaragiamanco: It is ag8 example of how a group should be run! RT @paulcastain: Thanks for the #salesplaybook shout out Barb.  #sales #newhandshake

I just joined this Sales Paybook group on Linkedin. Already picked up a few powerful tips. Now I need to add some. Follow Barb Giamanco. Had an off-line phonecon with her this week. Looking forward to reading her book. Very sharp and savvy Social & Sales Consultant.

From Lewis Howes, Linkedin looks to going public. Darn! I could be wrong, hope I am, but I think a Linkedin IPO is NOT a good thing for Linkedin. It will be interesting to watch. One thing’s for sure – it will be a very Social event, one way or the other!

Lastly, how are you coming on the Mobile version of your site? Do you understand that needs to be a priority project for 2011? NOW? I’ve got a fantastic resource I’d like to connect you with.  Contact me.

Favorite picture from the Christmas break. Me and the fam decorating the Christmas Tree.

It was a great Christmas.

Appreciate hearing from you in the Comments below next to the tags. Thanks for engaging.

Opening Keynote: Byrd B Baggett III – Byrd the Terd in High School!

When you were born, you cried and people celebrated.  When you die, people will cry and you’ll celebrate.

If you don’t love people, you’ll never lead them.

“Will to win is everything.” Vince Lombardi – most often mis-quoted quote “Winning is everything.”

Success at the expense of faith and family isn’t really success.

Secret of success of SW Airlines – most unionized carrier in the business

I asked him, “We hire attitude and train skills.”  Don’t hire people that brighten the room when they leave it.

TC+PC=LC

TC – technical competence

PC – people competence

LC – Leadership competence

Every morning, count five blessings before you earn the right to say a word.

SMILE – Special Magic in Living Everyday – this isn’t a dress rehearsal

When the pain of remaining the same exceeds the pain of change – when true growth starts.

NO P.G.A. – Power Greed Arrogance

EGO – Edging Growth Out

You know things are bad when “whose idea wins” means more than “the best idea.”

Hearing but not listening – ‘silent’ and ‘listen’ have the same letters.

How the Mighty Fall – the 5 Stages of Decline of an Organization

Why are you always happy!  I believe God put us here to serve other people.

The pain of discipline or the pain of regret – which one do you want?

The truth may sometime hurt but it will always help.

We’re killing people because of religions – I’m about relationships.

Life’s not about me, faith journey begins.

2/24/90 – 2 bad behaviors – identify in the next 24 hours and work on them the next 90 days.

“Values are the root that determine your fruit.”

Technology is killing relationships.  Email complaint… 10, 2, 4 – only check email every so often

The Saints got rid of the ‘Me’ players and brought in the ‘We’ players.

What people are looking for in leaders

1. Trust
2. Compassion
3. Stability (no emotional spikes)
4. Hope

Great leaders keep hope alive.

S.A.L.T

• Stop
• Ask the right questions from the right people
• Listen objectively with an open mind.
• Think about the consequences of your choices.

Keep you from Fire Ready Aim…

Bought things I didn’t need with money I didn’t have to impress people I didn’t like!

The most powerful word?  We

Only 5% percent of people read a book on personal improvement every year.

Read 10 pages a day in a self-improvement .  Try The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Most fulfilling purpose:  Being a part of something greater than self.

Forgiveness liberates the soul.

The fruit of service is peace. Mother Theresa

Book: “The Power of Full Engagement”

Expert – ex is a has been, spurt is a drip under pressure

Gary Jacobs on Skype due to the snow storm in Washington (lot of people missed flights)

Problems of HC Spending

2.5 trillion in overall HC spend, 17% of the economy, expected to about double by 2019

Two issues – cover more people, if get sick, will get services

2. control costs and reduce overall spend – in alignment with other countries

Political reform -

Blue-dog coalition – Fiscal conservatives, no new taxes, if new program, gotta cut some others

Also about 40 congressmen dealing w abortion

Merrill Matthews – public policy analyst, author, council for affordable health insurance

We believe markets work in Washington – a minority view

Election in Mass. changed everything.

Everything is back on the table

The coverage mandate became the real stumbling block

Auto insurance – national statistic is that the percentage of people without auto insurance is about the same as people without health insurance.  So mandates don’t really work.

Penalty and jail if they don’t get it???

Democrats believe Guaranteed Issue and community rating should be the standard.

Tried exchanges in the past – MASS. 2006 legislation, pushing it, starting to work

Taxing benefits – 17 new taxes in the House Bill

Senate wants to back off on the large group.

Administrative waste (commissions, marketing, etc. would put all of us out of business)

Higher minimum loss ratio – insurers talked them down a bit (debate on HAS inclusion)

My guess – HC Reform is dead this year – R have no real political interest, D would rather not vote – if they vote Y they’ll get in trouble with voters, if vote N trouble with party leadership

Some funding in there to get funding for high-risk pools (people w HC issues).

Increase competition across state lines

Democrats hate consumer-driven health insurance to control costs

Real problem for the states is the budget – so tight not a lot of room to move.

Healthcare Freedom Act – State of AZ started it.  VA Senate just passed it.  Pushing back on the Feds

Because so many people in DC thought we were going to have Reform – it’s all off the table now.  No telling whether we might see individual laws for the Class Act, Reinsurance Provision, etc.

It’s a good time to be talking to people who are running for office about what makes sense for healthcare reform, then in the next election cycle we can get some good reform.

Gary Jacobs

Brown: More of a story about all the frustration that so many Americans are feeling about Jobs, the economy and the HC Reform process.

See the slide about the National Debt gorilla in the room

Kennedy – liberal man with a conservative bent.  His death left a void.  He might have gotten a deal done for reform.

Death knell was the deal-making and lack of transparency.  Nebraska and Landreau deal were bad.

Quality of the work that is done does not impact the payments.  So if a doc leaves a sponge in the patient, the work to go in and make the fix also gets paid for.

Politics trumped the policy.

Private insurance is a cornerstone of our economy?

Question:

Does the insurance industry have some proposals that can slow this trend down?  $40 trillion Medicare in unfunded liabilities?  They’ve been running Medicare about 40 years.  The fraud in Medicare and Medicaid is unbelievable!!! 12-15% of claims. In private health care, it’s about 1%.  It would be a disaster to run private insurance like they do public.

$800 billion a year in waste in the system – medical malpractice, defensive medicine

Search on Thomson Reuters and $800 billion waste.  17% in fraud

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My Take: (What’s yours??)

Great content, great networking, a little too much good-ole boy stuff.  But there’s a lot of new talent appearing in the crowd.  Hope they stick with it and keep coming.  Hope I keep coming!  Need to do some business with some of the folks.  To be candid, I’ve done a few good deals over the past 6 years.  And I know the group is not generally there to talk tech – they’re there to talk product and alliances.  But hopeful that with persistent follow-up in the next few weeks, a few more folks will get savvy to a tremendous offer I’m bringing to the group:

Many of the folks on the distribution side have a certain block of agents with either no Web site or a bad Web site – both of which could be undermining their sales efforts.  I’ve got a unique solution to that simple yet complex problem. http://www.myagencycenter.com -low price points, great potential to help agents drive untapped production, great tech.  Definitely want to encourage a look or pass this information along to the right folks in the organization.

December started out in a whirlwind followed by an almost complete 2-week vacation from work, something I desperately needed.  Thus the quiet period relative to blogging.

On the Agent-driven side of the house (versus association and affinity)… MyAgencyCenter focus…

Based on my travels and discussions in the early part of December, I remain convinced that local insurance agents can create a self-generating lead system – cheaply and sustainable.  Those seem to be the two keys in this market.  The solution needs to be an affordable, pay-as-you-go subscription model and easy to support with a simple weekly schedule of agent activity.  However, the tricky part is the agent Web site.  With the compliance requirements of insurance companies and regulators, and the complexities of insurance quote engines, agent Web sites that are meaningful lead engines for the agents are a real conundrum.  They have to be professional, up to date, useful for the prospect, and thus able to move the visitor from the cloud to the funnel.  At a bare minimum, the site needs to reinforce the agent’s reputation in the marketplace as a committed insurance professional.  MyAgencyCenter, in combination with social media strategies, seems to be the solution.  For now, my focus is on MGA’s, IMO’s, career and captive agencies, insurance companies with W-2 agents, and other similar large organizations.  (Sorry, MyAgencyCenter is not quite ready to serve individual agents or small agencies.)

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Blog Consulting

So I finally got my first paid consulting gig helping another insurance marketing organization get started with a blog strategy!  I’m pretty excited about it.  Of course, it’s a covert op at this point, but I’m hoping it will become overt later in the year as the blogs mature and the client becomes more comfortable with the environment. Let me know if you feel motivated to start your own.  I can’t recommend it highly enough…

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Sidebar – Priceline.com rocks.  Might be ‘old news’, but I’ve developed an affinity for it with all the budget cuts.  Just gotta say that I’ve saved a ton on air and car rentals – without much adverse impact on convenience, I must say.  Let me know if you’d like some tips.  What about you?  How do you save money with travel expenses?  Any neat ideas?  Please comment.

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PIMA 2010 Annual Meeting in three weeks in the Florida Keys

In collaboration with Bill Tyson and Sherri Lagana, as well as pointers from Rick Jones, conference tri-chair and Mona Buckley, PIMA CEO, I’m working hard on the panel discussion “Demystifying Social Media”.  It’s a tall order for a 45-minute session, but I’m working with some really smart and savvy people.  The interesting thing that we’re netting out to is that, once you get into the social media game, it’s really not that mysterious. I’d be interested in your comments.

And the other really neat thing is that each Social Media program within each organization will likely be, by very nature, unique and different based on the people and products of the organization.  And lastly, unlike Web sites and the tendency for CIO’s and IT departments to hijack what should be primarily simple marketing projects, Social Media strategies and the execution there-of are clearly destined to be managed by sales and marketing (of course, in collaboration with IT and Compliance as appropriate).

Look for a Social Media survey in the next week or so.  And yes, I’ll be taking interesting pictures.  Smile… but don’t look at the camera if you don’t have to!

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While I’m on the Social Media topic, here’s a very useful aside.  Do you have a Social Media ‘Policy’ for your organization?  A couple months ago, I collaborated with a very savvy group of insurance marketers on the P&C side of the business.  Let by Jeff Yates and the IIABA ACT subgroup, we developed a helpful guide for establishing a Social Media Policy for an organization.  Again, Social Media Strategies will vary by organization (let me know if you need help with that), so it’s not a cookie-cutter thing.  SM Policies will vary.  But the guide will help you cover most if not all of the must-haves for an effective policy.  Also find it HERE, another great blog.  I’d be interested in any feedback as it’s by nature a ‘living’ document.

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ICMG 2010 Annual Meeting in Tucson

Looking a little further out, ICMG is coming up on the heels of PIMA.  (Btw, I’m glad Mona and Audrey make the effort to collaborate on the scheduling of these two very important events as there is significant overlap, especially on the vendor side of the equation.)  Last year’s meeting was a record-breaker.  It will be interesting to see if this year will surpass.  I know I’ve seen a lot of new members signing up over the course of 2009.  But 2009 was a rough year as well, so we’ll see.  I’m looking forward to connecting with folks about MyAgencyCenter as well as about Web sites, insurance technologies like quote engines, e-applications, agent portals, and single or multi-carrier agent contracting solutions.  As always, there will be ample things to talk about and great opportunities to connect needs and solutions, whether they are mine or not.  And oh yeah, I’ll be taking cool pictures.  Might even do a vid-cast.

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Next: Final Reflections on 2009 and Forecasts for 2010 – A podcast with the legendary Mark M. Hill

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A few final pictures from 2009

I had a pro-shooter take a picture of me at the NCAA College Cup, the Men’s Division 1 soccer equivalent of the basketball Final Four.  Thought it came out well.  My team lost a heart-breaker though.  Very long trip back to CLE, lemme tell ya.

A picture of a pricelsss gift I made for my buddy Dave Recchion that moved to North Carolina in 2008.

A picture of Kelle with her favorite Christmas present.

And a pic of me and Zach at the Hudson Chapel Saturday morning Men’s Bible Study.  (Btw, speaking of technology, check out what my church is doing with a .TV site… simple and creative, and very cool use of Social Media.  And it’s a great church group if you’re looking for one.)  I also made a short and sweet music vid over the holidays trying to capture my year in the study…