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NEWEST INTERVIEW: New Messaging Creates New Power to Sell

Interview with: Doug Megill, CEO, McLean Insurance Agency

 Doug recently used an EchoPoint messaging session to reposition his insurance company to grow, despite an increasingly commoditized marketplace and intense competition from far larger firms.  In this interview, he talks about that process and its value to his business.

 Doug, what prompted you to think about repositioning your company?

“I needed a corporate brochure - something we could take into presentations with larger clients. We’d been using brochures from the insurance carriers themselves.  But I got to thinking about being an independent agent and realized the disconnect in using carriers’ brochures to talk about what we do. Plus, those brochures emphasized what we sell, not who we are and the expertise we offer our clients. I was having trouble explaining that distinction to clients and to my own sales team who kept presenting us as middlemen … as brokers.  That perception is so ingrained; I worried that I’d invest money in a new brochure but wind up sounding just like every other insurance agent.  So before I spent that money, I knew I needed help finding the right way to talk about the real value we offer: knowing how to integrate multiple insurance products as part of a total risk reduction strategy for businesses and individuals. That’s why I decided to invest in an EchoPoint messaging session.”

How did the messaging session work?

“We brought in our top sales and client support people. The EchoPoint Group team facilitated the half-day session and helped us look at who our audiences are, who we are, what we offer, and how we’re different from other insurance agencies.  During the session, the EchoPoint team interviewed our people separately as well as in a group.  They put all the findings together into a messaging report.”

 Did the report surprise you?

 “Yes!  I was really surprised at how my employees’ perceptions differed from mine in terms of what the company is and what our value propositions are for our different audiences.  The report also showed our common ground. It drove out the right value propositions and messaging not only for our print and online communications, but in face-to-face conversations with prospects and clients.  It finally articulated what I’d been struggling to say: that we don’t sell insurance; we form enduring relationships and combine our knowledge, experience and exemplary customer service to reduce financial, business, and personal risk for our clients.  I finally have a concise way to open conversations about how our independence frees us to align multiple policies from multiple carriers into a completely integrated 360-degree risk protection strategy. Plus, the report helped us highlight how we further strengthen that protection by integrating non-insurance components like business best practices, training, and management solutions to help prevent risks from arising at all.  From there, the brochure was easy!”

Has the brochure proven valuable?

“Yes it has - especially since the insurance market is undergoing radical change. Coverage is becoming ‘commoditized,’ premiums are getting smaller … it’s extremely competitive. Plus, we compete with major national firms like Wells Fargo, Brown & Brown, Marsh/Willis as well as powerful local brokerages right here in the capital area. They’re all brokering insurance and can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing.  This brochure really does a valuable job for us, elevating our image to where we can compete with the big guys.  What I love - and this came from the messaging report - is that none of these companies can offer what we do: customized risk management plans that proactively reduce our clients’ exposure to risk — which in turn helps clients reduce their insurance costs, self-insured retention, uninsured claims, and company administrative expenses. We take this very strong interest in our clients’ futures because we draw on deep local roots in the community and relationships with clients’ families and businesses that literally go back generations.”

 Were there benefits beyond knowing how to create a strong brochure?

 “Absolutely.  Going through the messaging process got us on the same page. It truly elevated our self-perception of the value we offer and the ‘make-a-difference’ roles we can play in our clients’ lives.  Our salespeople are far more confident approaching larger clients, and far more proactive in helping existing clients look at how risk protection needs to change as they hit different milestones in life.  Plus, both prospects and clients have a more accurate understanding of us.  For example, after we developed the new brochure, I shared a copy with one of our clients, a partner with Grant Thornton.  Until then, he’d thought we were a dinky little business.  But after he saw the brochure, he realized who we really are and has started referring us to his clients. That brochure didn’t change who we are, it just finally let us show who we are and why it matters to clients. It’s really a breakthrough for us.”