More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com
“What You Don’t Know Can’t Help You!” … Eddie K. Emmett, Editor / Publisher
DIY or DFY? In This Edition DIY or DFY? ................................ 1 Sea Palms Conference Agenda 3 Do Exempt Employees Have to be paid for Holidays? Q&A........ 4 Thanksgiving Turkeys ............... 8
Up on the Roof ................ 8 3 times a Charm ............. 8 60+ Questions to Troubleshoot and Fix Your Local Reviews Strategy ..................................... 10 64 Questions ............................. 16 What’s your 2016 E&O goal? .. 22 A very personal subrogation .. 24 Rejuvenate ................................ 27
Do It Yourself (DIY) or Done
For You (DFY) … that is the question! I don’t know of any insurance agency owner who ever went to school to be an insurance agency owner. Every one of them, bless their hearts, were terrific at sales and moved up the ladder and out of what they did best. Too good for the old job & not overly competent in the new one.
Internet Marketing & Social Media Boot Camp November 11-12 at Sea Palms Resort on St. Simons Island, GA
It’s called the “Peter Principle”. Because they had no official training, they fashioned their offices in a haphazard manner, making many costly mistakes in the process.
BTW … I speak from personal experience. Please pay attention because you will not live long enough to make as many mistakes as I did. Take marketing, for example. We used the same radio commercial regardless of the station format. In hindsight I realize that marketing should be tailored for the specific client you are targeting. Fortunately, thanks to the Internet, marketing has evolved to the point that you can precisely direct your marketing dollars to your target prospect. Continued on page 2
Agenda on page 3 in this issue Agents First!
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November 2015
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DIY or DFY? Continued from page 1 But you have to figure out the profile of your target. I read somewhere that the greatest archer in the world would miss if blindfolded and spun around a few times. You have to know where the target is if you want to score a bulls-eye. Have you figured out your targets? Don’t say “Everyone who needs insurance!” Take renters, for example. How could you target them in the most cost-effective way? Facebook video ads to the rescue. For this example I chose individuals between the ages of 25 – 35 living within 25 mile radius of Macon, GA who rent their residence. If you used Facebook video ads, you could target them for 2 cents each view and have 22,000 specific targets. 1,000 prospects would cost you only $20.00. Agents First!
Now the real question is … do you want to do it yourself or have it done for you? How much would it cost to learn or how much would it cost to have it done for you? Go to www.FYIExpress.com for the answer. Or come to the Internet Marketing & Social Media Boot Camp on Nov. 11-12 on St. Simons Island, GA and get “Hands-On” Training from Eddie K. Emmett.
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November 2015
“Hands-On” Internet Marketing & Social Media Boot Camp GIAA & FYI Express & Agents First! Southeast Fall Conference November 11th – 12th on St. Simons Island, GA
Relax … Learn … Network Attendee Register Online at http://agent-seapalms2015.eventbrite.com It’s a Beautiful Day at Sea Palms Come relax in the lush oasis that is Sea Palms Resort. Take a walk under ancient live oaks, where the ocean air mixes with a soft marsh breeze. Bike on the beach, play golf, tennis or just relax on your balcony overlooking the island’s natural beauty.
Deluxe Guestrooms as low as $119.00! Golf only $55.00! We have arranged a special room rate at Sea Palms Golf & Tennis Resort (http://www.seapalms.com) HU
HU
Call Sea Palms Resort Reservations at (800) 841-6268 and tell them you are with GIAA! Online Room Registration Information at www.AgentsFirst.org and www.FYIExpress.com and www.Georgia-Agents.com .
Free Registration for Association Members & Staff. Free Pass Codes have been e-mailed to current members. One day non-member costs $59.00; both days’ cost $99.00. Can’t make it but you want to learn how to do all of this? Join for only $99.00 per year and watch the “how to” videos from the comfort of your desk.
GIAA & FYI Express & Agents First! Fall Conference 2015 Agenda
Wednesday, November 11th
Thursday, November 12th
How to be on page #1 in Google
The Power of Videos
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Bring your laptops & iPads for “Hands-On” Training: How & Why to claim Local Listings How to create a $1.00 per month website with custom domain & e-mail address How to get Reviews and boost your online visibility 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Lunch on your own
Facebook Advertising Simplified 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Bring your laptops & iPads for “Hands-On” Training: How to set up a free Facebook for Business page How to laser-target your prospects and pay pennies for each time your ad is viewed. How to create Facebook ads 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Free Trade Fair & Hospitality Suite Enjoy St. Simons Island … Dinner on your own
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Bring your laptops & iPads for “Hands-On” Training: How to set up a free YouTube Channel for your agency How to make Customer Appreciation videos go “viral” How to create free custom insurance agency videos 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Lunch on your own
Virtual Client Communication 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Bring your laptops & iPads for “Hands-On” Training: How to find content and create eNewsletters for free How to create and send a video e-mail for free How to get into your client’s cell phone Contact List 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Free Trade Fair & Hospitality Suite Enjoy St. Simons Island … Dinner on your own
More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com
Do Exempt Employees Have to be paid for Holidays? Q&A By Robin Thomas, Managing Editor Editor's Note: These question and answer HR Matters E-Tips articles are taken from real questions submitted by our subscribers, a unique feature of the HR Matters Tools and Resource Center online service. See how it works. You are not required to provide paid holidays to nonexempt employees, but you should pay exempt employees for any holiday your office is closed. Find out why the FLSA requires you to pay exempt employees in these situations. Q: Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Friday this year, so we are planning to close our offices to celebrate the holiday. We do not normally provide paid holidays to nonexempt employees since we know that they do not have to be paid any time they do not work. But, what about pay for exempt employees? A: You should pay your exempt employees for that day. If you do not, you may jeopardize their exempt status. (Employees who are nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) do not have to be paid for the day since they only must be paid for time that they actually work.) (Download free 9-page Holidays decision-maker kit including model policy template, HR best practices, and legal background.) According to the FLSA, "exempt" employees generally must be paid a regular salary, regardless of the number of hours they work or the quantity or quality of their work. Agents First!
(As a reminder, the Department of Labor regulations implementing the FLSA provide that the following categories of employees are exempt from the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the FLSA: (1) bona fide administrative, executive, or professional employees; (2) workers employed in outside sales; (3) highly skilled computer-related employees; and (4) certain "highly- compensated" employees.) Thus, they typically should receive their full pay for any week that they perform some work, although there are a few exceptions for certain full-day absences, described below. Although the Department of Labor's (DOL) regulations implementing the FLSA do not specifically address unpaid holidays, they do provide that an employee will not be considered paid "on a salary basis" if deductions are made "for absences occasioned by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business." Unpaid holidays generally are considered the type of absence "occasioned by the employer." According to a DOL Wage & Hour Opinion Letter dated 5/27/99, the DOL indicated that an employee will not be considered to be paid on a salary basis if deductions from the employee's predetermined compensation are made for absences occasioned by the employer, such as being closed on certain holidays, or the operating requirements of the business. Further, the regulations recognize only a limited number of instances when an employer may make deductions (or "dock") for absences of a full day or more without jeopardizing the exemption and thus incurring overtime liability. But, holidays do not fall under any of those exceptions.
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More Tips & “How-To� videos at www.FYIExpress.com Do Exempt Employees Have to be paid for Holidays? Q&A Continued from page 4 For example, an employer may make deductions for an exempt employee's absence for a day or more for personal reasons other than sickness or accident. In addition, deductions may be made for absences of a day or more because of illness or injury if the employer has a bona fide plan, policy, or practice that provides compensation for loss of salary due to sickness or disability (such as a policy that allows employees to accrue paid sick leave). The DOL regulations also make it clear that employers cannot dock exempt employees for half-day holidays. Specifically, the regulations prohibit employers from making deductions from an exempt employee's pay for absences of less than a day, without exception. So, to maintain your exempt employees' status, you should pay them for any holiday when your business is closed, including the Fridays if you are closed this year. Content for your HR Matters E-Tips newsletter is developed from our flagship publication, the HR Matters Tools and Resource Center, featuring the Personnel Policy Manual System (PPMS). See how it works.
Facebook Updates I can set up a Facebook for Business Page for you if you do not already have one. Then I will keep it updated at least 3 times a week with interesting insurance-related information that your "Likes" will want to share. Only $99.00 one-time payment for a whole year!
Check out this live example: FYI Express
Subscribers to the PPMS and HR Policy Answers on CD can find information on holiday pay for exempt employees in Holidays, Chapter 503, note 11. YOU CAN TRUST PPS Information provided in HR Matters E-Tips is researched and reviewed by the HR experts at Personnel Policy Service as well as employment law attorneys. However, it is not intended as legal advice. Readers are encouraged to seek appropriate legal or other professional advice.
Custom YouTube Videos I can set up a YouTube Channel for you if you do not already have one. Then I can create promotional videos like the one shown above for only $99.00 each.
Check out this live example: FYI Express Agency Logo Contact Info Promotional Video E-mail Call Agency Agency Link
www.AgentsFirst.org
Info at www.FYIExpress.com Agents First!
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November 2015
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More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com Lloyd’s in July 2014 issued a consumer alert saying Appeal did not and had never held “any authority” to bind or accept insurance on behalf of its underwriters. Authorities believe he paid $1.35 million in claims to trucking companies who had filed claims in the belief that their cargo was insured. Licensed agents must complete continuing education courses, including ethics. Since 2000, the Georgia Department of Insurance listed five completed ethics courses for Kill. The 2012 and 2014 courses were the only ones recorded for him since 2003. It appears clear to ZIFL that he learned nothing from his ethics courses.
Thanksgiving Turkeys
Up on the Roof
$3.7 Million in Truck Cargo Insurance Premiums John Paul Kill, an insurance broker working from a basement in his home, over the span of 18 months netted about $3.7 million in truck cargo insurance premiums from nearly 800 companies nationwide, according to state and federal officials. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.23 million restitution to his victims, after pleading guilty to insurance fraud. It’s the highest-dollar fraud case in recent Georgia Department of Insurance records and the second sevenfigure case this year, following several years of smaller cases. According to insurance department records, Kill was intermittently licensed in Georgia. Although records aren’t clear when he got his first one, Wright said Kill held insurance sales licenses “at various times starting in 1993, which expired in 1996, then again in 1999, which expired in 2004.” More recently, he was personally issued licenses in September 2011 as an agent and October 2011 as a surplus lines broker. Each was to expire with the close of 2014, but on July 24 of that year the department said it had issued arrest warrants for Kill, the owner of Appeal Insurance Agency LLC. He faced 10 counts of insurance fraud, charged with selling bogus policies and operating an unlicensed insurance company, and surrendered his licenses. According to the FBI, Kill started offering cargo insurance policies to trucking companies in 2013, saying he would bind the policies through Lloyd’s. For a “small portion of victims,” investigators said, he bound cargo policies through a different company and with less coverage “than what the trucking companies thought they purchased.” Agents First!
Screwing up a homeowner’s roof and lying that he had insurance landed a contractor up to 40 days in jail. Albert Smith assured the Barre Town, Vt. owner that Smith had coverage. Smith provided presumed insurance documents from the Fewer Insurance Agency before the job started. Smith’s website also said he was insured. The homeowner paid $2,500 upfront to start the job. Workers then tore off the roof and never covered the vent caps. Rain went down the vents and damaged the place. They put up a leaky tarp with holes that let rain through. Turns out that Smith’s policy with the agency was cancelled months before due to nonpayment of premiums. Smith has a lengthy list of priors, including ID theft, burglary, possession of stolen property, DUI and others.
3 times a Charm Angel Luis Carrasco-Rivera made 3 claims for repairing the damaged left side of his motorcycle. The Lancaster, Pa. man first told Geico about the damage. The insurer sent a $1,287 check payable to Alex Customs. Carrasco-Rivera decided not to fix the bike. The repair shop cashed the check and gave him the money. He made minor repairs of his own, and then bought a new Geico policy with a different policy number. Carrasco-Rivera said the motorcycle was knocked over and, surprise, the left side was damaged. He went to the claim trough a year later. A Nationwide adjuster was researching the motorcycle’s VINs and noticed the similar damage claims. Carrasco-Rivera received 3 years of probation. Continued on page 10
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November 2015
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Thanksgiving Turkeys Continued from page 8
Dangerous place, that gas station. Howard William Neel said a vehicle knocked him down when it backed into the work car he was refueling. The Chico, Calif.-area man was a security officer for a local security firm. He went to the hospital, complaining of serious back, neck and leg pain. Neel started receiving workers-comp money. Yet Neel never was knocked down, the gas station’s security video showed. He walked normally, limped when the other driver spotted him, then walked normally when the driver left. Neel also used a cane when visiting docs, though surveillance showed him walking normally around the house or with his horses. Neel returned to work a year later, and claimed he slipped to his knees while walking over a wet planter during a rainstorm. He shifted stories and told a workerscomp doc that he fell on his back and shoulder. He only had mud on his trouser knees and lower legs, photos later showed. Neel suffered a similar back injury while lifting boxes with another employer.
The department contacted Ibrahim and communicated that he was transacting business illegally and should stop immediately. He continued to function as an agent, issuing 15 additional auto insurance policies after receiving the warning from the department. This case was prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. From Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter A ClaimSchool ™ Publication, Written by Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE © 2015 ClaimSchool, Inc. & Barry Zalma Volume 19, No. 20 October 15, 2015 Volume 19, No. 21 November 1, 2015 Go to Zalma Books – E-Books and Articles by Barry Zalma – http://www.zalma.com/zalmabooks.html; https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard; https://www.facebook.com/barry.zalma; and https://twitter.com/bzalma. Subscribe to e-mail Version, it’s Free! – http://www.zalma.com/ZIFL-CURRENT.htm Go to my blog Zalma On Insurance at http://zalma.com/blog
He received 3 years of probation for both scams and must repay around $245,800.
Former Agent Sentenced to Probation for Insurance Fraud Hesham Saleh Ibrahim, 57, of Palmdale, pleaded no contest on September 29 to felony insurance fraud and was sentenced to three years felony probation, 30 days community labor and ordered to pay nearly $1,000 in restitution and fines. Ibrahim was charged in July 2015 with six misdemeanor counts of transacting insurance without a license for issuing 114 auto insurance policies. He was also charged with one count of felony insurance fraud for issuing a fraudulent insurance certificate for a $2 million commercial liability policy and pocketing the $350 premium. Consumers should always make sure they receive a copy of the entire policy from the insurance company to confirm their coverage. An insurance certificate is not enough. The Department of Insurance Investigation Division began an investigation after receiving a complaint from a consumer claiming they paid Ibrahim for liability insurance for their business, but did not receive a policy.
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Department investigators discovered Ibrahim was 6 Major Holiday eNewsletters transacting business on an expired agent license, Online Visibility Reports operating under Five Star Insurance Agency and Convenience Store. Complete info at www.FYIExpress.com Agents First! Page 10 of 27 November 2015
More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com If you’re a business owner you’ll want to ask yourself these. If you work for the business owner you’ll want to see how many of these you can sniff out on your own, and then have your boss or client fill in the gaps
60+ Questions to Troubleshoot and Fix Your Local Reviews Strategy
I’ve also put together a Google Drive doc of all the questions – just the questions, without my explanations underneath them. You probably won’t have to address all the questions. I list 64 here simply to cover all the possible issues your review strategy might have run into. FYI, it might be tough to use this as a checklist. Some questions a “yes” answer is good, for others a “no” answer is good, and for other questions you might want a different type of answer. Happy troubleshooting! Basic questions Most business owners know they need online reviews if they want to get more customers. Some of them have actually tried to get happy customers to speak up. Very few get anywhere. Even if the business owner makes a reasonable request at an appropriate time, customers still have to follow through. But they forget, or get distracted, or get confused, or aren’t asked to write a review on a site they find convenient, and so on. The business owner gets frustrated and concludes reviews are impossible to get and not worth the effort. He or she then loses would-be customers to someone else. One thing I hang my hat on is being able to help business owners put together and execute on a review strategy that works: better reviews, more reviews, and more customers. I’m talking about getting reviews on Google+, Yelp, Facebook, other sites you and I are familiar with, and on industry-specific sites. I’ve taken part in gnarly failures and bust-out-theChampagne successes. I’ve worked with clients in more industries than you can shake a stick at (and have made review handouts for many more), and know all the things that can go wrong and what you really want to get right.
1. Do you want to get more reviews? Some business owners think reviews are too hard to get, or that in their unique situation getting reviews is impossible, or that customers don’t care about reviews. Usually they end up agreeing with me that none of that is true, but some people are dead-set in their thinking. If that’s you or your client, the rest of these questions probably won’t help you much. 2. Are most of your customers happy? If they’re not, you should still try to get the happy ones to speak up, but you may have a bigger challenge to work on in the meantime. 3. What have you tried so far? Broad question here, but that’s because there are so many possible answers. The answer will give you an idea as to what other diagnostic questions (see below) to ask next. 4. Do you provide easy-to-follow instructions for writing a review? As opposed to simply making a request and assuming customers know what to do.
On the one hand, it’s a simple trinity: do right by your customers, provide instructions that they find easy to follow, and ask whenever possible. As long as everything you do is with those principles in mind, you’ll do fine on reviews. But on the other hand, the devil is in the details. Also, you may be in a tricky situation (e.g. you’re a therapist or bankruptcy lawyer). Or maybe you just want to go from good to world-class. I’ve rounded up all the 64 questions I use to determine how my clients can get their review strategy on-track. Agents First!
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Continued on page 12 November 2015
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64 Questions Continued from page 11 5. Do you offer reviews a choice as to the site? Don’t focus too much on Yelp and Google+: they’re the only sites that really filter reviews (especially Yelp), and Google’s steps for posting a review are cumbersome and not clear to most people. Steer at least some customers toward easier sites, and maybe use my “zigzag” strategy. But you’ll want to diversify where you get reviews anyway, and that’s one way to do it. I suggest you offer customers 3-6 choices. 6. In what medium have you been asking for reviews?
10. How likely is it that your customers / clients / patients would have privacy concerns if they used their full name to post an online review of you?
Do you ask in-person, by email, by phone, on invoices, or what? If you’ve only tried one method of asking for reviews, try another method – or ideally a combination. 7. Do you know which customers are happy? The worst thing to do is not to ask anyone because you’re so afraid someone might write a bad review. It’ll happen eventually, if it hasn’t happened already. But you want to get the happy customers to speak up, and asking them is the only good way to do it. If you can’t tell who’s happy, just ask. It can be as subtle, like, “So, is there anything else we can do for you today?” Then ask for a review if it seems like a good idea.
Make sure they know two things: (1) they don’t have to describe anything too specific or personal – they can focus on describing you and your service – and (2) they can review you on private / anonymous sites.
8. When you’ve asked customers for reviews, how did they react? Did they say yes when you asked in-person, but never followed through? Or did they ask whether they have to use their full name? Did they snail-mail you a testimonial – rather than post an online review? Their reactions will tell you what to change, or at least which diagnostic questions to ask yourself next. 9. Do you know the laws or regulations on reviews in your industry? The financial-consulting industry is the only one I know of where you just can’t ask for online reviews, according to the SEC. My understanding has always been that doctors and psychotherapists can ask for reviews if they ask patients in an FTC-compliant way and if they tell patients that they don’t need to get into specifics (as per HIPAA). Get the facts if you have any doubt as to the legality of your review strategy. Don’t let uncertainty make you beat around the bush and not encourage happy customers to speak up. Oh, and you don’t want to get in hot water
Agents First!
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More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com
64 Questions Continued from page 12 11. How long have you been trying to get more reviews? You don’t know how well your strategy works if you’ve only tried it for a month, or you’ve asked fewer than about 20 customers, or if you’re new to the whole idea of asking for reviews. Try it for long enough that you can draw conclusions, and then tweak or change gears as needed. 12. How long have you tried whatever strategy you’re currently using? Give it a chance. But be willing to change it or try something else if it doesn’t seem to work (see below questions). 13. Do you have a problem with passive ways to encourage reviews (ways that don’t involve asking specific people directly)? Add review badges or widgets to your site, consider copying and pasting reviews and featuring them throughout your site (see this and this), link to your reviews in your email signature, and include instructions on the “Reviews” page on your site. You won’t get a ton of reviews, but these indirect methods may help you get a trickle. Do this if you’re gun-shy about asking directly.
16. Do you know for a fact that you don’t have any duplicate listings on the sites where you want reviews? They may be posting reviews on the wrong listings. Find the duplicates and fix or remove as many as you can. 17. Do customers know that you will personally read and acknowledge their reviews? Say so in your request. Make it clear you’re looking for honest feedback, not just 5 stars. Also, post responses to at least some of the reviews. You don’t want reviewers to feel they’re shouting into the wind. 18. Have you posted overheated responses to reviews? Don’t scare people off. Respond to negative reviews if you feel you need to, but don’t lose your cool. Sleep on it before posting a response, and see if you can turn lemons into lemonade.
14. How often do your customers’ reviews get filtered? Having lots of filtered reviews (on Yelp and Google+) can be a good sign: it means people are following through. Something’s working. Setting the stage 15. Do the names of your online listings closely match the name your customers / clients / patients know you as? They may not even be finding the listings they want to post reviews on. Work on your listings and make sure you can pull up the correct listings.
19. If you’ve already got any reviews, do your customers know about them and know that they won’t be the first? They’ll feel more comfortable if there are precedents. It’s good if you can point to reviews that aren’t too long or personal, so that reviewers don’t feel daunted. But then how do you get your first review? Either by accident (from someone you didn’t expect to write one), or by asking enough people, or by reaching someone who wants to be the first because he/she is a really happy customer and wants you to stay in business.
Continued on page 14 Agents First!
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More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com 25. Take 5-10 customers you asked for a review – or plan to ask for a review – and look them up on Google+, Yelp, and Facebook: how many of them have ever written reviews of other businesses?
64 Questions Continued from page 16 20. Have you personally ever written an online review of a “local” business? Do it. Know what’s involved, and what you’re asking people to do. Ideally you know what it’s like to write a review on the specific site(s) you’re asking customers to review you on. (That’s half the reason I review businesses on Yelp.)
Customers who already write reviews understand why reviews matter to you, and probably don’t need much hand-holding. You can also discover which site(s) they might prefer to review you on.
21. How do most of your customers find you originally? The ones who found you online are more likely to have checked out your reviews, to care about reviews, and to recognize their value to you and to other customers. You’ll still have to work to get them to review you, but the point is they’re a little better-conditioned than are word-of-mouth referrals (for example). To any customers who didn’t find you online you’ll probably need to explain why reviews matter to you, show how easy it is to post one, and provide step-by-step instructions. Whom to ask 22. Have you asked your very best, closest, most-loyal customers? Give them a choice of at least two sites, give them simple instructions for each (more on that topic later), and follow up if they haven’t written you a review after your initial request. Chances are they’ll review you. If so, you probably have a workable strategy, and can start asking other customers. (If they don’t review you, use the other questions to figure out why.) 23. Have you read the reviews you’ve already got and understood exactly what kind of people end up reviewing you? If you can identify a type of person who’s likely to review you, you may have a better idea of whom to ask (and not to ask). 24. How would you describe most of your customers’ economic situation? Some groups of people are more likely to use their phones for most things they do online. Make sure you give mobile-centric review instructions to customers who may not have much access to (or use for!) a desktop / laptop.
Agents First!
26. How old is your typical customer? (Or if your customers fall into several age groups, what are the biggest 1-2 age groups?) Sweeping generalization here: younger customers are a little more inclined to write you a review on mobile, whereas older ones might be warmer to a desktop / laptop. Who asks 27. In your company, who besides you might be able to ask customers for reviews? Don’t want to ask customers yourself? Don’t want to ask all of them yourself? Want to run a “test” and figure out who’s the best? Distribute the work, at least for a while. 28. Who do you think would be the best person in your company to ask for reviews, and why? Maybe you’re the boss and know your business best, but maybe Sara at the front desk has the relationship with customers, and might just be more charming than you. Or maybe Louie is your best tech and would haul in the reviews, if only you could get him to start asking.
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Continued on page 15 November 2015
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64 Questions
What to ask
Continued from page 14 29. Even if someone else usually asks customers for reviews, have you ever tried asking customers yourself? Just so you can speak from experience, and tweak your strategy based on experience. 30. Have you heard or seen exactly how people in your organization ask customers? Do they emphasize that the review is a favor, and not an obligation? Do they provide clear instructions? Are they patient? Are they polite to customers who don’t want to write a review? Do they thank all customers? Listen to some phone calls and read the emails. Whether you do that openly or channel your inner Dick Cheney is up to you. Just as long as it leads to a constructive talk.
34. Do customers know you’re asking for an online review on a third-party site – not simply a testimonial that they let you stick on your site? Too many business owners have told me, “Yeah, I have tons of reviews – I have a whole bag of ‘em in my office!” No, those perfumed letters are testimonials, which presumably your customers gave you permission to put on your site. I’m talking about online reviews, which people can post whether you ask them to or not, and which you can’t edit or cherry-pick. Make sure your customers know the difference and know what you’re requesting. 35. Do you encourage honest (even critical) feedback? You don’t want your review corpus to look fishy. But you do want to know how to provide a better service – for obvious reasons, and so you can earn even more “review stars” long-term. Also, if you’re the type who’s concerned about asking customer for reviews only to have them leave you bad ones, encouraging honest feedback means you’re less likely to gall the less-happy customers. They’re less likely to think, “How DARE they ask me for 5 stars – I’ll show ‘em where they can stick their 5 stars….” 36. Which site(s) do you ask customers to review you on? Try a different site. Preferably one that’s less painful than Yelp or Google+. If you get reviews there, you’ll know you’re at least on the right track. 37. Do you comply with the rules of the sites where you want more reviews?
When to ask 31. When do you ask customers? Your initial request should be right after the job is done, if possible, and then you should follow up within about a week. You probably won’t have your best results if you let a month go by, or if you only ask immediately after the job is done. (More on the topic of following up later.) 32. Does at least one of your requests happen when the customer is in a position to write you a review immediately if he or she wants to? Some people are more likely to follow through on the spot, rather than later.
The consequences of ignoring Yelp’s polices can be pretty ugly. Once upon a time Google+ reviews were also policed, and although now it’s no neighborhood for Mr. Rogers, you should still follow the rules. 38. Have you avoided incentivizing reviews with things like gift cards or discounts? It’s cheesy, ethically questionable, and might insult some customers (who may beat you over the head with it in their reviews). Your payola will probably work, if your definition of success is simply getting reviews. But those reviews will probably be short and pro forma and not too compelling to would-be customers, or they’ll look outright crooked. Continued on page 16
33. Have you tried asking at different times? Ask on a different day, or at a different time of day, or both. In particular, test if it seems to make a difference whether you ask during the week or on the weekend. Agents First!
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November 2015
More Tips & “How-To” videos at www.FYIExpress.com 44. Do you email a bunch of customers at once?
64 Questions Continued from page 20 39. Do you make it clear which review site is your “first choice”? You need to offer choices, but not so many that your reviewer freezes. (As I mentioned before, I suggest asking any given reviewer to choose from one of 3-6 sites.) They may also freeze if they have to decide between sites. Provide a slight nudge. 40. Do you ask any one customer to review you on more than one site? Don’t turn it into a big chore, or make it seem that way. You may be able to ask a customer who just successfully wrote you a review on one site to review you on another, but it would have to be a customer you’re pretty close with, and even then you wouldn’t want to wear out your welcome.
45. To what extent do you personalize each request? I’m far more likely to review you if you say “Hey Phil” or “Mr. Rozek” than if you say “Dear Valued Customer,” even if the rest of the email is boilerplate. And I’m way more likely to put in a good word for you if you allude to the specific service or product I paid for, or a conversation we had, or build off some rapport. The more bespoke your request, the better. Of course, that’s hard to “scale,” so pick your poison. 46. Do you ask customers in more than one medium?
41. If a customer seemed ready to write you a review on the spot, do you know exactly what you would ask that person to do? Once in a blue moon, you may ask in-person for a review and your customer will say, “Sure. I’ve got my phone right here. Tell me what to do.” Know what you want him or her to do. 42. Do you tell customers roughly how long it will take to write a review? Tell everyone that you appreciate a short review, but that you also love detail. You’re respecting their time either way. That’s a good way to get reviews from people who’d otherwise think it’s a pain and not bother, and to get the juicy, keyword-rich, in-depth, helpful reviews that can really convert readers into customers. How to ask 43. Do you make your review request sound like a personal favor (and not an obligation)? You’re more likely to get a review, and you’ll stay classy.
Don’t. Especially early on. You don’t want to send an ineffective or ill-timed request, have it flop, and then have no more customers to ask. (And if you’re using a personal or email account you don’t want to get in hot water with your ISP.) Your reviews might also get filtered (at least on Yelp and Google) if too many people try to review you at once. If you must request reviews in batches, keep the batches small (5-15 people).
In my experience, the best is to ask in-person with printed instructions (like these) and later to follow up by email. But you may find that snail-mail or a phone call or a review-card / review-page work well for you. 47. Have you tried any tools? You should. Don’t expect them to work without any strategy or finesse on your part. Don’t rely on them 100%, or stop experimenting even if they work well. But tools likeGrade.us and GetFiveStars (my personal recommendations) can serve you well. 48. If the tools you’ve tried haven’t worked so well, have you tried others? Again, you’ll probably need to experiment before you find a tool that helps. (But again, don’t expect it to haul in reviews without any thinking or effort on your part.) 49. Have you relied solely on tools like DemandForce or SmileReminder? These tools have their place in the world, but the trouble is that (last I checked) the reviews just sit in a walled garden on DemandForce.com or SmileReminder.com, because that’s where patients / clients write them. They aren’t going to Yelp or Google+ or Facebook or HealthGrades or wherever. I’ve seen businesses (usually medical practices) with 500 reviews on, say, DemandForce.com, but none on Google. You need some reviews on the BIG sites – no matter how hard it is to get them – and you need diversity. Continued on page 18
Agents First!
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November 2015
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64 Questions
54. If you’re using a “Review Us” page, do you link to instructions on how to post reviews?
Continued from page 16
It would be a shame not to: the customer is happy enough and cares enough to have visited your page. Make it easy from here. Nice examples here and here.
Your instructions 50. If you tell customers that you’d like a review on any of a variety of sites (rather than just one), do you give them instructions for how to post a review on each of those sites? Google+ is the site where they’ll probably need the most guidance, but you should provide at least rough instructions for whatever other sites you care about. 51. Do you know for a fact that your review instructions are up-to-date?
55. Do you follow up on your initial request? Just because they haven’t reviewed you doesn’t mean they won’t. They forget, or their spouse hits them with the honey-do list, or your nice printed instructions enter the Doomsday Machine of papers on the kitchen table. Follow up once. Be nice and casual. You won’t be considered a pest. 56. Do you follow up in a different medium from the one you used to ask the first time?
On Google+ the steps change on average about once a year. Facebook probably has tweaked them a couple of times, too.
If you ask in-person, maybe follow up by email. If you only sent an email, ask the customer in-person next time, or maybe send snail-mail. Experiment.
52. Do you make it simple for people to review you on any device? Make sure they know whether to use their phones or desktops (if it matters), and make sure mobile reviewers know whether they need to download an app and that shorter reviews are OK. If you send follow-up emails make sure to send a test email to yourself, and pull up the email and walk through the steps both on your desktop and on your phone. Try your best to the stumbling blocks before would-be reviewers do. 53. Do your printed instructions look welldesigned and feel like good paper?
Following up
57. Does your follow-up include (or point to) instructions for how to post a review? For the same reasons you included instructions the first time around. Make it easy to say yes. 58. Does your follow-up seem automatic or stuffy? Make it as customized (or even more so if possible) than your initial request.
Consider printing on a thicker stock. Or laminating your instructions. Your request will seem more thought-out, and people will be less likely to use them to scoop up cat hairballs.
Other troubleshooting questions 59. Do your customers accidentally review the wrong business? Check competitors’ listings for your reviews – especially if those competitors’ businesses are named similarly to yours. Report those reviews and show how they’re for the wrong business. (They may not get transferred to you Continued on page 20
Agents First!
Page 18 of 27
November 2015
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64 Questions
63. How many of your customers have connected with your business on Facebook in some way?
Continued from page 18
That makes it real easy to ask for reviews on sites that accept Facebook logins – where customers don’t have to go to the trouble of setting up an account on a site just to review you.
60. Have you tried to learn from anyone who’s got more / better reviews than you, or who just has a lot of experience with online reviews? Don’t cut corners if they cut corners, but see if there are any smart moves you can try.
64. How do you encourage unhappy customers to update their reviews to be more favorable?
61. How many of the reviews you’ve already got are from people you asked for a review, versus how many were written spontaneously?
Get in contact and fix any issues you can, if possible. If you can make that angry customer happier, ask if he or she will update the review to reflect that.
If nobody reviews you unless you ask, you know you need to ask. On the other hand, having more than a few spontaneously written reviews means customers probably don’t find it tough or uncomfortable to review you, so the wind may be at your back if you just start asking.
Phil Rozek http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com
62. Have you had a little success on some review site(s), or do you have difficulty getting reviews on any site? Having reviews somewhere probably means that they’re willing to put in a good word for you, but just need better-timed requests or reminders or clearer instructions. It also means you could probably pile on more reviews there without too much effort. Where you’ve got reviews so far may even tell you where those customers found you to begin with.
Agents First!
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November 2015
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What’s your 2016 E&O goal? As 2015 comes to an end, most agencies are reviewing their results and looking to establish their 2016 goals. Included in the goal setting should be the development of your E&O goals for 2016. It is best to focus on a handful of initiatives, at most as trying to launch too many has the potential to result in doing an “okay” job on a significant number, as opposed to a solid job on a more manageable number. Here are some items to consider: Enhance your staff education. A strong focus on ensuring that you have a technically proficient staff that possesses strong customer service and automation skills is recommended. Work individually with each staff member to identify those areas that need improvement. Each employee’s annual performance review should include the specific goals that were agreed upon. Raise awareness of options and limits. Make sure your customers are aware of limit options and that higher limits are available. Secure customer signatures. Be a fanatic about requiring the staff (producers, account managers, CSRs, etc.) to secure customers’ signatures on the various insurance applications. Confirm in writing all rejected coverages. There is a general feeling in the courts that “if it is not in the file, it didn’t happen,” so any initiative that strengthens the agency’s documentation culture and commitment is a good thing. Implement a procedure that requires that all rejected coverages are memorialized in some form of written communication back to the client. Do an annual mailing to clients to determine any change in their exposures. Many agencies have designed a form that is automatically sent to each personal and commercial lines customer 60-90 days prior to the expiration of coverage. The goal is to secure an update of any changes in exposures so that insurance discussions can take place.
Educate your customers. Identify the key coverage issues by line of business and then develop a marketing/education campaign using the media that would be most effective. Embrace the position that “your best customer is an educated customer”. Establish a strong quality control/audit process – or update your current one. The goal of an audit process is to verify that the staff meets the expectations established by the agency. Without this type of a process, how can any agency feel confident that the various tasks and requirements are being met? A strong E&O culture doesn’t just happen. As you finish up 2015, dedicate some time and thought to how you can enhance the E&O culture in your agency moving forward. More E&O Tips at http://www.agentseotips.com
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