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SUFFOLK Big Eye INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS & BROKERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY
COMMUNICATIONS: THE ART OF REACHING OTHERS INSIDE: • Socially Speaking • Is Blogging Still Important? • What is Your Social Media Strategy?
Social Speaking by Jeanne Abatelli Communication is the act of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information. Communication requires a sender, a message and a recipient. Communication use to be a fairly simple process. We would talk to our neighbor, call our family, send a letter to ours clients, and advertise to reach new customers. We needed nothing more than a telephone, pen and paper, and the yellow pages. All that has changed. Today we have more choices than we ever dreamed of. The telephone has changed. There are now cell phones, of which a person can sometimes have two, one for business and one for personal use. Letter writing has been replaced by emails. The yellow pages, well when was the last time you opened one of those. It’s been years for me. I simply use the internet and read the reviews. When the yellow pages arrives at my house it goes in the trash immediately. Now add on all the apps that are available. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pintrest, Instagram, Foursquare, Vine, Skype, and the list goes on. Have I made you dizzy yet? When the room stops spinning I suggest you read through this issue. We have devoted it to communication. Communication hasn’t changed. There is still a sender, a message and a recipient. What has changed is the way the message is delivered. I’ll be honest I love social media. I constantly find something new that makes me think about things just a little differently. 2
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IIABSC MEETING NOTICE THURSDAY APRIL 24, 2014 The White House Signs Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act
Let Us Take the Fear Out of Flood Insurance! On'Friday,'March'21,'President'Obama'signed'HR3370,'also'known'as'the'Homeowner'Flood'Insurance'Affordability'Act' of'2014.''This'bill'was'passed'with'hopes'to'address'some'of'the'unintended'consequences'impac2ng'flood'policyholders' due'to'the'BiggertFWaters'Reform'Act'of'2012'(BW12).
Are'You'Ready?'Join'Us'to'Learn: • Recent'Bills/Changes'affec2ng'the'NFIP'Flood'along'with'the' new'June'1,'2014'changes • Pre'vs.'Post'FIRM,'Elevated'vs.'NonFElevated,'Below'Grade' Crawl'vs.'Basement,'Vents. • What'is'this'eleva2on'cer2ficate'and'where/what'do'those' numbers'really'mean? • Learn'about'the'elements'of'ra2ng,'eleva2ons,'and'the' various'changes. • Understand'how'it'impacts'you,'your'business,'and'your' customers.
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS:
Bob Haraksin, Selective Ins. Co., Flood Manager for Long Island Matthew Crane, Hawkins Webb Jaeger - Land Surveyor
PLACE:
Ramada Plaza 1730 North Ocean Ave, Holtsville (LIE Exit 63)
TIME:
8:30 am ‘Check In’ & Coffee 9:00 am Breakfast Buffet & Start of Program
COST:
$25.00 per person for IIAB Suffolk and NextGen members. $30.00 per person for all other guests. All are welcome.
Use a credit card and REGISTER ON-LINE AT www.suffolkagents.com or complete and return the following form before April 17th. Questions Contact Jeanne Abatelli 516-681-6265 –injeanious1@mac.com
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Program for Luxury Homebuilders and Remodeling/Renovating GC’s Qualification Requirements: Residential General Contractors involved in the construction of single family or two family homes or Remodeling/Renovation General Contractors performing commercial or residential work that subcontract most of their work. Maximum 15 new starts per policy year for home builders. Coverage Outline: Commercial General Liability Policy Form: CG0001 (07/98) Per Project Aggregate Blanket Additional Insured (including completed operations) Blanket Waiver of Subrogation Primary Non Contributory Employee Benefits Liability Competitive Rating Structure Limited Pollution Coverage Extension
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Two New QSR Contractor Programs Now Available * Solar Contractor Program * Artisan Contractor Program Submission Requirements: 4 years of currently valued loss runs Minimum 3 years in business or 6 years of construction experience Acord Application & Supplemental Application (see our Web Site) Copy of Subcontractor Agreement Number of new home starts and average sales price per home Direct Payroll, cost of subcontractors & gross annual revenues *Other markets are available for risks not fitting this profile For more information call Frank Walsh at 800-447-4180 ext. 2232, fwalsh@qsr-insurance.com
Quaker Special Risk P.O. Box 1350 Eatontown, NJ 07724 800-447-4180 • Fax 732-223-9072 www.QSR-insurance.com
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Social Speaking con’t When I started using facebook I reconnected with friends and family I hadn’t been in touch with for years. I have a whole set of professional contacts that I have built up through LinkedIn and I’m determined to better understand and use Twitter this year. I promise I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. In the coming months I will publish articles about the various social media tools available to you. I’ll explain how to set it up and why it’s important for your business. I’d also love to hear from you our readers. If you’ve got a story you’d love to share please contact me. My email: iiabscinjeanious1@gmail.com. You can also find me on the associations Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
Social Media-The 5 Reasons Your Business Can Not Survive Without It by Chris Paradiso
Social media is no longer just a possible fad.
It is now an actually form of communication. If you are an agency owner and have yet to begin using social media to support your sales strategy, you may need to recheck your approach. Social media is one remarkable marketing tool. Let’s talk about five reasons why all businesses will not survive without social media built into their Chris Paradiso Paradiso Presents Stafford CT
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marketing strategy. Number 1: Social media is extremely contagious —- More than likely, the biggest problem of your business is getting your marketing out to as many people as possible for the smallest amount of investment. Social media allows you to target a relatively small sector of people while paying a large marketing audience. Here’s a quick example: if you can get one person to like your agency Facebook page, that one person will turn into a force multiplier projecting your page to several
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Social Media-The 5 Reasons Your Business Can Not Survive Without It con’t others pages, which in turn will look at your profile because it’s showing up on their page. Number 2: The power of word-of-mouth marketing— you can turn people into advertising agents very easily. A person may either see your Facebook page and skip over it without thinking anything or that person may follow that link back to your Facebook page. Now imagine you get a couple hundred people to look at your page- suddenly your chances of more people visiting your agency Facebook page will grow as each person likes your page. This process will continue to repeat and the best about it is that it’s all FREE. Number 3: The ability to build an audience— social media allows you to develop a marketing audience like no other platform. You do not usually have the option to have people actively attending your advertising but through social media, it works out well. With social media you have a static location where people can come to see your advertisement on their time, and in today’s world people want to work and review things on their time not yours. This allows you to direct traffic to these spots within the Internet world rather than elsewhere on the web. Number 4: The extreme power of engagement with your customer— with social media you can offer giveaways or incentives to get people to like your page
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Social Media-The 5 Reasons Your Business Can Not Survive Without It con’t follow you on twitter. Gathering your audience is the first but the key factor is the engagement after they have joined your audience. Make sure you’re attracting an audience that you can sell to. For example if you’re on Facebook giving a free iPad away to those who like your page, are the people that you’re attracting even people that you can sell insurance to? Review your audience and come to understand who they are before you move on. Number 5: There is nothing more powerful than a client socially approve of you and your agency—Social media gives you the ability to see if the people who have liked your page did so for their personal gain or if they are actually approving of your insurance agency. Social proof is one of those quiet ways that your agency can turn in ROI on it social media marketing very quickly. One quick way to discourage people within the social media world is to ignore them. Ignoring them will help your agency lose business, so if there’s one key factor in all social media marketing, it is to always respond and never turn a blind eye to a comment. You’re probably looking at these five key factors and wondering why I left search engine optimization out. Search engine optimization is by far the most powerful tool for all of our agencies, but I’ll save that discussion for my next article.
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Is Blogging Still Important? by Aaron J. Stein, CPCU, CFP
The pace of change in how we use the
internet, both for business and pleasure (who knows exactly where THAT line is drawn these days with all the ways we are connected) has led people to wonder whether some technologies that seemed important to your overall internet presence five years ago are still relevant.
Well, the answer is an unqualified YES. That
is both the beauty and the beast of the internet. Aaron J. Stein, CPCU, CFP nnn
For instance, I use both Facebook and LinkedIn, though mostly Facebook. It brings me in contact with a pretty good number of folks on a daily basis (4700 currently), as long as I don't mention insurance too often because I don't allow other local businesses to advertise in the content of the page. So there is that personal/work balance again.
But I have not moved on to YouTube, though
I watch plenty of funny cat videos there. Nor am I on Instagram, Pinterest, nor many others. Frankly I
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hope some of you have taken advantage of these in ways that have not grabbed my attention because let's face it, insurance is still a game of building trust relationships, and social networking is just another of those so there are many paths to success.
And, social networking is just one piece of your overall web presence. But
to build authority and trust, there is nothing like a blog. And keep in mind that Google and the other search engines love blogs too. More importantly, blogs lend themselves very well both to getting keywords out there and to having an internet presence with 'depth'.
So, for instance, when I write a new blog post, I also put on my Facebook
pages a link to the article. And our web sites all link to our blogs so that when the search engines come crawling, they follow those links to our other sites, which, if done properly, increases your 'trustworthiness' in the search spyder's eyes.
On that note, one thing to be a little careful of is 'free' blogs. Yes they are
free, but you will find that in return they get to place 'pay per click' ads (those little ones from Google and others), who all pay for the right to be shown on pages where certain key words and phrases can be found. Guess what? YOUR KEYWORDS ALL HAVE INSURANCE IN THEM, or most do. This means that if you think you are saving a few bucks, you will be allowing them to fill your page with GEICO ads!!
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I use Google's service, Blogger. and of course, they are only too happy to
give you a free blog site and fill it with their ads. But if you pay $29.95 or something like that per year, your blog is ad-free. So not only does it NOT show other insurance companies' advertising, but you can put links to pages at your own site so that they really have nothing else to choose from (other than closing the page, of course)
Blogging is still an integral part, but ONLY a part. There is no one thing
you can do on the internet and be completely successful, and each of us has a different idea of what success is to our agency, which is why this business is so interesting. Yes, that's the old Chinese proverb, "May you live in interesting times" and we certainly do.
So blogging can still be a very important part of your online efforts, when
properly integrated with the rest of your strategy and when kept up with valuable information. And remember, blogging is most important for one reason, keywords. And if you choose to learn nothing else about internet marketing, keywords is that one thing you should learn anyway. Just understanding their importance and usage is really most of what you need to manage your internet marketing presence.
Of course the internet has many wonderful uses that have nothing
particularly to do with marketing. But that's the subject of another article.
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Board of Directors VICE PRESIDENT AARON STEIN, CPCU, CFP
TREASURER
SECRETARY
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT PAULETTE KATZ, CIC RICHARD DE LA SOTA, DAVID M. BORG, CPCU CPCU, CIC, ARA, CRM
Directors
DAVID H. BORG, CISR dhborg@borgborg.com JOHN J. GLENNON john@glennoninsurance.com JOSEPH A. GUNDERMANN, AAI jgundermann@gundermann.com
ERIC KEIFFERT, CPCU ekeiffert@hometowninsurance.com MICHAEL J. ROMEO LL, CIC mjromeo@industrialcoverage.com LAURA SENN, CIC laura.senn@peoples.com STEPHEN H. TESTA, CPCU, ARM stesta@testabrothers.net
Publication Staff EDITOR: Don Hester PRODUCER: Jeanne Abatelli COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE: Aaron Stein, David H. Borg, John Glennon, Eric Keiffert , Laura Senn, and Jeanne Abatelli. AD SALES/SPONSORSHIPS: Jeanne Abatelli - info@suffolkagents.com
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VANE Excess and Surplus, Inc. Specializing in the following lines:
Directors and Officers Liability Employment Practices Liability Professional Liability Cyber Liability Contact: Anthony Cacioppo (631) 366-5353 Anthony@VANEIns.com VANE Excess and Surplus, Inc. 103 Fort Salonga Road, Suite 4 Northport, NY 11768
Note your calendar now to attend this big event. ********************************** INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS AND BROKERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY Annual Golf Outing will take place on Monday, June 9, 2014 At the Port Jefferson Country Club Catering by Lombardi’s
DIGITAL MARKETING
Don’t Wait! Julie MacConnell, IIABNY jmacconnell@iiabny.org
D
on’t wait another day to complete your profile on TrustedChoice.com. Why?
1. Consumers are Looking for You! We all know consumers are researching insurance online before purchasing. We also know direct writers are winning in this space. TrustedChoice.com is YOUR chance to compete. 2. You Aren’t Showing Up at the Top Unless you have completed and published your enhanced profile, your agency is NOT showing up in the top results group for your area. You may be listed below agents further away. Good news - it’s a quick fix. Complete you profile! Where does your agency show up on the list? Look now. 3. Help is Standing By The Project CAP team can help you any time at (855) 372-0070. process. Visit the IIABNY website for additional resources. Complete your profile today! Simply follow the guide on the right!
Quick profile tips: Your primary image can be a logo, photo of your building or staff. You can often find this on your website and save to your desktop by right-clinking on the image. Then, it will be easy to upload to CAP! Your position statement is a short description about your business and its unique value. You may be able to copy this from your website or facebook page.
What is your Social Media Strategy? by Laura Senn
We ask ourselves all sorts of questions, but
honestly I don’t think I ever asked what my social media strategy is.
We live in different times. The days of
mimeograph machines and carbon paper are gone. We need to change with the times and think about the future. Laura Senn
Chris Paradiso of Paradiso Insurance in CT
gave a presentation on March 13, 2014 and gave us nnn
insight into how important having a Social Media Strategy is.
He showed us some ways he has been
successful in utilizing Social Media and making it work for his agency by bringing awareness and branding as well as being able to track profitability.
He sends pictures of the staff, thank you
videos to Veterans and endorses local businesses by putting their coupons on his website. Being a part
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of the community, being part of a family and being proud to be an American were the messages his website conveys.
Chris uses twitter, facebook, bing, yahoo, google, blogs to maximize his
ROI or Return on Investment. He stated that his customers get 39 messages a year by digital/mobile marketing. It’s repetition for emphasis, it’s awareness and it’s branding. Research shows that 45% of users are between the ages of 18 and 29 and use mobile searches daily.
He emphasized the importance of
updating the content daily. He said content is Queen and Social Media is King. As an independent agent, we cannot compete with the $2Billion spent on advertising that the lizard, pig and Flo do but we can bring our name, our branding to our community by utilizing the Social Media tools available.
In summary, Chris encouraged us to get a mobile marketing app, hire a
media engineer/marketing person to monitor the content daily and to figure out and utilize your own Social Media balance strategy.
As Bob Dylan would say “The times, they are a changin”……..and we
need to change with them.
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March 13, 2014
Don Hester, delivering the invocation
Robert Mackoul, President TriCounty IIAA, at the podium 18
Aaron Stein, Vice President IIABSC, at the podium
Chris Paradiso, Paradiso Presents
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Aaron Stein, IIAB Suffolk vice president (l) and Bob Mackoul, president of TriCounty IIAA flank Chris
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Dennis Lombardi - Total Restoration, Brian O’Connor Paradiso Agency, Stephen Folan, Folan Agency & Tiffany O’Reilly - Total Restoration
Chris pulling the 50/50 winner’s ticket
Our 50/50 winner 21
(l-r) George Brooks, Don Hester, Dennis Lombardi, Michael Geoghan, Jeff Browne and Jim Sutton
(l-r) Roy Vollmer, James Bastian and Russ Vollmer 22
Chris Paradiso and Bob Mackoul
Note your calendar now to attend this big event. ********************************** INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS AND BROKERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY Annual Holiday Party will take place on THURSDAY, December 4, 2014 At the Villa Lombardi’s Holbrook, NY
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the
March Meeting Sponsors Advantage Partners Complex Coverage Interboro Insurance Company Hawkins Webb Jaeger Interboro Insurance Mackoul & Associates, Inc. New Empire Group Rough Notes Magazine Total Restoration
Please remember these companies support our association, please help support them whenever possible! Visit our sponsor’s website by clicking their name above.
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Highlight of March 13, 2014 Meeting on Social Media by Chris Paradiso
The program centered on the importance of
social media marketing. One of the first key factors Chris talked about was digital marketing and its role inside your agency. He said the following:
One key factor to digital marketing is to make
sure that you have your personal agency’s brand attached to it. Another key factor is being able to have your phone number prominently displayed in Chris Paradiso
large letters to make it easy for folks to contact you.
Paradiso Presents Stafford CT
Digital marketing can play a key role in new
business and also the retention of your existing nnn
business. It's important to understand that in today's world we all get so many emails we want to make sure we’re not spamming our prospects or our clients. We need to digitally email when everyone else is not, such as Flag Day or Veterans Day. These are great times to reach out and touch the community. Another part of social media is a mobile marketing app. ( I say it's another part of
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Highlight of March 13, 2014 Meeting on Social Media con’t social media because social media is all about communication and a mobile marketing app is another way that we agents can keep in contact and communicate with clients.) The importance of a mobile marketing app is growing on a daily basis because the younger generation wants to have the ability to have that app on their phone with such things as an insurance card, their agent's contact information, the ability to report a claim off of the app and capability to pay their insurance bill.
I personally feel an app is not just good enough - it needs to be a ‘mobile
marketing app’ which means it has to have the ability to have a dashboard and give you, the agent, the ability to communicate with each and every person who has downloaded your agency. That communication is key because it gives us the ability to reach out and touch each and every one of our clients on a very personal level.
Another topic I discussed this evening was the importance of having a
social media strategy that has a balanced attack. What I mean by ‘balance’ is the ability to be very good in many different social media avenues rather than being great in a couple of them.
We need to be utilizing Facebook, agency Facebook and page, Google
+,Vine, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, linkedIn them and spotify. If we choose not
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Highlight of March 13, 2014 Meeting on Social Media con’t to utilize all of the social avenues we will be ignoring many prospects and/or clients that may be in one of those social avenues. The key factor is balance, balance and more balance!
With all this being said, my last point was that it is a necessity that your
agency hire a social media engineer and or marketing person that is dedicated to marketing your agency to the public. It is virtually impossible to be able to handle all of the social avenues, mobile marketing app and of course the traditional avenues of marketing without a dedicated individual from within your agency.
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the Editor’s Feedback by Don J. Hester
Editor
If I was able to raise my income without
consideration of the cost to others who brought in and created the income, borrow unlimited amounts and print extra money to pay back loans, got entitlements like lifetime medical at no cost to me, would I have much incentive to take care of my customers, or if I was a politicians , the electorate? If I was a politician, would it matter if I was voted out of office when the “party” that supported me
Don Hester nnn
would find me employment in the civil servant ranks until I could run again ?
In a democratic society should a politician
represent his constituency if he has no idea of what they face and is possibly more concerned with getting re-election funds than representation ?
I am no longer a politician. I was an elected
officer of NY state for over thirty years, albeit a very minor official. So minor that I received no income from representing my fire district, although
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Editor’s Feedback con’t statutorily it showed I had an annual income of $100 so I was covered for workers comp. I liked that .No party to be beholden to, no back room deals. I was voted in or out and I represented my community. School boards do the same. I hold them in equal respect.
As I write this , the elected leaders have shut down the national parks,
museums etc. I am glad I got to visit so many this past summer. I feel sorry for the kids who travel across the country to visit DC and can’t get into the federal museums while the people who “represent” us sit in the capital building at the end of the mall, collecting full pay and benefits, adept at blaming someone else for the nation’s problems.
I get tired of the government treating
me like a second class citizen because I wanted to be a businessman, get rewarded if I performed well and lose money if I didn’t. Because I own a business I can’t keep money in my investment accounts after I reach a certain age but must withdraw a percentage when I don’t need it [so I may not have it when I do]. I don’t follow the logic unless it is to punish the entrepreneurs. If I saved and scrimped and set aside money for retirement, they apparently feel I may have set aside too much so there is also 29
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Editor’s Feedback con’t a move afoot to curtail repayment of my social security benefits. After all I have savings why should I collect back what I paid and that was squandered by my representatives ,who spent it instead of investing it!
There is a need for change.
Taxes need to be simplified.
Mandates from legislators need to be funded by those legislators making
the legislation paying for the benefits and not passing the payment responsibilities to others. But they haven’t done this in my state. They have “borrowed” and effectively stripped out so many of the reserves that many government promises may be words without money to back it up.
For example: In our business, customers are supposed to feel safe if their
insurance carrier goes under. We have a NY state guarantee fund . Has anyone looked at what assets are available in that fund to pay for a current carriers demise? One must be very careful when questioning solvency as there are strongly worded laws involved. I am just suggesting you look! Draw your own conclusions
What about State Funds reserves for claims?
What about pension funds at the governmental level? Are they secured
by real assets or politicians IOU’s? When one sees the agonies abroad caused
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Editor’s Feedback con’t by reckless government spending and failure to govern one can only hope it can’t happen here.
What can we do ? We tried term limitations to force politicians out of
office but do they return to mainstream America where they might learn about reality? Do they?
I think we need to consider some changes:
Redo the voting districts and stop the political gerrymandering that has
destroyed incumbents need to represent their constituents but merely need follow the party line to insure favored son status and reelection?
Given the limited time they spend working compared to political fund
raising, perhaps the lifetime pensioning and prohibition of reentering the government workforce, the so called civil servants of our country, or at least not allowing double dipping social security and federal pensions would bring them to the realities of the nonpolitical or non-governmental working force we live in.
This hole or vacancy in representation caused by term limits would
encourage new candidates to run and represent us , really represent us.
Perhaps eliminate politician eligibility for federal health programs.
Might it encourage some corrections to the health care systems we now face and which they have no awareness of ?. I am a great believer in having some 32
Editor’s Feedback con’t skin in the game! Would some of the problems get fixed sooner if our elected officials had to navigate the system like we do?
Since no elected official is knowingly going to curtail their own benefits
they should look to establishing restrictions for the future. They are good at kicking the can down the road.
Sadly we as a nation also must take some hits. Raising the eligible age
for retirement social security is inevitable to keep it solvent. Making the tax apply to total income for all contributors will also help. An even more radical idea is to phase out government pensions. Make Social security the law of the land for ALL workers. This will go a long way, eliminating the elitist civil servant and politician benefits package which can then be double dipped if they also work a little outside the realm of government. There may need to be some special considerations for the military
Legislation limiting or capping the pain and suffering part of
malpractice claims will reduce health insurance costs. I don’t believe my pain can be expressed in dollars any more than yours and my pain shouldn’t be compensated any differently than yours because I have a more lenient jury or a better lawyer Real expenses and real projections of costs are fine but not the pain. It is too intangible.
I wonder what effect that type of legislation could have had on medical
costs if the elected didn’t spend so much time posturing. 33
Editor’s Feedback con’t
I have hoped for years that the self-serving lawyers in the NY legislature
would stop making their fellow lawyers life simple and do away with the scaffold laws, stop taking care of number one and do what is right for the contractors.
Another idea: Some country’s punish voters who don’t vote. I would love
to see a variation on that in the USA. It disgusts me that we have elected officials who had far less than half the population they serve vote for them. Force the electorate to vote by rewards or punishments and don’t let any politician assume office until they get more than half of the votes. Now that’s democracy!!! Let those in office stay until a replacement gets an honest majority. Most are career politicians and wont mind that at all I suspect.
We are still the greatest country in the world but I really fear we need
some real leaders to change our course.
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Segment your contacts if you have connections from different areas. Otherwise contacts are automatically tagged under a folder which LinkedIn calls: Untagged. If you haven’t done so you can go back and tag each contact. Although tedious it might help you weed out unnecessary contacts or remind you who you need to keep in contact with more.
Pryor Personnel Agency Inc. The Insurance Specialist since 1970 local, National and International Recruitment www.ppryor.com ppryor1578@aol.com
Phone: (516) 935–0100
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How Do You Make Them Feel? by Julie MacConnell
How do you make them feel? Who? Everyone.
Every person you meet is your potential customer. Some directly, others
indirectly by way of influence.
Whether in your office, over the phone, when you run into them at the
grocery store or through social media, it's critical to make them feel special, cared for, important.
How? Acknowledge, Listen, Respond and Praise.
Acknowledge: Whenever you see them, say hello. Even a simple wave
across the street or a hello on Facebook. Don't wait for your customer to do it first. You don't need to stop and talk, you don't need to remember much about them. Whenever you can, use their name.
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most
important sound in any language.” ~ Dale Carnegie
Listen: Pay attention to what’s being said. The most important asset
we gain from social media is the ability to watch and hear what is being said. Are your customers having issues, are they worried or did something wonderful happen in their life. Really pay attention to what they say and how they say it. Be both a good in-person and social listener.
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“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in
other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” ~ Dale Carnegie
Respond: If a client takes the time to tell you something via email,
phone or by posting online be sure to respond. If you ask a question and an answer is posted, respond back. Treat them as you would a friend to build that trust and a respectful relationship. It doesn’t matter if they spend $5 or $50,000 with you, you never know who that person will influence.
"All lasting business is built on friendship." ~ Alfred A. Montapert
Praise: Did your customer accomplish something wonderful - an award
or graduation. Did they do something great in the community. How about one of your employees. Social media presents a great opportunity to give a “shoutout” for something wonderful. Keep it short and sweet, sincere and include their name, and do it every once in a while. Others will see that you are the type of business that shows appreciation without an expectation in return.
"There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in
doing it." ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca
How are you making you customers feel right now?
Work "Acknowledge, Listen, Respond and Praise” into your regular
routine and reap the long-term relationship rewards.
Have a great day!
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Big “I” CE Classes on L.I. IIABNY SEMINAR CALENDAR – First part of 2014 held in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens and NYC. The following seminars will be held at Belfor Restoration in Ronkonkoma, NY unless noted otherwise. 4/09/14 Don’t Do the Crime if You Can’t Afford The Fine……..(half day-am) 5/20/14 E&O LIVE ……….. Hyatt Regency LI, Hauppauge (half day-am) The following seminars will be held at Four Points Sheraton, Plainview 4/01/14 4/10/14 4-29-14 5/08/14 3/13/14 5/15/14 6/18/14
Affordable Care Act………………………..................(half day-am) Don’t Do the Crime if You Can’t Afford The Fine….(half day-am) Ins. Production Environment – AAI 83-B…………...(full day) Specialized Insurance – AAI 82-C……………..……..(full day) NYAIP Producer Procedures……................................(1/2 day-am) NYAIP Producer Procedures……................................(1/2 day-am) Professional Development (ACSR Mod 5)………...…(full day) The following seminars will be held at Adria Hotel, Bayside
6/20/14 NYAIP Producer Procedures………………………..(half day-am) The following seminar will be held at Swiss Re American Holding Co. in NYC 5/21/14 E&O LIVE ……………………………………..(half day-am) For a complete schedule and registration forms, including Online and “at your desk’ classes, go to the Education & Events Tab at www.iiaany.org. For more information, call IIABNY’s Education Department at 1-800-962-7950.
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the Advertisers INSURANCE COMPANIES & MARKETS Magna Carta Companies Wanda Napolitano 1 Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 Toll Free: 1-888-ONE PARK Phone: 212-591-9500 Fax: 212-591-9621 NIF Group Michael Orlando, Nancy Williams 30 Park Avenue Manhasset, NY 11030 Phone: 516-365-7440 Fax: 516-496-7356 Email: nwilliams@nifgroup.com www.nifgroup.com Quaker Special Risk Camille Windler 226 5th Avenue, 4th Flr. New York, NY 10001 Phone: 516 428 0716. Fax: 732-223-9072 Email: salesattkr@aol.com Brian Botwinick Eatontown, NJ Toll Free: 800-447-4180 Email: bbotwinick@qsr-insurance.com
VANE Excess & Surplus Anthony Cacioppo 103 Fort Salonga Rd, Ste 4 Northport, NY 11768 Phone: 631-366-5353 Email: Anthony@VaneIns.com
INSURANCE SERVICES Pryor Personnel Agency Patricia Pryor Bonica 147 Old Country Road Hicksville, NY 11801 Phone: 516-935-0100 Fax: 516-931-7842 Email: ppryor1578@aol.com
RESTORATION SERVICES Belfor Property Restoration Gary J. Alexander 60 Raynor Ave. Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 Phones: 631-471-3131 x121 Fax: 631-471-2905
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SUFFOLK Big Eye INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS & BROKERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY
IIABSC 150 Dartmouth Dr. Hicksville, NY 11801
Contact Us: info@suffolkagents.com
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