Episode 6 : MMM’s of Marketing

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give you all the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Millionaire agents and entrepreneurs think and act differently than others. This podcast will give you a simple, proven three step blueprint to grow your business. Over the past 31 years of research in your industry, Mike Stromso has created a unique philosophy called the three people process and promotion. This outside the box thinking and guidance provides agency entrepreneurs just like you the knowledge and tools you can quickly implement to explode your agency business. He has been there, done that, and he's still doing it. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Hey friends, it's Mike Stromco and I am coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory with episode six of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This is Mike Stromco and today we're going to be talking about the sexiest part of the three Ps, the third P, which is promotion. Everybody loves to talk about promotion. When you know, we get to work with agents and we shared our boot camps and million dollar sales producer events. You know, we're Talking about the three Ps, people, processes and promotion. I start talking about the people aspect and they go, can we move on from that? We don't want to spend a lot of time on that. But as you know, that's the most important thing. But you know, then we move through the processes. Remember you want to get excellent people on your team and then just simply install world class processes and systems in your agency for the excellent people to work in. And then all you have to do, all you get to do, I should say, is promote the heck out of it. And that's when they all get excited. They all get these big smiles on their face and say, yeah, let's talk about some promotion and marketing. And it is one of my top three things that I love, love, love to do the most. By the way, as a side note, if you don't have something to write with and write on, remember you need to ink it, not think it, or what gets written down and crossed out gets done. So have that ready. So you know, concerning promotion, as marketers we test, yes, that's an important thing to remember. But you know, you've got to continue to market every single day in every single way. And what that Leads up to that I want to share with you today. If you're going to market to 100% of the marketplace, you've got to use 100% of the ways. But who are you going to be marketing to and how are you going to be marketing to them? And this was born in my mind, actually, standing in the kitchen at my house. And our oldest son was working for a private school at the time, and he came over the house one day and we're standing in the kitchen talking about, you know, what's going on at work and school and all that kind of stuff. And he goes, hey, the school just started a big marketing campaign because they're trying to get more students into the school. Because as I said, it was a private school. They don't have a lot of public money coming in and to get more students into the school so they can, you know, have more tuition coming in and more money for their budget and that kind of stuff. And he said, you know, this program that they mailed out to thousands of pieces was really a pretty big bust. And I said, really? A marketing program is a bust. Tell me more, because I wanted to hear about this because, you know, I love marketing and I love digging in, figuring out why it didn't work or if it does work. Let's do more of that. What part worked, right? So anyway, I said, explain the whole thing to me. What came to my mind after I heard what our son had to say was that that organization that sent out all those direct mail pieces to their list. And as a side note, the most important part of any marketing program is your list, ladies and gentlemen. Hands down, you should be investing as much time as you can. Let me say that again. So critical. You must be investing as much time as you can in the list. The list is critical. I was just at an agent's office last week doing a one day, and we started talking about the list. We quickly determined that by trimming the list down from like 13,000 to the best 4,000 on that list, not only was it in his best interest because those were the highest qualified prospects, it would save him a ton of money.

Going out to the list because the way that he markets and what works best for him in that particular case is direct mail. So that leads to what I want to talk to you about today, which is the three M's of marketing. Critically, critically, critically important. The list is important, yes. But you must understand, once you get the list in good order, how are you going to market to that list? And that's where the three M's come in today. And that's what I want to share with you the message of the three M's, it's what I identified with our son, that that organization did not do a good job of job of was to understand how that list wanted to be marketed to. And they're all different. A certain industry, if it's habitational as an example, might like direct mail. A certain industry, if it's technology as an example, might, might like some kind of digital marketing. They're all different. So you've got to understand that. Let me share with you how you can do a better job understanding before you start throwing all this money at any marketing program. So the first M, if you're ready to write this down, stands for marketplace. The first M stands for Marketplace. Who is your marketplace and what do you know about them? And more importantly, what do they think about? Alright, what do they think about? What's the conversation that's silently going on in the back of their minds? What are they looking for? What are they looking for in an insurance agency? What are they looking for in an insurance product? What is it they expected to do for them? Do you know the answers to all those questions? Really, really, really important. If you don't. You've got to figure this out before you invest too much time and money because you just want to be there. They're going to ask you the questions and if you can bring the, the execution, the knowledge, the answers to all these questions, when it comes, you're going to be in a better position to solve that pain. So that's my next thought for you. Under the marketplace, what might be their pain? So picture this with me, if you will, or write it down on the piece of paper in front of you. Write a 1 on one side of a paper and write a 10 on the other side of the paper and draw a line between the 1 and the 10 that is called a pain meter. Okay? And with 10 being the most intense pain, the 10 being, I mean it's bleeding, it's throbbing, it's hurting and it won't stop. That's intense pain. So if the prospects that you run into are in an 8, 9 or 10 pain area, those are the ones that are going to convert the fastest. The ones that are going to make a decision to business with you the fastest. Alright, so what might be that pain that's going on that's throbbing in a particular marketplace that you can cure, that you can satisfy, that you can resolve quickly? Do you know what the Potential pains are in the particular marketplace that you're going to look to do business in. Whether it might be habitational, whether it might be technology, whether it might be Italian restaurants, whether it might be, say, workers comp, whether it might be business auto for contractors, whatever it might be, you've got to understand what's going on in that particular marketplace. I'll throw another potential niche market out there for you. Storage facilities. I work closely with an agent who is an authority in storage facility. So whatever it is, you've got to understand what their pain might be. We have another agent that we work with who works closely with veterinarians and I'm going to get more into how to penetrate those marketplaces in just a minute. Alright, so what are the pains in those marketplaces and more importantly, what might wake them up in a cold sweat at 3:01 in the morning? You know, our largest client has over 4,000 employees and I was sitting toe to toe with the CFO recently and I had the opportunity to ask him that question. I said, Mr. CFO, if there's something based on everything that you're going through and congratulations on the growth of your business, you guys have been a phenomenal company. And if there's something that would wake you up 3:01 in the morning, what would it be? He goes, that's easy. A data breach. I said, right on that told me what I needed to know because I need to focus and dig in on the cyber liability. A data breach. Fine, Great. Fantastic. So know what wakes them up in a cold sweat at 3:01 in the morning? So let's do a quick recap. The first M stands for marketplace. Who is your marketplace? What do they think about? What are they looking for in an insurance agent, in an insurance product, in an industry? What is it? What might be their pain in that particular marketplace that you, that you as an organization can cure, satisfy or resolve? And most importantly, what wakes them up in a cold sweat at 3:01 in the morning? Or what do they think about when they're driving home? Or what do they anything that they're doing in their particular world, what is it that concerns them? You have to know these things in order to penetrate a marketplace.

Once you've got that down about a marketplace, the second thing that you need to be focused on is, is the messaging to that marketplace. And the second M stands for message, right? So you know who the marketplace is. You've understood all this stuff, you've done all the research, you're dialed in, you've got the list. So what message are you going to be sending to your particular marketplace? Will that message satisfy and solve a current pain that might be going on in that marketplace? Are you identifying pains in a particular marketplace, say, through analytics, say through automation? Here's an easy one for you you can implement. As soon as we're done with this podcast, set up Google Analytics for your top five prospects in that particular marketplace. So you get pinged every time something happens with them that will help you with your particular marketplace. Okay, what's going on in the marketplace? Are things constantly changing?

Is your message going to answer the question that's silently playing in the mind of the marketplace?

Okay, so these are all things that have to do with the messaging for that particular marketplace. So what is the message? Is the message going to be about price, or is it going to be about protection? Anybody that's been in the industry for a period of time, you know that you're going to start with protection first, because you don't want to get into price wars and you never want them thinking about price. So think about the messaging that you're going to send out and what you also want to do. Because I'm looking at one of my favorite slides in my office in the Living Agency laboratory that talks about sales statistics, okay? And 80% of sales are made on the 5th to the 12th context. So you need to lay out maybe on a big whiteboard or wherever you envision things and dream for things about the next 10 messages that you're going to send out to a marketplace. My encouragement not to squirrel too much here. Yes, sos. I'm not going to squirrel. By the way, SOS is my squirrel that sits on my desk to remind me not to squirrel too much, but to squirrel. Those messages should be sent out in a lot of different ways. Maybe one email, maybe one video, maybe one direct mail piece, one handwritten note, et cetera, et cetera, and you reach them in every way possible. So what is that messaging that you're going to be sending out? And will that message satisfy or solve a current pain that they may have? Will it enter the conversation that's currently going on in their mind? What's the latest trends in their marketplace? Do you even know? And how are you going to find out? Are things constantly changing in that marketplace? All right, are you reading their trade magazines? Are you going to their trade shows? How involved are you in that particular marketplace? Do you read their blogs at least once a week, if not more often than that? Do you have at least five people in that particular marketplace that you could do marketplace research with them to understand what the greatest threats to their business might be. Those are all things that are important that you need to know and understand so that you can create the right message to penetrate that particular marketplace. And is your message going to answer the question again, that's silently playing in the back of their minds. That's when you're going to get more wins. So you understand your marketplace, you've studied it, you pay attention to it all the time. You've created the messaging, you've laid out 10 messages to that marketplace. So how are you going to get it there? And that's what the third M is. It stands for Media Marketplace, Message and Media Marketplace Message and Media. So what media are you going to use to deliver your message? So think about it for just a second. And this is where the testing comes in. As marketers, as marketers, we test.

Sample media that you can use to deliver. If you're going to endeavor into direct mail, whatever you do, do not send a letter in a white envelope on white paper. Because that's just like everybody else. You need to learn to study your own mail pile. I hope you do. I look at my own mail pile when that thing's stacked at my house. They're all white envelopes that all look the same and nothing stands out to me. I'm looking for the thing that stands out. So it might be a priority mail package. Have you ever sent a proposal on a silver platter? If you're going to send an email, what kind of email is it? How does it stand out? Is it like a proposal that they've never ever seen? Is it a video email? Do you send video proposals? And if you do send a video proposal, what does it look like again? Is it like something that they've never ever seen before? Are you going to deliver it with a phone call or are you going to deliver it in multiple ways at the same time? Maybe you'll send an email, maybe you follow up with a snail mail package. Are you going to send them a text?

Whatever you're going to do, just do it. And I recommend using at least two to three different ways simultaneously to reach a marketplace with your media. Alright, what will be the attention getting device that will get your message read and more importantly, acted upon? That's the key, ladies and gentlemen. You've got to know what the attention getting device is going to be that will get your message read and acted upon. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, you're investing this time to create your list, to understand your marketplace. The first theme to create the message and messaging, your second AM to reach a particular marketplace. You want them to act. All right, what, what is it that's going to cause them to act? How easy are you going to make it for them to do business with you? And in the words of one of my greatest mentors ever, and I can see the rant that I visualized a number of years ago when I was learning this from him, he was just going off he goes, don't make it difficult for people to give you money. Please make it so easy for them. And in the living agency laboratory we talk about, you have to make it so easy and easy, even a kindergartner can do it. Yes, that's what we want. We want to make it so easy, even a kindergartner can do it. So, ladies and gentlemen, create it for them and make it so easy. Make them feel like I'm talking to somebody who's one of me. I've been looking for somebody like this for years. Who's one of us who understands our business. I didn't think I would ever find them. I finally found them. Finally, somebody who understands my business, who's one of me, thinks like me, understands me, understands the needs of my business, understands the threats and the weaknesses and everything that might threaten our income. Once they find you that money, remember, money follows trust. And once you built that trust through understanding how the three M's work together, do me a favor, put your hands up in the air right now and bring your hands together and interlock your fingers. That's how you want the three M's working together in your marketing program. You see, once you understand the three M's of marketing and have all three working together simultaneously, and you're going to begin to see the massive results that you're looking for. And most importantly, once it starts happening, please keep doing it, doing it, doing it, and when it works again, doing it, doing it, doing it. Because, you know, the old joke in the marketing analysis is, you know, it was working so well, we quit doing it. Ladies and gentlemen, when it works, keep doing it and keep investing as much as you can to do it again and do it again and do it again and do it again until the well comes up dry, alright? You will have a defined marketplace and everything about them. And once you start adding on more people from that particular marketplace, especially if you happen to work in some kind of a niche marketplace, you will start to get to the tipping point. The tipping point is 17% of a marketplace. And I learned that from studying Malcolm Gladwell years ago. The tipping point. That's in his book, the tipping point. 17%. And when you reach that tipping point, and I was just doing a consult with some agents this morning, one of the agents on that call said they cannot handle the new business that's coming at them right now. He said, quote, we're having to turn business away. Imagine that, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine having so much business coming at you that you have to turn it away. That's what happens when the three M's work together and you've got everything working in synchronicity and you reach the tipping point. They're well beyond that 17% tipping point. And that's what's happening for them. Your marketing will get opened or responded to because you've done your marketplace research and you know where the pain is. And most importantly, you know how and they know that you can solve that pain that's going on in their particular marketplace and in their lives. All they want to do, ladies and gentlemen, think about this. All they want to do is live their life. And if they're in business, all they want to do is run their business. They don't want to have to worry about their insurance. They don't want to have to deal with it. They want you and they need you to just take care of it for them. Your messaging will get opened, it will get read, and most importantly, it will get acted upon because you're now able to reach your marketplace in a way that nobody's ever reached them before. They will want to be contacted. You'll never be the annoying pest. You'll always be the welcome guests in any marketplace that you choose to reach out to and further penetrate. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope this gives you a clear picture of the three M's. Quick recap. The three M's are marketplace number one, message number two, and media number three. Ladies and gentlemen, choose your marketplace. Have your excellent people lined up your world class processes and systems for the excellent people to work in and just go choose to promote the heck out of it with the three M's as a core foundational process within your marketing systems. And ladies and gentlemen, you too are going to be like the agent that I talked about a couple of minutes ago who has a big problem, a big good problem, and has so much business coming that they have to turn it away. Imagine that's all we want for you. We can help you get there. Visit one our Be Unstoppable boot camps. Visit our million dollar Sales Producer Boot Camps. We will help you create this kind of business, to grow, to create wealth, and to have more freedom. If there's ever anything we can do for you, please Visit us@unstoppableprofitproducer.com this is Mike Strompso coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory and I will see you on the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Producer Podcast. Take care and remember, make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets. Talk to you soon. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com. now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.