Episode 97: Put a Fence Around Your Herd with Monthly Newsletters

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. 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.

Greetings friends. This is Mike Stromso coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory with another episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. And I am excited today to share share with you a subject which has been swirling around many agencies nationally for the last couple of weeks. And I thought it would be pertinent, relevant and current to bring you the information surrounding that conversation. And we're going to take a really deep dive into what I've experienced over the last 35 years in our industry on this subject. And I'll take you way back to to get things started today, the topic is newsletters and the topic more specifically is monthly newsletters. That is monthly communication with your customers. That something other than an email, something other than a text, something other than a video. Remember, if you want to reach 100% of the marketplace, you got to use 100% of the ways. It's critically important. In addition to that, I want to share with you a thought process that I have been asked to do keynote speeches on time and time and time again. And when I first developed it right here in the Living Agency Laboratory probably two or three years ago, I didn't know what I was onto. But I have found from a connection standpoint with human beings, and let's be clear, that is exactly what we are talking about today. We are talking about connecting with human beings, beings about something. And in this particular case, it's about protecting everything they work so hard for and have always worked so hard for with insurance. Now remember this, what I'm going to share next is the beginning of that evolution and the end of that thought process evolution. And if you are watching this on YouTube and if you don't know, you can see this on YouTube as well. When you get to a computer or if you're at a computer, Simply go to YouTube and search Unstoppable Profit Producer and you'll find all of our podcasts, they're all there waiting for you. So if you're looking at this, I'm holding up something that we call E +F equals C, R plus T equals MFT. So the first, the E means experience everything that happens within a prospect's, a customer's or a coi, meaning center of influence. Experience with your agency is their experience. And it's either okay, it's either good, it's either great or it is a wow. And we always want to be moving to the wow experience, leaving them without words. So that experience that you provide, so it is critically, critically important that, that you're constantly working to elevate that experience every way. And every day, from the moment somebody answers the phone within one ring, so you don't waste anybody's time to the end of the experience. Whether it's disconnected or you finalize the sale, or you finalize the renewal, or you help them with a claim and final whatever it is you are providing the experience, you've got to be cognizant of that. And remember, we inspect what we expect, inspect what you expect from an experience standpoint on your team. Next, whatever that experience is will leave a feeling. And by the way, this is all leading up to something within the newsletter realm. So stay tuned. Alright, so you leave a feeling, create a feeling from that experience and of course you want it to be a positive feeling, a good feeling. They're walking away feeling. Man, that was awesome. I so enjoyed that experience with, you know, Jen or Erica or Vanessa or Sarah or Bobby or whatever, whatever that experience is, you want it to be a positive experience, right? So that experience leaves that great feeling. Then they are connected and that's a good thing. But they are only connected at that point. You want to elevate the connection, that good positive experience and that great feeling. To connectness. To continue to build the relationship. To continue to build the relationship. Because at the end of the day, my friends, it's all about the relationship. And bigger than that, the depth of the relationship. So because at the end of the day, once you get to the relationship point, then you begin to build the trust, then you begin to build the trust. And at the end of the day, money follows trust. Money follows trust. And so you got to be aware of that. You got to make sure that that trust is at its preeminent point all of the time. Because if they can't continue to trust you, they're not going to continue to give you their money. It's really that simple.

So I'll take you back to the early days of our newsletters. It started over two decades ago and I identified that the next thing that we needed to start doing was, was to publish a monthly newsletter. And I remember back in the days I figured out how I was going to get content. By the way, I've seen a lot in the circles that were flowing over the last week or two within the insurance agency world from the trenches that they were looking to buy content from somebody else and use it as a complete filler to the entire newsletter. My friends, I strongly recommend against that because people do business with people that they know, love and trust and they know love and trust you and your team, not some insurance company's content and team. Get clear on that. Alright, so. But back then I didn't know what I was doing yet, right? So I figured it all out and fast forward to today. I've got it all figured out through over two decades of wins and lessons with regard to newsletters. So I want to share something with you which is one of our newsletters and albeit this is not the most recent one, but it's the same format because it's the same format that we use in our own insurance agency business. Our monthly newsletter, our monthly snail mailed newsletter and electronically delivered newsletter is this. And again, if you're on the YouTube version, you can see something like this. And if you want to see some live copies, you can run to our website, siaonline.com siaonline.com and you can check out our newsletters. They're the electronic versions. But at the end of the day, the title of our monthly newsletter is the Protection Coach. And it's something that we've been flying by for over a decade and we continue to use it because that's what we do. We protect people and everything they work so hard for. So at the end of the day, we are the Protection coach. Right? And so it's the Protection Coach, it's Mike Stromso, the Protection Coach. We've branded the newsletter. We've branded the newsletter and this one happens to be the October 2020 update, okay? And it says news and tips for clients and friends of Stromso Insurance Agency. So let's talk about that for just a minute. What does that mean? Who do we send the snail mailed newsletter to to? Well, we send it to everybody on the list that we wanted to deliver to. Now to back up for just a minute, we've segmented all of our clients, Triple A, double A and single A. And then we have our prospect list and then we have our COI list. And again, COIs are centers of influence. So at the end of the day we take definitely all the centers of influence, definitely all of our AAA clients, definitely all of our double A clients. And if there's any room left, we take the most recent prospects and within the last 12 months maybe 14 months. And if there's any room left there, we add some of the single A clients in there. I believe our Target is currently 3,000 per month out the door, snail mail. Okay, so that's where we get for news and tips for clients and friends of Stromso Insurance Agency. And this one happens to be. The theme is Halloween. And I learned from many, many people years ago, including Joe Gerard, the most successful car salesman in the history of car sales, who started his campaign over four decades ago by simply using the monthly theme as the theme to send a mailing to his list, if you will. Okay, so we just do the same thing. There's nothing new under the sun, my friends. So Halloween fun from our family to yours. Now keep in mind the Halloween fun is our family and our team members families, not some insurance company jargon. You know what gets the greatest response from our newsletters? If you can see this, it's nothing but pictures. It's nothing but pictures. Remember, the mind works in images. Think of these. Picture this. Imagine that. When you start to imagine something, where does your mind go? It's going out to picture like our last great vacation or somewhere that you want to go. Imagine this, picture that. The mind works in images, so you need to speak to what's going on in the back of people's mind. Ok? So we hit them with pictures that are personalized.

Nobody can duplicate this. So if you don't know what to do, write a personal story. Show personalized pictures. One of the greatest responses to a newsletter that I have ever gotten is when I had somebody, one of my family members, take a picture of me on a big ladder in one of the fruit trees in our front yard of me picking fruit out of that tree. And I told the story of our family history that went back to 1944. And in agriculture in our local town, even the team members were commenting. They said, mike, that was the best article you've ever done because it was personal and because it was real and nobody could duplicate that. It was my real personal story. And my friends, at the end of the day, that's what you want, your real personal story. So that's what we've got here. I've got my grandkids, I've got the kids of some of our other team members. People love that stuff. And then down here at the bottom, we tell them what's inside this issue. We're talking about workers comp and claims, a perfect recipe for football season. And then quick tips for Halloween safety. Okay? Because it's all about safety on the next page. By the way, this is a four page newsletter with an insert. I'll get into the insert in just a minute. Okay. So at the end of the day, this is page two. We're celebrating over 209, 219 client birthdays this month. How to save money on your workers compensation. Again, pictures. It's got pictures of my team members. We're touting ourselves as the work comp referees, which was a program that we developed, talks a little bit about workers comp and then it talks about saving 17% or more by combining all of your insurance with us. Friends, I can tell you time after time after, after time again where people have called us, they have some insurance with us, they don't have all of their insurance with us. And they call us because they say, we didn't know you did boat and watercraft. We didn't know you did business liability. We didn't know you did workers comp. We didn't know you did.

You know. Group health insurance as an example. Significant policies added to our existing acre of diamonds simply by this column consistently going out. And then we recognize the client of the month and the client of the month is profile there. Now we're also advertising for their company by sending this out consistently. And I think back to the days of my early days and creating the newsletter for, I'll suggest three or four years. It got to be a heavy responsibility and that's why I probably passed on doing it anymore. I used to go out and interview a client every single month. Yes, every single month. I would go out to their place of business and interview them. So I get to come back and I get to create the article. I have to profile everything with the pictures and the whole nine yards. And while it was awesome and wonderful at that point in time, I just ran out of time. Nowadays I could do that again, obviously, because all I do is hand off the, you know, draft of the article, hand it off to the marketing team, say, copy it and I'll proof it. Here's the picture and put it together. Aha. Great moment. Maybe I'll start doing that again. So anyway, that's page two. Page three. In this particular issue, we'll write something on insurance. But it's our view on insurance. Where do we get that? We pull it from our blogs because we do a blog and a vlog consistently in our agency. And by the way, here is the ninja stealth tip for you today. If you are doing a vlog, just transcribe it and you automatically got Your written content. Ok, so who are you rooting for? And it's just got a piece on feel. Go. Guacamole. It's a recipe. I mean, what do we as human beings surround ourselves around when we're building relationships?

Food.

That's right. Okay. And here's a warm welcome to some of our new the newest members of our agency family. This is just a welcome of new clients we keep welcoming. And if they're seeing month after month after month that we keep adding clients to the agency, what does that create in the psychology of the people who are reading the newsletters? They're going, wow, this place is successful. Look at all the people that keep joining the agency. Because at the end of the day, my friends, people want to be part of something special. People want to be part of something special consistently. They don't go somewhere where it's, you know, bad attitudes and negativity. No, they want to be part of something special. You're creating that aura with this layout. Okay, down here, we did another recipe. It could be that we didn't have filler, but it's personal. Okay, that's fine. Okay, so at the end of the day, on the back, we've got, you know, our logo and our branding. Here's another Ninja stealth tip for you. Newsstand price 999. Free to friends and clients. See, we're raising the bar and setting the precedent of the value this piece. There's value in this piece, my friends. And you're telling them right there, the Newsstand price is 9.99, but you get it for free because you're a friend or client of Stromso Insurance Agency. Okay? Have you heard about our inspiring happiness by making a difference referral program? Okay, you can win. And you tell them what you win. You can win an Amazon gift card every month, a donation to your favorite charity, and so much more. And then we go down to social proof. Remember, why should people do business with you over and above any and all other options available to them? You've got to be answering that question every day in every way. And it starts with social proof. It's not what you say you've done for other people. It's what other people say you've already done for them. Okay, so we get mail, and it's a. It's a flat testimonial. Okay, we dropped the testimonial. And then we have quick tip time. And this is where we filled in for this particular month, Halloween tips. Okay? And then we got filler here. It can either be a testimonial with a picture and a visual, or in this particular case, we're promoting our app, our agency app. So we got a picture of the phone, give people directions on how they can get the app. At the end of the day, my friends, people are silently waiting to be led. People are silently waiting to be led. Lead them. Lead them to the promised land. Okay, so. And then it's got contact information for our agency, all of the ways to contact us. Phone, text, address, email, web. It's all there. And by the way, it's on every single page at the footer. Okay. How to contact us? Except for the front page. The front page holds. Holds all the goods. Okay. And then we put in an insert. Okay, so inside the newsletter. And if you're on the YouTube version of this podcast, you're seeing what I'm doing. The insert's in the newsletter, okay? And I pull out the insert, and inside is our referral flyer. And it's just our base referral flyer. And on the back, we have a meet the team segment. So if we have a new team member, we write an article about who the new team member is and allow the public to meet the team. Or if we don't have a new team member, we just repurpose an old article profile about one of our team members. Because at the end of the day, my friends, if you think people are going to remember the last time you profiled Andrea Wyatt, even though it was 11 months ago, I'm here to say I'm sorry, you are mistaken. They are not going to remember that profile from 11 months ago. What needs to happen. They need to see it again, because the mind needs to be reminded up to seven times or more, especially in today's noisy, polluted, busy, full of messages coming at us every single day in so many different ways. Through my personal growth and development studies, I have learned that maybe up to 20,000 messages a day they were experiencing. Okay, they need to see it again, my friends. So if you don't have a new team member, just repurpose an old one. Now, if you're a smaller agency, like two or three people, then you got to be more creative and think of something else, but you get the gist. Okay, so that's inside the newsletter. And so this particular current newsletter is folded in half. And I'll give you the tip on how we do this in just a second. It's folded in half. I don't know if you can see that or not because of the white. It's simply folded in half and direct imprinted to the address. Now, here's a couple more things that we've grown into. The only thing that I participate here is I am the last look. I am the last look of the newsletter. In other words, I get the final review. Because if there's insurance content and all that kind of stuff, I want to make sure that it's correct, the information is correct. I've been reviewing drafts of newsletters in the past, and they're talking about insurance coverage. And I looked at that and I said, that's not correct. So anyway, it's just a typo from somebody, right? Because they don't pay as closely attention, as close attention to it as I do, because it's the agency newsletter, okay? So at the end of the day, and it's always, two sets of eyes are always better than one, or three sets of eyes are always better than one. Okay? So at the end of the day, we finish the draft and we ship it out to a printing facility that we've used for over 20 years via PDF. And we never see it again. We never see it again. The next thing happens, it arrives in the mailbox of all the people on the mailing list. In addition to that, here's another ninja stealth tip for you. Make sure that you include your home mailing address on that list every time. Because one of the cool things is when I see this thing arrive in my own home mailbox, I know that it's arrived in the mailboxes of everybody else on the list. And that's like, okay, hey, team, the newsletter arrived. So if you get anybody on the time, on the phone, I should say, if you get anybody on the phone, make sure you direct them to page two of the newsletter that they just received. And they're gonna go, what about page two? I said, well, did you see that you can save up to 17% or more in some cases by combining all of your insurance with us? I go, no, I didn't know that. What should we do? Well, I'm glad you asked, my friend. Opportunity is knocking every single day in every single way, if you will just take action. Okay, that's the snail mail version. In addition to that, we also started publishing it online a number of years ago because our incredible marketing director, Andrea Wyatt, said to me one day, said, hey, I started publishing the newsletter online because I thought it was a good idea. And then I put analytics on it, and I noticed that we're getting over 543 opens, and this was a number of years ago, so I can imagine what they are now. We're getting over 543 opens on the online version. I said, cool, let's keep doing that. So we do it hand side by side, I should say, okay. We send it offline and online every one of your marketing programs, depending on the marketplace that you're trying to reach. And if you don't know anything about the marketplace that you're trying to reach, then you should do client profile maps, client avatars, and marketplace researchers, and do a combination of all those. Then you'll know the conversation that's going on in the back of the mind of your marketplace. Then you can better reach them. Okay, that's a whole another podcast. So at the end of the day.

That'S a little bit about our newsletter, and that's what it's grown to. It's absolutely awesome. It's absolutely incredible. By the way, there was days also in the history of the newsletter when we had one of those post office.

You know, programs that we purchased. We used to actually publish the newsletter in our office, print it and fold it. I mean, we've been through the whole gamut, trust me. So if you ever have any questions about newsletters, please look me up and let me know, because I will save you so much heartache and so much time. There was a time when we thought we would be real cutesy and put something in the middle of the newsletter that was kind of fun and made it a little bit bulky. So I was standing in the office one day and the door flips open. It's the post office truck. The post office truck started bringing in these trays of newsletters and set them on the floor. And the gal up at the front desk came back and got me and said, come out here for a minute. I said to the postal person, I said, what are you doing? They said, because of that little bulky thing you put inside, it took it to the next postage level. It doesn't qualify. You get to re stamp or repostage every single one of these. And that was kind of the beginning of we need to find a better way. I mean, there was days I used to drive to the post office every month to deliver these in the mail bins. I mean, it was a project. Okay, keep this in mind, my friends, we are in the protection business. We're not in the printing business. Yes, the marketing and promotion drives the growth of our protection business. But ultimately, at the end of the day, we. We are in the protection business, and we want to stay focused on that. We Want to have marketing people who continue to drive opportunities to us, but our job is to protect. Let me share something with you from the trenches, from some of our high achieving agencies that are doing fantastic stuff in the similar realm. Okay, so this particular platinum coaching member, probably five, six years at least. Now the one and only Claudia McClain, when there's no time to get the newsletter out because she does a monthly snail mailing as well. In addition to all of the other incredible things she does, she's gone to a newsletter postcard. But if you look at her incredible newsletter postcard, what does she have? She has pictures of her team and this is during a time when we were all sent home to work for a period of time. And she just took a snapshot of the team zoom portal and put it on the monthly postcard newsletter. She tells a story. It's personalized, it's real. It's them, it's them, it's them. It's not some insurance company stuff. All right? By the way, with all due respect to our carrier partners, if you're a carrier person watching or listening to this, we love you. Don't get me wrong, but you know, people do business with people they know love and trust on the ground, in their communities most of the time. Okay, and what should I do if I find water in my home? Or they're giving good advice in the event something bad happens and then they do a direct imprint as well and they share the good referral program and they're starting the new year with a new pet, by the way. Kids and animals. Kids and animals. Kids and animals. People love kids and animals. I can't understand why. I love kids and animals too, but that's what people are drawn to first versus adult stuff, I guess if you needed a comparison. Alright, let me share a couple of other things with you from the trenches. Other high performing platinum coaching members were saying this. Okay? This agency said every month our top customers are being reminded that we exist. Okay? Every time one of those customers got our letter and let's say they threw it away even without opening it, our logo and its content was before them, flashing across their minds and their eyes and sometimes their hearts. Okay? Content is important. But the point is there is great power, great power in simply reminding our customers that we exist. And I get the same feedback, my friends. I run into people in the grocery store, I ran into people at church. I ran into people in other segments of my personal life consistently. Hey, got the newsletter. That was awesome. Hey, got this. Hey, got that. That was Incredible. It's just human relationship building, my friends. It's part of effective communication. And even our daughter, who's in her 30s, no disrespect anybody out in the five generations that we're operating within right now.

Said to me one day, she goes, because we missed a newsletter one month a year or two ago. And she said, hey, by the way, I didn't get the newsletter last month. Is everything okay? I said, ang, what do you mean you didn't get the newsletter? She goes, I didn't get it. So I went back and checked, and I checked back with her. I said, you're right, it didn't go out. Something happened. She goes, I said, well, let me ask another question. Wouldn't you rather have it digitally? Now, keep in mind, she's mid-30s. She goes, no, I like the paper newsletter that comes to my house, that I can open and touch. That's how I get the most out of it. My friends, you don't know how people like to be communicated with unless you dig in and find out. And you never know where people are at any given point in time. My friends, don't miss the opportunity. There is so much business in our own acre of diamonds. They already trust you to an extent. Help them trust you more by getting more business into your agency for their particular account. Okay, Another piece of feedback from an incredible agent in our platinum coaching program.

And this particular agent had some ups and downs in their marketing department. And let's be clear, don't we all sometimes, I mean, you know, people come, people go, we get to train and replace. It's just part of the first p. Okay. People, processes and promotions, they all work together and sometimes they need to be upgraded. Okay. And so she was doing some reanalysis after she got a new marketing person in. And last year we parted ways with a marketing person and getting the newsletters done became a challenge. Well, we didn't lose current business over it. I can tell you that. The referrals were down. You see, you never know what newsletters are driving or any communication you're doing out there at all. Could it be because of the downturn of the pandemic, or could it be because we lost opportunity because of all that? I don't know. Or could it be because they weren't getting the newsletter? I don't know. What I do know is that we've had several comments of clients that left us and they stated how much they. By the way, they're very smart in doing a lost souls program. More in another podcast on that. Okay, several comments from old clients how much they enjoyed our pictures and stories in our newsletters. And here's the point. And they questioned if we were still doing community work. This indicates to me that they do read it and that they have recognized that as part of our brand. Okay, so you are also building your brand by publishing the newsletter. So we're now getting back to the routine because I believe that people are silently waiting to be led. So lead them to our office. I love that thinking. My friends, at the end of the day, that is my experience with the newsletter. I believe if it's within your budget, it's an absolutely critical part of your agency operation. In addition to that, if you don't have the budget for a full blown large list newsletter, most importantly, at a minimum, send it to your triple A clients. Now again, what are the AAA versus AA versus Single A? That's client segmentation Again. Another podcast on current client segmentation coming up. I hope this has helped you. I hope this fuels your creative mind in continuing to grow your business, creating wealth and have more freedom so you can live life on your own terms. That's all we want for you, friends, is growth, wealth and freedom every day, in every single way. This is Mike Stromcel coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory and I can't wait to see you or hear you on the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. And if you've enjoyed the content of this podcast, hey, please introduce it to anybody out there you know. UnstoppableProfitPodcast.com Unstoppable Profit Podcast. And if you're not subscribed, please make sure you go there and subscribe so you don't miss one valuable episode. And of course we're out there on all the apps. Spotify, Google, etc. Apple, we're out there. Just look up Unstoppable Profit podcast on any of those apps. You'll find us. Make sure you subscribe so that we can continue to share information that will help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have more freedom and live life on your own terms. Until the next episode, my friends. Get out there and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets. And above all, don't think about it, don't talk about it. Execute, implement and take action. See you soon.

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