Last month, I discussed that most benefit professionals market themselves (if they do so at all) based on 20th century techniques. Unfortunately, most of these techniques are expensive and no longer deliver the results they once did. In 1991, I built a solid six-figure income selling voluntary dental insurance while relying almost exclusively on direct mail with postage-paid business reply cards and cold calls. Where I once routinely received a 3% to 5% return, today I can expect less than a 1% return with any direct mail campaign. This month, I want to focus on some 21st century tools and techniques that can fill your calendar with high-quality sales opportunities.

Before you can begin to use 21st century marketing tools, you have to identify your target market. It is impossible to have a marketing plan if you do not know who your audience is. Think about an archery competition for a moment. The archer can load the arrow onto the bow, pull back and then let loose and the arrow will ultimately hit something. Regardless of what the arrow hits, if the archer does not hit the target he cannot win. In marketing, you must know who you are aiming at and what results you want to achieve.

Your target market may be based on the number of eligible employees, the industry or the geographic area. I know a speaker and coach whose focus is on women-owned businesses and who has been very successful at filling her calendar with high-quality prospects. Knowing whom you want to open a sales conversation with allows you the chance to tailor your message. One commonly overlooked target market for your marketing plan is your current client base. Very few agents have developed a marketing strategy aimed at this market and that is very unfortunate because it is a huge opportunity missed. Recently, a new participant in my monthly Objection-Free Sales Academy call shared with the group the fact that he had more than 200 clients that he personally called every six weeks. This activity, while laudable, left him very little time to do any marketing for new business. And while he would receive several referrals throughout the year, he was disappointed with the low number. Not only did he fail to get very many referrals, but he also missed cross-selling opportunities because he had no plan beyond calling and asking how things were going.

Any agent with 75 clients or more who is not filling his calendar with tons of new sales opportunities is missing the boat. With a good marketing strategy aimed at current clients, any agent with 75 clients should have no less than two very high-quality sales appointments each month. With 200 clients, this agent should have twice that. A high-quality sales appointment may be with a referral or a cross-selling opportunity with a current client. Without a plan, an agent is relying on hope; and as the title of a great book reads: "Hope is not a strategy."

21st century marketing

The first thing to know is that 21st century consumers are a more astute and more knowledgeable group than their counterparts of 10 or 15 years ago. They are harder to get through to and even harder to sell to than in the past. These consumers screen telephone calls, resist sales pressure for the appointment, and know that there is a ton of information available to them on the Internet. They are far more discerning than their predecessors and are more highly educated about the marketplace. Many of you know this because you have had consumers and business owners ask you about the carriers that you have access to that their current broker does not. They are very aware that there are a limited number of carriers in the market and unless you can bring them some solution that the other agents cannot, they are less open to a meeting. That is why a focus on renewal dates and saving the prospect money on health insurance is a recipe for disaster in the long term.

Twenty-first century marketing recognizes that it is no longer about getting the appointment for the appointment's sake; now it is about laying the foundation for a relationship. A very important point is that calling a prospect and saying: "I would like to stop by and introduce myself and tell you a little about what we do and see if any of my services may be of value" is not about establishing a relationship. That opening tells the prospect two things: first, you are not very busy because if you were you would have more profitable things to do; and second, you probably have very few ideas worth talking about because if you did you would open with them.

While your marketing plan may include such traditional techniques as writing articles and public speaking, you should begin using technology as much as possible. You will need to take maximum advantage of the Internet but never lose sight of the value of snail mail and personal contact. With that said, let's look at the first tool of the 21st century marketer.

The Web site

Last month I stated that most of you have spent more than you should have for a Web site that does nothing for you from a marketing perspective. Before you launch a Web site you must ask yourself two questions.

First, who is going to this Web site? When I ask this of most benefit professionals the answer is usually: "prospects and clients." That response tells me that it will appeal to neither. The reality is that you should have, at a minimum, two distinct Web sites aimed at prospects, and for best marketing results at least three. In today's world you no longer need to hire a Web designer unless there is something very specific that you want your Web site to do. It is possible to create beautiful Web sites in under an hour using one of the many hosting sites that come with templates that anyone can use. Most of these sites provide hundreds of templates to choose from and cost less than $15 a month, including the domain name.

Sites aimed at your prospects should be idea-specific and should address an outcome that you can deliver or a problem you can solve. Your landing page (the first page that prospects see) should not be about your agency for two very important reasons. First, no one cares about your propaganda (and that is exactly what it is and everyone knows it). The second (and even more important) reason is that you have less than 30 seconds to capture the prospect's attention. The prospect only wants to know what it is that you can deliver to them - how working with you will help them achieve their goals. These idea-specific sites have a limited number of pages and focus on outcomes.

The second question is, how are people getting to the site? Once you know who is going to your site you have to know how and why they are going there. For clients, your home page should say something like: "Welcome to the ABC Agency client Web site." You know that these people are going because they have been educated on what they will find there. If the client has to look for the login to their portal they will stop using it before they learn about all the features it offers. An easy-to-navigate site makes people come back often.

Prospects, on the other hand, are going to your Web site because you have directed them there. They are not going to find you via Google because people do not search for benefit consultants. They are not going to visit after receiving one of your cards because they believe there will be nothing of value to find. In my own marketing I have been using idea-specific Web sites as the answer to "Can you send me something?" I want to capture all the e-mail addresses, so I ask for permission to send an e-mail with a link to a Web site where the prospect can learn more about my idea. By following this procedure I accomplish two very important objectives. First, I begin to establish a relationship with a prospect when they give me their e-mail address. They are immediately relieved that I did not try to overcome their objection to the appointment. Once I obtain their e-mail address I ask for permission to add them to my e-mail newsletter, which most prospects agree to. I now have permission to keep my name in front of this prospect as well as permission to follow up periodically with a telephone call. For more detailed information, visit my Web site, thecoldcallcoach.com (which happens to be a template, by the way) and download my article, "Websites that Work."

Next month, I will discuss using e-mail, e-mail tracking technology and automated relationship-building technology that creates referrals and cross-selling opportunities. EBA