Astonish Results Insurance Blog

By Scott Brazdo, Vice President of Marketing at Astonish Results

British historian Arnold Toynbee has a famous quote that goes, "The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play."

Recently, National Underwriter invited a number of insurance agencies down to the Summit Business Media, New York City Times Square office for a series of interviews about their relationship with Astonish Results. The article, "Astonish Shakes Up Agency Marketing With Aggressive, Web-Centric Approach," takes a long look at how Astonish Results is using social media and culture/attitude change to help agencies fall in love with their businesses again.

By Scott Brazdo, Vice President of Marketing at Astonish Results

Starting an insurance agency from nothing may seem like an impossible task in the face of direct writers with multi-million dollar insurance marketing budgets and stiff competition from local agencies, but it's not. In fact, many older agencies would benefit from the sort of top-down assessment a new business owner has to go through before opening their doors for the first time.

We talk a lot about serving the modern consumer at Astonish Results, and many insurance agencies just aren't suited for the challenges of reaching tech-savvy insurance shoppers.

By: John Boudreau – COO and Co-Founder of Astonish Results

Wikipedia defines the term paradigm shift as "a change in a fundamental model of events."

It's clear to me that the insurance industry is going through a paradigm shift. There is an amazing video which demonstrates this shift...

Are you getting valid, primary email addresses from everyone who calls your agency? If not, you’re neglecting the most effective and efficient way to maintain contact with customers, even with the spiking popularity of social networks – and in some cases, providing the only reasonable way to deal with a major agency undertaking.

Take the scenario confronted by Brian Marino, the incoming President of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) and owner of Family Insurance Services in Florida...

By Adam DeGraide, CEO and Founder of Astonish Results

What is an idea without execution? An idea is just an empty promise until the moment it’s turned into a tangible action or result. Consider a golf course. You know the ball is supposed to end up in the cup, and you know you can’t make it there in one shot (unless you’re extremely lucky). So you carefully choose your clubs, i.e. ideas, line yourself up and prepare to drive the ball as close to the cup as possible. But what if you never swing?

By Scott Brazdo, Vice President of Marketing at Astonish Results

A common misconception claims that social media and Internet marketing in the insurance industry are only useful for generating personal lines leads. Putting that claim to shame is one of Astonish Results’ e-Agents who are dominating their niche so effectively that they’re actually GIVING AWAY leads to agencies in states where they are not licensed.

Living in America wouldn’t be the same without truckers delivering goods coast to coast via the long open roads that connect our states, cities, and towns. It’s a huge segment of the American workforce that requires...

By: John Boudreau – COO and Co-Founder of Astonish Results

We have a principle at Astonish Results. We say that people fail for one of two reasons: lack of knowledge OR lack of execution. I want to dig a bit deeper at the second reason, lack of execution.

Execution can be defined as “successful implementation of a strategy”. For example, if we were cooking an omelet, there is a strategy to do so. Follow the recipe (strategy) by adding just the right ingredients in the correct amounts. The recipe for an omelet doesn't really change that much. If you follow the recipe, you'll enjoy a wonderful breakfast.

Now let me take this thought process and apply it to executing a digital marketing strategy...

By Tim Sawyer, President and Co-Founder of Astonish Results

Integrating new technologies to accelerate insurance marketing is important, but technology will never replace the traditional skills an agency employee needs in order to turn a lead into a new customer.

Recently on Insurance Journal TV's "eMarketing Minute", I had the opportunity to interview Ken Peterson, the CEO of Encharter Insurance of Massachusetts, on how his agency transitioned into the digital age, but more importantly how they used more conventional skills to compliment the new digital tools of Internet marketing.

By: Adam DeGraide – CEO and Founder of Astonish Results

If you’re nervous about unleashing your agency employees on Facebook, consider ISU Armac in California, which now counts the social media site as their third best lead generating tool behind Google and Yahoo’s search engines. Also, consider that a little more than a year ago, ISU Armac spent $60,000 on Yellow Page advertising with a trickle of web-based leads coming in, only by accident.

Scott Purves, owner of Purves & Associates Insurance Agency in Davis, California, recognizes the divergence between a seemingly cold and impersonal Internet and the need to connect with customers on a personal level. The Internet guarantees anonymity when desired, but also offers unlimited opportunities for branding and partnerships. Seizing the opportunities is where most insurance professionals fall short.