By Anson Thompson, insurance ninja

It's Friday, the board meeting is tomorrow, and it's 5 hoursaway. Typically we meet with our clients to review ourproposal and answer any questions, but in this case, that wasimpossible. Once we received our final proposal, it wasobvious we had a better product and a better price point. But howdo we sell when we can't be there?

Enter YouTube. Afterwe completed our proposal of the information (as requested, anapples-to-apples version and then our recommendations version), wereduced it to a 5-page document highlighting theneed-to-know information and put into a PDF for email to theboard.

To make things a little more clear, I had our marketer grab oneof our iPads and shoot a quick 3-minute video of our review ofcoverage, the differences, why we made the recommendations we didand how we can move forward. The current provider was locatedabout 10 minutes from the risk, we were located 5 and a half hoursaway, but since we already insure some other business in the area,we are a known quantity.

We used Apple's IMovie to “sex up” the video, adding graphics, contactinformation, etc. The total time to shoot and create the videowas about 10 minutes. We don't do multiple takes, just reviewthe proposal, pointing out the areas that we are discussing andthen move on.

I left my cell phone number, knowing that at some point theremight be a question as to why we were recommending workers'compensation for this entity that seemingly had noemployees. I told the board that I answer my cell phone 24/7and if they had any questions to call me; I would be availableduring the board meeting.

I did get a call asking about co-insurance — and why wewere recommending workers' comp. After a brief conversation,they understood the perils and agreed to use the savings we wereoffering to purchase the work comp as a risk managementdecision. At the end of the phone call, the prospect decidedto hire us to manage this entity's risk.

We have used video over the last few years as an educationaltool and sometimes to help sell an account, but this was the firsttime using it due to our inability to attend a meeting to sealthe deal.

Concerned friends wondered if everyone can see the video postedonline. The answer is no: When you post a video on YouTube, you canmake it private, only viewable to those that have thelink.

The tools we all have at our fingertips are gamechangers. Every independent insurance agency should outfittheir producers with iPads. Every agency should have theknow-how to use video for not only education but as a sales tool,and embrace all the different tools that can help us be moreefficient risk mangers.

One final note. We just purchased a new VoIP phone system,and I found it refreshing that there was no “human” personaltraining — only a video link of a nice person using the system anddemonstrating its features and benefits. The more you wantedto learn about the system, the more video you could watch.

Having a video overview on your website about your agency is nota bad idea. Neither is having a library outlining various everydayinsurance questions (like “Why do I need workers' compensation?”)or other juicy tidbits that you can share with your prospects andclients. We usually add 1 cup of humor and 1tablespoon of sarcasm to make our videos a little moreviewable.

Don't ever forget, we are selling insurance–a product andservice that sometimes needs just a little sizzle to make itinteresting.