By Rick Gilman, APR, CMP

According to a Progressive Insurance study of 949 insurance agencies, only 77% of respondents host a website, of which 64% said that their websites were “mobile optimized.” Digging deeper, Progressive performed a separate audit of a sampling of 100 agency websites and found only about one in six (17%) actually have a mobile optimized website. The study also revealed that only slightly more than half of the respondents with websites have visited their sites on smartphones.

Most websites are mobile-compatible, meaning that the site is viewable on a smartphone or tablet. A mobile-optimized website is designed specifically for a smartphone or tablet—not a desktop or laptop.

I want to target that remaining 23%—what kind of persuasion might work to move these agents to implement a website?

I recently heard speak Daniel H. Pink, New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling business author of “Drive,” “A Whole New Mind” and “To Sell Is Human.”

In his presentation, Pink opined that much of what all of us do every day is sell, persuade and move people toward giving up some of their resources to get something back. Although it may not be traditional selling, this requires a lot of the same skill sets.

Pink not only talks about the need for “elasticity” in the jobs we hold, he also redefines the traditional ABCs of selling: from “Always Be Closing” to “Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity.” Pink presents different ideas—how to make the change and how to rethink the “elevator pitch.”

Part of his approach to the “attunement” portion of his new “ABCs” is to consider two ways of successfully relating to a prospective buyer as a seller: perspective (thinking) and empathetic (feeling).

Within this framework, what might be the best way to move the needle on an agent's “website value meter”?

Perspective persuasion

What are the cons of an agency website? Some say that a website is too expensive to build, it demands too much time from staff, business doesn't require a larger marketing presence, an agency isn't big enough to warrant a website, or they express doubts over how much new business a website brings in to the agency.

With the tools available today, building a website can be very inexpensive. Also, according to information from an agency website survey co-sponsored by IIABA's Agents Council for Technology (ACT) and Agency Marketing Partners:

94% of smartphone owners are looking for local info on their mobile device
70% of those searchers take some kind of action following it—call, visit or purchase
78% of buyers research online before making a purchase decision.

Read related: Websites Optional

Empathetic persuasion

From a more emotional viewpoint, I can relate to the challenges that agents have with limited funds and time. To these agents, I would ask about their future business plans. Where do they see their agencies in 3 to 5 years? Are client demographics slanted more toward the older generation than the new consumer coming into the market? Where will future growth coming from?

According to the book, although studies have shown a “perspective” approach is more successful in moving people to buy, the real strength comes from having elasticity or being able to adjust to signals. That's one reason why Pink describes one of his new approaches to an elevator pitch as improvisational. The others are: The One-Word Pitch, The Question Pitch, The Rhyming Pitch, The Subject Line Pitch, The Twitter Pitch and The Pixar Pitch.

How best would you describe your style of selling? Do you have an elevator pitch? You might think, “What do I need with an elevator pitch? I sell insurance.” Think of the pitch not so much about what you do, but why you do it and what results from that effort.

Finally, because the continuing question by some agents over the value of having a website still exists, I thought I'd ask the question myself. Please take this four-question survey and share your situation. I'll post the results on the Personal Lines Growth Alliance Facebook page.

Special Reports /

Using the Power of Persuasion on Agents Without Websites

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