Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Life Health Advisor Interviews Grouchy

(this is part of an interview I did recently with LIFE HEALTH ADVISOR magazine online
http://www.lifehealth.com)

By Carolyn Ellis
Life Health Advisor Magazine


Tammy de Leeuw, aka The Grouchy Marketing Lady, helps insurance agents and business owners with marketing tools and techniques to generate leads and client referrals. As a consultant and teacher, she analyzes financial professionals' marketing materials, maps a strategy for building referrals, and recommends experts in all media to implement marketing initiatives. De Leeuw's light-hearted and meaty website is www.grouchymarketinglady.com

L&HA: How did you get into insurance marketing?

TDL: I started out as a part-time insurance agent in 1996. I found out I didn't like insurance as much as I liked marketing. Once you have exhausted your warm market and alienated all the people who love you, the hard part is learning to generate your own leads. I then took a job in lead generation and marketing. I met thousands of agents and listened to their triumphs and sob stories. I decided if the day ever came that I wasn't working for this company I would go out on my own. As it turned out, that company got dissolved, and little by little I grew a business.

L&HA: Tell us about The Grouchy Marketing Lady.

TDL: I work with about 25,000 financial advisors and insurance agents ranging from property and casualty to life-only sales people, annuity-only, and viaticals. You name it; I've got them on my list. I find people these agents can connect with to grow their business, and I find the weak spots in their marketing systems. I consult and I educate. I see myself as an expert in finding experts. I'm like a general practitioner in marketing. I can look at your marketing and see where the problem is. But if it's a tumor, I am going to put it to the brain surgeon. I have identified the best people in psychology, customer relationships, and social media, for example. I bring those people on, do webinars with them, form a joint venture if they had a good product or service, and present them to my list.

L&HA: Is prospecting tough for most agents?

TDL: Most corporations put guys into the field having taught them everything about how to close the sale but nothing about keeping a pipeline full. Put these agents in a room, and they can close eight out of 10. The weak spot is lead generation. If you learn to generate your own leads and grow your own warm circle, you are much better off.

The guys that get that make a lot of money. No matter how many degrees they have or how many alphabet letters after their name, at the heart of it, they are marketers. If you think and act like a marketer, the rest will follow....

(rest of the interview at: http://www.lifehealth.com/page3_profile.0709.htm)

No comments: