The Power of Social Validation

We see it everywhere: 146 tweets, 289 FB likes, 82 five star ratings. And those are just some of the online examples of how pervasively we value others’ opinions to help us select what to pay attention to in the overwhelming abundance of worldly information.

“When people are confused or uncertain about what course to take they don’t look inside themselves, for an answer – they look outside…to people just like them. And since it’s hard to see what ‘everybody’s’ doing, we look at symbols, and icons, and heroes who we impute the “just like me” quality to…”

~ Robert Cialdini  

Social psychologist Robert Cialdini is of the world’s leading experts on influence and persuasion. He’s been studying and touting the importance of social validation and other motivating influences for the last two decades. When people are faced with choices, he observes, our social brain looks for guidance to see what others are doing.

One of the classic studies of social proof involves placards in hotel rooms inviting patrons to reuse their towels to reduce the environmental impact of unnecessary washes. When the message simply encouraged people to “help protect the environment,” about 50% went with the program. But when the message was changed to include social proof, compliance shot up by 26%.

Please join the hundreds of other guests who’ve stayed in this room and help reduce wash water pollution – Reuse your towels before having us launder them. Thanks!

Size Counts – So Does Similarity

Imagine you’re standing at the corner waiting to cross a busy street.  You notice one of the people in the crowd looking up at the sky. Do you follow suit, curious to see what they might have noticed? Perhaps. Now imagine the same scenario and 5 or 6 people suddenly look up. How likely will you be to gaze skyward this time?

About 4 times as likely, according to another study that showed a jump in response from 4% to 18% when more than 5 people provided the social cue to look up. Social proof is most effective when the ‘validators’ are both plentiful and perceived as being similar to us.

Six ways agencies can leverage social proof

• Talk it up - Sales presentations, prospecting calls, and networking events are perfect opportunities to let people know about all the similar businesses and organizations you already insure.

o    “A tremendous number of smaller moving and storage companies like yours are really happy with this program since we started offering it.”

o    “We handle the insurance for lots and lots of contractors just like you guys.”

• Solicit and share your testimonials - Instead of blabbing about your own expertise, think about all the ways you can leverage the power of social proof by including endorsements and testimonials from appreciative clients in your emails, newsletters, YouTube videos, and on your website.

• Include social media sharing buttons that make it easy for people to share your online blog posts, whitepapers, etc.—thus spreading and expanding social proof for your agency and practice.

• Consider a client satisfaction contest – Ask clients to share stories about how you’ve helped their company and feature the best submissions on your website, blog, and via social media.

• Cultivate client reviews - User reviews on sites like Yelp, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites offer more opportunities for you to gather and share positive social proof.  According to Harvard Business Review research, a 1-star increase in Yelp rating leads to 5-9% growth in sales.  

• Put your numbers to work - You don’t have to sell “billions and billions” of hamburgers to effectively tell people about your agency’s impressive number of blog subscribers, thousands of businesses or hundreds of social service organizations you’re proud to count as long time clients. What kind of stats could you leverage to build more social validation for the great value you deliver?

However you get the word out -- online, in person, print collateral, email newsletters – social proof will increase your marketing clout and help clients and prospects feel good about giving you their business.  

In other news, be sure to watch for PMA's new website in a few weeks!  

Relationships and Change

This Thanksgiving, when many of us get together with friends and family we may not have seen in a while, we’re going to have different kinds of relationships with the people at the table. Some may be close, others not so close, and some might even be downright challenging (let’s remember not to talk politics with Uncle Paul).

Relationships are always subject to change. Allies turn into enemies and adversaries become staunch supporters. The US doesn’t officially relate to Cuba, but not relating is its own kind of relationship. And that, too, is subject to change.

Our business relationships - with clients, prospects, vendors, etc. - aren’t fixed either. Prospects become clients, and can go on to become advocates to refer more clients. Clients, if we don’t support those relationships, can become problem clients, or former clients.

Expecting change

Change is a certainty. We know it’s going to happen; we just don’t know when. And depending on our particular point of view, any change can seem positive or negative: a major prospect’s agent messes up and we win the account; a company we’ve insured for years is sold and we’re replaced.

When we have an account already, we embrace the status quo; when we’re out selling, we’re fighting against it. Selling is all about change. We have something to offer that will change the companies we sell to for the better. Why else would anyone buy from us? 

Selling is also about relationships. The insurance buyer is trading one relationship for another. And the seller, the insurance producer, is starting a new relationship. If we want our relationships to be enduring, we have to nurture them with care and attention.

No one wants to be the agent in question when the business owner complains that, “The only time I hear from my agent is when he calls to renew our policies.” Are we so busy chasing new relationships that we’re not paying enough attention to the ones we already have? Every producer knows that it’s six or seven times harder (at least!) to sell a new account than to keep the ones we already have. 

Since we know change is inevitable, the best way way to deal with it is to expect it.

Change can be anticipated, encouraged, or sometimes avoided if we are alert and proactive.

• We can monitor the local business reports and watch news feeds to for new hires, promotions, expansions, contractions, acquisitions and mergers at our client companies and in the industries we care about. These changes signal new opportunities, or tell us we should pay more attention to an existing relationship.

• We can stay in touch with former clients and prospects via newsletters, blog posts and other media. The prospect that stayed with her incumbent agent three years ago when you quoted now finds that he has moved to another state, and she’s not comfortable with his replacement.

This month PMA is launching BtoB Advantage, a personalized email newsletter service we’ve created to help you stay connected with your current clients, and nurture your future ones. You'll be hearing more details very soon.

Lead Nurturing

You’ve just spoken with Bill Gormin, the controller of a 20 person architectural firm, and gotten the green light to circle back six months down the road and schedule a meeting to provide him with a cost and coverage insurance review before his next renewal period. Bill was open-minded, sincere, and willing to hear what your agency could do for him. But he was preoccupied and didn’t spend long on the phone.

Six months later, when you finally get Bill on the phone again (after several missed attempts) he tells you that he’s terribly busy and won’t be able to meet after all this year. As a friendly concession, he invites you to check back next year, but that sales opportunity has evaporated. Unfortunately, this is an all too common scenario.

You’re disappointed and frustrated. Six months ago, Bill sounded like a solid prospect. He was engaged and motivated to have you review his risk and coverage. Now he seems like a different person. Maybe his current agent circled the wagons and advised him against speaking with competitors. Maybe you just called back at the wrong time. Or maybe you didn’t do anything to rekindle his motivation?

Motivation is like a fire

Unless you continue to add fuel – it goes out.

Commercial insurance sales are often (but not always) subject to renewal buying cycles. As soon as you hang up the phone with a prospect who’s expressed interest and given you his x-date, he goes right back to what he was doing before your conversation, and forgets all about you, your agency, and, for the most part, any advantages (great markets, plenty of experience with his business class, etc.) you might have discussed during the call.

What’s missing is a process for incubating or nurturing that lead. Sometimes sales people talk about “touches.” It takes a number of touches or contacts to cultivate the trust and engagement to turn a prospect into a client. That’s why advertisers repeat their messages again and again.  

And that’s why marketers send continuing email messages, offer ongoing webinars, and keep in contact with prospects at all levels. If you’re spending time developing your own leads or working with a prospecting pipeline you’ve got to nurture prospects in a similar way.

Relevance, Repetition, and Trust

In order to draw prospect into your orbit and keep them there you’ve got to talk about their concerns, provide them with timely news and information that matters to them, and establish yourself as a trustworthy knowledge source. Sending messages is one thing, getting recipients to open and read your emails is another. 

To be effective, your marketing messages should reach your people with a reasonable frequency. Clearly, the more often businesses see your name, the better they’ll remember you. At the same time you don’t want to bombard people so much you annoy them. For most clients and prospects contacting them once a month is a good interval.  

Since prospects all want the same thing—they want to know what’s in it for them—you want your communications to talk about concerns and interests relevant to your target group. Instead of emphasizing your extensive markets, your professional credentials and your years in business, you want to write about current risk, compliance, safety and rating issues that may be impacting their operations. This way you’re offering something of value and at the same time you’re establishing yourself and your agency as a knowledgeable and generous resource.

 If you can do that, prospects will naturally want to stick around and be part of your marketing ecosystem. And later, when you call to schedule a meeting to review their insurance and risk, they’ll be much more likely to remember your agency and set that meeting.

Next month PMA will be launching our new B to B Advantage© newsletter, a complete turnkey service to help agents stay ahead of the competition and in the minds of your prospects and clients.