Almost every new client I talk to refers to their marketer as a salesperson. I try to diplomatically tell them that marketers are not salespeople! Salespeople get a contract signed or deliver a product and collect a payment, or at least a commitment to pay.
Marketers are usually – at least partially – judged on how many visits and clients they call on. Typically, sales estimators, and often even senior project managers are tasked with going to a job site, evaluating, and assessing the loss, often writing a scope and or estimate and getting an agreement in writing with the property owner. They are judged on the closing ratio.
The problem arises when the owner or office manager puts a help-wanted ad
on the internet trying to fill the position of marketer, but they advertise for a salesperson. There’s a very confused public regarding exactly what position you are trying to hire. You usually get the wrong applicant. Salespeople generally do NOT make good marketers and conversely, marketers don’t make good salespeople.
It gets even more complicated because many companies realize they aren’t trying to hire a salesperson, so they advertise for a “marketer.” Guess what you get when they apply? Those applicants applying for a marketing position always only want to be at a desk. They don’t want to go out and face real clients. They are afraid of being told NO. Sure, they may be good at advertising, SEO, website building, graphic design, and building really great flyers and brochures.
This type of “marketer” isn’t what you need or want to build your business with insurance agents or plumbers. They certainly won’t be motivated to go out on the road and call on agents and plumbers and attend networking events. Even more discouraging is that almost all the website work, social media posting, or brochure building is passive at best, and you’ll never generate enough business that way.
The kind of “marketer” that you want working for you is someone that’s likable, not afraid of rejection, and willing to ‘cold-call’ and build relationships. They need to be hungry and quietly aggressive, always realizing that they must bring real value to those visits and interactions. They need to be self-starters and persistent, but not obnoxious.
I recommend that you have them take (complete) a Berke Assessment to help determine how they rank. Rarely does a low-ranking person (low score in the personality assessment) do well as a marketer. It isn’t a crystal ball, but it provides you with a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
At the CREST Network, we administer those assessments and assist with the interview process so you can have another opinion. Many owners, when interviewing, hire someone “just because they like the person.” That person can say all the right things at an interview and then bomb terribly in the position. Having another set of ears and eyes on the candidate can prevent making a hiring mistake.
We try to help the candidate understand several things that they would be expected to perform. I’ve listed a few of them here:
- Build a route of potential prospects
- Visit those prospects
- Develop relationships with them
- Follow up and follow through regularly
- Possibly do some social media engagement (5% of their time)
- Be willing to work 45-50 hours or more each week
- Make judgment decisions on client ranking (A, B, or C)
- Be coachable and willing to follow today’s coaching
- And much more (I can elaborate on a call with you)
As is quite obvious, hiring a marketer that will generate at least a million dollars a year in revenue for you is extremely important. Giving them the proper coaching, training, and guidance is essential. During the past 15 years, I have rarely seen a marketer that is capable of generating this kind of revenue without coaching and intense RMS (Restoration Marketing Specialist) certification training.
Dick Wagner is a Nationally recognized marketing coach, consultant, trainer, and speaker
Creator of the renowned PREP™ pre-disaster program
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The simplest way to know what questions you should ask to evolve from doing your research on that client and their industry. You can’t really ask intelligent questions unless you actually know something about them and their business!
So, who is the real client – the homeowner or business that had the loss, or the insurance company? I think we will ALL need to be planning on how our services can be afforded by the end-user because one day there will be premiums but there will be few payments just like in the medical world.
company’s “stockholders” in their retirement investment funds.
survive without the US. The insurance firms are not paying for XYZ’s services out of their profits they are paying for XYZ’s to increase THEIR (the insurance company) profits by cutting YOURS (you, your wife and children, your kid’s college, your fishing vacation trip)
them. My ideas are a strategy that is used by hundreds of marketers all over the country with great success.
Yes, it’s quite a challenge to think only about “what you can do for your clients client, but until you get into that mindset – you’ll come across as salesy or worse. For most of us, that mindset is a big struggle to achieve because we are in the mode of “getting jobs.” Our boss or owner wants you to get more referrals so he or she is constantly pushing you to do this – even reminding you of how many referral you got last month!
Dick Wagner 419-202-6745 
I have 1700+ ‘friends’ on Facebook and 3300+ connections on LinkedIn (and 600+ on my Twitter account), and the worst thing I can do is promote myself or my company! My posts and content on my Blog or other social media accounts must never be salesy and talk about ‘what I do.’ Nobody wants a commercial or promo about “what you do.”
to achieve and then break it down into small steps – then implement that plan. A well-planned, well-thought-out, well-implemented Content strategy is not only a vital component of any social media strategy; it’s the key to driving the results your business wants.
For years and still today, many marketers ‘think’ they are going to get the call from the agent or plumber, but they are only generating $150k a year in revenue and that’s not enough! We often hear that it’s about ‘great service’ but that’s only AFTER the call comes in. It’s not about the latest tool or machine or gadget that your company has purchased. Everyone claims to offer great service or have the latest Binford 5000 machine but that isn’t enough to justify your business existence.
properly market your company is like getting promises from clients that never come thru!
up blog posts on how to freshen up your marketing. Very possibly your gut tells you that what you’ve been doing for the past several years might not be working anymore!
consultant. It doesn’t take long after meeting them and that includes marketers as well before I instinctively know they are arrogant, cocky, self-righteous, and often have these absurd fantasies of greatness. I just met with one of them last week!
We have an elaborate Social Media system with almost a third of the world population on Facebook! So, it is highly unlikely that your business is: “in a class by itself, rare, special, unequaled, unique, unparalleled, unprecedented, or unrivaled.”
from the others and then promote that differentiation! Even though you will be hard-pressed to be unrivaled or unprecedented, to survive long-term, you will need to constantly identify and refine your differentiation. Let me say it again… Differentiation for your company is critical to your long-term success.
different techniques to elevate yourself above the competition, without the help of a cost prohibitive advertising budget comes down to knowing yourself, knowing your customer and playing to your strengths.
