ITB with Brett Allen - Social Selling and the Buyer's Journey

Trying to be successful in business requires you to live at the crossroads of technology and sales. On this episode of Insurance The Brightway (ITB), meet the man who lives at that intersection every day of the year.

ITB Host Rick Fox welcomes Brett Allen to the podcast. Brett is a true industry leader in not only social marketing, but social selling! Learn how to put your focus on the buyer’s journey instead of simply selling your product.

New episodes of ITB are available every Thursday at noon EST.

Listen and subscribe to the ITB podcast at www.brightwaydifference.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts today!

ITB is a weekly podcast brought to you by Brightway Insurance, the insurance agency distribution leader coast-to-coast.

#buyersjourney #insuranceagent #insurancepodcast #businesssuccess

Transcript

Rick (00:04.938)
Welcome back to another episode of the ITB Insurance, the Brightway Podcast. I'm the host Rick Fox and today our guest, Brett Allen. Brett, I appreciate you being here, man. That's going to be fun. So, hey, so here's my thing with Brett. Brett and I have done podcasts before. We've done actually a couple of them, at least maybe a half a dozen. I don't know how many we've done, but it's always, it's a lot. And, but I always call Brett.

Brett (00:17.528)
Yeah, pleasure.

Brett (00:29.896)
A few.

Rick (00:33.706)
and get him to come on the show because of his understanding of social media. So Brett currently has taken on another role, but where I'm asking Brett to kind of dig in is his past. So I've known Brett since he was at the Hartford, but where I've really kind of leaned on him for his knowledge of social selling, social marketing, basically anything social, sales enablement, all of those things is when he was kind of ran boss social. So he's, he did that for years. Um, but, but so I've, I've asked Brett to kind of come on and let's have a social conversation. So before we go there, um, Brett, as always, thank you for being here, but mostly I'd love to just hear your journey. Like how, how did we get here?

Brett (01:23.496)
Oh, that's a great question. And I'm, I say a lot of words fast, so I'll try to keep it short. So I was doing full-time real estate investing in 2008 when the market crashed and, and before that I had built websites for realtors and I was like, what am I going to do? I lived out in Western Washington and I discovered social media. I was actually kind of late in the game, but I'd read outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and I thought, man, if I could be on the front end of this social media thing that's happening, there should be some opportunity.

So I just dove in like real deep and before long, I started a social media consulting business. I became the number one Washington Realtors CE trainer for social media. And this was back when it was just like, what is a blog, you know, back in like 2010, you know? And spent a couple of years doing that. And then Safeco needed someone to build a national social media marketing program. It was called Bricks and Clicks at the time. And they had done website,

Rick (02:04.13)
forgot that. Yep.

Rick (02:08.074)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Rick (02:18.786)
That's right.

Brett (02:23.38)
...truly working understanding of social media. So I came on there, spent several years there. Hartford kind of lured me over to build a social selling program for them. And that was more about instead of marketing for the agency, how do you actually help the producer? And so I spent several years doing that and then decided to go out on my own and built a program called Boss Social. And I just keep, I kind of live on the crossroads of new technology and sales and I just am always eating up whatever can come.

Rick (02:48.513)
Mm-hmm.

Rick (02:52.638)
Well, and it's, there's a, that should tell you out there, listeners, that Brett has been doing this for a while and understands it. And I will, I will vouch for the fact that he's always looking for what's Nesk. So I'm going to ask a question and let you kind of frame this up or set the table for us here. But when I think about, when I think about social, there's, there's kind of like, there's kind of two buckets, right? There's social marketing and there's social selling. So. kind of do me the solid and the listeners the solid of kind of, you know, define that or, you know, compare and contrast those two things.

Brett (03:28.964)
Yeah, yeah. So I like to use just a hunting metaphor, right? You can be hunted or you can hunt. And when it comes to social media marketing, I think about how are we creating visibility? How are we going to be easily seen by those that we want to utilize us? You know, I've got a little kid, he's in first grade, and I think about Bambi. We were watching the other day and his dad comes out of the forest and he's got this big head of antlers and everybody bows down and they're like, that's the king of the forest.

And to me, social media marketing is really about trying to create that experience for your agency. How do I get in front of everyone so they see me, they understand me, and they realize that I can help them? Most people spend their time in this space. The other part of it is really how does it fit within the sales process? And so I use the term social selling, and technically it's probably a subset of what we're now calling sales enablement. And the example I was thinking about for this was the movie Hitch. Remember?

Rick (04:25.374)
Yeah, yeah, great movie. Great movie.

Brett (04:26.372)
And it was like, how does Kevin get that one opportunity to impress that girl that he's so interested in? And to me, when I think about digital marketing, I think about that brand, like we were just talking about. But when I think about hunting, when I think about a sales producer, how am I gonna use LinkedIn? It's really about, I mean, not, I mean, in our personal lives, we just look for that one person, but when it comes to business, right, we're building a book. And so we have an ideal client. We have, we know what... what we really can help the most. So like I've been working with a company that does a lot of construction equipment insurance. And so we really know that buyer's persona. So when I'm using it, I wanna say, how do I really impress that person? How do I get in front of them? And so I think a lot of people have talked about social media marketing and all those tips like for years, but what we don't hear as much about...

Rick (04:56.043)
Yes.

Brett (05:20.592)
...is how do you really integrate it into your sales process? How do you use the sales tool? So I thought it might be fun to really just share some tips with you guys today on how to effectively use LinkedIn, social, for the sales process. And I think that's a good place to start.

Rick (05:35.426)
So you kind of.

Yeah. So let me just kind of see if I'm catching this right. So when you talk about marketing, you're talking about, like, and I think, like the Bambi example is like, how do I become like seen and revered, I guess, would be a good word for it. And now this is the one where we're turning around and now we've got the, we've got somebody in our sights and we're going to go get them and not, I don't want to say force them, but persuade them to revere us. Is that, is that a fair way to say that? Is that kind of the shift.

Brett (06:08.82)
I think that's exactly right. I'm a sales producer. I don't. I know social media is important. I know I got this marketing guy doing this stuff. But how do I use it to create proximity with my prospects? And exactly.

Rick (06:10.05)
Okay.

Rick (06:16.096)
Yeah.

Rick (06:23.438)
That's it. Yeah, okay. All right, so break it down for us. Can you put this into like, how do we define that?

Brett (06:33.384)
Well, I kind of put it into three different steps. And I always like to use metaphors just because it helps us relate. But I think about when I was in high school and I was gonna go to a dance, right? You have to ask a girl, go to the dance. Well, when you go to the dance, you actually, you get done playing football and you can either go stinky or you can go shower, get cleaned up and then have her actually enjoy your presence. And I think when it comes to us as sales producers, a lot of us, our online presence, our online footprint

Rick (06:43.635)
Mm-hmm.

Rick (06:54.954)
There it is. Yep.

Brett (07:03.844)
it's not anything we're conscious about. And so I think to begin with, when it comes to thinking about how am I using social, if someone, let's say I refer you to someone and they go and they're like, okay, I'll check them out. And they kind of do a little look-see on the web to see who you are. They're gonna get an idea of who you are. And that could be a positive moment of truth. That could be a negative moment of truth. So the first step in the space of social selling really is to say, how do we put on the nice outfit. How do we make sure when someone's checking us out online, we look good? And so I've got a couple of tips for you on that, but before I jump to those, does that make sense or?

Rick (07:41.522)
Yeah, I totally, I mean, and I think about it, I've said this a bunch, many, many times, but I think it's again, relevant when you talk to agents all over the place. One of the things that still so many of them say is I work off referrals. That's great. That's awesome. Like if your business is doing well and people are recommending you, that is awesome, but what are you wearing to the dance because they're not just going to now call you and buy from you. They're going to now say, okay, even if it's.

You know, the best man at your wedding gave you the referral. You're still now going to go online and say, okay, thank you. In this case for me, Eric, for doing that. And then, but now when I go online, it better, you better look like something that I'm interested in.

And that you're putting your, you know, you didn't get out off the football field and come stinky to, to your social presence. Is that, is that a fair way to kind of. To look at it because the referral part is like the first step. It used to be the whole step and now it's the first step to connecting to that person.

Brett (08:49.456)
Yeah, the internet's really changed and social has changed the way that we can consume or move down our buyer's journey. So if you think about the buyer's journey as a salesperson, we say, okay, there's the first step and the second step and the third step and a lot of the content. We're like, okay, to get people to top of the funnel, we're going to figure out what are their frequently asked questions in the awareness stage. And then we move through that and we're creating content to feed all those people to these different steps. Well, because of the internet, we actually, as a buyer, we may not follow that path prescriptively based on what you would prefer. Right? If I have some questions, I can go online and get answers to those questions very readily. I don't have to call you up to understand like, should I get an umbrella policy or will I need cyber or something? Like I can go out and find that stuff. So when you think about what I have helped a lot of people do is realize like, you've got to get a

Rick (09:33.175)
Right.

Brett (09:46.548)
a series of the frequently asked question content out there on the web working for you. So when people find that stuff, it answers their question, but you do it in such a way that it aligns you as their guide, so it's not like they just go, oh, that's great, and then they go back to their agent. They see that and be like, wow, that guy really helped me get where I haven't been yet. So when it comes to this, you know, your original question here of trying to look good,

Rick (09:53.015)
Okay.

Rick (10:16.094)
Mm-hmm.

Brett (10:16.532)
There's the social profile and what that looks like, but then the next step will be the content that you're putting on there to, really to layer that in. I feel really bad because I feel like I lost the question you had. Did it feel like you answered it? I was like, Brett gets off on a tangent.

Rick (10:18.978)
Mm-hmm.

Rick (10:31.558)
No, no, that's spot on. No, that's wrinkle you back in. No, no, no. And it's a good tangent because I think the information about how to think about it is important as the tip itself. So I'm hearing you say part one is get dressed up. Like again, go back to the house, take a shower, put on the suit before you go to the dance. It's the same thing. So like if I'm thinking about this, right, it's like, if I'm looking, if I'm doing like a...

You know, I'm looking online at myself. I should be seeing something that is impressive to me that I'm putting my best foot forward. Like if I'm, I gotta be getting dressed up for the dance and the dance is I want customers prospects, uh, anyone out there to look, look at me socially and think I could do business with that guy. Is that, is that fair?

Brett (11:22.588)
Yep, yep. And that's exactly what I had lost there for a second. So when you get that referral, they're not just going to trust the referral, they're going to go online, do a little research. And then that's where you have that opportunity to kind of double down on the power of that referral. Because they're like, wow, you know, I actually got three referrals, and my brother-in-law gave me one, you know, my buddy gave me one. And so when I checked out all three of these people, whether it's fair or not, whether it's even accurate our brain is gonna take that shortcut and say which of these presentations of who these people were, seems the most impressive. And so a lot of times, it's not just the agency, it really is the producer. My relationship was with my producer and their agency matters and that branding is important. Like I'm not saying it isn't, but what you're doing on a personal branding level to make sure that when people are checking you out and a lot of times that's your Facebook and LinkedIn,

Rick (11:59.702)
Yeah.

Brett (12:19.58)
personal lines, a lot of times Facebook, Instagram, business, commercial side, and even on the personal side, a lot of people use LinkedIn to really check that out.

Rick (12:25.234)
When I would add, and I would throw your website if you're, if you're, if you're part of an organization or if you are like an agency owner, your website is part of that presence too, right? Yeah.

Brett (12:34.108)
For sure, the number two most popular page on a website is the About Us page, because that's the one that usually has the names of the producers and that's what people are Googling. So there it is, yeah.

Rick (12:38.474)
Yep.

That's right. There it is. Okay. So, part one is get dressed up. Okay. And now, I'm going to jump ahead, fast forward to, all right, I did that. I went online. I updated my LinkedIn profile. You know, my statement. I put a better picture on there. Then what? All right. Let's say, yeah, I'm going to... Okay. Yeah.

Brett (13:04.705)
Yeah, so let's not jump through that too quick. I know we wanna go fast, but seriously, yeah, Google yourself, like what do you see out there? Look at the images in the video and see, and start thinking about how can I put content that's gonna show up in that place that's really helping me out. So just exactly said, and then the LinkedIn profile, there's a lot of scorecards and checklists. I built them for Hartford, I think they still use them. You could, if you write Hartford, you could go and just get it from them. But it's like a list of all those things. Like your background photo is so huge. Most people just have the generic thing or they just put the logo of their company. But if it's really your pickup line opportunity to really articulate your unique selling proposition, my question is, what do you really do there? Like I was working with a guy that does bonds and so we were saying, okay, how can we create an image here that's gonna really resonate with your bonding? Same thing like a guy that really focused on like high value personal lines, right? People with a lot of toys and things like that, the way you present that is gonna help them say, oh yeah, okay, I resonate with this. So all those things, your headline tag, the about section, the thing I'd say in the about section is you really want your call to action in the first two lines because what happens normally is we explain something and then we have the call to action at the end. But on your about section in LinkedIn, you have to click that more before it shows the rest. And so I have found that, I mean, it's a little trick here, but

Rick (14:27.658)
Oh yeah.

Brett (14:30.744)
If you put your call to action and it's in such a way that's really about helping them with their pain, being in the first two sentences, you get a lot more click through, so that's good. And the last thing that I would say on this as far as good looking good, a lot of producers are gonna say, I don't have time to create a blog, right? I don't have time to do that, but you're answering questions all day long. In fact, the other day I was just consulting with a producer and we were talking about...

Rick (14:41.555)
Okay.

Brett (14:58.32)
...I'll talk about in a few minutes, called the Biz for Post concept, and he came up with this idea, and before long he had stretched it out, like it was this really long social post. And I said, you know what, this really should be a blog post. It can have a lot longer shelf life, and he's like, oh, I don't have a blog. I'm like, but you got LinkedIn, and LinkedIn allows you to publish articles. And those articles are some of the highest SEO optimized blog posts out there, because Google, you know, bang, they love LinkedIn. So taking that,

Rick (15:16.789)
Yeah.

Brett (15:27.596)
...anecdotal story, that information, that FAQ, all of that and having a little bit longer version that you actually post as an article ends up giving you content that's going to live a lot longer than that social post that just comes and goes. And in our case, we did both, right? We did the short social post and then we're following up with a longer blog post. So yeah.

Rick (15:39.584)
Yeah.

Rick (15:48.43)
Okay. No, I, so, okay. So let, yeah, let, this is, this is great. I'm actually jotting down notes as we go here and I hope others are as well. So, all right. So, um, we, we've sort of framed up the work that needs to be done. There's some hygiene out there for all of you. We all have it. I'm thinking about the picture I have in my LinkedIn. It's like 15 years old. I look good because I look young. Uh, but, but that, that isn't necessarily what I look like today. So I might need to, I might need to take a look at that myself.

Brett (16:15.388)
You might need to own it, man. Yeah.

Rick (16:18.617)
Hey, that's what I tell my kids. Like if I could give my kids one piece of advice, I just say, don't ever get old. Like literally just don't get old. So, all right. Yeah, go ahead, Brett.

Brett (16:19.588)
It's...

Brett (16:25.004)
Yeah, stop, stop. Well, I'll tell you, if you're 44 years old and you decide to have a kid, like I did, because I got kids in college and then I got this first grader, that's another way to like be both old and young at the same time because it's like...

Rick (16:32.006)
Mm-hmm. Oh boy. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Rick (16:39.71)
Yeah, or get older every day because you're going through it again. I mean, you can look at it from either lens, the positive, whichever way you want to go. Yeah. All right. So now I'm dressed up. Now I've done the work. I'm looking good. I feel great. What's next?

Brett (16:42.356)
Bye.

Brett (16:46.432)
Yeah, that's right, but I digress. We'll stay off point here. So Yep, you're looking

Brett (16:56.376)
Okay, so two things I really want you to think about now. Let's say you get to the dance, right? Let's say it's not the prom dance, it's just that Saturday night dance, right? There's a lot of people to choose to dance with. Is your goal to dance with every single person there? Probably not. I mean, my thought process on this is you do have those sales producers that really, really value relationships, right? And you're like, hey, how's it going? They're like, oh, it's so good, our relationship's so strong. And you're like, okay, cool, are they gonna buy? And they're like, oh, I don't know. And you're like, okay.

Rick (17:04.188)
Mm-hmm.

Rick (17:17.216)
Yes.

Brett (17:25.384)
This isn't what we want, right? We wanna go to the dance and you'll be like, you know that girl in my biology class? Like that's where I got my eyes set, you know? And so the same thing is when you are relating this to work, it's like, okay, you know who your ideal client is. And so what we need to do is say, okay, how do I identify them? And now you're gonna do two things. Number one is you're gonna actively start filling your network, your Facebook business connections, your LinkedIn connections.

Rick (17:27.061)
Right.

Brett (17:54.94)
...with those kinds of people and the other types of businesses that serve those kinds of people. Because now, you're gonna be hanging out with the right kind of people. Because if social media really is this chance for us to have this communication channel at large, at scale with people, right? We don't really care if the wrong people are in it, it doesn't help us. We gotta get the right people in it. So thinking about, and some people will take this to the next level and use LinkedIn Navigator.

Rick (18:19.572)
Yep.

Brett (18:25.068)
And I love LinkedIn Navigator. If you don't really know who your ideal client is, and you don't know how to search and find them, then you're not ready for LinkedIn Navigator. But usually you're gonna push the free version of LinkedIn enough that you're like, okay, I'm ready to get super serious. I know I wanna write these kinds of businesses or these kinds of people. I want people with this type of income or toy list or whatever those things are. And I know which ones I wanna avoid. And so now you really do need to make a list...

Rick (18:49.71)
Mm-hmm.

Brett (18:54.408)
...those go into LinkedIn, use the search features, and find those people and start actively connecting with them. And of course, you know, there's the appropriate way to ask someone to dance and the inappropriate way to ask them to dance, right? And so I think a lot of us were in sales so we know how to build relationships with people. And so you're just gonna continue to do that online in a respectful way.

Rick (19:04.482)
Yes.

Rick (19:16.114)
Okay. So let me, let me just, I want to dig in here just for just 30 second answer, but I want, but it's important. Like you mentioned LinkedIn Navigator. I think LinkedIn Navigator over the years, I don't, I don't actually use it as much right now, but in the past I have, and I've also worked with people that are like, I don't even know what, how to do it. So like, when do you know you're ready to start like, even if it's simply Googling, how do I use Navigator? But, but what's that? Like, when am I ready? When I feel like I am not.

Like to me, it was like, I felt like LinkedIn could do more, but I was kind of not, like I didn't have the horsepower. Is that kind of the thinking around Navigator?

Brett (19:56.56)
Yeah, I mean, I think about LinkedIn, you know, you think, well, what is LinkedIn? It's a database, really. I mean, it's just a database chuck full of people's names, who they're connected with information about them. And so the free version of LinkedIn is really just like an interface at a limited level to that data. And so if you're running up against like, you've used all 50 of your, your outreach connections, or if you've been. I would say...

Rick (20:02.284)
Yeah.

Rick (20:17.791)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brett (20:25.74)
...not sporadically but maybe not super regularly converting business through LinkedIn. Like you're like, wow, you know, I am getting some business from LinkedIn. The stuff that I'm doing is working, but it doesn't feel like it's totally systemized. It doesn't feel like it's orchestrated consciously. It's more like I'm just throwing all these things out there and some of it's working and I don't fully understand why. If you're getting to that point, then Navigator starts to make sense because you can really start focusing in, here's the main thing I love, I know this is not 30 seconds, here's the main thing I love about Navigator. With Navigator, I can pick a business, I can pick all the people that work there, and I can just really see who is posting what. So I can choose to get into conversation a lot quicker. In the free version, I have to like, click the little bell button that says, get all their notifications, and then always look at that and use that for moving forward. So it just, you know, it just makes it so much.

Rick (21:17.962)
Yep, yep, yep.

Brett (21:24.724)
quicker and easier to do. And you got smart links so you can get a lot of visibility into the content you're sharing and see who interacts with different content. And so, yeah, I mean, I could go in a lot of directions on that.

Rick (21:37.394)
Yeah. Okay. So, and I want to, I want to move us along because I like, like this is, this is well, and it's, but it's such great information. I appreciate you doing the spread. So when I think about it from that lens, um, in what, okay. So just, so what's next? Okay. So we don't want to dance with everybody. Put a bow on this thing for me. Like what, what's the next step there?

Brett (21:40.796)
Sure. Yeah, we're gonna run out of time.

Brett (21:59.244)
Yeah, so the thing that I would say is you're going to have that conscious activity of identifying a list, right? These are people that I want to write, right? Wherever you met them. And you do that. The second part of it is that you want to think about what you're actually doing on a day to day basis in sales. So what I mean is like on every Monday, you probably have some discovery meetings set up with people that week.

And so you're going to start becoming conscious that, you know what, I'm meeting with Rick on Thursday, so I don't know if we're connected on LinkedIn. And it's just a regular process, a sales process where you're going to say on Monday, who am I meeting with this week? Let me go on LinkedIn, contextually have an excuse to say, let's connect, right? You write the little message, hey, looking forward to our meeting on Thursday. I noticed we weren't connected on LinkedIn. Let's get connected. And then the same thing on Friday, you're going to look back and say, who was I not planning to talk to this week that I did?

Rick (22:42.158)
Click, click, click. Yep.

Yep.

Brett (22:57.2)
because that proximity to those recent conversations makes it so much less of a cold call type exchange when you reach out to them and be like, wow, I was so glad you called, or I was fine to bump into you at the airport. I noticed we were connected on LinkedIn, let's get connected. Because what you're doing is you're getting them on that network because the next step, the dancing, is how you're going to create content that they're gonna consume and how you, because they're now on your network, it's easier for you to consume their content and build that proximity, right? You want that closer psychological proximity. So

Rick (23:35.168)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay, so... Get myself showered and shined. Get myself...

Literally like looking good. Now I feel good about it. Now we're getting dancing. So now we're doing that part, right? That's the piece you're talking about. So what, to get two more like zingers for people that'll be like, oh, shoot, I didn't even think about it that way. Or, you know, what's next? Like keep, just give me, give me a little bit more here and then we'll put a bow on this thing. Yes.

Brett (23:59.876)
Yeah, okay. Yeah, what really moves the needle? It's not what you think because most people are like, okay, I got to create those content and oh, the character's got this generic crap content and I'm going to share all this stuff and no, that I mean, it's not the worst thing to do. But what you really want to do is you want to engage with the people you're interested in based on what they're doing. So you think about the dance, right? You think about like, I'm out in the middle dancing and everyone's in a circle around me and I'm like, look how awesome I am, right? That's what a lot of people do. What we wanna do is we wanna say, okay, where is that person engaging? What are they sharing that has value that I can add to kind of step up into their life? So really you're gonna be spending most of your time on LinkedIn, actually not, I mean, you are gonna be posting, you still wanna post probably once a day, but at the same time, the real engagement comes from looking at those notifications and seeing like, oh, that guy Rick that I connected with last week, he just posted something and now I'm gonna go and engage with him. And so you can like it, but really you can comment. And this is the, I always call this the five o'clock happy hour conversations that normally take 10 minutes at the bar that takes six months over LinkedIn, right? Like it's just, it's slow, it doesn't move that fast. But...

Rick (25:02.314)
Yes.

Rick (25:13.202)
Yeah. So true.

Brett (25:18.372)
...instead of talking to one person at a bar, you're actually having this opportunity to scale this with hundreds of people, so it works. So spend your time going to their stuff and don't just shamelessly be like, hey, come check me out. Ask them a follow-up question or send them a like and then send them a direct message that says, hey, I didn't really wanna share this in your public post, but I got a question for you. And then you start the engagement there. And as soon as you do this, you're like, oh, there's no rocket science here. This is exactly what I do. And I say, yeah, it's just a different.

Rick (25:21.804)
Yeah.

Rick (25:29.235)
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Rick (25:38.861)
Yep.

Brett (25:47.88)
platform by which we start the conversations.

Rick (25:51.102)
And now guess what, everybody, you're getting social. You're doing it with that. And it becomes, like, I just, I like literally block time during the day to be, not even, not even like in the case of kind of what Brett's guiding you here with this kind of like a prospecting journey, I just do it like at least once a day to be in people's world, like to like what they're working on, to see what's on that I could maybe share with others, to put a quick note if somebody has a birthday or a job anniversary, just, hey, I hope everything is well with you, Brett. And, of course, fire emojis, if anybody follows me on LinkedIn knows, I always post the fire emojis. But it's just a great way to be like at the dance, but just during your day, you're at the dance and you're out there doing stuff that's... fun and social. So, okay, Brett, man, we've covered a ton. I think we could probably go on for another two hours, but put a bow on this for me. Like, we've kind of set it all up, so just bring it home.

Brett (26:57.428)
Okay, so we've been talking a lot about the producers, and this is really where you're gonna start integrating this into your sales process. So as you get a little more sophisticated, it might be you've got an email campaign, but you're tying your use and your content of LinkedIn and the email campaign together with your call. And so your real goal here is to say, okay, how do I start integrating this utilization of this tool into my actual day-to-day sales process? So you talk about using, when should you use LinkedIn Navigator?

I would say does LinkedIn feel like it's this extra thing over here on the left that you try to do or is it actually just part of your process? The more it becomes more of your process, the more you'll be able to really move things forward. And then I would say probably putting a bow on it for the agency owners. The agency's owner, and this probably kind of focused a little bit back on the social media marketing, you're creating all this content. You need humanity breathe into your social that you're doing. And it comes from your producers, right?

It comes from your external facing people. So when you can combine that together and not just, it's not just the producer doing on his own LinkedIn, but actually sharing his day in the life, right? Like I, that's why I talk about the biz per post, right? It's 90% personal and 10% business where you're just like, oh, on my way home from the insurance office, I'm going to watch the football game with my kids at so-and-so high school, again, so-and-so high school...

Rick (28:09.02)
Yeah.

Rick (28:23.89)
Yep.

Brett (28:25.316)
...and it's the focus on the personal side. So when you're doing those kinds of things and letting people see who you are instead of that 15 year old LinkedIn photo, but they're getting like snapshots of day in the life kind of stuff, then it's really is putting meat on the bones for both your agency and your producer. So I think the main thing is, it's just do it, you know how to sell.

Rick (28:36.051)
Easy, easy.

Rick (28:46.783)
Yeah.

Well, and if you're, and if you're a, if you're a, a salesperson, you are a, by nature, probably a fairly social being. And this is the new social. Like it used to be, you know, literally, I remember, you know, going into places and striking up conversations with people to try to generate business. This is the digital version of that. It's the same thing. So Brett, this is, this is awesome. Um, I think there's, I mean, we literally could have taken.

We could have taken the lid off like four more jars here and, and given him more stuff, but I want to, I want to keep it bite sized so people will can, can like digest this and, and get it. So let me ask you this question. If people want to connect. I want to keep the conversation going with you as we've been talking about socially. Um, what is that? Is that LinkedIn? Do they come find you on LinkedIn? Is that the best way to connect?

Brett (29:41.444)
You know, I actually think that's a great way to do it because it's kind of a casual way to get connected. I mean, I could send you to my boss social website or any of that kind of stuff. But I think really just go into LinkedIn. It's eProBrett, you know, or just search for Brett Allen social media. I mean, you'll find me.

Rick (29:57.847)
Yeah. And Brett's always been very, very gracious with his time and energy. So I'm certain if you have a question for Brett, I'd be more than happy to answer it. So Brett, I'm going to finish this thing with the question that I ask everybody, but it's what we call the time capsule question. So we're going to record this next little answer you give right here. We're going to bury it somewhere and someone is going to dig it up at some point in time. And what is Brett Allen's one big piece of advice for the insurance industry?

Brett (30:28.136)
Well, I'll put it on with the framing of what we've been talking about. And I would be that, you know, I like how Peter Drucker says, the purpose of a business is to create a customer. And a lot of times we get so caught up in trying to sell a product. And all of this social stuff really is just another way for you to say, I'm let me understand the buyer's journey, not the sales journey. So how my recommendation is with all this technology, all these tools, don't lose the focus that this is about connecting with people. It's a tool to help you connect with people and you wanna create a working relationship with them over time. That's what gets the referrals. That's what gets the gratitude. That's what builds the relationship that really will help you grow. So that's kind of, I think, what I'd share.

Rick (31:15.658)
That's a, Brett, that's a mic drop moment right there. I pray Brett, as always, man, I always love our conversations. I'll probably have you back on and we can dig deeper if you don't mind, but such great information. And, and I just, I think people are so, um, I know a lot of people have started to, that are listening to this or saying, yes, check, doing that. Check. Oh, there's a new one. But there's so many people that are also like, wow, I haven't really embraced it yet. And I think, like I mentioned, I think the way to look at it is you're a social being by nature. But because of whatever we, this world has changed, social now is the dance, the bar, whatever it is, is now online. So go out there and get that. Brett, thanks for being on the show, man. I really appreciate it.

Brett (32:03.42)
My pleasure again, thank you for having me.

Rick (32:05.622)
Thanks for everybody for tuning in to the ITB. We really appreciate it. Uh, the, the notes keep coming into LinkedIn to myself, so make sure you're connected with me, make sure you, uh, give me any good suggestions through a direct message of guests we should have on the show or topics that I should rant about again, a very, very big thank you to Brett Allen. So get out there everybody and social get social. That's, that's the, that put on the, put on your dancing shoes and get social.

Thanks to everyone for tuning in and we will see you next time.