How much information can you absorb in a day? In four hours? For the 120+ young brokers in attendance at this year’s Young Brokers Conference in Niagara Falls, the answer is a lot.
Kicking off the event June 7th was our Opening Night Party sponsored by Travelers Canada. Kudos to Travelers for sponsoring this event since the conference’s inception thirteen years ago. With the theme of brain power in full force, the 30+ Travelers reps and 120+ conference participants participated in a pub-style trivia night. Who would have thought information on insects and the Periodic Table would be so handy? And how did this group know about The Honeymooners?
Content and context was in abundance Thursday morning. Kicking things off was insight from event sponsor Kanetix on consumer marketing tactics and mastering the digital sphere. Candidly sharing benchmarks, wins/losses and tripwires to look out for, Andrew Lo and Kelly Emery articulated the ways consumers like to be engaged, with data to prove it. Did you know website visitors who are retargeted with ads are 70% more likely to convert into customers?
Recognizing office inefficiencies was the role of CSIO, also a key sponsor of this year’s event. Understanding the cost that these inefficiencies bring to any workplace, paired with the cost/benefit of implementing new technologies lit off lightbulbs throughout the room. A simple implementation of EDocs could lead to interesting cost savings – all the more money to spend on fun marketing projects. Using CSIO’s EDocs Saving Calculator, some of the teams calculated $11,500 in potential savings.
A relatable presenter and young broker himself, Adam Mitchell (IBAO’s Innovator of the Year) explained how to calculate growth targets. Some simple math paired with examples from his brokerage was invaluable as young brokers pondered what business decisions they’d make over the course of the conference. Sharing a comprehensive chart of lead sources relative to conversion rates was eye opening. Sometimes the biggest lead sources don’t lead to the biggest bang to your bottom line. Big thanks to Adam who not only presented content but stuck around to offer advice and direction.
Gore Mutual – a staunch supporter of young brokers and the IBAO – brought it home on the topic of retention. Most brokerages have excellent retention rates but Gore encouraged brokers to ensure clients see the love. Make them more than just customers – make them your biggest fan. We’ve heard the stats before, but have you really assessed their impact? It costs 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one; 9 out of 10 shoppers switch to the competition after a bad customer experience.
The T-R Group’s Tony Pilon, our HR Affinity Partner, discussed how to build teams and structure roles to best meet business strategies. We were grateful for the tips – the infamous “Betty” from our case study generated quite the discussion throughout the course of the conference.
Teams of 20 gathered in their strategy rooms to develop a plan. Their goal: increase their brokerage PIF count using the data provided in the case and the lessons learned from the morning’s presentations. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
Five presentations delivered Friday morning using five different approaches with infinite number crunching, spreadsheets and strategic discussions… but only one winner. Congratulations to Team Purple for bringing home the $5,000 cash prize from Trillium Mutual.
Special thank you to our sponsors, our judges and all our young brokers. See you next year!
