Reginald Hawkins Makes His Startup Insurance Agency Personal

REVISED InfoFree.com profile of Red Tie Insurance

Sources: Interviewed Red Tie owner Reginald Hawkins, reviewed his company's website and other online sites

Photo contact: Reginald Hawkins, 424-243-3659, rhawkins@redtieinsurance.com

Reginald Hawkins Makes His Startup Insurance Agency Personal

by Leo Adam Biga 

Insurance as a Hedge in the Unstable Economy

In planning their life together, newlyweds Reginald and Angela Hawkins of Inglewood, Calif. decided to mesh their skill sets in a start-up business of their own.

He has years of market research and retail sales experience. She uses her business and management degrees as a County of Los Angeles human resources analyst.

"We're pretty well off, but we still wanted another source of income coming in, especially in this economy," says Reginald. "You want numerous revenue streams because you never know. Even the big companies, they take hits nowadays.

"And so with my sales background and her management experience, we did some research on what might be the best business for us to start, and we decided to go ahead with an insurance business."

Insurance, after all, is a perennial with no shortage of potential customers.

Getting Personal

The couple's Red Tie Insurance Services specializes in home and life coverage. Their slogan, "We're large enough to handle all your insurance needs, yet small enough to care," reflects their personalized approach. He’s the licensed agent and she handles everything else, from marketing to bookkeeping.

"I knew what was missing in the business," he says. "Nowadays they have all these online (insurance) websites doing the same thing. There's no person really on the other end. When you call them, you're just another number. When you call us, we treat you like you're not a number. We call you by your name. We treat you not like you're just another policy holder but like you're a family member.

"It's a family-based business and we want people to see there's a family on the other end that's taking of them and their family."

It’s all about keeping things real.

"We're mainly an online company but when it comes down to you signing the policy I go and meet with you face to face and you don't get that much anymore these days," says Hawkins. "With home insurance, I like to see the home. With life insurance, I want to be sitting across from the person because their life is the most precious thing."

It's All About the Leads

Years in sales taught Hawkins the importance of having solid new client leads. He culls prospects from hot leads providers, real estate open houses and networking events. "Another stream you never want to ignore is the cold call. It's proven. And that's where Salesgenie would have come into play,” he says. “But then there's a service like Infofree.com out there that does the same thing Salesgenie does, only better, and with a brighter future because of all the new features they're adding, and at a much more affordable rate. Salesgenie can be $250 a month. InfofFee is giving me the same thing at $24.95 to $39.99 a month, so for a small business it’s easy to do the math."

"InfoFree is our sole cold call provider,” he says. “It's serving its purpose of allowing us to reach a bigger market (all of L.A. County) at an affordable rate, and it’s providing us with quite a few homeowner customers. That's what I'm primarily using it for. And now they have lists of people turning age 55 and that's great because we also sell life insurance, so we know who's getting ready for life insurance and I can contact them. InfoFree has produced some leads that have turned into clients for us. They've already saved us money and made us money, so we're very satisfied."

If Red Tie becomes the franchise Hawkins envisions, he says Info5ree will be along for the ride.

MedSource/BizSource Advisors Playing Matchmaker

InfoFree.com profile of MedSource/BizSource Advisors

Sources: Interviewed MedSource/BizSource owner Steve Deas, reviewed his company's website and other online sites

Photo contact: Steve Deas, 706-540-0351, sldeas@bellsouth.net

MedSource/BizSource Advisors Playing Matchmaker

by Leo Adam Biga 

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match...

Steve Deas believes he's found a niche in the lead generation field with a start-up he and business partner Jack Lavin have formed. Their Athens, Ga.-based MedSource/BizSource Advisors plays matchmaker by bringing vendors and customers together over in-demand services or products.

"We're matching the two ends to bring them to the middle," says Deas. "I did extensive research and I did not find another company doing quite what we're doing. I think we're offering something that can be a win-win situation in that            matchmaking arena."

Decades of medical services management experience convinced Deas a liaison or broker lead generation business could fill an unmet need.

"I know how difficult it is at times to do the due diligence on companies and know about their products or services," he says. "I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit. I'm always looking for a new mousetrap. I look for things that maybe someone has tried but just hasn't reached out far enough to grasp it."

Only the Best Will Do

Deas says MedSource/BizSource performs an important service by vetting or qualifying prospective product-service providers. He says his firm only decides to represent a vendor after a thorough analysis.

"We have to know the people we represent. They must have a reliable company and a good background. We want quality. We want compassionate, caring companies. We don't want to get too large. We'll build ouselves up to about a dozen companies, but we're being extremely selective."

Deas says MedSource/BizSource looks to promote recession-proof vendor products or services, such as document destruction and information technology, that have wide application to both healthcare practices and small businesses.

Client vendors, he says, must show growth potential. MedSource/BizSource helps clients enter new market segments by bringing new customers to the table.

He says the same qualifying process is applied to the health care groups or small businesses he looks to match with vendors because fostering long-term business relationships is the end goal.

Finding the right fit takes time.

"It's just a matter of being labor intensive. I have a good sense for how to get directly into the decision maker, and that's what you have to do."

From One Lead Generation Company to Another

Deas does a lot of cold calling. Good lead data helps to target his calls and he's found solid support there from Database101 and its new InfoFree.com platform.

"I used Database 101 on several consulting jobs where I needed specific data.

I sought a neurologist to join a neurology practice. I needed new client prospects for a website developer. In each case Database gave me relevant lists with great success.

"Now I'm using InfoFree to locate small businesses and medical practices I want to communicate with. I use it by zip code, by town, and I find InfoFree works extremely well for our lead generation business. Most probably I go to the website a half dozen times a day just to pull up something. I can do a quick review of it to see data I need to look at or move it over to an Excel file for later use. It's there for me to cut, paste, do wherever I want to with."

He says InfoFree has "absolutely, unequivocally helped immensely in getting specific data and information I need for a particular client on many occasions." He adds, "As a new company we need to utilize a platform like InfoFree. If I was not using InfoFree, then I would not be where I am now." 

With InfoFree's assistance he and Lavin hope to realize a dream.

Deas says, "Our goal is to grow over the next 3 to 5 years to where it is a company that someone younger would want to come in, massage, take it and run with it."

Focus Consulting Bridges the Digital Divide

InfoFree.com profile of Focus Consulting
Sources: Interviewed Focus founder/president Patrick Allmond, reviewed company

website, etc.

Photo contact: Allmond, 405-850-1034

Focus Consulting Bridges the Digital Divide

by Leo Adam Biga 

Online Isn't Optional Anymore

Patrick Allmond has been riding the digital wave since completing a military stint and entering the business world. In a corporate career he never felt comfortable in he found his true niche as a teacher and presenter on technology topics. He left the What-Makes-Sammy-Run? treadmill to contract out his expertise for a company. Finally, in 1998, he went entrepreneurial and opened his own business with his wife Angela Tapley-Allmond.

Their Focus Consulting began as an IT support and software development service. Now it provides social media and online marketing support, training and consulting.

His ideal clients, he says, are companies with fewer than 10 employees looking to establish an initial or improved online presence. Focus designs, launches and maintains social media systems and social networking strategies. He says online marketing is a necessity today if a business is to realize its potential.

"All of us want to be able to close business but there's several steps you need to take along the way before that happens. People need to know you exist and some information about your company and this is especially true in the Internet age, where people are shopping online and comparing several companies in a matter of minutes. If you don't have a presence online and a good presence people are going to blow right by you. Awareness is really important."

Doing business smart today, he says, means having, “at a bare minimum, a website, and then from there, you should start branching out by using social networks to push people to your site." He recommends clients blog and use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. He practices what he preaches by utilizing all these tools and more to promote his own business and to connect with peers and potential client prospects.

Making the Most of Your Online Profile

It's one thing to have a website, it's another to have an effective one.

"I tell people they have to be updating their website on a regular basis and talking about the terms in your field or industry that people use in searches. Search engines live and breathe off of relevancy and recency and if you are talking about relevant terms people are talking about and searching and if you've done it recently that's going to affect your SEO ranking and float you to the top."

He says social media engagement will be increasingly important as search engines begin taking into account social media indicators in ranking sites.

Focus gives clients as much or as little tech support as they need.

"We can sit down with somebody and coach them through a few hours and let them go off and running on their own," says Allmond. "We have other clients we bill on a monthly retainer basis who want someone to do it and to do it right and want it done on a regular basis. We meet with them for an hour or two a month and we have our marching orders for the next 30 days."

Prospecting Combines Old School and New School Marketing

With his business in a growth mode in a still volatile economy he knows it’s vital to have a broad client base and different avenues for reaching prospects. That's why he subscribes to InfoFree.com as a lead generation source.

"I need to make sure I'm diversifying the ways I'm getting business inside the door,” he says, “and I really enjoy the ability InfoFree gives me to filter lists, so that I can target people who more than likely can afford my services but are also of a certain size. I'm targeting businesses under 50 employees, with a really good credit rating. I can then customize my message to be in synch with the filtered lists InfoFree gives me."

He just sent out his first direct mail appeal to a targeted list and, he says. “now I'm waiting to see what the return is going to be on that."

Farmers Insurance Group District Office Trains-Supports New Agents

REVISED InfoFree.com profile of Farmers Insurance Group

Sources: Interviewed Farmers district manager Scott Richmann and training coordinator Melissa Bauer, reviewed office's website and other online sources

Photo contact: Scott Richmann, 503-683-2828, srichmann@farmersagent.com

Farmers Insurance Group District Office Trains-Supports New Agents

by Leo Adam Biga

Insurance Boot Camp

As a Farmers Insurance Group district manager in Portland, Oregon Scott Richmann works for one of America’s largest, most well known insurance brands. A former Farmers agent, he now specializes in developing new agent candidates. Assisting him is training coordinator Melissa Bauer.

"We kind of go from peaking their interest in careers as agents with Farmers, then getting them through the licensing process. Once they're fully licensed and come on board with Farmers we are in charge of all the initial training for all the products and systems and rules," says Richmann. "That includes some business training, because most people who come in don't come from an owning-their-own-business background.”

Hard Times Attract More Agent Candidates, Make Consumers Finicky

The sluggish economy has impacted the insurance industry like every other sector.

"Times have gotten tough and people are shopping for insurance more than they have in the past, and that goes for Farmers' customers and any of our competitors' customers."

He says because consumers are highly motivated to save money they’re more inclined “to listen" to pitches comparing rates and switching carriers. "So the general downturn has kind of opened the incoming door a little wider than it's ever been. At the same time it's also opened the back door for people leaving. There's more carriers involved as well" and that translates into more competition.

Whether due to people losing their jobs or having their hours reduced or benefits  eliminated, he says, "the business has been hurt because people have had to cut back what they have," including fewer purchases of big-ticket items like homes, cars or boats. That means fewer homes, cars or boats to insure.

Nurturing New Agents

With more folks looking for jobs or additional employment, he says, the number of inquirers and trainees for Farmers agent careers is quite high. Nurturing new agents is what Richmann most enjoys.

"My biggest job satisfaction is helping that raw person come in with no insurance   background and watching them over the years evolve their business into a successful insurance agency. I like working with them kind of from ground zero to build something that is their own and taking it to wherever they want to take it."

He says whether agents are new or established "part of what we do is to make sure they continue to grow and develop their agencies and run a profitable business for both themselves and Farmers."

Give Me Leads, Lots of Leads

Critical to an agent's success is reliable new customer prospect leads. Richmann says his office used Salesgenie as a data base provider but "we didn't like the price, bottom-line, so we dropped Salesgenie and went without that resource. Then we found it was something we didn't want to walk away from totally and Melissa (Bauer) did some research and found InfoFree.com."

"I reviewed InfoFree and it looked like a good alternative," says Bauer. "When we pulled some lists for cold calls we actually found them to be good. People were answering the phone. We didn't get a lot of disconnected numbers. We definitely got good feedback from our agents.

"I like that InfoFree offers some flexibility and searching options, where I can download an entire list right away and not have to pick and choose a few at a time."

Richmann likes that InfoFree’s ever-expanding products, such as renters’ leads, are cost-effective tools that allow agents to “initiate conversations with people about insurance." Those contacts, he says, drive the business.

Crime, Justice & America Reaches Inside Jailhouses

InfoFree.com: Profile of Crime, Justice & America
Sources: Interviewed Ray Hrdlicka, founder, publisher of CJA, reviewed company website and stories in the business press about CJA
Photo contact: rayhrdlicka@crimejusticeandamerica.com, 1-877-517-4608

Crime, Justice & America Reaches Inside Jailhouses
by Leo Adam Biga

Reinventing Himself

Ray Hrdlicka has turned his business degree, marketing flair and law and order intrigue into an entrepreneurial niche in the criminal justice world. Though his ambition sometimes overreaches his execution, he's nothing if not a survivor.

After dabbling as a private investigator and bounty hunter he found his calling as a bail bondsman. His Calif.-based company H&H Bail Bonds, along with a string of like agencies he purchased through a holding company, Emergency Financial Services, established a niche in the retail bail bond market. H&H grew into a multimillion dollar nationwide brand, courting much controversy in the process. Heavy debt and expensive lawsuits resulted in Hrdlicka dissolving the business in a 2001 Chapter 7 filing.

Seeing opportunity in defeat he reinvented himself, this time as the publisher of Crime, Justice & America, a magazine and media company whose target audience is county jail inmates, bail agents and criminal defense attorneys. CJA connects inmates frustrated by a system they don’t fathom with professionals expert at navigating the system. The attorney-written content covers everything from what questions to ask your lawyer and how to talk to law enforcement officials to how to prepare for pretrial probation interviews and how to file motions.

Advertisements by bail agents and attorneys supply Hrdlicka his revenue stream.

The magazine is distributed inside county jails, though in some instances he  must wage 1st Amendment legal fights to gain unimpeded entree, including an ongoing case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Giving Customers What They Need

From the magazine's 2002 start his strategy's been to create a one-stop shop and must read. He says the advice CJA provides is invaluable, especially when budget cuts are threatening jail and prison law libraries.

"It's exceeded our expectations in terms of how well received it is by the readership," Hrdlicka says.

He gauges CJA's impact by the many letters inmates write praising it. Based on what they and correctional officers report, he knows the magazine gets handed off from inmate to inmate and even travels from facility to facility. Bail agents and attorneys who advertise in it see a spike in calls when an issue comes out. Hrdlicka says ads sell fast and he keeps a waiting list of those wanting to buy space.

Now he intends making the magazine's online mirror, crimejusticeandamerica.com <http://crimejusticeandamerica.com> , "the portal for the criminal justice industry," adding, "It's a unique opportunity to bring information to the criminal justice industry in a manner that the entire criminal justice system has never been able to achieve before. In other words, access."

In addition to articles, the site features polls, news and podcast interviews and will soon add videos, blogs and a searchable cache of criminal justice records.

"We're also going to drive traffic to that site by the other businesses we're bringing out. For instance, BidMyBail.com <http://BidMyBail.com>  is a very unique concept where the customer (an inmate or an inmate's relative) registers, answers a series of questions, and bail agents bid on the terms and conditions to get the customer's business. It's going to ensure the best value for the customer's time and money. The customer is the driving force, not the service provider. We're flipping the industry on its head."

Finding New Ways to Develop Leads

He uses InfoFree.com <http://InfoFree.com>  as a lead generation resource to help get his product in front of bail agents before competitors do.

“I was thrilled when I found InfoFree. You can buy other lists, but once you've bought the list it’s now static and you don't know when it was last updated. InfoFree is constantly updating their information and I need that to make sure I have the most current information to be able to contact service providers ASAP. It allows us to react fast.

“I filter it by bondsmen down to the county level and by credit rating and business size. By using those filtering features we can make it better for us, for the vendor, for the customer, and it creates repeat business.”

Database101 Adds 11 New Selects to Their Business Database

Database101 Adds 11 New Selects to Their Business Database

(Omaha, NE)- Database101 has updated their business database to include a variety of selects which allows customers to segment and refine their list; tailoring it to their specific needs. “Customization is the key,” said Vinod Gupta, founder of Database101. “We’ve developed proprietary models and analytics to help our customers find just the right universe they need to increase their sales. We can help them find their needle in the haystack.”

Every business record will include approximate:

·         Number of PCs

·         Square footage at the office

·         Advertising expense per year

·         Technology expense per year

·         Office equipment expense per year

·         Rent expense per year

·         Telecom expense per year

·         Accounting expense per year

·         Business insurance expense per year

·         Legal expense per year

·         Utilities expense per year 

With a no minimum order and money back guarantee, Database101 strives to make ordering sales leads painless and less expensive than the leading competitors. And the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is the icing on the cake.  

For special offer call toll-free 877-417-0101 or e-mail Brad.Roselle@database101.com.  

About Us
Database101 provides high-quality, low-cost sales leads and email marketing to businesses and salespeople. With over 200 years combined experience, the company is revolutionizing the way salespeople use email marketing and sales leads to find new prospects and grow their sales. The Database101 content is compatible with the following platforms: Oracle CRM, Salesforce CRM, Microsoft CRM, Nutshell CRM, Goldmine CRM, Sage ACT! CRM, Highrise CRM, Zoho CRM, NetSuite CRM, SAP CRM, Constant Contact, RightNow Technologies, Responsys, Vertical Response and Dunn & Bradstreet.

For more information, visit www.database101.com or contact Brad Roselle at
1-877-417-0101 or Brad.Roselle@database101.  

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