But that didn't stop me. I continued my research by speaking with a number of agents and agent association representatives in attendance. I found that the more I asked, the more I realized the approach to prospecting varies with each agent. How agencies generate leads, qualify them and convert them to customers is a complex and difficult process, and one that is different between personal and commercial accounts.

I certainly don't need to tell you this, but successful agents are those who know how to sow the seeds of the local communities in which they live and work. But knowing that you should do it and knowing how to do it to reap the fullest benefit are sometimes two completely different things.

How do you spell prospecting?

What do you think of in regard to prospecting? Turning names into clients, or finding the list of names to begin with? What's the difference between prospecting and mining? In the days of the great California Gold Rush of the 1840s and 1850s, prospectors were searching, through various means, for gold anywhere they could. Miners, on the other hand, were actually pulling as much gold from the discovered strains as possible.

Related: Read “Successful prospecting goes beyond the numbers game.”

If you carry the analogy along, you might define prospecting as the process that searches for the most potential sources of clients (or gold). Agents must then mine that information for the potential clients. It's often at this point that predictive analytics and/or rules-based software can help differentiate between the true “nuggets” and those clients that are just “fool's gold.”

One of the differences between prospecting for gold and prospecting for clients is that no matter what approach you take, gold will never find you, but with the right incentive and environment, people will. And because there's no one right incentive or process that will attract all people to your agency, the best approach is a multi-tiered one.

Ultimately, there are numerous systems in the marketplace that will offer you a variety of tools and techniques for carving out the best potential clients in your area and where your marketing dollars will best be spent.

Predictive versus rules-based

Predictive analytics is based on statistics and complex math applied to historical data and extrapolated to determine the likelihood of future events. Predictive analytics uses a “predictor,” which assigns each prospect a value. That predictor, in the best of examples, is based on a variety of factors that have been shown to be indicators of positive action (responding to a marketing piece, buying a policy, etc.). A system that combines a number of predictors, strengthens the likelihood of that positive action. In essence, it paints the low-hanging fruit with neon colors and helps you prioritize your target groups for your marketing plan to give you the most “bang for the buck.”

Rules-based analytics or marketing has its foundation in a consumer's reaction to his or her experience. It's a system whose fundamentals are anchored on the understanding that how a person reacts to specific marketing and communications tactics can determine the buying outcome of specific integrated marketing communications strategies. To put it simply, it's an individually targeted marketing approach based on what that person has demonstrated are his or her interests, needs, expectations, etc.

It's a lot like what Amazon.com is known for doing. If you're a registered user on the site and have purchased a book or other item in the past, the site remembers that activity and targets the ads or offers suggestions of other products you might be interested in based on what people with similar buying histories have purchased. Rules are then developed based upon the buying or response patterns identified. The greater the history of experiences gathered, the more accurate the rules or individual user behavior models become.

As you can imagine, debate occurs over which prospecting approach is best. Predictive analytics supporters believe the clear cut, objective nature of mathematics is far superior to the “simple rules-based analysis,” as some put it. The reverse opinion also is vocal and valid, which is why it's hard to advocate one approach over the other.

It's not either/or

As far as I'm concerned, there is no one right answer. So much depends on your needs, the depth of your data and what makes the most sense at the time.

For agents who are fully invested (and in this case I don't mean financially) in their jobs and roles within their communities, either tactic would do well. Rules-based marketing demands a more personal understanding of your target market, while predictive analytics, although based in a solid statistical foundation, is somewhat removed from the individual and less likely to be a basis upon which to build a relationship, let alone begin a conversation.

However, as agencies grow and expand their territories, the strength of predictive analytics starts to make a lot of sense. The focus of the agency, either on commercial or personal lines products, will have an impact on which approach is best.

The bottom line is that no one tool or system should ever take the place of your everyday marketing efforts, or what I like to call “point-of-purchase” marketing. By that I mean those community activities you and the other producers are involved with, the civic organizations to which you belong, the golf club, bowling team or chamber of commerce you're on, or even the Little League teams your agency supports. These are all places of relationship building and prospecting.

Take that into the 21st century and you have the same opportunities, only much broader. With social networking, blogging, video blogging, Twitter and the simplicity of having an active website, you can, as one young agent put it recently in an ACT webinar, have your prospects get to know you before they ever meet you. The value of that proposition is immense.

Check out Ryan Hanley's website, www.ryanhanley.com, to see an example of someone who is really leveraging social media to establish his agency's name and “his” brand as a reliable, knowledgeable and trusted advisor to which prospects can turn for insurance. He uses a simple hand-held video camera to shoot short (1 to 2 minutes) videos explaining different insurance terminology. This shows it certainly doesn't have to be professionally done and that finding content to write about is as easy as sharing the vast knowledge you already have.

There are a number of agents, and not just the young ones, who are using the web and these tools to reach new prospects with terrific success rates. Believe me, if you're not one of them, you can bet your competition down the street is.

So whether you're panning for gold in the local stream or digging for it in the cave behind your home, make sure you use whatever tin pan or shovel or pick you can to get the most out of your effort. There truly is “gold in them thar hills.”