HIGH-TECC 2009 – Day 1 – July 20

image Good morning from the 1st day of HIGH-TECC 2009 in Vail, CO.  After opening comments from Steve Anderson we are engaged by Mitch Axelrod, Axelrod & Associates.  His topic, Win the New Game of Business.  Wow what a great opening session.  Some comments to share:

  • Don’t think outside the box, “Throw Away the Box”.
  • Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time.
  • Ask people why they bought from you.
  • Ask people why they didn’t buy from you.
  • Strengthen your strengths, don’t strengthen your weaknesses.
  • Serve, deliver and serve some more.
  • Thoughts are a dime-a-dozen, Knowledge is scarce and valuable, Wisdom is priceless.
  • Are your systems a barrier to serving your clients or do they provide the tools to serve your clients.

Steve Anderson let the 2nd session of the morning with Insurance 2.0.   What are the future trends for insurance agencies.  He began with a YouTube video on Guy Kawasaki on innovation.  The link for this video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJtK7D90XgQ

The New Insurance Agency

  • The New prospect/client
  • The new agency owner
  • The New Sales manager
  • The New producer
  • The New CSR

As always, Steve gives great examples, tools and challenges us to think about better and unique ways to do business.

After lunch it is time for the Agency Systems Vendor Panel.  Steve pointed out that this was no longer the Agency Management Systems Panel.  There are several types of systems represented today.  Agencies are often using more than one type of software to manage their business.  This is one of the best vendor sessions in recent HIGH-TECC history.

Wrapping up the day’s presentations is Duke Williams on Increasing your “Find-ability”.  This was an in-depth review of understanding how your website is found in search engines.  Duke is always generous with sharing his thoughts and knowledge with us.

The final session of the day is the Technology Showcase.  Six companies are participating in this event.  It appears that it is busy at each showcase table.  Also, there is a lot of networking and discussion of the days information taking place.  It looks that this event was a success again.