Sunday 29 June 2014

My introducer group in Linkedin

It has been a while since I last actively promoted it here so you may not necessarily be aware but I host a group on Linkedin devoted to introducers (mainly IFA's and Accountants with smattering of other HR and Fnancial Services professionals) - some already introduce business to me and others might be thinking of it. Regardless, this specialist group is a forum for all things PMI and introducer and is one of my supports for my introducers that I would like to expand and prioritise.

At the moment the number and my involvement with introducers is growing markedly and I really see these kind of contacts as one of the key USP's of my business that I am building for the future.

With this in mind I have just put up a guide to my Linkedin group as a pdf in my on-line marketing resource for introducers on Drop Box (didn't I mention I also have a public Drop Box folder with a variety of marketing material for my contacts including fact-finding guides and quote pro forma's ?).

If you'd like to see the guide to IntroMed my Linkedin group, send me a request to philknight@pch.uk.com and I'll email you a link to the Drop Box folder.

If you'd like to visit IntroMed, click here :

www.linkedin.com/groups/IntroMed-4945586?home=&gid=4945586&trk=anet_ug_hm

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Medical Indemnity Insurance

In addition to my work on private medical insurance (PMI) I also own another business supporting senior clinicians with their private medico legal practices. You can find out more about this at www.medicolegalmarketing.co.uk.

As you might imagine there is a fair amount of cross fertilisation between the medico legal work and my PMI advisory business - many of my personal clients are senior doctors. When I'm marketing to doctors I end up with a third category of lead (PMI, medico legal plus ...) : medical indemnity insurance. In essence doctors often misread the information I end them and think that I'm trying to offer them a service looking at their private practice medical indemnity cover. For several months I just sent a stock e-mail saying I couldn't help them when a doctor asked me to review their indemnity cover rather than their medical insurance cover. Pretty soon I realised there was a business opportunity in this and I have partnered with a specialist adviser working exclusively in the Medical Indemnity space. I am also marketing to doctors specifically on medical indemnity cover via my Medico Legal business.

This marketing link that doctors should visit to obtain more information is :
www.allmedicalprofessionalslimited.co.uk/page_83.html

More information on the success of this campaign and how it develops will follow on the blog but in less than a week I've already had three or four really good leads developed with a minimum of effort (about five minutes per day).

Sunday 22 June 2014

Further reading

Had a slightly hectic week (aren't they all ?) in particular working with several new introducer accounts, all of whom hopefully will be reading this blog and listening to my podcast : PMICast (up to episode 50 this week which is an insurer 'awards' special - on iTunes and at www.pmicast.podbean.com).

One of the issues that I feel passionately about is using social media to drive my business forward. In this day and age, particularly in an industry like ours, being largely dependent on product knowledge and client relationships I feel it is vital to use social media both to highlight your business itself and also position oneself as a 'thought larder' in your individual field.

With this in mind I'd like to draw my blog readers attention to an interview/profile I gave to Premier Choice Healthcare a few weeks ago which has just gone live on their website.

Please have a read over at www.pch.uk.com/pch-consultant-qa-june-2014-phil-knight/ and let me know what you think.

_________

Monday 16 June 2014

Big Birthday Bash

Tomorrow PMICast, my private medical insurance podcast, is 50 episodes old tomorrow. Its over a year since I started but I've finally managed to drag myself to the first big achievement. I really never thought it would get so far so fast. As originally intended the podcast was going to be monthly but it quickly settled into a weeklyish schedule. The format has also varied over time but has settled into a reasonably stable breakdown of product advice and introducer news plus more recently a bit of more general business news and comment.


We've built up a decent audience over time and now average around 7,000 listeners to the various episodes per month but I'd like to double that over the next 50 episodes if possible - so please tell anyone you might think could be interested. It's also worth checking the PMICast podcast stream as I also have another couple of semi regular podcasts - there's Where's Wilson my SF and Fantasy podcast (a bit more light hearted) plus Afternoon Train which is a train of thought rant type affair.

The new episode tomorrow will also feature the first in my every 50 ep 'industry awards'.

So I'll record at some stage tomorrow morning and try and get the details up around lunchtime all being well - check out iTunes, www.pmicast.podbean.com and your favourite pod catcher tomorrow.
_________


Wednesday 11 June 2014

Echo of the past

It had started off as a relatively quiet month in June, April and May have been frantically busy but this month kind of seemed to drop off the deep end. However in the last couple of days leads have started to come in and the work pile up again. Primary amongst this is work from my introducers who have as always been stellar in terms of sending over clients for me to work with.

So although the business isn't flying in for the month yet I have around 15 or 16 active client cases/reports out there in the real world waiting for follow up or second meetings/discussions.

__________

Had a bit of an odd e-mail through from a marketing company this evening. It seems to be a link farm business wanting to pay me to include a blog post with a link here. Interestingly, if you go back to the earliest ever posts on Localventure you'll see that as originally envisaged this blog was designed to be a local business advertising site (hence the blog name) and I even toyed with setting up a business charging local businesses to advertise/blog on the website. Playing with the format and content over some months I eventually decided there wasn't sufficient revenue that could be driven in such a competitive advertising market. So when I relaunched the blog as my main business 'organ' two years ago this old idea died a death.

So back to my e-mail - I replied to them and gave them an outrageous price to advertise here - doubt they'll come back to me but interesting echo of the past purpose of the site for me.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Focus on Intermediary Support - Summer 2014 campaign

Over the summer I will be focusing my marketing campaign on working with existing and new professional introducers.

This is for a variety of reasons - obviously I love working with IFA's, accountants and other advisers and find helping their clients very rewarding. In addition I tend to find that my direct to client business falls over the summer months so getting my team of introducers to work on my behalf makes loads of sense.

I am going to be doing a three pronged campaign built around the following areas :

Linkedin - both contacting potential new prospects in my Linkedin groups but also using my own Linkedin introducer support group : IntroMed (www.linkedin.com/groups/IntroMed-4945586?home=&gid=4945586&trk=my_groups-tile-grp)   as a vehicle for discuss and enhancement of the service I provide.

Podcasts - I will be making the PMICast podcast more introducer focused over the summer starting with episode 49 (now available on iTunes, your preferred pod catcher and or streaming live from www.pmicast.podbean.com)

I've also been asked to guest on an industry podcast and hopefully one element of the interview will be to overview how I work with introducers.

Introducer mailing list - I have a list of several hundred introducer prospects and contact and mail over five or six weeks to them on relevant issues. Again over summer I will pick up the pace on these e-mails to give them support and client sourcing information to think about to develop mutually beneficial business.

If you're an adviser who would consider subcontracting your business to me on medical insurance please feel free to contact me on : pmicast@gmail.com and I will include you in the marketing campaign or we can simply chat over how I can be of assistance moving forwards.

_________

Saturday 7 June 2014

Podcast stats update

Just checked the podbean stats and we’re now pushing for 7,000 downloads of PMICast over the last 30 days - this means a new listenership record is looming ! 

PMICast is the only UK podcast devoted to medical insurance and various bits of business news and if you have the chance please check it out. You can listen on-line at www.pmicast.podbean.com, subscribe on iTunes, Sticher or your favourite podcatcher. Please check it out and then also tell your friends and colleagues. To interact with the podcast feel free to  e-mail me on : pmicast@gmail.com

Blog update and comic review spectacular

Managed to get six (now seven with this post) blog posts up today. Been really busy and positive day. I also recorded and uploaded the 48th episode of my medical insurance podcast : PMICast, now available on iTunes or at www.pmicast.podbean.com.

As a result of really getting back on with the social media side of things the blog has been phenomenally busy with over 200 visits so far today (and usually evenings are busier as the USA comes on line) so please keep visiting and telling your friends if you think my content will be of interest.

As I often do on weekend posts I am going to veer away from business related subjects and just recommend a couple of comic books you might want to read. Recently I've been more of a DC and Indie fan as opposed to the House of Ideas : Marvel but today I'd like to recommend a couple of marvel titles.

I've just starting read the new Original Sin main title (not the various cross overs god help me) and I reviewed the issue zero on the blog in April (click here to read the review). I've now read on to issue 2.

Now I haven't decided yet if I really like the story or am simply being taken in by the intrigue of the premise (i.e. killing the Watcher for some as yet undetermined purpose) but the art is good, characters nicely mixed and a bit out there and so far I am keeping on reading which must mean the book has something going for it. I'm worried that it may fizzle out in issue 5 or 6 (it's an 8 issue limited) but I'm about to download issue 3.

Moving on to the most recent Hulk issue 1 by Waid and Bagley - now I've never been a massive green Hulk fan and always found that there's not much to do with the character other than cycle Banner being in control then not over again. But I've enjoyed Waids work on other titles most notably his run on Fantastic Four with Mike Wieringo which in my opinion was the seminal work on the book, better even than my teenage hero John Byrne. I actually own a signed copy of Waid's FF#1 one of only 1961 (get it?) copies of the book so signed (with authenticity certificate no less).So what I'm saying is that although I'm no fan of character the creative team has lead me to have a look at the book. This issue is the first episode of the 'who shot Bruce Banner' storyline and again the concept of Hulk running around with half his brain hanging out (sorry gruesome spoiler) is a pretty natty one. So again I will definitely look at issue 2 when I get chance the there is some lovely art (if a little cartoony for my tastes) and characterisation in the comic. In particular the newly bald hulk is pretty bad ass. Glass tempered with N Zone particles anyone ?


Lastly, I actually read the first six issues of the Walking Dead when they first came out in trade in around 2004 ish I think it was and then sold the paperback on Amazon straightaway. Frankly at the time I didn't 'get it' with Romero movies never being a part of my horror movie staples - I've always been more of a slasher/Clive Barker fan to be honest. But when the TV series began and was, frankly the best bit of drama on television I decided to give the comic series another go. So I've been downloading occasional issues for about the last two years and am now up to issue 36 and would really recommend fans of the TV program to give the comic a try.

The storyline is radically different to the TV series, enough to make you wonder if the source material really is the same other than the na

Friday 6 June 2014

IOS to Android Move the finale parte

So the epic conclusion of my battle to move phone ecosystems from IOS to Android is here and this will be my final post on the subject (although I will probably moan occasionally about the new phone I sure over coming months).

So which phone did I choose, what network, how much am I paying and how does the Android suit me ?

If you're sitting comfortable, lets being.

I've been living with the new phone for about a month now. In the end I finally plumped for the Samsung - the Galaxy Note 3. The basis for the decision was partly to go for a piece of technology that wasn't quite cutting edge and that has had several months from launch for the manufacturer to bed in the soft and firmware so there would be no nasty surprises in general operation. In addition the big factor for me was the screen size. I found the iPhone 4 and 4S just to small to be usable and then the 5 was better but over time as I used it more it just became too frustrating for the some kinds of work and leisure use cases I have (comics, accessing client records and so on). The screen real estate available on the Note 3 is simply a different world away from the Apple device.

From a practical standpoint the first task on changeover (more on that below) was to get all the vital apps I use installed and up and running - this took literally 30 minutes - so much for being tied in to the IOS ecosystem ! The only purchase I 'had' to make was to buy an Andriod version of Pocketcasts my preferred pod catcher app and I only did this through laziness at not wanting to spend the time getting up to speed on using a new android free app.

Next, I've starting using it on and off in tandem with the iPhone for my main daily tasks - as of now I'm still using the iPhone more as my daily driver simply because of the call issue for work Monday through Friday and I'm not about to carry two phones with me most of the time. However, I did carry both for a couple of weeks and was able to easily use them interchangeably. In terms of a review/comparison I find the speaker on the Note about the same level of volume as the Apple device. Certainly the sound quality is a little more scratchy but that's the slight compromise on build quality/design that I knew going in I was going to suffer. Interestingly (as I will come onto in a second) with the Note I am consuming more media on the device and therefore using the external speak more than on the iPhone and so far the suble differences between the two speakers isn't causing any negative associations for the Note. The main area where I would I think struggle is in the car. The iPhone external speaker could be heard in the vehicle over any traffic/travel noise short of full motorway cruise. I suspect I would struggle much more with the Note. This is though a moot point for me as I have the Audi media system in the car and both devices link quickly and easily making quiet podcasts in the car a thing of the past.

As a work tool the Note really does blow my IOS device out of the water. I don't use multi-tasking on screen often on the Note but on the couple of occasions when I've been out and about and needed to use multiple apps simultaneously it has worked flawlessly. I have personal and work e-mail set up separately on the Note and find the notification process and e-mail fetching seems to work better on the new device. In addition, although this isn't a problem with the Note versus the iPhone but rather my old Orange data plan, having unlimited data on the new '3' (network) for the Note has made e-mail and work browsing online 'off' wifi much easier and less stressful.

As a last issue on the main differences is media consumption. The Samsung device has a great screen (but rubbish in direct sunlight unlike the iPhone which is OK) and I'm using it much more as a mini tablet than I did the iPhone 5. The screen size is great for browsing and I am reading comics and watching TV (Netflix mainly) on the Note which is something which just didn't work for me on the IOS device because of the size.

The build quality of the Note is I would say 10% worse that Apple's particularly the plastic 'metal-like' band that goes around the phones edges. Previous experience has taught me - dropping my iPhone 4 on day 2 and chipping the screen - that purchase one should always be a phone case and I simply went for a cheap plastic skin (Amazon £ 3.99). This fits like a glove, adds nothing to the overall profile of the device and importantly covers up completely the crappy plastic silver bit - net result it's now like holding a five inch glass screen in hand and literally nothing else.

So far I have only dabbled with the S Pen stylus but I think will use it occasionally for note taking (I'm a great user of my phone for shopping list in the supermarket and christmas shopping lists etc) and little else. I've found the device takes a little time to get used to as a phone because it is so flipping big but I suspect that is something I will get used to as I use the phone itself more from the end of this month.

Lastly thoughts on Android and TouchWhizz, the Samsung skin over the OS. To be honest the biggest issue with TouchWhizz is the bloatware that sits on the device, lurking and downloading updates and draining battery life behind the scenes. First job was to ditch all the crap into folders and hide them then turn off all the extraneous rubbish in the various settings apps to conserve power. I really don't need all the fancy gesture and touch functions so they're now gone and I have gotten the device from lasting about four to five hours on a full charge (granted it had only been charged and discharged a couple of times at that stage so the battery will not have been working at anything like full capacity at that point) to a couple of days on light use and certainly 9 or 10 hours on medium/heavy use. To give an idea, on average I have to charge the iPhone 5 at around 4.00pm most days to last through to the end of the evening at around 11.30pm. So far today with light use since 7.00am the Note is down to about 84% at noon so I think I will have no problems moving forwards on power consumption, at least equivalent to the Apple phone.

The actual changeover hasn't been quite so dramatic as one might fear - I'm still running the iPhone as my main phone as the contract doesn't expire until 27th of June and if I utilise the PAC code to move the number over to the Note before then I will be charged an early departure fee. In addition I've already ordered an orange PAYG nano-sim  to go into the iPhone. Once the phone number is transferred over to the Note it will definitely become my main (exclusive) daily driver. I know from having had two decent smart phones concurrently I just do not have the patience to manage two devices at the same time. Given the strength of the Note on both work and media consumption I actually think I will end up using it for more hours of the day and probably replace some iPad functionality with it too.

I am planning to keep the iPhone running on the Orange PAYG so I can have it as back up but more to ensure that when IOS 8 becomes available I can look at it on both phone and tablet.

I do regret not being able to play fully with the new HTC One M8 as I still think it looks a better constructed and more 'beautiful' device that the Samsung Note 3 but the work demands and the screen size just tipped the balance for me. I have toyed with running the Note for six months then selling both the Note and the iPhone 5 to buy a slightly cheaper HTC One as its price comes down, but have decided instead to see what happens with IOS 8 and the pending iPhone 6 - it could be that with the extensions to the OS and the rumoured larger screen sizes that I might consider a move back into IOS again on the phone side. Having switched over to Android and seen how easy it is I really feel I'm much more 'fleet of foot' in an IT sense and I can in future move to whichever device fits my need case best and of course which I enjoy most much more easily.

If I do consider a move back to IOS it will be on the basis of waiting until at least February or March of 2015 when the iPhone 6 has bedded in and prices will have dropped below the extortionate launch levels and good second hand ones are available. On balance, having reduced my monthly contract costs by £ 10 a month and have two good phones on hand for re-sale if necessary I don't think I would ever enter into a monthly contract with a subsidised device again.

Hope this article and the two pre-cursors were of some interest. If you have any comments please feel free to e-mail : pmicast@gmail.com

Thanks

Follow me on Twitter


Had a flurry of new followers on my two main twitter accounts :

@localventure1 and @philknightpch

Just wanted to let you all now how I work Twitter.

The philknightpch account is my main business account and if you follow me here I will always (eventually) follow you back as a mutual business courtesy. 

The localventure version is my personal twitter account and I have a rule that I only follow a maximum of 30 people so that I have time to keep up with the comments, messages and general timeline.

I post business tweets on all my accounts (including localventure) but there is usually an additional level of content on localventure that you won't find anywhere else. So I'd suggest that you follow both if you're interested but unless I know you pretty well I won't follow back via the localventure twitter account.

Thanks and looking forward to interacting on Twitter.

PMICast ep 48 is now available

Just a very short follow up post to my earlier one today to let you all know that PMICast episode 48 is now live and available for download.

You can find it on your favourite pod catcher or iTunes - just search for 'PMICast'. Alternatively you can download direct from t'internet at : www.pmicast.podbean.com

Please go track it down and listen and remember to tell your friends and colleagues and if you have time and inclination leave us a review on iTunes (UK or US).

Ciau

D Day Landings 6th June 1944

Let me start off this post by saying the following.

Personally I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to every soldier, paratrooper, airman, marine and sailor who participated in the D Day landings in June 1944. Without their courage and sacrifice we as a nation and myself individually would not be able to live the cosseted and soft lives we live today in the UK and the Western world more generally. It is a debt that I can never repay and one that I will never forget.

I am taking a moment ....... breaking off from typing .......... to just remember those who gave their lives on a beach only a few hundred miles from where I type, two generations ago.

Please do take the time during the day yourself to think about these pivotal events. It is and will be all over the news media today, quite rightly, wherever you are and whatever you are doing please take a moment to be thankful for that generation of young men who fought to protect our way of life. But also for the dead on both sides.

War is a terrible waste and we must never forget that.

Omaha Beach





PMICast new episode coming soon !!!

Embarassingly I know it's been ages since I managed to get an episode of my podcast up and live. I am pleased to announce, officially :

There will be a new episode of PMICast today and it’s a doozie - 25 minutes of PMICast goodness !!!!

I managed to find time to record it this morning and I'm in pre-production (adding the theme and checking I didn't swear etc) as I type listening to the basic audio. I will load it onto pod bean today and it should be live around lunchtime on the 6th of June.

It is one of the best ever I think and as we move towards episode 50 (more on the numbering of the podcast in the ep itself) I'm more excited than ever about the impact and role the podcast has in my business and more generally as a tool for those interested in medical insurance and related topics.

In this episode there is double content for introducers and also extra PMI coverage too - it's IMHO the best ep so far - please enjoy.

Sunday 1 June 2014

Want to drive revenue from private medical insurance in your IFA practice

I regularly work with financial advisers and other industry professionals helping their clients by providing advice on medical insurance both group and individual in the UK and overseas.

You can find out more above me on Linkedin :

 and on my regular podcast on iTunes : PMICast (www.pmicast.podbean.com).

I've worked with IFA's and other advisers since 1989 and have a pretty good take on what their clients need in terms of medical insurance. In addition I have been actively involved in medical insurance since 1994 and am one of the most experienced industry professionals.

For more information on the services I provide to my professional introducers please join 'IntroMed' my introducer support group on Linkedin or e-mail me on : philknight@pch.uk.com or call on : 07792 075748.

I work with introducers all over the UK including : Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Cambridge, London, Brighton, Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast, York and Cardiff.

Wherever you or your clients are based I can help.