Idea Enablers

10 December 2019

Failure to Launch – Or was it?

Failure to Launch – Or was it?

This is a long-overdue write-up about our company-wide initiative to launch another business. More on why it’s overdue in a minute.

We’re always up for a challenge, as you may know.

The idea sprung from a brainstorming session with one of our clients where they had a specific itch to scratch in meeting their clients’ needs. And our capabilities happened to line up with what they wanted to deliver. And we’re all about scratching itches – so it started. We set out to create an online resource for insurance brokers who needed turnkey marketing templates. It was an audience we were familiar with, we’d already designed quite a few pieces that we could use, and we’d also created e-commerce platforms similar to this one. Easy, right?

Well, we made one (maybe two) rookie mistake – we went too big with our functionality, rather than focusing on the minimum viable product. Doh! And we were slammed at the time with our regular, full-time jobs at Idea Enablers.So what resulted was a longer than necessary process and an over-budget product – exactly what we warn our own clients against. So we slogged through to get it done, pulling our own hair and teeth to make it happen.

Nearly a YEAR after we started the process, we were ready to launch. And we did, and we tweaked, and changed, and evolved. The result is an insanely awesome website (that is nothing like we originally envisioned, but different, and better) and a thorough process that can be automated when we’re done with our own “learning phase.” We had orders from the get-go and nothing but positive feedback. We have hardly even marketed it, so there’s nothing but upside when we start acting like our own best client.

The reason we share the good, the bad and the ugly, is that that’s how we roll. We’re honest about the process and we can truly understand what clients go through on the other side of the table. Nothing starts or comes together perfectly. It’s how you respond to that adversity and those roadblocks that defines who you are.

The takeaway? We love it. We wouldn’t do it any other way (mostly).We’ll probably do it again.

So check out BrokerPop.com and let us know what you think. And if you’re in the market for direct mail about ACA Compliance – we have just the right campaign for you, and a list to boot.

by Michelle Ruzzi

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