An Interview With Charmaine Sample-Hawkins

Here’s a transcript of the video.

Marc Rovner: Good afternoon! We’re sitting here with Charmaine Sample-Hawkins, the newest member of Rovner & Company’s marketing team. We just wanted to go through some of your ideas and we have some questions for you.

Charmaine Sample-Hawkins: Alright, perfect. Thank you.

Marc: How would you describe your approach to marketing?

Charmaine: So, the approach I like to take with marketing is to know that everything is not going to be successful right away. A lot of patience and a lot of activity. I like to try two and three and four different things. See what works, and then from there you can just implement changes. Make it work the best for your company and the best for you. Marketing is tough. Everything doesn’t stick as soon as you put an idea to fruition. But, if you try hard enough and make the right changes, then you can get something great going.

Marc: Awesome. So what factors do you think are the most important when attempting to influence customer behavior?

Charmaine: I think the most important thing is knowing your market, knowing what they want, but knowing what they need. So with insurance, specifically, you know that everyone needs to have coverage. What coverage they want and what price they want to pay is going to play into how you talk to them and how you influence what insurance plan they’re going to ultimately go for. But, you need to be able to take what they want and blend it into what you know you need to provide and what you can provide. That way, you guys are on the same page and you come to a happy medium in the middle, everyone’s happy, and your customer is happy. I think the customer being happy is the most important thing, but providing them a proper and great service is also really important to me.

Marc: Awesome! What is an innovative, new marketing strategy that you’d like to implement here at Rovner & Company?

Charmaine: Now it’s not new, but innovative, yes! I am a firm believer in word-of-mouth marketing via social media. So my biggest effort now is just generating more traffic, getting the social media views up, and getting that exposure. Social media, especially in an insurance forum, you wouldn’t think, “Oh, a Facebook page!” You don’t automatically go to social media but, at the end of the day, your customers are your referrals and they are essentially your brand. So if they’re sharing with their friends and talking to other people about the service and plan they’re getting, that, to me, is 100% effective in generating more business and making sure that you’re always going to be front and center with what someone is looking for.

Marc: Interesting. What are the most important marketing skills that you have learned that you utilize in this position?

Charmaine: Skills I have learned? The most important that I have learned is listening. Everyone does things differently and everyone has a different idea. But listening to what your customer wants, your boss, or what your coworkers want is super important in understanding how you’re going to implement a marketing plan. What I like and what I would do might not be what the person next to me would do. So, it’s super important to know how we can make this work for everyone on the team and how we can get everyone on board. Understanding who you’re working with at all times is super important to me.

Marc: That’s excellent. Finally, what do you enjoy most at Rovner & Company?

Charmaine: Surprisingly, I enjoy how fast-paced it is! Now, I have insurance, so I’ve never been on the back-end of it. But, seeing how they are with customers, people really do rely on you guys a lot! I was shocked to find that we get so many people who call you because they need you, call you because they need an update, or they want you. They want a service you provide and it’s just going, going, going and I had no clue that insurance was so exciting. I would’ve never guessed it! So, doing the marketing for an insurance agency is a little different to me because I’ve never dabbled in insurance. But it really is cool to see how the marketing efforts do impact leads and customers and how you talk to other businesses. I think it’s so cool! I would’ve never guessed that I would be in an insurance forum with marketing.

Marc: Super! Looking forward to a lot more surprises.

Charmaine: I’m excited! You’ve got a lot of great ideas so, hopefully, we can bring everything to fruition and see what happens.

Marc: OK, awesome. Thank you!