FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Audrey Wittenburg: (703) 729-7701 / awittenburg@icmg.org
Charles Wasilewski: (908) 647-2216 / charles@Aartrijk.com

Face-to-Face Networking Is 'Most Productive'
Source of B2B Leads, Notes ICMG

ASHBURN, VA (April 20, 2009) - Insurance marketers, product developers, and carrier executives view in-person networking as the "most productive" source of business-to-business leads, according to a recent mini-survey from the Inter-Company Marketing Group (ICMG), a non-profit trade association for companies involved in life/health insurance and employee benefits.

Face-to-face contact is a must for business decision-makers who are seeking strategic alliances with other partners in the industry. Trade advertising is next-most-important for finding leads, followed by industry mailing lists. The survey was conducted by ICMG with attendees at the Workplace Benefits Association meeting in March 2009 in Atlantic City, N.J.

"Even with the soaring popularity of social networking, it's good old-fashioned 'meeting-and-greeting' that remains the most productive activity for insurance product managers and business development executives," noted ICMG President Anne Marie Faria, who is executive vice president - chief marketing and sales officer of HealthPlan Services, Tampa, Fla.

"This proves the maxim that business alliances must be both sparked and sustained by solid person-to-person relationships, which we've found to be true over many years here at ICMG."

A survey sample of about 40 businesspeople showed the following priority order of business-to-business (B2B) leads:

• in-person networking at industry meetings: 37%
• trade advertising in print or on the web: 15%
• mailing lists purchased/rented from a provider: 12%
• lead-generation web sites: 10%
• business networking sites (such as LinkedIn) : 2%
• all other (referrals, personal relationships, e-mail, direct contact, referral partnerships with a third-party company, and alumni associations): 25%

"The survey is an indication that-even with new social networking tools and during an economic downturn-decision-makers still view getting out of the office and looking for potential business partners to be a highly valued, productive use of their time in their quest to generate revenue in the life, health and benefits marketplace," concluded Faria.

About ICMG: Inter-Company Marketing Group (www.icmg.org) is the premier nonprofit association that fosters strategic alliances between insurance and financial services companies, providing targeted networking opportunities, sharing of knowledge and experience, and resources for successful inter-company alliances. Among the 400 members are marketing and business development decision-makers with insurance carriers, distributors, third party administrators, and other related companies.

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