It can be tough to say no to potential business—especially when you’re just getting your insurance practice off the ground. And it’s easy to get into a mindset where you believe saying no is a privilege reserved for the successful, or at least those with a stable business. But no matter whether you’re experienced in the industry or just starting out, it’s essential to know which are your ideal prospects—and which you should pass on. Here’s a list of who to say no to.

Many insurance agents live and die by their customer service. It’s essential to take care of your customers—especially in the days of social media, where stories of customer service mishaps can spread quickly and turn into public relations nightmares. The good news is that stories of above-and-beyond service can travel just as quickly. Here are a few examples of what insurance agents should always try to provide when it comes to customer service.

Twitter is growing in importance as a way for insurance agents to promote their businesses to customers. It can be a great tool, for a lot of reasons—for little or no cost, you can reach a very large audience quickly and easily.

However, Twitter and other social media platforms do have a cost—in time, if not in money. And it’s not unusual for insurance agents and others to struggle with getting a return on their social media investment that makes the time they spend worthwhile.

As much as you may try to, it’s impossible to make everyone happy. No matter how great your response is or how dedicated to customer service you are, chances are a few of your customers are going to have complaints to make at some point.

In the past, a disgruntled customer would tell the people in his or her immediate circle—maybe five to twenty people, or more if they really feel wronged. Today, however, the megaphone is louder. Anyone can be heard over social media, and instead of reaching a handful of people, dissatisfied customers can reach thousands.

If you’re looking for novel ways to reach customers online, video can be the way to go. Building your own YouTube channel, hosting videos on your website, and publicizing them via social media can all be great ways to get attention, attract new customers, and build awareness about the coverage you offer. Here are just a few ways you can use video to expand your insurance business.

Working through an insurance agent used to be a lot more common. Today, it’s easy for customers to get immediate quotes online and purchase insurance directly from the companies that originate it. For insurance agents in many lines of business—especially in consumer-facing coverage—it can be more difficult than ever to persuade customers that your services aren’t just valuable, but necessary.

Getting qualified leads is often not easy in the insurance industry. There are ranges of techniques for getting people to give you their contact information—while prequalifying themselves as interested in and ready to buy the type of insurance you sell. But the process of building a lucrative list from scratch can be difficult, and companies selling lists of instant leads can be very tempting. Here’s a look at things you should consider when deciding whether to buy a list for lead generation.

If you’re just getting started building your insurance agency, at some point you’ll face a crossroads: should you keep doing marketing and outreach on your own, hire someone internally, or outsource that work to professionals? Here’s a look at the benefits and drawbacks of these options.

Going it Alone

“Get to know your customers”—it’s the first piece of advice given to insurance agents and other business owners, either getting started or building up their businesses. To build a truly effective marketing campaign, you need to know exactly who is likely to buy the insurance you sell, why they buy it—and the reasons behind the reasons, the emotional triggers that, particularly in consumer insurance markets, can make the idea of buying so much more compelling.

Sometimes you get lucky with referrals. If you’re very good at what you do and provide great customer service, chances are you get lucky a lot. But even if this is the case, if you don’t have a specific process to encourage your customers to refer others to you, you’re leaving money on the table. Here are a few ideas to make referrals not just a matter of luck, but the result of a system that works.

New Years resolutions are made to be broken. But they don’t have to be. If you’re both realistic about what you can accomplish and systematic about the steps you take, you’ll have a better chance of keeping the resolutions you set for your business. Here are a few tips for setting goals in the New Year that you can keep all year long.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed over the holidays. Between family celebrations and last-minute work obligations, it can be tough to find the time for what can feel like extra luxuries—such as finding ways to thank your customers at the end of the year. However, this can be a crucial opportunity to cement your relationship with them and ensure you get off on the right foot in the New Year.

When content goes viral, it blows up on the web—getting shared, posted, and retweeted millions of times. If your company’s content goes viral, it can get you in front of millions of new customers—and boost sales both immediately and over the long term, in ideal situations. Viral attention can feel like a lightning strike—but it’s more than just magic. While there’s no specific formula, there are a few things you can do to make it more likely your content will go viral. Here are a few.

Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks for what you have—and for the people who’ve made a contribution to your life in the past year, whether personally or professionally. It’s also a great opportunity to strengthen your relationships with customers by showing your appreciation for them. Here are a few ideas for how to do that.

A lot of people have strong opinions about selfies—they’re either a fun form of self-expression or a symptom of what’s wrong with society in one way or another. But they’re not going away anytime soon. And you can definitely incorporate them into your social media strategy. Here are a few reasons why it’s something you should consider.

Millennials are a huge market—and they need some types of insurance just as much as their older counterparts, if not more. There are plenty of opportunities for insurance agents in marketing to millennials. However, you need to know how to talk to them—and where to find them. Here are a few ideas for successfully capturing millennial attention and selling them insurance.

It is not easy being a new insurance agent. The insurance landscape is rapidly changing, becoming more competitive even as carriers are looking to pay lower commissions; both the economic downturn and the Affordable Care Act have made the industry more difficult to break into than ever.

Still, there are opportunities for new insurance agents to grow their business and thrive—even in these challenging market conditions. Here are a few things you should do immediately as a new insurance agent.

Content marketing is a method of promoting your business that involves the creation of relevant and valuable content—blog articles, webinars, podcasts, ebooks, and a host of other types of content—in order to attract a specific audience. The key is to inform, not to sell—at least not initially. But ultimately, effective content marketing boosts both traffic and sales.

Word-of-mouth is an important way to get new business—whether you’re just starting out or have an established roster of customers. Referrals are one of the most effective ways of getting new business, because a customer who’s been referred to you is most likely to trust you—they heard good things about you from someone else they trust. A referral that results in new business might seem like a stroke of good luck—but there are a lot of specific things you can do to boost referrals, and this can be one of the most important parts of an insurance agent’s marketing plan. Here are a few ideas.

If you’re an insurance agent, chances are you talk to a lot of your customers on the phone. You can improve your customer service, however, by using screen-sharing technology to enhance your communication with them.