To maintain a steady flow of potential customers, an insurance agent needs leads. Cold calling is dead. Word-of-mouth referrals are good. But insurance leads are the best.
Chasing leads is one of the most anxiety-causing tasks any insurance agent has to deal with on a daily basis. Word-of-mouth referrals? Direct email campaigns? Social media? What is the best route to ensure a steady flow of quality, qualified insurance leads? The simple answer is buying leads, but one should not rely on that alone. A combination of various different methods to garner leads is usually the best approach.
While referrals tend to be relatively lucrative, there is no guarantee that the people referred to you will like what you are selling. They may not need what you have, or they may want something you do not sell. That is the way it goes in this line of work. The surefire way to get leads that have the potential to grow your business, provided you work them properly, is to buy quality leads from a lead generation company.
Many agents have heard about lead generation companies. Some of the reviews are good, some not so good. That is fair enough. Not all lead generation companies are created equal and since they are not, it only makes good marketing sense to take the time to find a lead generation company that will work for you.
What do you need to know to make an informed decision before buying leads? The first thing is, if the company offers you 500 free leads to get you going, run. Leads that are free are free for a reason, and that reason is they are a waste of time.
This is not to say that if you are offered ten free leads that they are not worth trying, because they may give you an idea of the quality of leads on offer. It is a personal business decision, so go with what makes the most sense to you.
An important consideration is your budget. But, unfortunately cheap leads are usually only worth what you paid for them. Go for the better, and slightly higher-priced, leads. Those are the ones that pay off. Also keep your eyes open for hidden costs, such as monthly fees or long-term contracts. You also want to know more than just a person’s name and phone number. You need background information to make a sales call, and that information should include driving record and a brief medical history.
If you are going to buy leads from a lead generation company, find out the age of the leads. You want and need fresh ones. That means you want them in real time and quickly. Those are the leads that have the most potential to convert to sales. Always ask a lead generation company how they garner their leads. If the leads come from someone being convinced to fill out a form for an iPod or something like that, those are solicited leads and typically worthless.
However, if a potential customer has deliberately contacted a lead company and filled out a questionnaire asking for someone to contact them, this is a valuable lead.
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