The Psychology of Leads Explored
While you may be eager to get to the lead nurturing strategies, it’s imperative that you understand the consumer mindset. Think about every lead as someone who’s in the decision-making process. During this phase, consumers consider multiple factors such as coverage options, cost, and the credibility of agents and agencies. Years of sales and marketing research have proved that the following two factors must be considered when working leads:
- Consumers React to Empathy and Respect: Never undervalue empathy and respect when it comes to future clients. People considering making a purchase want to feel valued and heard. With that said, it’s your job to make them comfortable during the sales process. This means going beyond simply addressing them by name. You must clearly define and acknowledge their unique concerns and needs. Additionally, you should treat every lead as an individual, because as we know, everyone has different preferences in mind. During meetings, many consumers are naturally going to be on guard. They’ll also likely have apprehensions and questions to raise. In turn, you need to show them that you’re available to do anything in your power to help. By using empathetic language, and creating a friendly environment, you can put the consumer at ease. This makes the process much smoother.
- Focus on Educating, Not Selling: While it may be in your nature to try to sell individuals on products, you must reshape the way you think. Instead, position yourself as an educator. People generally react better when they feel like they’re learning, instead of being pushed in one direction. Focus on conveying the most accurate and pertinent information that will truly help the consumer on their purchasing journey. This includes teaching them about various products, coverage options, and insurance jargon. Also keep in mind that everyone learns differently, so consider using a variety of tools. Videos, infographics, blogs, and pamphlets are all useful to consumers looking to gain the most insight. By establishing yourself as an insurance expert, leads will be more likely to value your knowledge, and take your advice.
Lead Nurturing Techniques
Keeping the consumers point of view in mind, we can now move on to lead nurturing tips. Implementing these techniques into your routine, will help you gain the best return on investment going forward.
Personalize Communication Based on Research
Don’t make the mistake of going into your first contact attempt unprepared. Prior to having any interaction with the consumer, gather information about them. This includes their demographic information (such as age), products they’re potentially interested in and any other relevant information you can gather. With this preliminary information, you can then use tools like CRM systems to log the insights you’ve gained. Based on this information, you can in turn tailor the communication process. Use whatever mode of communication you think they’ll prefer, or use multiple if you’re unsure. These include reaching out via telephone, text, social media or email. After making contact, log any additional information that you’ve gained in the CRM system. This makes things easier when you attempt to reach out in the future, since you’ll already understand their needs.
Follow-Up in a Timely Manner
Once receiving interest or inquiries from a consumer, it’s key to follow up with them as quickly as possible. Again, using a CRM system can aid you big time in this effort. In addition to being able to schedule periodic follow-ups, many CRM systems also have automated email or messaging features. This helps ensure that you maintain regular contact, but don’t overwhelm the lead at hand.
Structure Follow-Up Information Accordingly
Since most of the time you’ll have to follow-up multiple times, you’ll want to have a strategic approach. This means every follow-up goes along with the steps of the sales process. You can start by sending some introductory information and messaging. As you move on to second, third and even fourth messages, you can start introducing specific policy or coverage information. Also, make sure to base your responses off of the amount of lead engagement you receive. For example you probably wouldn’t send a customer testimonial to someone who says they’re ready to buy.
Offer Engaging and Diverse Content
Especially when following-up multiple times with consumers, you must offer a variety of engaging content. While promotional material can be fine sometimes, also offer practical information and examples. Tips on how to lower premiums, success stories, real-life examples and positive reviews are all great materials to showcase. You can also try linking to relevant articles or blogs. While this type of content doesn’t outright offer your services, it shows off your value to the consumer.
On the same token, webinars, and workshops offer an engaging setting for nurturing leads. Agents who host these events, and explore specific insurance topics outshine their competition by going above and beyond. These events also give consumers a time to ask questions and get clarification in real-time. In preparation, you must promote the events on a multitude of channels. Doing so ensures that leads in various stages of the decision-making process will receive the invite. Using this time to provide insightful information, can encourage leads to take the next step in their insurance journey.
Be Persistent, But Also Patient
Finding the middle ground between persistence and patience is crucial when working leads. You don’t want leads to forget about you, but you also need to respect their decision-making process. While some people may say to send follow-ups until the consumer tells you to stop, these overly aggressive techniques can be counterproductive.
Within the first three days of receiving a lead follow up each day in a variety of ways. For example, on the first day you could call and send an email, on the second day you could call and send a text, and on the third you could just send an email. If they don’t answer calls, always make sure to leave a voicemail. When looking at days, many professionals agree that midweek (Tuesday through Thursday) is the best time to make calls. In turn, it’s said that sales calls should be generally avoided on Mondays and Fridays. While there is no tried and true method, remember that the older a lead gets the less chance of conversion it has.
Anticipate and Address Objections
Don’t plan on your conversations going perfectly. In fact, you should always plan on the consumer having objections or concerns. Just like you might practice a script that touches on selling points, prepare responses for common objections. When crafting responses, focus on both addressing the concern and providing reassurance. By addressing concerns head-on your insight will help comfort the lead before it becomes a bigger problem. As briefly mentioned, presenting resources and tools can aid you in this endeavor. It’s always more beneficial to offer facts and information as opposed to pushy sales tactics. This proactive approach showcases your understanding of the consumer’s challenges and gives you more credibility overall.
Key Takeaways
To become a master in lead nurturing, you must carefully balance strategic communication, empathy, and persistence. It’s important that you focus on showcasing your value by treating each lead as a unique individual and handling their objections in a skillful manner. Additionally, schedule prompt and regular follow-ups and offer a variety of engaging content. By doing so you’ll effectively improve the consumer’s experience, form lasting connections and widen your client pool.
Purchasing an insurance policy is a big decision. It can be costly and have a great impact on the recipient for the year ahead. With that said, be respectful and when possible, put yourself in their shoes. By thinking like the consumer, it will be easier to craft compelling responses and recommendations. The best insurance agents are able to appear as an expert at their craft, while also relating to the client they’re working with. Attracting interested consumers is one thing, but what’s more important is that you can turn them into satisfied customers. So remember the value that every lead holds, and keep in mind that this effort should never be rushed.
Now that you’re ready to work your leads, you need to make sure you have enough of them. Luckily for you Benepath is here to help! We specialize in insurance lead generation and can connect you with leads that are truly interested in getting a policy. Every lead that we sell is guaranteed to be both exclusive and produced in real time. This gives you the very best chance to make sales. We offer both data leads and inbound phone calls in a variety of verticals. This includes: individual health, group health, Medicare, life and commercial insurance. If you’re interested in purchasing our leads or want to learn more, fill out a form or give us a call at 888-684-3121.
