The True Value of an Insurance Lead

As and agent, your bottom line is one of the most important performance indicators to your business, but are you considering all the factors?

In the lead business, we often hear a lot about agents return on investment (ROI) or their cost per acquisition (CPA). Though our communications, we discovered something that most agents don’t realize when it comes to calculating ROI; the need to measure renewals. 

As part of ROI, initial commission is often not the only commission is you will receive from that lead. Granted, not every consumer will resign come the following year, but a considerable number will. The question is, how can you maximize the value of a lead on a more consistent basis?

Our recent survey has highlighted a potential answer to this question: Selling multiple products. 80.8% of agents sell multiple products as part of their business, and most of those agents are 8+ years in the business! By selling multiple products, you offer your clients the possibility to be a one stop shop for their insurance needs.

By doing this as part of your business, every lead’s value increases significantly as they go from initially needing health insurance to needing life insurance down the road, or needing medicare insurance but wants to add final expense a few years later.

Longevity and renewals are all in the name of the game when it comes to selling insurance, and the leads are not just worth their initial value, they hold value for years. Think about that next time you are calculating the value of a lead.

Dream large and small, but do something every day to make the dream reality

Having dreams about a successful insurance agency is the best way to build for the future. Part of those dreams must include how successful you shall be working and converting leads. Dream large. Dream small. But remember to take action on those dreams, no matter what size they may be.

If a dream feels overwhelming and shuts down your will to move forward because it seems impossible to achieve all at once, then you should break the task down. Do it one small step at a time. When you do one small step at a time, the large dream becomes closer to a reality.

If you sell one policy a day for a week, dream about two policies every day for the next week and figure out what you need to do to achieve that. If you need to change the kind of leads you buy, do it. If you need help calling your leads, get it. If your price needs to be more competitive, lower it. All dreams are achieved by making them happen in smaller steps to reach the pinnacle of success.

Summing it all up to sell insurance

If you don’t have it all together when you make calls to leads and remember that each step toward selling insurance needs to be followed diligently, you may not be as successful as you would like to be. It is hard work to call people you do not know and try to sell them insurance. They may feel it is too expensive, even though they may well have asked for an agent to call them with information.

The thing to remember when calling leads is that you are running a business and in order to keep running it successfully, you need to make your calls and convert those leads. Leaving hot leads in your mailbox for a couple of days diminishes the chances of a sale and increases the chances that the prospective customer thinks no one is going to call.

You need to be very organized when you prepare to make calls to insurance leads. Have everything right at your fingertips: your script, any sales literature pertaining to special policies, Medicare information if you specialize in Medical supplements, information on the latest trends in the insurance market that may affect a consumer, a ready smile and a drive to succeed. Yes, you do smile when you are on the phone. It’s infectious and can be hear by your potential customer.

Everyone has bad days, but leave those angry feelings at home or at the door of your business before you pick up the phone to call. You are marketing yourself, and you want to do it the right way. You must know your policies inside out, how they can be adapted to buyer’s needs, what carriers can do special exceptions for a potential customer, and how you can make your lead’s life a lot easier and safer with the right insurance policy.

The more you work on your selling skills the better you get at selling insurance. It just takes the will, drive and dedication to make it all come together and build your business.

Got an insurance lead? Don’t just call, use social media to make contact

Calling an insurance lead is usually the first step to getting to know your potential customers. It is, however, not the only way to keep in touch with them once you have made the initial contact. These days a large number of people use social media for a variety of reasons, and if it can leverage access to that, you have another powerful marketing tool at your disposal.

Social media is highly influential, easy to use and a great way to send information, other than by email. Of course it is best to have an already established insurance business presence online on social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. The more you have “out there” that shows who you are and what you sell, the more credibility you acquire.

Social media also allows you and your insurance to further follow up with leads, build stronger and better connections with potential customers and your target audiences. It is also a smart move to follow others and learn their preferences, get to understand what they like and prefer, how they live and what they may need in terms of insurance. The more active you are online, the more you attract new customers. And those leads you are working will pay off in multiple ways.

How insurance leads expand an agent’s business

When first starting out selling insurance, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start getting leads. They don’t grow on trees and no one wants to hit on all their family members and still get invited to Christmas dinner. The best place to start is to contact a lead generation company that has a good reputation and discuss your needs with them. That is the beginning of the foundation of your business. Why? Because once you have a constant supply of insurance leads, nothing can stop you from making your agency a huge success.

You got into this business because you wanted to help people find the right kind of insurance that is uniquely suited to them and to make money, after all, an insurance agency IS a business. So, by investing in health insurance leads, you have a constant supply of people to sell policies to. Work them the way you were taught in training and go above and beyond the call of duty.

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Life insurance leads are easier to find than you may think

While you may have some skepticism about finding life insurance leads in a market that is struggling to maintain some sense of balance in the face of the economic mess the country is in, there are people that do recognize that this is actually the best time to buy life insurance. Just like a depressed real estate market is a good time to buy homes for sale at a profit later.

The market is ripe for agents selling life insurance to savvy buyers who recognize that now is the time to get insurance to protect their families if something happens to them.

Leery about buying leads? Not sure whether you should choose shared or exclusive leads? Largely, that depends on what you want to accomplish and how fast. Shared leads may take forever and a day to pay off in any substantive way. Exclusive leads could pay off much quicker, because they are only sent to one agent. It often makes sense to try both ways to get an idea of what works best for you.

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It is all about YOU and not just the lead

No matter where you find your leads, how many you buy, where they are located and so forth, the lead itself is only a part of the equation. If you do not work the lead, it dies. It’s just that simple. If a lead comes in that happens to be in real-time, then you need to get right on it, within the hour if not sooner. Those are the leads that offer a good return on your invested marketing dollars. You likely do not have to be told how to work leads because you are successful and making money. That being said, never assume you have learned all there is to learn about marketing and working leads online. The industry and the online marketplace changes on a dime, and since that is your source of income, keep up with what is happening.

One of the best ways to get the pulse of what’s happening with your customers is to not only carefully read the incoming leads for clues, but to talk to those leads and find out what their concerns and needs are when it comes to health insurance or any other form of insurance you sell. It goes without saying that everyone needs something different when it comes to insurance.

Listen to your leads’ stories. The stories tell you what people want, need and dream about. Since you sell the protection, knowing the stories is paramount to your success.

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Most Lead Companies Don’t Generate Their Own Leads

No, they do not generate their own leads. They buy them and resell them. Just about 90 percent of the lead generation companies online today do not garner their own leads. Do the math. If these companies are buying leads that have already been worked and they resell them to you, then you are likely about the 15th or 30th agent to work the same leads.

And the point in that scenario is: Do not spend money on shared leads. You never recover it, end up irritating customers who figure they are heard from over 50 agents in a day, week or month. You waste your time and increase your stress level. You are in the insurance business because you want to sell insurance and make money. Throwing your marketing dollars to the wind by buying cycled, cycled and recycled leads makes no sense whatsoever.

If you are going to deal with a lead generation company, make certain to check them out before you hop on board and find out those juicy leads they perked you are over 21 days old. Ask colleagues, mentors, call a lead generation company directly and interview them about what they do and their ethics. It is your money. Spend it wisely for the maximum bang for your buck.

At Benepath, we manage 100% of our marketing with most of our leads coming from Google and Bing. What you get is exactly what you would get if you built and managed your own lead generation program – instead of spent your time

 

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Smart Strategizing to Source Final Expense Leads is Highly Effective

Very few people want to sit down with an insurance agent, or anyone else for that matter, and talk about death. However, one of the greatest concerns people have is having enough money for final expenses.

Funerals are far more expensive than many people realize, and many also do not understand that their total costs for a funeral are not payable to just one entity, the funeral home. The funeral home bill alone is apt to run about $6,000. Included in that cost is a casket ($2,300) embalming and preparation of the body ($600), funeral viewing and ceremony ($1,000), funeral director’s basic fee ($1,500) and there are also miscellaneous expenses such as an obituary, obtaining a death certificate and the hearse journey to the graveyard ($600). All funeral home expenses would be subject to change.

Many individuals wish to be buried in a cemetery. Costs associated with this service may range up to or over approximately $2,000. Those costs include buying the grave space ($1,000) and digging the grave ($600). The cost of digging is not included in the purchase of grave space. Other costs most often associated with a funeral include a headstone or grave marker. The average price of a headstone is $2,000 and the average price of a marker is $1,000.

If the funeral director acts as the coordinator between his business, the cemetery and headstone maker, costs may be even higher, as the headstone maker and cemetery may be paying the funeral director a commission for the business.

To market final expense insurance, you need to target your clientele. You may want to market to seniors, term life insurance holders, short-term insurance holders and those who are not eligible for traditional insurance. Seniors often do not purchase insurance after retiring, but they do want to cover their burial expenses. Premiums for this type of insurance are quite low.

Short-term insurance typically covers a defined period in the insurance holder’s life, like a mortgage loan term or college for the children. They often realize the benefit of having final expense insurance, just in case. And in the case of term life insurance holders, they appreciate having basic funeral cover if they happen to live longer than the term of their policy.

Working out an effective marketing strategy to reach those interested in final expenses takes planning, implementation and dedication. You are selling insurance. You likely have those traits in spades.

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Listen to Customer’s Dreams

Remember that your potential and existing customers have dreams, hopes and plans, just like you. Put yourself in their shoes and figure out what they would want to know, what they need to buy to protect their family and how to have financial security for them if something happened.

Listen to the dreams. Often therein lie clues to what people really want to accomplish in their lifetime, and how they want to look after their family or protect their own lives and health. Leads are human. They are not just numbers and names. If you are savvy enough to catch their dreams and discuss them with your lead and offer suggestions and solutions to difficulties they foresee now or later in life, you are likely to secure a very loyal customer.

What if a lead tries to lead you on and make you think they do want insurance of some kind and then disappears? It happens. You invest time and energy in talking to them, helping them, making suggestions that could make their lives easier or protect loved ones, and they just fold on you.

Move on. There are plenty of other leads that need a phone call. There are plenty of people that do want to talk and engage with you, are willing to listen to what you have to say and are interested in what you have to offer. It’s all part of being a good agent.

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