Insurance Leads for Agents
There are dozens of companies all over the country that will gladly take your money and give you what they call quality insurance leads. Unfortunately, some of these leads aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Finding the right insurance leads for agents can be quite difficult and can lead to a severe slowdown for any business that can’t come up with a steady stream of leads. There are, however, a few tricks that all insurance salespeople – no matter what their position – can stand to use.
First, ask your FMO or IMO (Filed marketing organization or Independent marketing organization) what insurance leads for agents they provide. Most insurance wholesales know that they need to help you with marketing support and have already done their due diligence on dozens of leads programs and isolated those that work. If you have been dealing directly with the insurance carrier, you may be able to shift your business through an FMO/IMO without any loss of commission yet pick up insurance leads for agents so ask your carriers.
If you have no connections, the Internet truly is your best friend when it comes to finding insurance leads for agents. It can be used as a search tool to find out more information about a lead generation company you’re considering, the leads they’re generating and the business record of the company, as well as their pricing information and other important details.
As you’re doing your research, you should set up a folder or spreadsheet and keep a file on every company you contact. If you’re organized about this process, you’ll find it much easier when it comes time to negotiate a deal with a lead generation company for bulk insurance leads for agents. Remember that everything in life – and in the insurance industry in particular – is negotiable. Prices, quantities, quality, guarantee – everything is up for discussion. Take advantage of this when dealing smaller companies that may offer better service and be more enthusiastic about your business.
Next, you should also be networking with other agents. This works particularly well with agents outside of your local territory – you’re not in direct competition with them, so they’ll be more than happy to spill the beans about the company they use, their best practices when it comes to lead generation and where to advertise, as well as some other hints that you may not be aware of. If you’re not already a member of your NAIFA chapter, JOIN!!
Unfortunately, getting advice from other agents should be taken with a grain of salt. You don’t know how successful the agent really is, so you won’t be able to tell if you’re actually taking advice from someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. If a big producer gives you advice about insurance leads for agents, give it more weight than the advice of s struggling agent.
Because of the condition of the industry right now, the agency or company you work for likely won’t provide you with enough leads or contacts to enable you to earn a decent living. Because of this, you have to learn to generate and follow up with your own leads.
The best place to start with generating your own leads is via direct mail. It’s relatively cheap, and very few salespeople are using it right now. You don’t need a website – although it helps – and you’ll be surprised at how well the leads convert to sales. Have the direct mail piece offer an item of interest, say the booklet “Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Long Term Care Insurance.” Mailing that offer to a list of 65-year-olds in an upper-middle-income neighborhood will get you respectable results.
And finally, while there are many claims that companies will make to try to get you to buy their insurance leads for agents, by the nature of the industry, they may not be of the best of quality. That’s when you’ll start to notice your sales manager will be getting a little restless. If you learn how to generate your own leads, you’ll never find yourself coming up short on targeted leads to talk to. You’ll also have learned one of the most valuable skills an agent can learn – how to market and produce leads for yourself.
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That is important that your leads are very targeted leads. That means that they are already somewhat convinced to buy your product before you even introduce it.