Where’s My Insurance Agent Lead?
It’s a shame that so many insurance agents are clueless about marketing and client acquisition. In July 2009, 1600 insurance agents did a a Google search on the phrase “insurance agent lead.” What exactly were these agents looking for? A life lead, a P&C lead, an annuity lead, annuity cases? Do they have any idea as to their niche, do they have a strategy or are they just fishing around for their next sale? Unfortunately, the bar is so low to become an insurance agent (take some easy classes and pass a very simple exam), that it has become the second career for truck drivers. Once the ex-truck driver passes his insurance exam, he now sets out looking for an insurance agent lead, I guess. (by the way–I like truck drivers. I just think they should drive trucks and not sell insurance).
I don’t want to take anything away from the true insurance professional–those who are clearly financial advisers, have the CHFC or CPCU credential and really add value for their clients. But some yahoo that may use Yahoo or Google to look for insurance agent lead is no one that should be exposed to the public.
So let’s give our 1600 Internet searchers the benefit of the doubt, assume they are new agents and provide some advice on how to generate insurance leads and grow a business. Depending on how new you are to the business, you may or may not know what an insurance agent lead is. But even if you’re an industry veteran, you still may not know exactly what this type of lead is. Even if you think you know, it’s still important to brush up on your knowledge and marketing strategies every now and again.
When you’re first getting started, it’s important to learn how to generate leads or have others do so for you. Insurance agent leads come from a variety of places such as the Internet, direct mail, direct response TV, telemarketing – also known as cold calling (something you should never do but may want to hire someone to do). The physical aspect of the lead is a name, address, phone number and email address – and possibly some other optional information – of a person who’s interested in receiving insurance information or a quote. At the time he is filling out the form, the lead may or may not know exactly what type of insurance or company they need.
An insurance agent lead is a whole lot more than that, however. To the average, unsuccessful insurance agent, this information is just an address and phone number. It’s a faceless piece of information that the agent must use to get to their end goal – a sale. To successful insurance agents, however, it’s a lot more than that.
The person on the other end of that insurance agent lead is someone who has worries, desires, needs and wants. It can’t be stressed enough how important that is to success in this industry. When you pick up that phone to talk to this lead, you’re speaking with someone who is potentially very scared or misinformed about insurance in general. They may have no idea that you’ll be calling, and the reason they filled out the form with their personal information is because he’s going through a transition in his life and have some unknown circumstances that he needs you to help him through. To the experienced agent, this insurance agent lead is also a connection to everyone this prospect knows in the neighborhood, at work, his employer, etc. In other words, one new client can lead to a whole lot of new business.
For example, many times an insurance agent lead will be calling because someone in the family close to them had just passed away and they’re starting to think about what will happen when they die, whether or not they have enough insurance coverage, and what will happen to their family when it’s their time to go. Others are calling because they’re starting their own business or were laid off from a job that used to provide insurance and now need to find an alternative solution.
The key to success in this industry is to always keep these considerations in mind when talking to prospects or using any prospecting system. Each insurance agent lead is a person and not just a potential sale. Your job is to find out what this person wants. What keeps the prospect up at night? Why is he seeking further coverage (the emotional reason is what you want to know as people buy emotionally)? It may seem simple, but finding out the answer to these questions, then answering them with a product that you offer is what will take you from being just an insurance agent to becoming an insurance super agent, a true professional. Not only will you make more money in the industry, but your clients will be eternally grateful for you doing it.
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Tags: insurance agent lead
[...] additional details about how to follow up on leads and what to say, see Bob Richard’s blog on insurance agent leads. Click to read more about his Internet Lead [...]
[...] additional details about how to follow up on leads and what to say, see Bob Richard’s blog on insurance agent leads. Click to read more about his Internet Lead [...]
[...] additional details about how to follow up on leads and what to say, see Bob Richard’s blog on insurance agent leads. Click to read more about his Internet Lead System. [...]