It’s safe to say that the gray hairs in the insurance sales industry have secrets that they’ll never reveal about insurance lead generation.  They know – as you probably do too by now – that insurance lead generation is what makes a business tick.  What they also know, that you probably don’t, is that lead generation is only half the picture.  The other half is what separates them from you and what separates the ultra successful from the agent masses.  But what some of the older agents don’t know is how to profit from Internet insurance leads.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years or have totally resisted information evolution, you know that the Internet is revolutionizing the lead generation business.  An Internet insurance lead has become the standard to which all other leads are held.  They’re the cheapest to generate, the fastest to respond and, depending on the source, the easiest to close.  That is, if you know how to use the Internet insurance lead you just generated.

And quite possibly the greatest aspect of any Internet insurance lead is the instantaneous transmission.  In this age of “got to have it now,” you get the lead within minutes of the prospect completing a request.  Within seconds of the prospect completing their request, your auto-responder acknowledges the request and replies, even if you’re out on an appointment.

Of course, one of the hardest steps for wet-behind-the-ears insurance agents to conquer is to convert the Internet insurance lead into business.  Normally, instead of focusing on closing the leads they have, newer agents focus on generating more.  Nobody ever told them that one in the hand is better than two in the bush and that the true key to success is having a great appointment-to-closing ratio.

So what should an agent do with a new Internet insurance lead?  Should they call, email or otherwise contact them?  What will the prospect expect to receive?  The answer actually lies in the way the lead was generated and whether it’s a shared lead or an exclusive lead.

First, we’ll tackle the method of generation.  The lead may be an email-only lead, where they’ve entered their email as an Internet insurance lead who’s interested in obtaining information about plans that you may have to offer.  These leads are usually sold relatively cheaply and in bulk, and they are also usually shared leads.

Your approach with email-only leads should be to differentiate yourself from the crowd of agents that will be sending them emails.  Place the Internet insurance lead in your auto responder and let your system follow-up with the person automatically.  Studies have shown that most people don’t commit to purchase until five to seven different contacts, so it’s vitally important to keep in touch – even if it’s simply to check in to show that you’re still thinking about them.  There are plenty of examples of someone who waited for over a year before making an insurance decision and you don’t want that decision to go to one of your competitors.

If the internet insurance lead filled out a form that included their phone number, immediately call them before the lead goes stale.  Even though the company you bought it from may have told you the lead is exclusive, many times they have time limits on the exclusivity and, in a short period of time, your lead will be receiving many other phone calls from dozens of agents that sound, at least to the prospect, exactly the same.  So the key is to identify and communicate your unique value.

While the Internet can generate great leads at great prices and efficiency, the true advantage goes to the person who can best capitalize on those leads.  Once you  learn to identify the value of different types of Internet insurance leads, you’ll be able to identify those that best fit with your product offerings, enabling you to focus on only those leads that are likely to result in sales.

You’ll never meet an insurance agent who talks about the glory of generating insurance leads.  Likewise, you’ll never meet someone who joined the insurance industry just to learn how to generate leads.  However, any one of the super successful insurance agents working today will tell you that the secret to their success is simple – a solid, never-ending supply of fresh, qualified leads that convert to sales.

If you’d like to join the ranks of the super elite, you’ll quickly learn the only path that leads to this emerald city is through the process of insurance lead generation.  The following is a quick guide for new agents to getting all the leads you’ll need to take your business to the next level.

One of the most common strategies for insurance lead generation is to use a list service.  The list company will gather exhaustive information on people, their families, and their occupations.  These companies will then sell the information to you, either as a list or individually to insurance agents.  When choosing which list service to go with, do your due diligence – pick a company that has a proven track record of offering good quality, exclusive leads, and interview the staff that will be generating the information to be sure they’re qualified.   Ask experienced agents.

From there, it is the responsibility of the insurance salesperson to take this information and act on it.  You’ll need to contact the individual and use the information gathered through the list service – as well as good old fashioned sales techniques – to find out what the person needs/wants in terms of insurance.  Once you have this information, you can offer them your products in a way that makes it sound like they shouldn’t go another second without this insurance.  In order to do this, you’ve got to have extreme confidence in both yourself and your products.

However, even better than using a list service company to find the lead’s information is the ability to generate your own leads.  It’s always good business practice to keep the health and viability of your business out of the hands of other companies, so with this knowledge, you can ensure that your business is dependent only on you – not on a list service company that could go out of business at any point in time.

While there are numerous books, courses, and seminars dedicated to the art and science of generating your own leads, the following is a single tip that the best of the best in the insurance lead generation business practice each and every day.

First, be sure you have a good, professional website that has the ability to collect a prospect’s information.  Get additional exposure using an inexpensive service like LocalAdlink. Try to be as detailed as possible when collecting this information – for example, how big is their family?  What is their household annual income, and do they live in a flood zone?  What type of insurance are they looking for?  Finally, put the most effort into gathering their contact information.  Be sure your website employs the time-tested tactics of persuasion and sales copywriting to convince them to enter their information.

Remember, a lead will be very reluctant to give up their information – after all, no one really wants to be swamped by telemarketers who got their information.  Make it easy for them to call or contact you if they don’t trust submitting their information over the internet.  Consider offering them a free report or a discount on one of your products to get them to give up their information, and be sure to stress the importance of your offerings.  Eventually, you’ll find yourself flooded with contacts knocking at your door.

These tips, along with established sales and marketing strategies will open more doors for the average new insurance agent than they ever thought possible.  And while there’s no such thing as insurance lead generation that happens by itself, these tips are about as close as you’ll get.