Self generating leads are virtually a lost cause in the insurance industry, but many new agents like to at least try them to see why they do not work.
“When you’re just starting out in the insurance business, many new or newer agents still feel they can find leads on their own,” says Clelland Green, RHU, CEO, benepath.net. “And that may be the case. However, agents with experience can certainly tell them that chasing cold and warm leads is a waste of time and money and very frustrating. Buying leads is actually less expensive than self-generating them.”
Lead generation companies are able to offer leads relatively inexpensively due to their ability to generate volume – something a lone agent is not physically or financially capable of doing, unless that is all they do, at the risk of not having time to make sales. Lead generation companies are able to offer a range of prices, depending on what type of leads an agent is interested in; ranging from shared leads to exclusive leads to aged leads.
“Some lead generation companies sell shared leads, a ‘major’ source of revenue for them because many agents pay for the same leads,” adds Green. “The only entity making money in that equation is the lead generation company, not the agent who bought the shared leads. Buy exclusive to you only leads if you want to make sales.”
When buying leads, use a marketing mindset, not a consumer frame of mind. Marketing is about building a business, and in turn generates more business. A consumer frame of mind focuses on cost only, not on the future of the business.
To build their businesses, agents need to keep an eye on how to build their agency, customer-by-customer. It is about working with solid leads to generate clients who remain loyal customers, not one-off expenses for shared leads that peter out once they have been worked.
“Very few agents today have the enormous amount of time required to generate their own leads,” says Green. “Nor do they have the money and patience to chase unverified, unscreened and unqualified leads that go nowhere. Most prefer to purchase pre-qualified, pre-screened and verified leads from a lead generation company – leads to do convert when worked correctly.”
Buying fresh leads is buying smart leads. So buy leads that have been pre-vetted for the potential to convert from a lead to a paying customer. Watching the bottom line in building an insurance agency involves spending marketing dollars where they count the most.
