How to Buy Good Leads for Insurance to Prosper as an Insurance Agent

No business can prosper unless it gets adequate supply of customers. Getting customers and thus improving sales figures are the basic requirements for any business. Just like any other business, insurance business also needs enough customers to close more deals and so increase profit margin. As an insurance professional, it is very important that you attract new customers. And without having leads (potential customers), you can hardly attract new customers and so improve your sales number. In fact, when it comes to insurance business, leads for insurance play a very significant role.

Tips for buying quality leads

When it comes to improving the sales figures, buying leads from any lead provider may not serve your purpose perfectly. The leads are of no use unless you can convert them into loyal customers. And, that is why you should always buy leads for insurance from the lead providers that offer quality insurance leads. Here are some effective tips that you may use while buying exclusive leads to boost up your insurance business.

• Shop around – To get the best leads, you must shop around and conduct research on at least 5 lead companies. Verify the companies’ reputation and reliability in terms of quality of the leads and customer service. Also check whether or not the company is accredited by Better Business Bureau (BBB). There are many companies that sell same leads to 8 to 10 insurance agents. Avoid such companies. Make sure you buy leads for insurance from a company that offers only exclusive leads which are not shared with other agents and thus not bombarded with a number of phone calls from several insurance agents.

• Compare quotes – Now it comes to comparing quotes provided by different lead companies. Check what different companies charge for different types of leads. But remember one thing while buying leads for insurance, cheap leads don’t always ensure quality leads. You should bargain with the rates, but you must not compromise with the quality. You may have to pay higher for good quality exclusive leads generated within 24 hours or even less and delivered to your mailbox no sooner than it is generated. In case of older leads, you must not pay higher as it is hard to convert such leads into customers. Some lead companies charge setup fees or deposit fees; you may avoid dealing with such companies.

• Check return policy – While choosing a lead provider to buy leads for insurance from, you must take care of its return policy. You may avoid the companies that don’t have good return policy for bad leads. Generally, lead providers accept up to 15% bad lead claims a month.

• Check lead delivery system – Before you assign any company to deliver you leads, check how the leads will be delivered. In most cases, the lead providers send the leads directly to the agents’ mailbox after the purchase is completed. Since you need to share your debit card or credit card information with the lead company, you should be careful about the company’s legitimacy.

To get maximum return on your investment, you should not compromise with the quality of leads. Unless the leads are good, it would be difficult for you to convert them successfully into sales. For maximum conversion rate and better closing ratio, you must respond to the leads for insurance in no longer than half an hour after getting them delivered to your mailbox.

A Brief Discussion on Different Types of Insurance Leads

Every insurance professional should have adequate and steady supply of customers to sell their products and thus thrive in their business. Unfortunately, in present economic scenario where the buying capacity of the people has decreased, getting enough customers is not an easy job. But as you know, no business can be successful unless it has enough customers, your insurance business also can’t prosper if you don’t get clients. Here the need of insurance leads companies comes into play. Nowadays, almost every insurance agent buys leads which may be or may not be turned into their clients in due course. In this article, I am going to share my knowledge of different types of online insurance leads and how to get the most out of them.

Types of insurance leads

Online lead generators offer different types of insurance leads. However, it depends on you which type of insurance leads you want to buy. Actually it depends on which types of insurance you sell. If you sell home or auto insurance, then it is so obvious that you won’t buy life insurance leads. Whatever it is, you can buy any type of leads depending on your requirement. Here are the types of insurance leads that the online lead providers sell.

1. Home insurance leads – Home insurance leads, also called as homeowner insurance leads, are the most common type of insurance leads that almost all lead providers generate and sell. Since home insurance relates to the most precious asset of one’s life - home, you should be very careful about the individual need and demand of the leads or potential clients. Being a home insurance agent, you must always buy exclusive insurance leads.

2. Auto insurance leads – Auto insurance is very popular type of insurance. Nowadays, having insurance is a must for all auto owners as well as the drivers in almost all states, by law. Therefore, it would be a bit easier for you to get quality auto insurance leads. However, you must verify whether the auto insurance leads are real-time search engine generated or not. You must not buy any repackaged or recycled leads as such leads may not help you get better conversion rate.

3. Health insurance leads – According to the new healthcare reform bill, from 2014 onwards, every American must have health insurance. Otherwise, they have to pay penalties. Therefore, it is expected that in coming days, the health insurance business will bang. So as a health insurance agent, you need to buy quality insurance leads to take advantage of the boom.
   
4. Life insurance leads – It is a different, but very essential type of insurance that everybody should buy to financially protect their dependants, when they won’t be anymore.  If you’re a life insurance agent, you must be very careful about buying life insurance leads. Your leads should be 100% exclusive. Any lead which is shared with more than 7 to 8 agents is not worth as such a lead is likely to be already bombarded with several phone calls from different agents. Such a lead may not even talk to you over phone. And as you know, when it comes of selling life insurance products, you should always have a good and fruitful conversation with prospective clients over phone to ease the selling process. Whether individual or group health insurance, you must buy leads from a good online lead generator.

5. Annuity leads – Finding this type of leads is a bit tougher if compared to other types of leads. Not all online leads providers generate or sell such leads. There are only few online lead companies that sell annuity leads. However, you must not buy annuity leads from any X, Y or Z. It would be rather better not to buy bad quality leads for the sake of selling annuity products. If you don’t find good annuity leads, you may try generating such leads by your own by filtering the life insurance leads.

These five are the most common types of online insurance leads. You can also find other types of leads like Medicare supplement leads, long-term care leads, final expense leads etc. as per your requirement. Irrespective of the type of leads, make sure you always buy quality insurance leads to give your business a real boost.

Generating Good Quality Life Insurance Leads – A How to Guide

Life insurance agents usually work as commission agents. Their earnings depend on the average value of the premiums. The more premium they collect the more income they make. Therefore, life insurance agents always intend to sell more policies and to do so they must try to continuously endorse their products and find good quality genuine life leads who are seriously interested or in need of buying life insurance. This is the basic part of a life insurance business that should be conducted on a daily basis. Closing a big life insurance deal may take many weeks or even many months, so unless life agents emphasize on closing smaller deals and that too on a regular basis, it would be difficult for them to succeed, rather survive in this highly competitive insurance market.

To thrive in insurance industry, most life insurance agents, nowadays, buy quality leads and also generate leads through local marketing and referrals as well. Here are some effective techniques using which life agents can generate productive life insurance leads and get success in their business. Being a life insurance agent, you can surely observe these tips to become a successful life insurance agent.

1. Request referrals – At the outset, you may ask your existing clients for referrals. This is a wonderful option for getting quality leads. Ask your existing customers whether or not they know people who may require ‘free life insurance review”.  If the customers are satisfied with your services and products, they are very likely to provide you referrals. They can act as the best advocates for the products and services you sell.

2. Arrange local seminars – You may arrange seminars in a hotel or senior center in your community. Don’t forget to maintain a guest register. Most life insurance providers sponsor such seminars to help their agents get community exposure. Such seminars undoubtedly help agents get recognition.

3. Become an insurance writer – Write insurance related articles and publish them in local publications. Keep the topics related to current insurance news and issues. You must use your by-line along with link to your agency website and email id to let people know you as an insurance agent and thus contact you if needed.

4. Network with people from finance industry – To get productive life insurance leads, you must network with people like tax advisors, financial planners, estate planning attorneys and stock exchange brokers. These people often have a better and comprehensive financial picture of the clients and thus they can be very good options for creating a win-win relationship.

5. Make yourself knowledgeable – You should study a lot to know more about the new as well as existing insurance products that can open up better sales opportunities. Also build up personal rapport with your clients and understand their needs. Like, you may have sold a life insurance policy to a client, but he may also need a LTC policy.

6. Buy life leads – There are a number of lead generation companies in the market. Some of them also have online presence. Most of these companies sell pre-qualified and productive life leads with good potential. You can sign up with any of these companies if your budget permits and other criteria match.

These are just six of the most effective techniques for generating productive life insurance leads. Start with them and gradually try with others.

Can You Expect To Get Your Home Insurance Leads To Call You?

Many agents earn their bread by selling only home insurance as it is one of the most lucrative lines of insurance that nowadays has become very popular amongst the insurance professionals. Moreover, the job of home insurance agent has the flexibility to schedule his own working hours and the opportunity to earn unlimited. If you’re a newbie in this field, you may start with your family and friends that own a home. And gradually extend your network of clients to the social group you belong to.

But after a couple of months or a year, you will find that there no acquaintances left to call. Then what should you do? Under such circumstances, the only option you have is to call unknown home insurance shoppers or home insurance leads and let them call you back. To let people call you back and fix appointments are quite challenging, but not impossible. Here are some tips which may help you let your leads call you back and fix appointments. 

•    Create a spreadsheet on your PC – First of all, you need to create an uncomplicated spreadsheet using your computer and maintain a log of prospects’ name and contact details you’re calling. Maintain different columns to write down the reason for calling, time of calling, date of calling and whether or not you have left any message on the spreadsheet.

•    Write down a basic sales pitch – Now create a basic sales pitch and write it down on a paper. As a new agent, you must keep it in front of you whenever you call your homeowners insurance leads. Check the pitch against this basic layout - Hello, this is (your name) from (company’s name). This is an important call but not urgent. Please call me back at (your contact number). Thank you and have a very nice day.

•    Go through the call list – Go through the call list and call the people who you didn’t get the day before, on the next day. By doing this, you reinforce a sense of urgency that you have created with your sales pitch.

•    Follow up – Call the home insurance leads back if he/she doesn’t make any contact after initial 2 calls made by you. Following up with the prospects is perhaps the most important step towards letting them call you back and fix appointments. In other words, the more you follow up the more chances you have to close more number of deals.

If you want your leads to call you back, you must observe above-mentioned tips. However, there is always a chance that the leads put your number on a ‘do not call’ list. Therefore, your calls should be run through ‘do not call’ list to scrub the numbers and remove those which belong to ‘do not call’ list.

How to Acquire Insurance leads with Maximum Potential

It has been a long time since the era of door-to-door sales. Sales and marketing industry have come a long way. Whether it is retail or insurance, sales are now simply exploding on the web. In fact, Internet has significantly changed the techniques businesses used to use to reach interested buyers and selling their products and services. With the widespread popularity and limitless utilities of Internet, generating leads has become much easier than ever before and it is even truer for insurance industry. As an insurance broker, you can generate high caliber leads for insurance by using the power of Internet.

Tips to get more numbers of prospective leads

Generating insurance leads has become lot easier with Internet though there are other ways too apart from online lead generation to generate quality leads.

1.    Buy potential leads – First of all, you need to purchase list of prospective leads from a reputed and BBB accredited lead generation company that specializes in acquiring, filtering and selling lists of leads. Like other companies, such list creators merge where there are only a very few prominent players and lots of trifling ones. You may call some of these big players and get quotes from them. Some agents buy only email addresses of the leads as this is the most inexpensive way to get quality leads. Once your online ad is developed, the cost of sending mails or having them declined is completely free or nominal, if you have recruited a specialist to do the email blast on your behalf.

2.    Gather business cards – You must collect business cards whenever you attend a business meeting or visit an organization. A good salesperson considers each business card as a potential lead that can be converted into a sale.

3.    Surf the net – Browse through the websites including online insurance forums. You will find many people looking for a reputed and trustworthy insurance professional to buy an insurance policy from. You can surely consider such individuals as good quality insurance leads with high potential. Become a member at such forums, participate in different forum threads and introduce yourself as an insurance agent. This way you’re very likely to get a number of high caliber valuable leads.

4.    Ask for referrals – You may ask your friends or family for referrals. You may also do the same with your existing customers, provided they must be satisfied ones.  Your friends or family may refer you for the sake of relationship, but a customer won’t do that unless you can satisfy him/her with your service or product.

Discussed above are just a few of many ways to acquiring precious insurance leads with good potential.

Important consideration

Before you sign up with any lead generation company, make sure you have read the agreement well before signing off on it.