InsuranceLeads.com Blog by Insurance Agent

When you cold-call individuals and businesses with pitches geared towards any number of insurance plans, anticipating the response can be nerve-wracking at best. There are ample opportunities for people to show their not-so-friendly side when they're confronted with a product or service offering that they're not at all interested in or for which they have no use. The importance of using targeted prospects for leads is obvious, and the expense of purchasing such leads is usually well offset by the savings realized through not having to sift through uninterested prospects. When you expand this idea to encompass the the concept of leads contacting agents directly, incredible things can happen; sales conversions, for one thing, are likely to skyrocket. But there's even more value tucked away in the ability of prospects to leave personal messages on their lead forms, a feature of InsuranceLeads.com that I've found to be of immense value.

Picking up a live hot transfer or directing leads to my web properties are often able to pull in sales rates that still manage to surprise me, even after the couple of years I've worked with InsuranceLeads.com. When leads make the move to contact agents, they're far more likely to be receptive to discussing insurance plans and to closing a deal. But it's not always convenient to receive leads through these methods, and there are plenty of applications for which “regular” leads are best. I order a fair amount of leads for delivery via email and upload availability each month, and I use these for various campaigns and strategies. The ability to have a quote ready before the prospect is contacted is a major perk, and is greatly aided by the thoroughness of information gathering performed by InsuranceLeads.com during its leads generation processes. When a prospect understands that you've already made yourself familiar with their particular needs and circumstances, they can quickly be persuaded to let you custom-tailor a plan or package, and from there, sales are extraordinarily easy to make.

But my favorite feature of the leads information delivered, however, is definitely the special comments section that's attached to the bottom of each lead read-out. Prospects are able to leave a comment or note during their completion of InsuranceLeads.com questionnaires, and while these are sometimes left blank, I often receive leads providing a vital piece of information or personal note that lets me incorporate something unique in my pitch, making prospects feel as though they're talking to a friend. I'm sure I don't have to explain how beneficial this can be for sales –you can practically breeze through the rapport-building stage and lead right into the consultancy and offer of solution.

I've gotten leads in a lot of formats in the past, and have never been quit as happy with the precision and thoroughness of the related information as I've been with my leads from InsuranceLeads.com.

I can hardly imagine that anyone would consider it a bad thing, but one of my favorite things in the professional world, as well as in life in general, is the experience of getting extra functionality out of an already useful product or process. I've found may areas ripe for being used this way within the context of insurance, and a lot of them can be attributed to my choice in leads sourcing. InsuranceLeads.com has helped me to accelerate my insurance business in a variety of ways, even though its main goal is a fairly simple one: to provide good leads in a number of different lines of insurance. With anything that offers a variety of functionalities, it's still of the utmost importance that the basic service is complete and competent, and I've always found these qualities at InsuranceLeads.com. They're responsible for the core of the sales conversion ratio improvement I've been experiencing since I joined. But the extra incentives are pretty incredible in their own right.

The insurance agent resources section at InsuranceLeads.com is one of the most complete and in-depth guides to insurance sales that I've seen online. You might think that a company whose focus is on sourcing the best leads out there in high volumes has little time or interest in providing advice that actually makes sense and is driven towards helping clients improve their strategies. But the resource section will definitely change your mind. I've come across many tips and tricks in this section as I've worked my way through all of the site's offerings, and I've implemented a lot of the ideas that have been suggested. A major move for me was incorporating web marketing tactics to use for my prospects who preferred to be contacted by email.

I knew that I wanted to put together a newsletter, as I wanted to be able to offer my online prospects something unique and useful and that wasn't just another email. There is an overwhelming wealth of material touching on how to create good newsletters on the web, and I was quickly buried in a sea of suggestions and lists of rules for doing it right. But when I came across the tips for insurance newsletter building at InsuranceLeads.com, I found advice that made sense, that was concise, and which seemed especially targeted for the kind of newsletter campaign I wanted to run.

This wasn't the first or the last time I found something of great use in the resources section at InsuranceLeads.com, but it is one of my best memories of the site. I've been running my own newsletter for just under a year now, and have picked up a lot of follow-up prospects and even gained referrals with the result. Like anything worthwhile, it requires continual re-thinking and re-organizing, but the basic principles remain the same, just as they were when I saw them at InsuranceLeads.com. It's an extra use I didn't expect but greatly appreciate.

If one of the most crucial aspects of a leads source is the volume of leads that it is able to offer, an equally important consideration is the variety of leads that can be obtained from the same firm. The ability to order a large number of leads is essential when you're seeking to expand your operation, but without the benefits of variety, you may be working blindly, missing out on opportunities to refine and specialize your strategy. I've always been deeply interested in working with several different lines of insurance, as I like the challenge that it poses and feel that it helps keep my work fresh and interesting. But it's also able to help me identify my own strengths and weaknesses as an agent –something that's difficult to do if you simply perform the same type of task over and over in endless repetition.

A primary objection to the practice of selling multiple lines of insurance is that an agent would have to spend a lot of time, and possibly a lot of money, sourcing the many different types of leads needed to realize a worthwhile campaign. This is certainly a valid issue, and agents who are reluctant to work with multiple lines have probably found themselves up against this difficulty in the past, or have at least imagined the horror of having to conduct a leads generating effort multiple times for a single day of selling. The answer to this problem, which isn't really a problem after all, is to work with a major national leads source like InsuranceLeads.com that offers leads in many different areas.

I've used InsuranceLeads.com for sourcing prospects who have indicated and been verified for their interest in home, auto, health and disability, long term care, burial, life, cancer, and business insurance policies, as well as annuity plans. If you've worked with any of these lines in the past, you're probably aware that some are associated with especially difficult to find leads. In such cases, it can be detrimental to a campaign to have to source hard to get leads for different lines from other firms and methodologies, as this can greatly influence your data and make it hard to recognize what you're doing right and where you need to improve when you perform regular assessments.

Because of the availability of multiple kinds of leads, all of which offer various free and fee-based filters, I'm able to rely on the data I collect and keep all of my InsuranceLeads.com prospects together in a single file. From time to time, when I take a day or two off to look at the numbers and analyze what's working, I can consider my performance across the board with my InsuranceLeads.com prospects. I know that the same degree of quality, checked with the same thorough quality controls, can be expected from each line. It's my own personal data insurance plan, and one I without which I wouldn't want to work.

Looking for a magic formula in any industry or line of work can be a fool's errand. Most experts in a given field will tell you that the key to success is to think well, work diligently, and be consistent, and this is largely true. In the world of insurance, this time-honored advice certainly applies, but that doesn't mean there aren't certain strategies and arrangements that can greatly accelerate returns and help an agent catalyze their success. You might come across several different “magic formulas” when looking for ways to improve your insurance business; I know I've found a multitude myself, and some are much more helpful than others. But the formula I've found to be most effective, and certainly most exciting, is the combination of using high converting leads that also help you get referrals. Like an extra set of cherries on top of an already eye-popping ice cream sundae, referrals and high converting leads in combination can make any sales strategy especially sweet.

This formula isn't free, like so many things in life that signal excellent quality. I've re-couped my investment several times over though, and have no reservations about putting some cash out there to help my career as an agent take flight. The cost is for the leads themselves, of course. There are those who will suggest that it's possible and preferred to go out searching for your own high-quality leads, but without the power of a huge staff and plenty of money for marketing and research, you'll probably find yourself with some slightly above-average leads that cost several times more than their worth given the time and effort expended to track them down.

I use InsuranceLeads.com for my high quality leads, and have never regretted the decision to work with the filtered, pre-verified, and genuinely interested leads generated by the firm. Not only are the prospects with which I talk enthusiastic about being contacted, helping the course of high conversion rates, but they're often so thrilled with being personally catered to that they refer me to their friends and family. This works wonders for my reputation as an agent locally and also boosts my sales through the roof, making each successful sale significantly more valuable. Though I'm happy with the rates I pay for leads at InsuranceLeads.com, the added bonus of picking up referred prospects of equal quality and value for free makes the initial expense seem laughable.

As you go through the course of your own career, you may well discover your own magic formula adapting your strategies to suit what works and to discard what doesn't. But if you're looking for a way to truly rock your sales rates and get the most value possible out of leads sourcing, I challenge you to try out this magic formula. No matter what stage you're in as an agent or broker, it's bound to help you make a few giant leaps.

If you take a look at any of the large number of tips and advisory sites available today for insurance agents, you'll probably come across some lists of qualities that are imperative if you want to establish yourself as a quality seller or move an insurance business up the many rungs of the community ladder. One of the most important qualities, in my opinion, and I'm sure in the opinions of many others more experienced than I, is credibility. Credibility is a vital element of being successful with any sort of interaction with the public; you'll see it in politicians, PR firms, and especially in salespeople, of every field and sector. The question of how to establish credibility could be a field of study all in its own, as there are many facets that must be considered in order to achieve a useful understanding of the whole. But as far as insurance goes, there are some straight-forward steps that any agent can make to improve their credibility. While it might not seem like the most logical choice, working with a reputable, recognized leads source is an excellent way to improve your credibility as an agent –something I've discovered first-hand through my affiliation with InsuranceLeads.com.

Through sourcing leads at a renowned leads generation firm, I've been able to realize greater credibility both from my prospects and from my local colleagues, both of which hold great potential for improving sales. When I work with the leads I buy from InsuranceLeads.com, I know I'm getting only prospects who intentionally signed up to receive a quote or extra information, and that they weren't baited with the promise of being included in a sweepstakes or winning some sort of prize. They're genuinely interested in the products that I have to offer, and I'm able to establish myself as a professional, and moreover, helpful agent that's meeting their needs, rather than a nuisance. On the local scale, this helps my business name become associated with positive experiences.

A significant percentage of the insurance agents and brokerages in my town have worked with InsuranceLeads.com in the past themselves, and in general the company has a high reputation in the professional community (which helped drive me towards signing up with InsuranceLeads.com in the first place). When my colleagues hear that I'm getting leads from this major, long-established company, they tend to open up to me about their own experiences and practices, and I'm able to easily establish rapport and make potentially lucrative networking connections.

With my prospects as well as the agents I know locally, my credibility has gained a lot of credit through my use of InsuranceLeads.com. I still have to maintain a good professional attitude, follow up on my promises, and remain consistent, of course, but I'm well aware that I'm far ahead of where I'd be without the ability to lean on the leads giant.

There are plenty of mistakes that I think tend to be made by both new and experienced insurance agents and brokers. Some of them are fairly complex, and it can take a lot of effort or ingenuity to get around them, or it may simply be true that it's necessary for an agent to make their own mistakes along the way in order to build up a reputable, well-functioning insurance business. But I'd like to think that there are pitfalls that everyone can avoid, so long as they're well informed ahead of time. One of those pitfalls that might see its decline as InsuranceLeads.com gains momentum and takes on more clients is the issue of volume.

Whether an agent or broker is just starting out or is well established, whether the status quo in a given office is working with a lot of leads on a daily basis or only a few from time to time, the need for quick accessibility to volume of leads is universal. This might seem counterintuitive at first, and I think that's why so many agents (including myself, in the early days) make the mistake of ignoring volume as they grow. Though acting and spending conservatively can be valuable qualities for an insurance business, they can effectively ruin a growth spurt and send an independent agent or an entire office plummeting back towards the baseline when a bit of foresight could have facilitated some major profit potential.

Before I switched to InsuranceLeads.com as my primary leads source, I experienced a small jump in sales conversions; this was especially exciting as I had been going through a rough period with my work and was starting to doubt whether I'd be able to take my business of the ground. As I reveled in my report making and kept at the leads I received, however, I didn't check to see whether I'd be able to secure a higher volume of the leads that had worked out. When I was ready to amp up my income and devote more hours to selling (something for which I turned my daily schedule and overall business structure upside down), I found that I was unable to get more leads of the same type and quality in a steady stream. A few more here, a couple there, were made available, and at a premium price which actually raised with my obvious desperation. It was an untenable situation, and after kicking myself over it for a bit, I decided to get out.

As a result, one of the things that most attracted me in the features at InsuranceLeads.com was the company's volume capabilities. As one of the largest online insurance leads sources in the United States, the company looked well-positioned to help me wrench up my operation by increments as needed. And this was certainly the case; I've made up the cost of my old mistake several times over.

Let me give you an idea of how my average morning used to work when I first started out in insurance sales. I'd wake up, lazily make myself some breakfast, and park myself in front of the computer, spending a couple of hours reading insurance blogs and other resources, looking to see if a new and bright idea would be waiting for me in someone else's description of their own ho-hum morning as an agent. Unsuccessful, I'd tell myself it was time to buckle down and get to work, and I'd go about looking for leads. I had a few stand-by sources that I used on a fairly frequent basis: mostly re-sold, recycled leads on the cheap, that were advertised as being specially priced for being in obscure demographic groups (I've since filed a few complaints with the operators). I also did a lot of work entirely from scratch; I'd look for people who had recently purchased new vehicles or homes, or for relatives of those who I knew had fallen ill. To say the least, each day it proved to be a major strain to get a decently-sized collection of leads, and by the time I had finished with my sourcing, I barely had any energy or enthusiasm left for selling.

That daily picture is a far cry from the type of mornings I've been having for the past few years. Now, when I wake up, I instantly get into my selling mode, because I know that there are a number of pre-verified, categorized, and well-organized leads already waiting for me. When I began using InsuranceLeads.com to source the bulk of my leads in the many lines of insurance that I sell, I found that I didn't have to sort through a lot of disinterested or stale leads such as those I had been receiving from other companies, nor did I have to sweat through several hours of hand-picking prospects in an attempt to recover some of the quality I had lost. Instead, I could have as many leads delivered as I wanted, sent as hot transfers to my phone, through email, or made available for me to use in uploading. After a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, I'm ready to go through my list and start closing deals –something I can comfortably and enjoyably do until it's time to call it quits for the day.

Every now and then I look back on the difficulty I had with sourcing leads at the beginning of my insurance career, and while I can take it as a learning experience, and be grateful for the lessons that I learned during that period, I wish I'd made the move to InsuranceLeads.com a little sooner. Seeing the resulting profits makes it a bit hard to disregard the extra cash I know I'd have. Hopefully my hindsight will help a few others avoid the same mistake.