After paying for old leads, insurance agents are often frustrated by the frustration and headaches that cold calling causes.
This article is about Internet Leads. It includes Life Insurance Leads. Health Insurance Leads. Homeowners Insurance Leads. It has proven to be a waste of time and money for most insurance agents and brokers in the industry. EzineArticles is an amazing resource that allows for communication with the masses.
Every day, agents across the United States receive solicitations with new lead programs and offers from a variety of insurance lead providers. A friend of mine is an agent who owes money to her insurance company for leads. She must purchase a certain amount of leads each month.
Feeling pressured by your insurance boss to make more sales, i call this “The Greatest Scam of All Times” when it comes (Internet Insurance Leads). Internet leads, or leads generated online by companies, are 90% of the time bogus = garbage. Although we share these leads with one insurance company, when you call, you will find that at least 5 to 7 other people have called you before you. These leads are camouflaged in sheep clothing by Wolves.
About once in 20-25 leads are good insurance leads. To get a decent lead, you need to spend at least $350. This doesn’t include labor, time and expense for 19 to 25 leads that didn’t work out. The burden on an insurance agent who has difficulty closing sales and dealing with rejections can become overwhelming. After calling many leads, getting the big NO I am not interested, and the agent trying to maintain integrity, the agent begins to feel sorry.
What is it that these lead-generating companies for insurance are doing wrong? What’s the problem with conversion rates? Continue reading to discover more secrets.
Do you want to find out which insurance lead-generating companies are giving agents and brokers tons of useless leads? If you search for “heath insurance leads”, “mortgage leads”, and other terms, you will find that the vast majority of these companies dominate search engine results pages.
These companies are able to generate leads by buying search engine positions with (PPC), pay per click advertising. To be able to dominate search engines’ organic listings, many companies invest heavily in search engine optimization. Once they have achieved top search engine rankings, it is a good idea to hire several web masters to design lead capture pages. While many of them don’t know much about Insurance Business, they are able to generate leads by learning!
Google AdWords is a great way to get your website noticed if you have a large budget. They offer Pay Per Click (PPC) and will instantly place it at the top of search results. As long as you are a high bidder over other pay per click participants, Google AdWords can help you rank your site. Google AdWords’ average cost per click for the keyword 9life is $18-24 per click, with no guarantees. Any conversions.
These large lead-generating companies will sell these leads to brokers and insurance companies. They funnel these leads to their broker at a fraction the cost but multiply it many times, so their investment is big and chunky. How does this happen? Everyone down the line will pay $15-20 per piece. So what was initially $20 is now multiplied 10 times to make $200. Who gets the headache? Client by 7-10 agents calling them, giving them speeches on why they are the best. Then they outbid eachother.
Many companies employ different methods to generate leads. However, these tactics can be suspicious or legal, and some are straight bogus.
Natural search results are more relevant than the pay per-click links and about three links lower in the organic section. If you do a search on Google typing in (life insurance quote). The first three sites that appear are usually pay per click ads. Below you will see the natural search results. Although major search engines have made great efforts to eliminate Spam, there are still some Spam sites that remain.
These lead-generating sources can rise to the top of search engine results without having to know much about insurance policies. However, it is worth hiring SEO experts who are skilled in link building and link exchange to help you get a prominent position.
Lead brokers are companies. Another way that websites can accumulate leads to sell to the masses to their customers is through other websites. Websites with a high ranking position and a lot of traffic will be able to make a deal and sell leads wholesale at a commission. These leads are bogus. They generate leads by hacking, spamming, and buying dead lead list to redirect them to affiliate sites. The list continues, doing whatever is necessary to generate leads.
These websites, which dominated search engines for any particular term, don’t know anything about insurance or have content that is valuable to the consumer.
Screening issues and prequalifications are two other problems that insurance leads can have. However, most companies will claim that they have thoroughly screened their clients. Insurance agents and brokers know this is not true. I spoke with brokers and insurance agents who found that 85-90% of these leads were false contact information. They didn’t want to be contacted for an insurance policy. This is a lot wasted manpower. Even companies with an efficient follow-up system and the best rates in the business, dedicated staff members and assistants, and all the technological and underwriting resources they have, can still make it difficult for their lead programs to work.
What is the future of the Insurance Industry? Fact!, People are shopping online daily. These people go to these lead-generating websites and fill out an application. Next thing they know, an agent calls them in the hopes of closing a deal. The client now has the numbers they were quoted. The Insurance Agent has very little chance of closing a deal. The Insurance Agent is now chasing down a lead. He is also focused on a myth. If the client is really interested in opening a new policy and has obtained quotes, he will call his current agent or find one online. Or, he may call a friend or family member to discuss these numbers. In return, he will be referred to a local trusted insurance agent through word-of-mouth recommendation.
There you have it! Most insurance is sold through word-of-mouth referrals from trusted friends, family members and associates. Although it is not possible to sell insurance online at first, local companies can rely on this trusted resource. Your website may not be positioned in the right place for your customers to find information. This could lead to other insurance agencies intercepting your leads. It’s now about closing the deal and offering great value to your client to help them decide if you are reliable or not.
Insurance companies often say that they are best at acquiring solid leads with good intentions. If they do not have any leads, they will refund or replace them.
These lead-generating companies often blame agents and insurance brokers for not being able to provide enough information to lead consumers to close their doors. They also don’t have the same competitiveness as online insurance companies when they offer them insurance policies. They will often refuse to credit you or excuse why they won’t. This is usually because they didn’t have enough contact information, which almost never receives a response from clients.
Insurance companies that purchase these leads face a problem. It is time to compete if you have 8-10 agents calling the client at once. This is due to the competitiveness of insurance agents. Insurance agents will tell you anything to get a client to come in, sign a contract or offer a better quote. This can lead to unrealistic premiums and false claims that are based on a client’s true rating. A+, underwriting problems, and backdating all play an important part in determining a true quote for a client. This leaves a large loophole in convincing the client to complete the application, which in turn harbors corruption. After the smoke clears, and several months have passed, clients are more likely to accept the policy. This is because they’re exhausted from waiting and want it to end. The bottom line is that the client will usually accept the lowest price, and not the agent who provides accurate quotes.
This is a huge problem for honest, ethical agents that strive to offer the best value. The solution is to ensure your internet ranking with the top search engines and be visible when consumers are searching for insurance quotes. The local insurance agency is the best place to start your search.