An Insurance Business Owner who is struggling to find new customers complains that their customers are not shopping as much. It seems that nobody is buying anything right now, despite the do not call restrictions and private or unlisted numbers.
But, the same trends that swept the Banking Industry a decade ago, and which are still dominating the new and used car markets today, have made their way into the Insurance Industry. Online shopping is becoming a popular way for consumers to purchase their insurance. Unfortunately, the Insurance Industry has not been able to catch up with this trend. The fear was that online insurance sales would become a mainstream trend and that agents wouldn’t be needed to facilitate the transaction.
They would become obsolete if they adapted to online sales. Solution: “Ignore it, it will disappear.” They forgot to inform the shoppers. According to Forrester Research, the search term “Auto Insurance” is now the second most searched in the Financial Industry. It is impossible to deny the truth of the old saying that customers want what you offer. To survive in today’s market, you must use the internet to your marketing strategy.
Online marketing is possible in many ways, including by individual agents or large brokerage companies. This is a vast area, so we’ll only focus on the easiest way to get involved in the market. This is what I call “Passive/Active Marketing”. Many lead aggregators are available. Their job is to market to shoppers and get them to contact you. These companies take care of the setup and maintenance of your website, as well as SEO strategies. We’ll discuss this more in future articles. These companies will make some concessions in return for your cooperation.
First, most of the time you are in a competitive environment. You are not the only one who will receive the lead. This number should usually be five. To get to the Meat’, you need to learn how to sort through the fat. Competing with other companies on a daily basis should not be a problem. It’s something you do every day, regardless of whether it is something you realize or not. To put it another way, you must work through the “Fat” if you want to see something happen.
Today’s article will help you to learn some of my successful strategies over the years for Internet Lead Marketing. It is broken down into three steps, which I call my “Internet Lead System for Success”.
1) Contact immediately
2) Unfailing Follow-up
3) Let’s face it, it’s a numbers game.
Today I will be talking about “Immediate Contact” and why it is so important in your marketing strategy. It is also known as ‘Get Consistent Contact Strategy, or 5 Reasons to Be First to the Prospect’. Once you realize that the primary goal of your marketing strategy is to be the first to contact the consumer, it will become easier to prioritize this. After receiving the lead, you will try to contact them within 30 seconds.
A Consistent Contact Strategy is required or five reasons to be first to the prospect
1) COMMON SENSE — It makes sense and is the right thing to be doing. Your internet lead should be treated as if they were a customer walking into your office. They did exactly that. They entered your virtual office. If a customer walked into your virtual office, and you did not respond to them for 30 minutes. Try to get in touch with customers immediately.
2) THE CONSUMER visited the internet because they were busy. You don’t want them to have a 15-minute conversation if they are busy.
3) RESPOND to your prospect and return their calls promptly. It is not the same as leaving a message on your voicemail saying “I want insurance”, but you don’t have to call an Internet inquiry.
4) Don’t let an unfocused Insurance Agent ruin the customer’s experience. It took you 20 minutes just to contact the customer after receiving a lead. With a smile on your face, you get the customer on the telephone and are ready to make the best sales pitch. However, the customer tells you that they’re not interested. End of the call. You allowed another person to speak and they either gave the best presentation, or they made a sales pitch that turned the customer off to the entire experience. Didn’t anyone tell the customer that they paid me for this lead and that they should speak with me? You can’t look at it this way. Instead, think about the customer. If it took you so long to respond to me when my request was answered, I’m afraid of how long it will take to contact me when I have an actual insurance emergency.
5) MAKE YOUR NECESSARY LEAD CALL A massive mountain of objections. It’s called “Setting Competitive Trap Door”. Know your product and the products of your competitors. The benefits of your product should be communicated to the customer. The person is the most important thing. People buy from people, not prices or hard closing lines. You have made it easier to reach out to customers and explain the benefits of your product.
Your first call was all about the price. The customer doesn’t have to speak with you again, unless they want $500. You can inform the customer that if you mention that this policy has an accident forgiveness program or that it has a vanishing-deductible, that will allow you to lower their premium. This will allow you to ask the customer when they call back if there were any other people who could offer the benefits you mentioned. You will appear more valuable than your competitors, which can increase your chances of appearing to be more valuable.
Internet Marketing, as I said, is broad. Today’s article only covered one topic. I hope you find the information useful. I look forward to sharing more information to help you harness Internet Marketing’s power.
Thanks!
Bill Schlotterback
In July 2005, Bill Schlotterback joined InsWeb Corporation’s Agency Network Division. Bill Schlotterback has over 25 years of experience in personal lines insurance, including the Property, Causality and Life & Health markets. Bill’s experience includes personal production and agency development, with a focus on strategic planning. This also includes extensive online lead marketing.
