Do It Yourself Direct Mail Leads

[Birdman300]

Yep. Given the volume I'm mailing I'll reduce my DM lead cost by about $10,000 in the next 12 months. I know that's chump change for some on here, but to me that's a family vacation to Disney.

To me this only makes sense if I'm NOT involved in it at all. If I'm spending any amount of my time (thinking about it counts as spending my time) on this at all then that means I'm not spending time selling which is the whole point of this.

What does an appointment setter cost?

 

[Mark]

Do you have any empirical evidence to support your hypothesis?

Yes, I've been doing direct mail since 1999. I use it from everything from recruiting agents to selling insurance. It didn't take long to learn that postcards were the way to go. I have several mailers I can share with all of you, if you like that I've used. I have shared them on here before.

 

[Birdman300]

Yes, I've been doing direct mail since 1999. I use it from everything from recruiting agents to selling insurance. It didn't take long to learn that postcards were the way to go. I have several mailers I can share with all of you, if you like that I've used. I have shared them on here before.

I would sincerely appreciate that Mark.

 

[VolAgent]

Yep. Given the volume I'm mailing I'll reduce my DM lead cost by about $10,000 in the next 12 months. I know that's chump change for some on here, but to me that's a family vacation to Disney.

That is some real money, and as long as you aren't spending $10,000 in your time to save that, it is worth it in my opinion. But if it is just busy work for you, then I'd buy the mailings and use the time to sell more and spend more time with my family.

 

[grod]

To me this only makes sense if I'm NOT involved in it at all. If I'm spending any amount of my time (thinking about it counts as spending my time) on this at all then that means I'm not spending time selling which is the whole point of this.

What does an appointment setter cost?

That depends. My appointment setter costs me dinner out twice a week. She is also my wife.

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That is some real money, and as long as you aren't spending $10,000 in your time to save that, it is worth it in my opinion. But if it is just busy work for you, then I'd buy the mailings and use the time to sell more and spend more time with my family.

It is busy work no matter how you look at it. But, it does get my lead cost down which is the reason I do it. Other intangibles that I appreciate is that the family is involved with "Dad's insurance business". It's actually fun for them and they see the fruit of their labor. I keep a score board and everybody takes a look at it to see what's going on. My oldest son actually just got his license and is entering the business.

 

[VolAgent]

It is busy work no matter how you look at it. But, it does get my lead cost down which is the reason I do it. Other intangibles that I appreciate is that the family is involved with "Dad's insurance business". It's actually fun for them and they see the fruit of their labor. I keep a score board and everybody takes a look at it to see what's going on. My oldest son actually just got his license and is entering the business.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking it. It sounds like the intangibles help make it worthwhile too.

For you, I can see it. You are doing enough volume and realizing enough savings to be justifiable. But if someone is just wanting to save $30 week and spends 6 hours to do it, then it probably isn't such a good idea. At best, that is a Saturday that could be spent with family. At worst, that is 6 hours of daylight that could have been spent selling insurance.

 

[MarkForte]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking it. It sounds like the intangibles help make it worthwhile too.

For you, I can see it. You are doing enough volume and realizing enough savings to be justifiable. But if someone is just wanting to save $30 week and spends 6 hours to do it, then it probably isn't such a good idea. At best, that is a Saturday that could be spent with family. At worst, that is 6 hours of daylight that could have been spent selling insurance.

I agree. There are a few things to think about if you are going to do your own mailing. The cost of Time. The cost of your mail operation. The cost of time spent away from your core business. Stuffing a thousand envelopes may sound easy but that can get old fast. I can't even imagine how long that will take.
What about the cost to set up your direct mail business. Unless you want to pay full first class rates which will cost you more than any mail house will charge; you have to have permits both a mail permit and a business reply permit. You will also need a new mover update software package or you are going to be sending out junk mail (more wasted money). Printing costs and machinery will also add to your overhead. Good luck in what ever you do. Go in with your eyes open.

 

[grod]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking it. It sounds like the intangibles help make it worthwhile too.

For you, I can see it. You are doing enough volume and realizing enough savings to be justifiable. But if someone is just wanting to save $30 week and spends 6 hours to do it, then it probably isn't such a good idea. At best, that is a Saturday that could be spent with family. At worst, that is 6 hours of daylight that could have been spent selling insurance.

I believe that one of the reasons many agents fail in this business is because of a poor or non existent business plan, that includes a well thought out marketing plan. Long term success is about having a sustainable process that produces predictable results. What I am doing is part of my business and marketing plan. I am currently mailing to T65. I can very easily shift to FE, Annuity, or any other product that fits into my plan.
Right now we’re probably spending about 6 hours per month not including the time it takes my wife to go to the post office. When the time is right I’ll bring in additional automation equipment. For now, we keep plugging away as is.

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I agree. There are a few things to think about if you are going to do your own mailing. The cost of Time. The cost of your mail operation. The cost of time spent away from your core business. Stuffing a thousand envelopes may sound easy but that can get old fast. I can't even imagine how long that will take.
What about the cost to set up your direct mail business. Unless you want to pay full first class rates which will cost you more than any mail house will charge; you have to have permits both a mail permit and a business reply permit. You will also need a new mover update software package or you are going to be sending out junk mail (more wasted money). Printing costs and machinery will also add to your overhead. Good luck in what ever you do. Go in with your eyes open.

I am actually already doing it quite successfully. Please read my first post on here. Most people would probably read your comments and decide it is not worth it without doing due diligence. And, reading a post and making a decision from that is not due diligence. I suggest going and talking to the Bulk Mail permit guy at the post office, look for a print shop and get competitive bids. It took me six months to find the address printer I needed, but I found and excellent buy on ebay. Get aggressive and find a bulk envelope supplier to get the price down ....etc, etc,. This may seem like a lot of work and I realize that most agents will not do it. They will conclude that this is a lot of work and that their time is best spent selling. Yep, all while surfing the internet. I did not drop what I was doing and work on getting this set up. I worked on it over the course of about a year as time permitted researching the issues and making sure, as you say, that I went in with my eyes open.

 

[midwestbroker]

I have talked to some agents who have done their own mailings with 0 return.

I like the postcard idea, but the challenge is getting the consumer to call. What are you going to say on that postcard that will get them to commit to pick up the phone. Of course getting them to complete a BRC is a commitment, but then they are not talking to a "pesky sales person."

If you could get your wife to set appointments, that would be ideal. I know some agents have used odesk and/or elance to find telemarketers.

 

[pbbaseball]

GROD hits the nail on the head. Me and him have had a few discussions about doing your own direct mail, and he took the ideas and ran with it. Its definitely very doable, but a lot to learn. Glad to see its working out well Gabriel! (get a folder/inserter and save your wife some time though!)

I've got a folder/inserter, can do postcards, and can do snap packs.... i get the best results from the envelope that's stuffed (by machine...I did them by hand for a few months, and the $1000 bucks is well spent for the machine)....

For those contracted under me, I sell the leads at cost, so I don't make anything on them, but get my little override for the efforts. Depending on the lead, and if I can get the machinable and 5 digit zip discounts, usually from 267 to 325 per thousand.

The nice part about doing it yourself, is you can play with different formats, drop when you want to, and don't have to wait for the mail to be shipped across the country. We've had lots of discussions on here about it as well, so if you read old threads, i feel like most that are on here have about all the information that you need. Good luck!