Hometown Quotes

[Pangaea]

i thought of a system:
1 - verified bad leads are credited for every agent
2 - agents have ability to mark lead as "sold", when this happens, that lead is not credited for anyone else.
3 - when a lead was sold, the selling agent could be a % off their next lead(s) (25% off) to encourage actual reporting of sales and not sandbagging. Maybe even knowing who is competing against you for the leads you are buying would be interesting. Possibly having a quality control measure: lead company calls some leads that were not sold to check if a policy was placed and by who.
4 - Price wise, I would not mind paying more for leads, I hate getting in touch with leads 2-3 weeks after only to find out it's a bad lead and I can't return it. I feel like I have been robbed.

Not sure how these would work in real world, but just simple brain storming. Interested in what others think.

You'll end up going to Germany to clear your head for five months after losing money and dealing with insurance agents (who I can only speak "highly" of) only to come back to America and open your own agency to work the leads.

That may sound extremely specific, but that's just conjecture.

 

[russelltw]

like i said pangaea, just brain storming. Maybe that's why i am working leads and not selling them!

 

[LGilmore]

the only thing about the marked 'sold" leads is that it wouldn't be long before agents just started doing that to keep the competition away. I call the guy, get ahold, talk a couple minutes and then go online and mark sold. Then the 5 other agents I compete with stop or never call. I win.

sorta like a dog marking a tree. It's mine.

Bob poses an interesting question in forming a company. I guess what I would like to see is where a lead actually came from. Bob knows I would love to see a lead company file fraud charges against an affliate for the fake leads they submit. But it isn't likely to happen as some aren't even here.

The manufactured fake leads are what's killing this aspect of the business. 5 years ago a bad lead was a kid pulling a prank, now it's a group in russia submitting real names and addresses with entirely fake personal information. Ever wonder why you get leads at 4 in the morning? What time is it there?

The online leads busines has gone in a few short years from a 75/25 split between good leads (actual people who want quotes) and bad leads to 25/75. Time and money is actually being spent rooting out bad leads when blocking the vendor may be the best solution.

I rate the value of a leads company by how often and how hard I have to fight for credits. As Bob can verify, I will dig uber deep to varify a lead is bad at times if needed. And nothing pis ses me off more than to spend the time doing this and have a person at the lead company NOT read the notes and simply state " I got a voice mail" turn down the credit. If I dig deep, ya better not just pass it off.

I am dropping another lead source for this reason. Quote Wizzard has simply had me calling almost every week to dispute credit requests. They reverse and give me credit but here's the reason. IF I spend the time, do the research, list the facts, better dam read them and respond to those notes. It's simply dismissing my efforts and why am I paying somebody to ignore me?

If you find that person says "sure I want insurance" give me the day and time you called. Maybe I was wrong, but share what you found, I'm not too proud to go back and call again. In the years I've been doing this that has happened, but not for the past 3 years as I have also gotten better about the process.

Probably taken this off task, but at least I feel better. Bob's about to get more business area from me because I do like the fact that I can b itch at Bob directly if I need to and he is a good listener and really has yet to offer any weak excuses if something isn't quite right.

 

[VolAgent]

Actually, I would fear the opposite. I mark the lead sold, suddenly everyone else starts hammering them to replace my sale.

In either case, no one wins if the agents tell the vendor the lead was sold.

 

[Bob Klee]

I agree,
Not a win-win if agent marks sold:( Integrity is hard to find in any business & it only takes a few with no integrity to spoil it for all.

LGilmore(Larry) is one of those agents that we trust when he says a lead is bad/goofy, we believe him. No use working the lead as we know he does not play games.

On the question of crediting all for one agent turning lead in bad...lots of grey area there unfortunately:( I'm at a meeting typing on a iPad so I'll wait later to address this issue.

Interested on more comments on this issue.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Here are my thought from an agent and affiliate POV...

I think most of the agents who post about leads, simply are not buying enough-and/or their market is not big enough. IE....only buying leads in their county or in their state-if they are a low volume state like IOWA or something. My friends who are writing 40-50 health apps a month are buying 30-50 shared leads a day, which translates into $150-250 a DAY in leads....many agents dont spend that amount a week in leads. If you dont, it's not a judgement, just a fact that....these guys buy leads, work em, return bad leads, buy more, work those, rinse and repeat.

So when agents complain about leads, to me it's just white noise a lot of the time.

Agents want to know the source of their leads? Ain't gonna happen, forget about it.

If agents want organic leads, no email spam, not banner ads/PPV/Media Buys, then realize ur volume will be low, you will need to pay $20 plus per organic shared lead and NO FILTERS. Got a 20 yr old college kid who is on the fence about ur health plan and a mini med with NO DEDUCTIBLE, thats the reality if you want total control....

Pangea is right on the money about opening an agency, about a yr from now I'll have enough volume to do the same for different insurance lines, as an affiliate would you rather make $7 a lead minus credits or $45-90 a lead selling them insurance?

If you have a decent budget for leads, u really need to learn to generate them yourself.

 

[LGilmore]

Yougotmymoney?

You may be overlooking that there are other leads besides health in your jab at everybody else in talking yourself up.

I wouldn't do health leads in my state simply because even at a dollar a lead, the commissions paid aren't worth it.

A matter of fact right now I have a carrier who stopped paying for small group a year ago, wanting me to run renewal for them. For FREE. There comment was well you have other business with them....

So NO, I don't shop for health leads in my state except when they are deeply discounted.

thanks.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Yougotmymoney?

You may be overlooking that there are other leads besides health in your jab at everybody else in talking yourself up.

I wasn't taking a jab at anyone, did you miss the part where I said it's not a judgement on my part if you dont write a crazy amount of business? Some people (like me) just like to take it easy....

Where did I talk myself up? What purpose would there be for that? Im not selling any services here, am I?

With that being said I do have a valid point...

I only referenced health leads, cuz it's the only kind of lead I ever bought.

 

[LGilmore]

"I only referenced health leads, cuz it's the only kind of lead I ever bought. "

And yet, you didn't say that. Life leads, which I use the services for run about 30-50 a month statewide where I live. So it really isn't possible to pull in 50 a day unless I expand my states and licensing.

This supplements other activities.

"With that being said I do have a valid point..."

Was that point being work your leads?

Ok...

 

[adamhawley]

I have to say this is one of the more interesting threads this new member has read yet! Questions for the group:

1. If you had to pick, would you rather have 1000 leads at $10 per lead with a 10 percent closing ratio, or 100 leads at $20 per lead with a 20 percent closing ratio? Remember, the question is, "if you had to pick".

2. Why don't more agents spend time on marketing their business and sourcing their own leads? Is it knowledge? Time? Lack of volume?

3. There is a trend among the big carriers to lessen their spend with the big companies on shared leads, and using those funds on PPC/SEM. Have any individual brokers/agents had measurable success with this practice?

Can't wait to hear educated answers. And, for Red Blood in particular, yes, I'm new to this forum, but not to the industry. Please spare me your ridicule.