How Are You Doing with Aged Leads?

[Bob Klee]

Aged Leads are as good as you make them out to be. Sure, a lot of them are bunk leads, people yelling at you to take them off your list. But some actually want to talk business. If you set up appointments well, you can make those leads work.

Jpasch101

I think I would be VERY concerned with aged leads for a couple of reasons.

I learned this week at LeadsCon that many of the aged leads are also leads that the rest of us turn down from "Affiliates" due to quality issues. Good luck with your CPA on them.

You only have 90 days from the date the lead was submitted NEW to call the person. one cannot Legally call them after 90 days! if they are on a no call list. Of course, unless you like the chance of an upset consumer asking you how you got their number and be willing to pay the penalty.

Raymond: What is the Penalty for that?

The folks Selling these "aged" leads do NOT have the consumer's or agents best interest in mind. Some of you have made the remark: how many folks who went online shopping expected to get "hammered" by agents dialing them over & over in the first couple of days?

Well how do you think they will feel after a Second round of calls?

How do you think the Consumer will feel then when you call?

Do you think this consumer will be Excited about shopping online for insurance again? We are looking at short term gain & not thinking about the Future IMHO.

Does this not concern anyone but me?

Personally, if I was a agent buying NEW leads, I'd ask up front: does your company re-sell your leads as aged leads? If so, me personally, I'd find someone else to buy leads from.

Like Raymond. I too would be interested in the CPA of these leads.

Good luck.

 

[scotte]

Jpasch101

I think I would be VERY concerned with aged leads for a couple of reasons.

I learned this week at LeadsCon that many of the aged leads are also leads that the rest of us turn down from "Affiliates" due to quality issues. Good luck with your CPA on them.

You only have 90 days from the date the lead was submitted NEW to call the person. one cannot Legally call them after 90 days! if they are on a no call list. Of course, unless you like the chance of an upset consumer asking you how you got their number and be willing to pay the penalty.

Raymond: What is the Penalty for that?

The folks Selling these "aged" leads do NOT have the consumer's or agents best interest in mind. Some of you have made the remark: how many folks who went online shopping expected to get "hammered" by agents dialing them over & over in the first couple of days?

Well how do you think they will feel after a Second round of calls?

How do you think the Consumer will feel then when you call?

Do you think this consumer will be Excited about shopping online for insurance again? We are looking at short term gain & not thinking about the Future IMHO.

Does this not concern anyone but me?

Personally, if I was a agent buying NEW leads, I'd ask up front: does your company re-sell your leads as aged leads? If so, me personally, I'd find someone else to buy leads from.

Like Raymond. I too would be interested in the CPA of these leads.

Good luck.

Right, you can only call them for 90 days! And this is different from the internet leads you sell?

 

[Bob Klee]

Nope, I did not say that.

90 days for anyone, but the guy buying the aged lead doesn't get it live & I hope the date of the lead is published as "real" vs changed for sake of the buyer of the aged lead.

Does the seller of the aged lead indemnify you if the date is wrong & you get sued?

We are seeing "live" leads that we refuse, get re-cycled & "fixed" then presented again to us by either the same affiliate or from someone else. [sure way to not get paid & FIRED by us too!]

Like I said before: we reject several hundred thousand leads a month as they don't fit our quality score. Where do those end up?

We've had leads that we call verify ourselves that the consumer submitted months ago. What does that mean? That some enterprising crook is buying Aged leads & submitting them as New leads! We've caught some doing this also & they got fired!

What I am saying is there is no "Free" lunch in buying internet leads. You get what you pay for.

Personally, I hate it when I read this by Jpasch101: "...Sure, a lot of them are bunk leads, people yelling at you to take them off your list...." I care about the consumer experience also.

What is your time worth? With a lot of them being "Junk" why are they any better than buying a list & working it like Frank S. mentions? Seems one would find a lot better gold that way. Pay 2.5-5 cents per lead vs. $1 a lead.

I have personally never worked "aged" leads so I'd love for someone that has a bit of experience to share real CPA numbers for both.

But truly, IMO, even if the aged leads had a bit higher CPA, I just don't think it is the right thing for the consumer & it "screws" the agent that paid retail.

I'm just say'in...

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

it boils down to ROI, for agents who don't have a large health book to work (flip or renewals), CPA's of $100-150, when the average fyc is $300 for a $250/mo app just dont work, so for those who buy aged leads, they need a work around.

 

[dyadvisor]

Thanks YOU GOT MY MONEY - excellent point
Insurance agents like any good business should always remember 2 easy rules/formulas

1. Return on Investment = ROI good at 4%, excellent at 6%, and outstanding at 12%
here's why---
2. Rule of 72 - divide 72 by rate of return to see years to double
Example:
Your "lead budget is $10,000 -
so (assuming leads/$10,000 yearly) only 1 purchase and
12% annual ROI
Do the Math:
In 6 years your "lead budget" is now $20,000

So YES, aged leads should be PART of your investment in yourself!!!

--hope this different analysis helps--

 

[proadvisors]

buying leads period in any form is all good and well...

Ultimately no lead is free, no lead is even cheap, you
will either spend the time prospecting and getting great leads
or you will pay money to go through a bunch of leads to
find the ones that will pay off.

I buy leads sometimes to save time but- really the best LEADS you will ever have is the one's you get by prospecting
yourself and prospecting your existing clients.

Exclusive leads cost too much, internet leads have too many other agents calling, every kind of lead has problems the
goal is too sift through the crap to find the gold. I will say this for a good sales person a live QUALIFIED person on the phone is all that matters.

At the end of the day it comes down to can you make friends fast and build value.

 

[joos]

Does anyone have advice on whether to buy aged vs. real time leads?

 

[tins]

Does anyone have advice on whether to buy aged vs. real time leads?

I'd say a lot of it would depend on how many leads you need and how fast. You have to wait around in order to get your real time leads when they come in. The quality is a bit better, but they cost more. You could buy a bulk amount of aged leads for less money. It would keep you busy and most tend to get a good ROI with them.
Each agent has different needs.

 

[djs]

The way I look at it....
Real time leads are for building a book, but its expensive.
Aged leads are for building a farm (stuff to work), but you have to farm it, or it won't get anywhere.

The value of both also depends what you are selling, or the type of lead you are buying. Health leads (and life), if they have an urgent need to get insurance, chances are, they are uninsurable. The good leads may procrastinate a bit in making a decision. On the other hand, in P&C, the urgent leads have an urgent need to be filled NOW and once that is done, the car is registered and they can let their policy lapse till next year. Or the bank is taken care of, or whatever. Aged leads tend to have less immediate value.

At the same time, you can work aged leads in between realtime leads and you can use them as x-dates with reasonable information for working as time goes on (via email and snail mail). But this is your farm and you have to seriously work it. Real time leads that didn't sell should be in this farm as well.

Dan

 

[EB34]

This is definately a concern when buying both "real-time" and aged leads for me as well. I usually door knock paid leads to get around this worry, as most are more receptive to this than a phone call. Also, I've started using Facebook as a medium to contact those prospects that I'm a little apprehensive about calling because of DNC laws. This has worked wonders for me and has proven much better than cold calling.