- 11,280
Sales Wolf could probably write 1mil a week.....thats alot a dough
Telemarket Business Owners vs. Internet Leads
- Thread starter hbkmat
- Start date
- 14,809
SalesWolf learned the secret to all of this - generate exclusive leads. With rare exception I have not seen agents make it in this biz on shared leads. Generating your own leads is no easy task.
I had a broker friend of mine who unfortunately passed away last year in his late 50's due to cancer. Over the course of 18 years he build a huge agency selling nothing but health insurance and his phone just rang constantly. We met often and he told me the key was to build up a local reputation and slowly re-invest in local advertising. He had an ad in every local publication and sponsored every local event.
He told me when I was buying leads that if I wasn't careful than 10 years from now I'd be picking up the phone and calling leads. Well, it's 3 years later and I'm picking up the phone and calling leads.
Now that I have a nice base of renewals I'm switching to a 100% complete community focus with ads, events and sponsorships. I do not want to be here 5 years from calling any lead.
I had a broker friend of mine who unfortunately passed away last year in his late 50's due to cancer. Over the course of 18 years he build a huge agency selling nothing but health insurance and his phone just rang constantly. We met often and he told me the key was to build up a local reputation and slowly re-invest in local advertising. He had an ad in every local publication and sponsored every local event.
He told me when I was buying leads that if I wasn't careful than 10 years from now I'd be picking up the phone and calling leads. Well, it's 3 years later and I'm picking up the phone and calling leads.
Now that I have a nice base of renewals I'm switching to a 100% complete community focus with ads, events and sponsorships. I do not want to be here 5 years from calling any lead.
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- 596
hbkmat-
Here is what I would do if in your situation (caveat: I've never tried internet leads and as of now, don't plan on it):
1. Get a list of small business owners with the owners name (reference usa, go leads, ect)
2. Set a daily contact goal for telephoning small businesses, pick a number between 20 and 30. A contact is a business owner or decision maker who has time to talk.
3. Track you numbers each day: Dials, Contacts, Appts Set, Qualified Suspects added to the pileline, sales. This will give you confidence in what your doing. Don't put any weight into your numbers for at least 90 days.
4. Put qualified suspect information on a white note card, get a file box with day and month tabs, and put the prospect in for follow-up at the appropriate time. Consider this box deferred compensation, most won't do anything, but many will.
5. Call and keep the script simple, "John, I'm a health insurance broker and I called hoping to find out what your doing currently?" Then shut up and wait for an answer, notice I didn't say anything about group or individual. Close by asking if they'd be interested in looking at options to reduce their premium.
6. Look at what they have and see if you can do anything better. For individual, you can probably get by on your own. For group, collect a census and plan information, then call in a mentor (find an independent agent in the area you can trust, most will welcome the opportunity) to close the case. Ask alot of questions, after a couple months, you'll probably be ready to fly on your own. Consider the split commissions the cost of gaining an education.
7. As your income grows, consider reinvesting in the business by hiring telemarketers to leverage your time.
8. Keep reading and learning. Your closing ratio will increase as you learn more techiniques, especially in the group market. I talk plan design more than price, my closing ratio went from 1 in 5 in the group market to about 1 in 3. Study and prepare cases before or after the "money hours", typically 8am to 4pm. During that time, see people or fight to see them.
9. Set an appointment with yourself from 8am to 10am each morning, to make calls, don't compromise this and you will be successful.
Hope that helps.
Here is what I would do if in your situation (caveat: I've never tried internet leads and as of now, don't plan on it):
1. Get a list of small business owners with the owners name (reference usa, go leads, ect)
2. Set a daily contact goal for telephoning small businesses, pick a number between 20 and 30. A contact is a business owner or decision maker who has time to talk.
3. Track you numbers each day: Dials, Contacts, Appts Set, Qualified Suspects added to the pileline, sales. This will give you confidence in what your doing. Don't put any weight into your numbers for at least 90 days.
4. Put qualified suspect information on a white note card, get a file box with day and month tabs, and put the prospect in for follow-up at the appropriate time. Consider this box deferred compensation, most won't do anything, but many will.
5. Call and keep the script simple, "John, I'm a health insurance broker and I called hoping to find out what your doing currently?" Then shut up and wait for an answer, notice I didn't say anything about group or individual. Close by asking if they'd be interested in looking at options to reduce their premium.
6. Look at what they have and see if you can do anything better. For individual, you can probably get by on your own. For group, collect a census and plan information, then call in a mentor (find an independent agent in the area you can trust, most will welcome the opportunity) to close the case. Ask alot of questions, after a couple months, you'll probably be ready to fly on your own. Consider the split commissions the cost of gaining an education.
7. As your income grows, consider reinvesting in the business by hiring telemarketers to leverage your time.
8. Keep reading and learning. Your closing ratio will increase as you learn more techiniques, especially in the group market. I talk plan design more than price, my closing ratio went from 1 in 5 in the group market to about 1 in 3. Study and prepare cases before or after the "money hours", typically 8am to 4pm. During that time, see people or fight to see them.
9. Set an appointment with yourself from 8am to 10am each morning, to make calls, don't compromise this and you will be successful.
Hope that helps.
- 14,809
I also wouldn't hang your hat on any one marketing source. Over just the short period of time from 2004 to now internet leads have gone up on cost and down in quality. What will they be like 5 years from now? Dunno. I'd hate for them to be my sole source of business when they go to $25 a pop for shared leads and the only people who can afford to buy them are call centers, discount card companies and Ehealth.
Same with telemarketed leads - there are only so many small business owners you can call. You just need a combination of three marketing methods.
I am indeed seeing that I've been playing my cards all wrong. 4 years into this and today I'm gonna be picking up the phone and calling leads. If I would have played it correctly today I'd be taking calls all day.
Same with telemarketed leads - there are only so many small business owners you can call. You just need a combination of three marketing methods.
I am indeed seeing that I've been playing my cards all wrong. 4 years into this and today I'm gonna be picking up the phone and calling leads. If I would have played it correctly today I'd be taking calls all day.
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- Thread starter
- #15
- 14,809
I think a site is a great help not only for legitimacy and running quotes but also for generating leads.
Re: Telemarket Business Owners VS Internet Leads!!!
I've got two friends who have been selling cars and making a decent living in California for the last 26 years. The only thing they do is local advertising. They've been running the same ad in one paper for as long as I can remember. The ad simply says B&T Auto... They probably run 5 of these small classified ads consistently, and that's it. I believe they've built up a reputation for good service and people know where to find them when looking for a used car.
It works.
I've got two friends who have been selling cars and making a decent living in California for the last 26 years. The only thing they do is local advertising. They've been running the same ad in one paper for as long as I can remember. The ad simply says B&T Auto... They probably run 5 of these small classified ads consistently, and that's it. I believe they've built up a reputation for good service and people know where to find them when looking for a used car.
It works.
jhenderson99
Expert
- 50
Need some advice please....
I started a dialer program this past week. I'm not having the success I've seen here on this board. I get about 60 dials an hour and try to do 2 hour in the AM and 2 in the PM. I'm getting at best 1 lead per hour. I hear some folks are getting 10-15 leads a day???
The obvious I will probably hear is it is probably me. O.k. no problem there. I keep my script simple: Hi this is blah blah calling from blah blah and I was calling to see if we could give you a quote on your health insurance and help lower your cost? Quick, simple.
The second component would be my list. I got one of the 2008 business list disk with the SIC code. At first I was just calling everyone. I got a lot of bad numbers and not interested's. On Sat. I just filtered out and called just the blue collar trades and only called for 1 1/2 hours. I got a better response from this.
Please let me know your advice or suggestion to up my lead qty. Thanks in advance......
I started a dialer program this past week. I'm not having the success I've seen here on this board. I get about 60 dials an hour and try to do 2 hour in the AM and 2 in the PM. I'm getting at best 1 lead per hour. I hear some folks are getting 10-15 leads a day???
The obvious I will probably hear is it is probably me. O.k. no problem there. I keep my script simple: Hi this is blah blah calling from blah blah and I was calling to see if we could give you a quote on your health insurance and help lower your cost? Quick, simple.
The second component would be my list. I got one of the 2008 business list disk with the SIC code. At first I was just calling everyone. I got a lot of bad numbers and not interested's. On Sat. I just filtered out and called just the blue collar trades and only called for 1 1/2 hours. I got a better response from this.
Please let me know your advice or suggestion to up my lead qty. Thanks in advance......
- 9,744
In order to make any sort of accurate comparison, we first have to have a definition of what a lead is.
- 14,809
"....calling to see if we could give you a quote on your health insurance?" I'm surprised you're even getting lead an hour.
