Good News or Bad News?

somarco · 08-13-2007, 12:54 PM

I just looked at my last 100 leads and discovered that 37 of them were credited back to me. I pay $8 per lead so my net cost for all leads received is $5 each.

Or I could look at it as 37% of the leads are bum and a waste of my time.

I send out a proposal for every lead which takes all of 1 minute (if that). I make 5 - 7 phone calls before giving up and send out at least 2 follow up emails. That probably eats up another 5 minutes.

When I work I earn about $400 per hour. When I goof off I earn $150 per hour.

So the 6 minutes or so I waste on bum leads is costing me about $40 per lead.

Not sure if this is a good thing or not.

healthagent · 08-13-2007, 01:15 PM

I think it's great news. 1st of all it's great that 37 out of 100 got credited in the 1st place. Some companies like InsureMe have a 15% credit cap. Secondly, as you stated, your cost per lead goes down. Thirdly, all leads are junk. All of them - internet, telemarketed, etc...You could run commercials on the nightly news at 7pm and most would be junk. You just need a lot of junk to make it work. Home Town Quotes uses a LOT of affiliates to generate leads and they don't even approve the methods their affiliates use to generate quotes. At least they've giving credits.

tommyk · 08-13-2007, 02:19 PM

So, if you do not chase the bumb leads, then you would make $440 an hour. Is this the new math everyone is talking about? They say you need to keep track of numbers like this to make sure you are working....I have never really figured out the formula. Keep up the good work.

CHUMPS FROM OXFORD · 08-13-2007, 02:44 PM

Speaking of affiliates....I got a lead from Leadco yesterday...and LESS THAN ONE MINUTE LATER...the exact same lead comes in from Insureme.

Obviously, Leadco sold the damn thing to Insureme (affiliate).

I called Stacy (LeadCo owner) and to his defense, he apologized and said it will not happen again. He said when certain leads are undersold, they farm it out to Insureme. So if only two agents buy his lead, he was jettisoning (spellcheck used) that lead to Insureme and now I'm competing against seven agents instead of two.

I guess I believe him that he will not farm any more out to Insureme. Of course, I'm gullible.

tommyk · 08-13-2007, 03:00 PM

Chumps:

Is Leadco a good company to work with? Are the leads what you expect?
Damn I hate cold calling...

healthagent · 08-13-2007, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

Speaking of affiliates....I got a lead from Leadco yesterday...and LESS THAN ONE MINUTE LATER...the exact same lead comes in from Insureme.

Obviously, Leadco sold the damn thing to Insureme (affiliate).

I called Stacy (LeadCo owner) and to his defense, he apologized and said it will not happen again. He said when certain leads are undersold, they farm it out to Insureme. So if only two agents buy his lead, he was jettisoning (spellcheck used) that lead to Insureme and now I'm competing against seven agents instead of two.

I guess I believe him that he will not farm any more out to Insureme. Of course, I'm gullible.

It's not Leadco's fault. You can sign up to be an affiliate and several companies and just send many different spam campaigns.

TXINSURANCE · 08-19-2007, 02:03 AM

Or I could look at it as 37% of the leads are bum and a waste of my time.

I send out a proposal for every lead which takes all of 1 minute (if that). I make 5 - 7 phone calls before giving up and send out at least 2 follow up emails. That probably eats up another 5 minutes.

60 to 70% of our leads are bummed.... the other 30-40% are possibly bummed we can just never reach them to determine they are fake or not buyers.

We typically get in 300-500 new leads daily with about 3000 to 4000 outbound dials per day I can tell you all about poor conversion rates.

As to your comment I would eliminate or automate the emailing to me it is eating up too much of your time and can easily be automated by a lot of solutions on the market, it is money well spent.

If not I would eliminate it all together - email is not a closing tool it is what you send people when they blow you off on the phone (unless you send them automated of course). I think too many agents are getting the "can you email me something?" or they are telling clients they are emailing them (we never tell them we are sending them an email unless they directly ask us)

I would automated the emailing and never turn in bad leads during business hours, you are burning the clock.

My opinions of course.