Call Center for Lead Generating

[DavidBlumenthal]

I have a running call center with 10 agents.
We’re specializing in generating Leads for one industy.
It’s been working out pretty good for us so far , however I don’t like that field and would like to get into something different(Selling something that actually benefit the people).

I was thinking about doing the same thing for Insurance companies, generating those leads for Auto/health or anything else in that niche.

My questions:

What’s considered a lead?
A person who agreed to get a quote?
A phone appointment I set between the potential customer and the Insurance agent?
Hot transfer?
An actual physical appointment?


Working with an insurance agency do you usually send them leads in their area (Zipcode,city)
Or they can actually do it through the phone in different state ?
Is there enough demand for Insurance leads generated by call center ?
or are those considered low quality leads ( of course a lot of it depends on the way the lead was generated , agent’s speech , etc’)
Can I grow this business , supplying 100 leads a day or more to companies ?
What can I charge for a lead , of course it depends if it’s for individual , family , corporate etc’ and if it’s FE , health , auto etc’ but a range would be a good start for me .

Anybody who has experience in this field is welcome to give his input .

 

[Rook]

What industry are generating leads in now?

 

[DavidBlumenthal]

What industry are generating leads in now?

Online trading .

 

[fearsback]

I have a running call center with 10 agents.
We’re specializing in generating Leads for one industy.
It’s been working out pretty good for us so far , however I don’t like that field and would like to get into something different(Selling something that actually benefit the people).

I was thinking about doing the same thing for Insurance companies, generating those leads for Auto/health or anything else in that niche.

My questions:

What’s considered a lead?
A person who agreed to get a quote?
A phone appointment I set between the potential customer and the Insurance agent?
Hot transfer?
An actual physical appointment?


Working with an insurance agency do you usually send them leads in their area (Zipcode,city)
Or they can actually do it through the phone in different state ?
Is there enough demand for Insurance leads generated by call center ?
or are those considered low quality leads ( of course a lot of it depends on the way the lead was generated , agent’s speech , etc’)
Can I grow this business , supplying 100 leads a day or more to companies ?
What can I charge for a lead , of course it depends if it’s for individual , family , corporate etc’ and if it’s FE , health , auto etc’ but a range would be a good start for me .

Anybody who has experience in this field is welcome to give his input .

Hello David,

I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

A lead is somebody interested in either buying and insurance policy or at least sitting down and discussing their options. This differs per the type of insurance.

Health agents will want it in their area while P&C agents will spread in to more zip codes that generate higher premiums for them. P&C can do everything through the phone and e-mail.

Leads through a call center can be useful but there is so much competition out there the pricing has come down drastically and I don't know if you will be able to turn the profit you need.

Leads range depending on the type of lead. If it is an exclusive home or auto lead they were going for about $20-$30 per lead, I have seen these prices coming down to about $10-$20 per lead for exclusive. Shared leads go for about $3-$12 per lead. A lot of these prices depend on filters for example an auto lead with a dui and three accidents would go for $3 while a family with 4 vehicles and no accidents would go for the higher amount.

Hopefully this helps a little bit. Keep in mind I am a Florida P&C agent as that is where my expertise lies on the lead questions you had.

Thank You

 

[DavidBlumenthal]

Hello David,

I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

A lead is somebody interested in either buying and insurance policy or at least sitting down and discussing their options. This differs per the type of insurance.

Health agents will want it in their area while P&C agents will spread in to more zip codes that generate higher premiums for them. P&C can do everything through the phone and e-mail.

Leads through a call center can be useful but there is so much competition out there the pricing has come down drastically and I don't know if you will be able to turn the profit you need.

Leads range depending on the type of lead. If it is an exclusive home or auto lead they were going for about $20-$30 per lead, I have seen these prices coming down to about $10-$20 per lead for exclusive. Shared leads go for about $3-$12 per lead. A lot of these prices depend on filters for example an auto lead with a dui and three accidents would go for $3 while a family with 4 vehicles and no accidents would go for the higher amount.

Hopefully this helps a little bit. Keep in mind I am a Florida P&C agent as that is where my expertise lies on the lead questions you had.

Thank You

Thank you for giving me more information about this subject !

What is an exclusive lead ? a lead i will only generate to one Insurance agent?
Also what about Car insurance ? will the Insurance agent be able to write a policy by phone or rather meet with a client for that?

How much can i charge for a live transfer or phone appointment for a person who's willing to get a quote and possibly change his Auto insurance policy.

 

[EugeneM]

from a call center point of view generating leads for personal lines is crap - soliciting homes is bull$#^%# High volume - low value did I mention needy and rude? Unless your outsourcing to the philipinos or chinese its gonna be hard to compete in this arena as that is what most of the personal lines call centers do.

From what I learned running a call center "in america" makes the most sense for commercial lines because of the much higher return per appointment.
This is just my experience - I could not find a winning formula selling personal lines leads @ 12$ a pop and hiring and operating in America. I commend the companies that live on that. If you are wondering I was doing 80+ commercial appointments a week when I was doing my thing.

You can do any state but I suggest staying away from low hit ratio states like NYC, NJ and CA. The demand for guaranteed pre set appointments is huge and you can build a call center around it. You will find that the best clients have multiple producers - the agency owner will buy a campaign and distribute them to his team. If you can get in an do a good job they will keep you around for a long long time.

 

[DavidBlumenthal]

Thanks fearsback & EugeneM for shading more light on this industry !

My call center agents are ex-american(that's their first language) but my costs are cheaper than a US business (not as cheap as india/Philippines tho).

"I could not find a winning formula selling personal lines leads @ 12$ a pop and hiring and operating in America. " - $12 per lead is ok but it all depends how many can a call-center agent do in 8 hours a day(if it's around 10 a day then i can live with that.

I also believe i can set appointments between the customer and the insurance agent but then again it depends how many can an agent do per day and how much each appointment will be sold for.
Even harder to customize my dialing list for a specfic zipcode/city , thus i thought working with a big insurance agency giving them leads all over the country but i am really not sure if that's how this industry is working.

 

[EugeneM]

With commercial you will need to do specific campaigns for your customers. You cannot get appointments and then try to find buyers - this is the wrong order. You need to get the client then create a campaign for them in their area. This said they will be paying for a portion of the campaign upfront - industry standard. Then as the appointments roll in they pay the remainder of the campaign.

They are very very picky about what kind of appointments they get. Pic the right SIC right employee counts - It takes collaboration with your client so that you generate the right kind of appointments for them.

An average caller will get 1-2 appointments/day in a decent area. If you focus on 25+ employees and guarantee the appointments you will find no problem selling each appointment over 100$ I had some agents requesting very specific and qualified appointments - their appointments were close to $200.
I would be happy to share my story and specifics on price point and hit ratios if you want.

Just PM me ill give you my cell.

 

[DavidBlumenthal]

Thank you EugeneM sent you a pm .

I rather focus on large areas and campaigns also I believe it would be easier for my agent to set appointments with individuals rather than a businesses , Although if each agent can close 2 of those $100 a day , I would do good , I just think it would be harder to do this on a daily basis , finding enough businesses and passing the gatekeeper , rather than calling individuals .

 

[cminer]

You're calling for online trading, yikes that has to be a rough way to make a buck.

I tried a few call centers to set appointments for me years ago but honestly always went backwards on them. They usually offer some sort of free info or something as a hook and then slide in the appointment, charge the agent $20 for it, and then when you show up they say they had no idea anyone was coming and they only wanted the free info lol.