To Buy Leads or Do Marketing? That is the Question...

How would you prefer to generate your next lead?

  • I buy leads and I like it that way!

    Votes: 5 31.3%
  • Traditional direct mail marketing.

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • Through online marketing campaigns.

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • I want to do both 1 & 2.

    Votes: 1 6.3%
  • I want to do both 2 & 3.

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • I want to do 1, 2, & 3.

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • Total voters
    16

syntaxninja

New Member
6
Hi Everyone,

This is my first post (besides my introduction) and I hope to contribute often to this great resource moving forward. As it is my first post, please let me know if I cross any lines.

Lets get started...

I have been in the insurance industry for about 7 years now in a number of different roles. I have worked as a producer for a P&C agency, in a call center for USAA leading an inbound sales team, and I recently left a management position at an IMO.

My point in explaining all of this is I am curious about others experience and preferences in regards to purchasing leads versus working with marketing companies to generate their own leads.

How many of you are running your own marketing campaigns or working with someone to do so? Are you doing online SEO, PPC advertising, content marketing, and traditional mail campaigns? If so, are you also buying leads in addition to these efforts?

To be totally transparent, I am looking into a couple offers I have on the table to work for a lead aggregation company and a startup marketing company that wants to focus on marketing for agents, both online and with traditional mailers.

Throughout my own personal insurance career I have both purchased leads and done marketing online and with direct mail. I was always frustrated by the quality of leads I was purchasing from the lead gen companies. So I have been leaning towards the marketing opportunity. However, maybe this is not the experience the rest of the industry is having.

The whole point of this post is to try and get an understanding of what agents prefer and think about the different solutions. The marketing company is a startup, but from my perspective they seem to be on the right track. It is also worth mentioning that the marketing company is not an IMO, so they don't require agents/advisors to move over their contracts. They are just focusing strictly on marketing.

The lead business on the other hand seems to be a necessary evil for some agents (I paid for leads when I was a producer but I never had a lot of success with them). Or maybe there are lead companies that agents love working with. The issue I have with the lead business I am talking too is that they are doing a lot of lead arbitrage. So they really aren't even generating the leads themselves and don't know the quality of the content they are selling until after it has been sold. They also aren't exclusive leads if I understood correctly.

Anyway, I appreciate any feedback I receive. I am very excited to contribute to these forums and add what I can from my experience on both the producers side and from the perspective of an IMO.

Also, if this is posted in the wrong forum please inform me and I will move it.

Thank you to everyone that responds!

CHEERS
 
Thanks for your transparency. I suspect that area is guarded and very guarded in this industry. That would explain the insurmountable insecurity and deceit in it. Too bad, because everyone could be very successful otherwise (from the one on the top to the newby). There's enough for everyone, but the cut throat has made the consumer (why there is a need) leery. Explains why more and more individuals don't want to see someone in person and those who will keep their policies are running to their banks for one. (Oops, did I say that out loud?)
 
Most of the forum is in 4th quarter and sleeping about 3 hours a night.

You are going to get a better response after 1/1

(And my answer was none of the above, so I didn't even answer)
 
As a new independent agent every dollar counts. I have gone through all my family and friends and now need to find a way to get leads. It's very difficult!!! Any suggestions on the best lead sources?!!!
 
As a new independent agent every dollar counts. I have gone through all my family and friends and now need to find a way to get leads. It's very difficult!!! Any suggestions on the best lead sources?!!!

What type of insurance do you sell (P&C, Life & Health), and are you selling commercial or personal lines?

What are you currently doing outside of networking?
 
As a new independent agent every dollar counts. I have gone through all my family and friends and now need to find a way to get leads. It's very difficult!!! Any suggestions on the best lead sources?!!!

Yeah, the best leads are the ones you generate yourself.

Learn to knock on doors or pick up the phone and call people, and work on your online lead generation strategies during the hours you can't talk to prospects.

Mix in a little networking with centers of influence, and take the time to build those relationships.
 
Hi Everyone,

This is my first post (besides my introduction) and I hope to contribute often to this great resource moving forward. As it is my first post, please let me know if I cross any lines.

Lets get started...

I have been in the insurance industry for about 7 years now in a number of different roles. I have worked as a producer for a P&C agency, in a call center for USAA leading an inbound sales team, and I recently left a management position at an IMO.

My point in explaining all of this is I am curious about others experience and preferences in regards to purchasing leads versus working with marketing companies to generate their own leads.

How many of you are running your own marketing campaigns or working with someone to do so? Are you doing online SEO, PPC advertising, content marketing, and traditional mail campaigns? If so, are you also buying leads in addition to these efforts?

To be totally transparent, I am looking into a couple offers I have on the table to work for a lead aggregation company and a startup marketing company that wants to focus on marketing for agents, both online and with traditional mailers.

Throughout my own personal insurance career I have both purchased leads and done marketing online and with direct mail. I was always frustrated by the quality of leads I was purchasing from the lead gen companies. So I have been leaning towards the marketing opportunity. However, maybe this is not the experience the rest of the industry is having.

The whole point of this post is to try and get an understanding of what agents prefer and think about the different solutions. The marketing company is a startup, but from my perspective they seem to be on the right track. It is also worth mentioning that the marketing company is not an IMO, so they don't require agents/advisors to move over their contracts. They are just focusing strictly on marketing.

The lead business on the other hand seems to be a necessary evil for some agents (I paid for leads when I was a producer but I never had a lot of success with them). Or maybe there are lead companies that agents love working with. The issue I have with the lead business I am talking too is that they are doing a lot of lead arbitrage. So they really aren't even generating the leads themselves and don't know the quality of the content they are selling until after it has been sold. They also aren't exclusive leads if I understood correctly.

Anyway, I appreciate any feedback I receive. I am very excited to contribute to these forums and add what I can from my experience on both the producers side and from the perspective of an IMO.

Also, if this is posted in the wrong forum please inform me and I will move it.

Thank you to everyone that responds!

CHEERS

Hi syntaxninja,

I appreciate your post. I know when I first started in the industry I was using direct mail for lead generation (and was told that NOTHING else works).

I think the smartest thing you can do is diversify your marketing methods - whether that means internet marketing, direct mail, telemarketing, referrals ...

Measure your results and continue to target what works for you! Sometimes what works for one agent might not work for another.

Best of luck!
 
If you found a formula that was very successful for yourself and your employees, you would share it with your competition and explain it in detail because...................

And there you have your answer. If you disagree just buy into one of any number of infomercials you see on tv. Those guys made it and so can you!

Seriously now. In my experience so far I found that:

-No one is going to help you.
-No one is going to (really) share what works for them.
-Have enough money to invest into marketing
-Diversify and try different things until you find a combo that works for you.
-Be very weary of everyone, especially FMO/GA's
-Quid Quo Pro is in full effect. No one does anything without getting something in return

One last thing, our main competition is no longer the other agent down the street, rather the same insurance carriers that you contract with.

Good luck!
 
If you found a formula that was very successful for yourself and your employees, you would share it with your competition and explain it in detail because...................

And there you have your answer. If you disagree just buy into one of any number of infomercials you see on tv. Those guys made it and so can you!

Seriously now. In my experience so far I found that:

-No one is going to help you.
-No one is going to (really) share what works for them.
-Have enough money to invest into marketing
-Diversify and try different things until you find a combo that works for you.
-Be very weary of everyone, especially FMO/GA's
-Quid Quo Pro is in full effect. No one does anything without getting something in return

One last thing, our main competition is no longer the other agent down the street, rather the same insurance carriers that you contract with.

Good luck!

Yes and no.

There are plenty of people willing to help you. However, you have to find them and sort through those that genuinely want to help and those that just want to use you.

Typically, it will be someone you aren't in competition with, or who has made it and wants someone to mentor.

The hard part is finding them and applying what they are willing to share. If you can find someone local who has made it and is looking for a protegee to mentor, you're golden! But those are extremely hard to find.

And what they want in return is cheap, but hard to come by. They want appreciation and respect. They also want to see their knowledge applied.

Of course, this is just my own experience.
 
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