Lead Service - Shhhhh, Top Secret!!!

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"For example, when Vimo first came out with Live Transfers everyone thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread."

Actually, and I could be mistaken...most of us stayed away. I never considered them at the prices they were charging.

Spellcheck was used in this post. For more information on Spellcheck, and how you can add it to your website for under $20 per month...please visit http;//www.chadgreenway.com

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Ah...Ok.

 

[GreenSky]

"From your mouth... to God's ear" as my old "bubbie" would say.

Rick will be here soon... and the usual crap will start.

Al (the forum ***)
Preserve your memories

You're right Al.

Rick

 

[djs]

Since this thread is philisophical and not about any lead source in general, I think you've been given some good philisophical advice.... there is no magic bullet.

Whatever marketing scheme you use, whether it's internet leads, seminars, direct mail, networking events, yellow page ads, whatever.... they all require a LOT of work, a lot of dedication.

The quality of leads (especially internet leads) varies throughout the year and also varies based on geography. In general though, the quality of internet leads is decreasing as time goes on.

No agent will ever tell you that interenet leads are great, or at least so it seems, though many make money with them. You have to ask the right questions, but to understand the questions, you have to have experience with internet leads.

You have to know what you are looking for and how that will be fulfilled with the lead company. For instance, my best lead company for homeowner leads is 4freequotes. No secret, though I get so few that I wouldn't say they are a good lead company.

The best lead company I have for non-standard auto is QuotesAuction, or whatever their new name is. The reason is strange though, I buy the people with DUI's, nobody else wants them, they make it easy to filter them out for everyone else, so I'll get them almost exclusive. I only do these leads for fun from time to time though, it's not my core business.

The trick to getting decent leads is working a bit of a niche market (for the leads) and working it hard with a system. If you do what everyone else does on internet leads, you'll probably go broke.

Think of what you are up against.... (even on good leads):
- First caller wins? If you believe this, how do you compete against someone who has a call center, the lead is automatically loaded into their dialers, and is called within 0.02 seconds of the lead arrival?
- Most persistent agent wins? Do you have a good followup system? Really? Do you use it? 2 calls? 3 calls? Drip campaign? Repeatable? Persistent? Not annoying? Few agents use reasonable systems.
- Most likeable agent wins? Well, this assumes you get to talk to them. Likeable is hard to quantify and depends on the other persons personality.
- Most trustworthy agent wins? I might believe this, but how do you convince someone you are trustworthy? Can you introduce them to Bernie Madoff? Ooops, that was so 'last year'!!!!
- The lucky agent wins. Probably true.

I made money on internet leads when I worked them hard. I realized I didn't want to work that hard, so I've backed out of most of them. Now, I do mostly P&C, so it is a different market, but most of the issues stand.

When I worked health leads, I did better following up 7-10 days after the lead submission than I did trying to be 'instantaneous'. I finally figured out people were overwhelmed initially, and after about a week, they decided it was time to actually take some action. After I moved into P&C, this philosophy didn't work the same way.

Dan

 

[Hollywood]

Thanks for the posts everyone!!! This is great!

 

[TXINSURANCE]

I have access to the best lead provider on earth. Contact rate is around 98%, close rate is around 75%.

It is unbelievable.

Unfortunately Chumps won't let me post it on the forum I had to sign some non disclosure or he will kick me out of his association.

The main reason is they don't exist.

Some are better than others for a while but that can fluctuate dramatically and does. There are companies that are a total rip-off and others that may be sorta kinda okay most of the time.

Well said.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Tx...Of course, when we both retire, that information will become public.

 

[Stratos]

I am starting to agree with you Hollywood. I have emailed a few people on here that have been in discussions concerning or mentioning direct mail and have received very few responses (actually only one). Do you people think they have such a good thing going that they don't want anyone competition (which I can totally understand), or are these many lead service companys really not all that.

I don't mind making an investment of money and time into a lead service, but I just would like to hear what others have to say about particular companies and advice they might have.

I am considering doing direct mail for MP and FE. From what little I have found I am leaning towards direct mailers, about a 1000 a week to start off (want to determine a return rate), doing letters and not postcards, paying for first class mail. I would really like to write about 10-15 apps a week, so around a 2% return would really be nice. I have looked at leaddiscounters.com, Anyone have any dealings or experience that they might be willing to share.

I have previously been with NAA and saw that ship was listing very early on, and now I'm contracted on with another IMO with a great contract %, but they really don't do much in the area of lead generation (and I knew this going in). Thanks in advance for your input.

You wont write 10-15 FE apps on a 1000 piece lead drop.

 

[philip cohn]

Direct mail response rate is more like .0025. My company chips in on the cost so I use but so far my results are not great. I have only had success with internet leads so far but decent success. I have only been in business 3 weeks.

 

[Frank Stastny]

You wont write 10-15 FE apps on a 1000 piece lead drop.

He should consider himself lucky to get 10-15 cards back from a 1,000 piece lead drop. I have run thousands of direct mail leads and for the most part they are a name, address and phone number of someone who was just curious.

He better send out closer to 4,000 per week if he wants to write fifteen apps per week that stay on the books. Or, learn how to generate his own leads that isn't going to cost him hundreds or thousands of dollars each month..