Scroll down for a discussion on Internet Lead Intelligence within the Individual Health Insurance Forum.
In between working with clients, going to Spring Training games and working on my tan, I've been writing an e-book on individual health insurance marketing ...
In between working with clients, going to Spring Training games and working on my tan, I've been writing an e-book on individual health insurance marketing methods and plans.
If you do it by buying internet leads...my hat's off to you. I don't know how anybody could possibly stand it!
So I decide to do a little "internet lead intelligence", by requesting a quote for me on a "dummy" basis (not me, the lead). The vendor will remain nameless to protect the innocent.
Here's what I found:
They sold the lead to four different agents.
They also sold the lead to another lead site, who in turn sold it to two more agents.
They provided a direct link to BOTH ehealth and HBD, should I want an "immediate quote".
I received calls and emails from all the agents. One guy ("Bob") was calling about the "health insurance application" I filled out.
Got a call from some woman who BARELY SPOKE English. Brutal. She wanted to do a warm transfer to some other jabroni...
Also got a call from a discount plan ($119 a month for the whole family!).
I don't know how you guys do it...
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[COLOR=blue]Don't steal - the government hates competition.[/COLOR]
Considering you just had 6 agents buy a lead for someone who had no interest in buying coverage, not to bad at all.
I'm curious, the company you used, do they have a limit on the number of times a lead is sold? Did this limit get crossed? 6 isn't terrible (not good), but every lead company I talk to states something like 'we only average 2 agents in the area', never 'we sell it 3 times, than farm it out to be sold 18 more times'.
I know its expensive for lead companies to develop leads, and they deserve to make some money. They have a tough gig, but when they get greedy, it gets really tough on agents.
Wow, that is crazy. I am new to the business and really trying to look for ways to market. I would love any suggestions you have, or if your e-book is done I would love to read it. Thanks for the great info.
I'm an affiliate for several of the companies that sell leads to agents. I am also an individual health insurance agent. I make about half of my income from each role.
The leads that I sell are generated using the same system that I use to generate leads for my agency. I own, design, program and promote the websites that send leads to my agency. We still get bogus leads. We still get people who have spoken with several agents. So some percentage of bogus leads is probably unavoidable.
However, the percentage of bogus leads that I received when I was buying leads is far beyond what I get when I generate my own. There are ways to attenuate the percentages of bad leads. We do what we can in this department. However, many of the other companies that sell leads to agents do much less than they should.
Some companies are scrubbing the leads by checking them with the postal database and that is a step forward, however a lot more should be done from a programming standpoint. But the real problem is integrity, not programming. Lead sellers who sell the lead to more agents than promised and who won't credit your account for bogus leads are responsible for more of the problem than their programming is.
Another problem is where they advertise and where they allow their affiliates to advertise. A person who types "health insurance quote" into a search engine is probably a good prospect. A person who fills out a questionnaire after getting a piece of spam may just want to make compare the cost with what their employer charges them and may have no intention of making any changes.
The bottom line is the bottom line. Regardless of how the leads are generated and how many times they are sold, you should buy them if you get the right ROI. If you are not making enough sales, do something else or try to do the same thing in a better way.
Well there's a lot more to it than that. Part of which is building a business and reputation in your locality so one day you're not using any leads. 8 months of hard work and I'm just now getting to the point where I could (if I wanted) stop generating leads - I'm at $2,000+ a week commish now for new biz sales just off my phone ringing after all the local stuff I've done.
So while buying leads might be a short-term solution, even successful agents will be sitting at their computers 5 years from now waiting for the next lead to hit their in-box.
Also left out of the picture is WHO the prospects are. I'm marketing to small biz owners - average age 45+ - almost all families - almost all with current coverage. Now....we all know who the average internet lead prospect is.
So it's a matter of looking ahead a few years from now and asking yourself if you want your phone ringing or if you want to be still fighting off other agents.
85% of my clients.....couldn't pay them to get on the net and troll for quotes.
I'm sorry - I don't see it as a successful business model when I see senior agents, 10+ years in the biz waiting for their next shared lead so they can put in a deal that week.
This is the best way ever to try ProspectZone leads. And we're not skimping on quality. These are our Top-Tier prospects, generated by search engine marketing and sent to you instantly in real time.
Here's how it works:
Purchase $300 in leads, and we'll credit your account an additional $150. You can even sweeten the pot by purchasing $600 and getting an extra $300 in leads. That's $900 in leads for just $600.
This offer is only good for 7 days! There's more. Visit us online to learn the rest of the details: [COLOR=#0000ff]http://www.prospectzone.com/promotions/150-for-300.html [/COLOR]
Here's what one agent said about our lead quality: "I'm talking to serious people who are actually looking for insurance. The closing rate has gone up. Because of that, of the ones I talk to, it's probably 30 - 40%. I made $1,000 at least, maybe more than that." — A. Carriere, Mega Health & Life
And for our valued current customers, add $300 to your account before 5PM March 31st and we'll thrown in $150 in leads (Max $300 in credits). No catch.
Sincerely,
Andrew Wallach
Smart Leads Select Division
1-866-466-7829 ext. 1 [COLOR=#810081]awallach@prospectzone.com [/COLOR]
PS - **Due to HIGH demand, the line may be busy. Please leave a message with your desired state(s) and we will note your place in the queue. Call now! 1-877-561-9663 ext. 1
I know from past posts you sell to HTQ. Do you sell the same lead to multiple lead vendors?
No. I never sell the same lead twice. Each affiliate contract you sign prohibits you from reselling a lead. I'm sure that other affiliates resell them and hope not to get caught, but it is unethical.
It would be a pretty easy way to double or triple my income for the short-term, but I wouldn't do it for both moral and practical reasons. Getting caught would be about as bad as having my insurance license suspended. I'd have to find a different buyer, reprogram my site and adjust the marketing. I'd lose money until I got all that done.
I work with multiple lead vendors because different ones pay better for different lines of insurance. For example one may give me a better price for auto and another may give me a better price for life.
I am sure some affiliates resell leads. We know they pull tricks to bring in prospects but that is no different from telemarketers that say anything to get a lead.
Or agents that say anything to get a sale . . .
It is tough out there but that just challenges me to get more creative in differentiating myself from other agents.
Do I lose sales to discount cards, Mega agents, HBD and eHealth?
Sure.
So what?
The folks who buy those products, or from those kind of agents don't fit my client profile.
I made two sales last week from internet leads I talked to last year. They kept my name & contact info and called me. Said they were finally ready to buy.
Another called this week. Not quite as old. Lead from January. She wants a Humana plan but has to get a physical first. She will call back next week and sign up.
When you treat people right they remember it and become long term clients.
I literally get an email a week from new and old lead companies asking me if I want to become an affiliate for them. Aside from what they pay for actual insurance leads, from what I have seen, they pay between $50 and $200 per agent that you get to sign up and buy leads. I have been offered several thousand dollars a month for a prominent banner ad from one major lead company.
It is a shame that the companies that will pay the most are also the worst companies. I have always held off doing this because I literally don't know of a single lead company that hasn't pissed of anybody, and I don't want to get crap for supporting a company I can't stand behind.
I have had my best experience with Prospect Zone. They take back all the non-reachables and mistakes. It is an easy way to make quick money while building your following locally. Marketing yourself is a big job.
Contact Peter and tell him Joel Gardberg sent you.
[COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray]Peter Filippini [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff6600][COLOR=#ff6600]//[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray][/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray]Senior Account Executive[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray]
Norvax [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff6600][COLOR=#ff6600]//[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray] Prospect Zone [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray][/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray]214 W. Huron [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff6600][COLOR=#ff6600]//[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray] Chicago , Illinois [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff6600][COLOR=#ff6600]//[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray] 60610 [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray] Phone 866/466.7829x8270[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff9900][COLOR=#ff9900]//[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#666666][COLOR=#666666] Fax 312/948.2620[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=gray][COLOR=gray] [COLOR=#0000ff]pfilippini@norvax.com[/COLOR]
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Well...I love your name, Rabbi....but I strongly disagree. Prospect Zone leads are OK at best. They clearly play games (like most lead services) and you have to watch them like a hawk.
Since I generate my own leads I no longer buy them. However Golden Rule will give us a credit that can be used towards Prospect Zone leads for every sale we make.
My experience was limited to a couple of dozen leads, but I found that the lead quality was decent. The exclusives weren't exclusive, but I can't necessarily blame them for that. They can't stop someone from requesting quotes from someone else before or after they requested their Prospect Zone leads.
How long did it take you to learn how to generate your own (internet) leads? Interested in hiring out your services?
I'm still learning and if I stop, a lot of the information I've learned will be outdated.
It probably took me a year to do it well enough to make a living at lead generation. But I worked as a word processor for law firms and investment banks in Manhattan for several years before I put up a website. Some of what I learned during that time made it easier to figure out web design, programming and web promotion. I was particularly good with Excel.
I'm not color blind, but I'm color stupid. I really struggle with the design piece. But I imagine that programming is probably the hardest part for most people. If you can program or believe that you can learn to do so you can probably learn enough of the other skills to generate your own leads.
I may do some web sites for other agents at some point. I may be available later this year or early next year.
buy EXCLUSIVE intenet leads that actually are EXCLUSIVE
Unless the vendor has the ability to lock up the prospects computer and keep them from going to other sites, there is no such thing as an exclusive lead.
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