Insurance Agent Forum

[Heavy-D]

Pretty basic question everyone, what is the cost of a new client, for any product line?

[Markingriffin]

Originally Posted by Heavy-D

Pretty basic question everyone, what is the cost of a new client, for any product line?

How can any of us answer this question? It is not a basic question, like you state.


Referrals are free.
Leads cost whatever they cost when you buy them.
Prospect cost, how much you spend on finding them.

I personally pay very little to get a new client. I have a couple of niches and prospecting systems that cost little to no money at all.

If the question is how much does one spend to be an agent. You will get a lot of different answers. Some of us have offices, websites, fax lines and a million different things that cost extra money.

To find the client, I spend very little. To be an agent, I spend a lot. If that makes any sense at all. But I make more then I spend. That should be your goal also.

You could also ask the question, instead of money. Ask about time. I spend at least 12 hours a day, working.

[djs]

This sounds like a research paper question, rather than a real question.

The answer is as simple as the question. Its the same as a trip to the grocery store. Of course, this makes no sense, since I didn't answer if the trip was to get a loaf of bread or a full weeks groceries, but the same problem exists with your question.

Dan

[xosephchu]

Well, from the insurer's perspective, there is such thing known as acquisition cost. It is the expense incurred by an insurer to bring in premiums.

From the agent's perspective, I guess the cost of bringing in a new customer varies from one agent to another depending on how much you spend in your petrol, entertainment and ohter business related expenses.

It can give you an indication how well you run your business.

[Frank Stastny]

That is an excellent question, just not one that I ever think of or have even tried to estimate. I'm too busy selling insurance.

One can say the same thing about acquiring a client that is said about advertising.

It doesn't cost, it pays.

There are way too many variables involved. Did the agent purchase a lead or generate the lead himself? Did the agent go to the prospect's home, did the prospect come to the agent's office or was the sale made over the telephone?

Was the sale made on the first contact or were several contacts necessary?

In the time spent trying to figure all of that out and a way to keep track of it I can write several apps.

Besides, what is one going to do with all that information once accumulated? How is that going to help the agent sell more insurance? I'm all about spending my time being productive writing apps.

That sounds like something a "bean counter" would come up with. (Please don't take that wrong. I'm not busting your ass or saying you are a "bean counter".)

I spend whatever it takes. Once a prospect becomes a client they very seldom leave me. I still have as clients people who I wrote insurance on in 1993 when I first started.

I receive first year commission for six years. There are many times I have spent my first two months commission acquiring a new client.