Qualified Insurance Leads, Mortgage Leads and Seminar Leads

Are you misusing your marketing dollars through a failure to communicate your value?

During any type of communications with prospects, you are being evaluated as to what it would be like to work with you. Helping the prospect understand the value you offer is the same before he/she becomes a client, as when he/she actually does become your client. Consider every message you send: written, verbal and non-verbal.

Summarized from Article in SMA 09/2009*.
Doerr, John. “Top lead generation mistakes” Senior Market Advisor. Vol. 10, Issue 9 (Sept. 2009).
<'http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/Issues/2009/9/Pages/Top-lead-generation-mistakes.aspx>

Before you start any endeavor, a plan of attack is a good starting point. Get out those pens, sharpen those pencils and even grab your PDA; here are some planning steps to consider (Stevenot, Ted. "4 Ways to Integrate Technology Into Your Prospecting Efforts." Agent's Sales Journal (09/2009): 62)

1)  Know what you are selling. Figure out which products you're promoting. If each is sufficiently different from the other, you may need a separate strategy for each.

2)  Know your market. Determine who buys the types of products and services you sell and where they are located. Create a prospecting list or target area based on your potential buyers.

3)  Interact with the prospects in your market. Phone calls, meetings, seminars, trade shows, civic events, volunteer work, etc... Be systematic about your action. Have a schedule.

4)  Collect useful information. Establish a prospecting database and use it to collect information as you interact with your prospects. Use the information you collect to identify new opportunities and improve your connection with current prospects.

5)  Engage in leveraged outreach. Use a means of communication that is beyond person-to-person interaction to connect with prospects. Be systematic with your leveraged outreach. Again, have a schedule.

6)  Assess and refresh your system. Add, supplement, or removed different types of outreach based on performance. Add new names to prospect lists, and set aside names you that are no longer viable. Study your statistics (e.g., response percentages, sales/contact ratios, etc...).

Why over-communicate? Well, while your competitors are cutting the advertising budget and seemingly "disappearing", you are NOT. You are being proactive rather than reactive. As Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, said in his Squawk Box interview, "Do not sit under your desk and suck your thumb". And because you are staying in front of prospects and current customers—as the economy bounces back—they will know you are alive and kicking!

What does it mean to over-communicate and why is this important? It can mean: to give too much information; or to give the same information at a high frequency. In either case, it is meant to create a deluge of information. In psychological terms, many experts say this creates a sense of security—whether it is among your current customers or prospects. Think about it—the more you know, the safer you feel, the more inclined you are to invest or buy—right? Maybe...

In this tough economic storm, who couldn’t use a little security? But if you’re not careful, too much information can make it seem like your business is confused and panicky. While over-communicating in tough times is a great idea for maintaining and growing your business, let’s find the balance between the idea and the actual execution of communicating.

1.     When making the hard decisions about your budget, consider adjustments across the board
rather than cutting your entire advertising budget. 

2.     Never stop looking for prospects; even during non-traditional advertising months, consider advertising.
If everyone Zigs – then you Zag.

3.     Take the time to be personal with both current customers and prospects.

a.     Skip the email. As Don Rigby, of Integrated MARCOM, Inc. blogs,
“Letters are far more revered than emails”.

b.     Use a form that doesn’t cost much but has the illusion to take a little time
– like the post office and/or hand stamping.

c.      Be sincere; consider a softer message or informative content rather than a SELL, SELL, SELL tactic.
One blogger writes to “communicate with empathy —nurture versus sell”.
Careful to not come across as patronizing AND listen to give the customer what they want.

4.      Keep your over-communicated message focused to avoid the illusion of panic and confusion.
Here are examples of both focused and unfocused:

a.      Focused Message : creates confidence, steadiness, trust

                                  i.      The acorn will grow, give it time.

                                 ii.     In time, this little seed will become a grand tree.

                                iii.     A mighty oak tree will grow from this seed I found.

b.      Unfocused Message : creates panic, confusion

                                 i.     The acorn will grow.

                                 ii.      Let’s give the acorn water.

                                iii.      I need to fertilize the acorn.

                                iv.      More sunshine will do the acorn good.

                                 v.      Let’s go check on the acorn.

c.     “If you barrage your customers with meaningless information, they will switch off. You must seek out the killer content – that finely honed, perfectly pitched message. That’s where the value lies”, to paraphrase Gerry McGovern (McGovern, Gerry. “Do We Over-Communicate?” Return on Behavior: Edition 7).

With all of this said, go forth and prosper; get in front of your potential client base and current customers OFTEN! Let them know that you are focused, secure and ready to sell even in a slump of an economy.

What is the top challenge in the insurance business? You might jump to answer: keeping up with all the changes occurring within the industry; but it's time to rethink that concept. The number one challenge is ...... (drum roll, please) ..... Getting Leads!

Whether or not your are a new agent or a seasoned vet, we all need to think about leads and how to generate them. So let's break it down into 3 easy-to-chew parts: what is a lead, lead types and the values of those different leads and finally, how to get those leads (Collins, Sam. "Have I Got a Lead for YOU." The Reverse Review (06/2009): 22-25).

Part 1 of 3: Sales Lead vs Sales Prospect

A sales lead is pure data; it consists of names, addresses, emails or even telephone numbers. That is it! Several resources for this data are trads shows, direct marketing, advertising, internet marketing and cold calling.

A sales prospect is more informative. A lead moves to a prospect by going through a qualifying process. Pre-qualifying is a way to separate the productive data from the nonproductive — so you can maximize your selling time. Why not find out who is actually suited for what you are offering. You don't want to spend valuable time offering a Medicare Supplement to a 42-year-old, OR a Reverse Mortgage to someone that doesn't even own a home, RIGHT?

And finally, when a purchase is made, the sales prospect turns into a closed sale. Yeah, Team!

Sales Lead = data
vs
Sales Prospect = valuable information