Am I crazy or are paid leads worth their cost? (I'm talking personal lines)
Anytime I've done direct mail it's been a huge money and time suck. Though it does get your name into the community...but I've not had near the results I have with paid leads from people who are ready to buy.
What has your experience been? I'm curious if I'm the crazy one here....
You're not nuts...you're just suffering from what many agents in the Personal Lines universe are suffering from...quiet-phone-itis.
You sit in your office, the phone stops ringing for new biz inquiries, you keep getting slick emails from any of the multiple Bankrate lead companies or some of the other vendors, touting how with only a few credit card digits and an email account, you too can be on the road to Money Town in no time, but (wink, wink) you'll have to be able to respond quickly to the large number of hungry, willing and able prospects who will be revealed to you, because we all know that once they press that 'submit' button, they'll want to talk to someone just like you right away!
Look, it's a whole new world out there for the retail personal lines agent. What worked 10 years ago doesn't work now. What does work now? Nobody really knows, but they'll take your money to give you some program or another, promising to supercharge your incoming inquiries via the internet or SEO or Social Media or through prayer.
The overwhelming majority of paid internet leads are out and out crap and a massive waste of money. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars and have been sucked into the vortex numerous times thinking 'this time it will be different'. Trust me, it's never different. There is no secret lead vendor out there that only six of us know about and are sworn to secrecy never to give out their name.
Leads might work under very specific circumstances, and I suspect that those are when you have a specific target audience that can be isolated with very targeted characteristics, but even then, I'm not totally convinced...and those characteristics are not everybody who wants/needs a homeowner's quote right now.
As for 'getting your name out in the community', that's horsehockey in today's marketplace. Nobody buys like that anymore. You'd be better off getting a pile of $10 bills, ripping them in half, and handing out one half to random street walkers promising to give them the other half if they show up in your office for a quote. There's just no easy way to build a general practice personal lines agency any more. The days of getting an office, hanging a sign, getting a Yellow Page ad, sponsoring a little league team and showing up to a service organization lunch and then watching the client list grow are long gone.
'd' is correct! Don't waste your money! NOTHING works, except REFERRALS! If you have COMPETITIVE companies, solicite your own clients for referrals. And, when you write a referral piece of business, send your client an appropriate gift certificate. Maybe dinner for two at a DECENT restaurant. Then, put their name in a hat for a once a month drawing for an ipad! This is money well spent!
In our agency we use a multi faceted approach that works rather well:
Internet leads generated by means of my websites. (We do not purchase leads, all developed organically from my sites)
Recycled leads. (Telemarketing)
Referral lead generation.
Online marketing has the highest ROI. (7-1, every dollar invested generates 7 in commissions... As a disclaimer there was a rather large start up price to get it going.)
Direct-mail marketing absolutely does not work, yet tons of insurance agents still use it.
We do use direct-mail postcards and letters to follow up with those who had requested quotes.
The key to success in this day and age is to become a clever marketer.
Guerrilla marketing is a term that was coined years ago but it has application today, if you have an idea, map it out and implement it, and see what happens!
At great expense we have developed an online referral portal for Real estate agents and property management companies, we are considering allowing other agents to use it in states in which we do not market. (We write in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan)
If you are an active insurance Agency owner in a state that's not listed I would be willing to allow you to use the system as a beta tester.
This system will not work if you are aggressively waiting for the phones to ring, and do not invest money in marketing.
However that being said, My affiliation marketing system has great Potential for fantastic production for Both personal lines and commercial lines insurance, particularly if you insure commercial buildings and real estate.
If you have an interest in beta testing and you're not a tire kicker contact me at my office. (You will need to sign a nondisclosure, non theft clause.)
