Close More Internet Leads Today!
by Teresa Kitchens
Copyright © 2008
If you subscribe to internet leads then congratulations! You are among one of the aggressively growing insurance agencies in the country. Maintaining a high volume of prospects is vital to the growth of any business. The only problem is that internet leads are different from other marketing lists you have worked with. They are not the guaranteed sale you may have thought they were. Follow these steps to access more success with your online leads.
1. Get to your prospects first. Utilizing auto responders is the first key to selling a policy fast and with a great response ratio. Lead companies do their job by getting the lead to you immediately, shouldn't you respond immediately? Responding by mail or if you respond in a few hours, guarantees that your prospect has moved on to other things. Get there fast and get there with more than one avenue. Call immediately and send out an auto responder to get more accurate results from your leads.
2. Make sure your prospects know who you are. Send an email with your agency labeling, mention your location, and the names of the companies you represent. If you don't make a splash on your first contact with the prospect, you could be forgotten about when it comes time to make decisions. Mention that they requested the information or call by requesting a quote online, and this will validate the contact beyond that of spam or phone dialers.
3. Provide a value to your prospects. By adding value to your proposition, you are creating a reason for the prospect to do business with you. Mention the companies you represent, take an education based focus on reaching your prospects, and partner with them to protect their assets. Add "exclusive" deals or special savings to make prospects feel like they are getting something special by doing business with you.
4. Use technology to speed up turn around. Utilize a lead management system to get emails out faster, to provide templates for easy turn around of emails, and for quick reference when someone calls into your office. Make sure that if your lead management system fills directly to insurance raters or provides integrations with other systems that you use it to speed up the process.
5. Be flexible. If at first you don't succeed, try again! Stay with your prospects and go back for future marketing down the road. Depending on your line of business, the sales cycle can be a long one. And without having firm communication on where the business was placed, the prospect may not have made a decision yet. Keep marketing to these prospects and your close ratios will increase dramatically.
If you are not seeing at least a 15% close ratio from your online leads, try these tips to watch your sales skyrocket! AgencyIQ subscribers report an average close ratio of at least 30% to a whopping 92% in some instances. Check out the different methods and response techniques that deliver ease of business for you, and delivery of service for your clients.
Teresa Kitchens is the co-creator and director of operations for the AgencyIQ System by Net-Lead, LLC. She has a strong background working in the captive market before venturing out to start her own independent agency.
Teresa utilized online leads to build her agency but found too much complexity in the paper methods and in keeping the investment she was making manageable. Out of necessity, she and her business partner started exploring new options. AgencyIQ was born of this fantastic experience. Five years later, Teresa is leading the AgencyIQ team to revolutionize how insurance agents are prospecting.
