Buying Internet insurance leads is only half the battle. Effectively managing leads to the point of closing new insurance policies is the real goal. Achieving that goal takes a little thought and planning. Most importantly you need to think about how you are going to manage your insurance leads.
Initial Contact – Get everything started on the right foot. Don’t let even a moment slip by without reaching out to your new Internet insurance leads. Whether you are buying real-time or aged insurance leads you need to be highly responsive to these Internet consumers. I always encourage a quick (maybe even automatic) email reply to the customer. This note should simply let them know that you got their inquiry and to expect your call shortly.
Setting Expectations – Notice I used the word “expect” in the initial contact advice. This is critical. Whenever you contact a sales prospect you should be foreshadowing the process–laying down the path and expectations. Your emails and telephone calls should always wrap-up with next steps and what you need to complete the transaction.
Managing Follow-up – When you are working several deals at once it is very easy to miss something or someone. Make sure that your follow-up system is rock solid. Either use a lead management system or a very good tickler system to remind you of what the next step is and when to follow-up on every account.
Lead Nurturing – Not every deal closes. That means you need to develop a lead nurturing campaign. This is a simple, but consistent follow-up plan to stay top of mind and add value even to consumers that you haven’t sold to yet. If you continue to touch and reinforce your value to these consumers, many will close in the future.
Lead management can be the most important part of your lead conversion equation. This is especially critical if you are investing in aged insurance leads. They are cheaper, and this is a big opportunity if you manage them with superior follow-up and service. Aged insurance leads can be a gold mine to the insurance agent with a solid lead management process.
