4 Things to Know When Buying Leads
4 Things to Know When Buying Leads
Buying insurance leads can be quite a challenge for new and experienced agents. There are certain things to look out for and that's why we created this article for all agents to have as a guide when going out into the market to buy leads.
Something to keep in mind before buying leads is that the majority of agents complain about leads from almost every vendor all of the time. So when asking an agent for advice about which vendor to use, remember that not every agent will work leads the right way and not all agents will have the same lead buying experience from vendors even if you use the vendors that were recommended by another agent who was raving about those particular leads. Leads from a vendor that was horrible for someone else may work out very well for you.
Another note to have in mind is that sometimes agents will put a lot of importance on the cost of the leads versus how to work them properly. There can be a $2 lead and a $20 lead and most agents will think that getting a lot of $2 leads will be best but it all depends on the agent and how they plan to work their leads; whether they do face-to-face sales or telesales, to how many times they attempt to contact each lead, etc. That is why it is important to have a plan before buying any leads. Here are the things to look for and ask before purchasing leads from a vendor:
How Are Leads Generated?
When speaking to a lead vendor, you want to know how they generate their leads. Most vendors will generate their leads via the internet which can be a hit or miss sometimes but generally internet leads do produce a good ROI. As an agent you want to make sure that you ask your lead vendor if they advertise for free insurance or government assisted insurance. If they answer yes, you should be sure to sell applicable products because if you don’t, it may be a little difficult to try to convince a prospect looking for free insurance to buy a $250+ per month Health insurance/Wellness policy and your CPA may increase due to lack of sales.
Lead Volume
Like we stated earlier, as an agent you want to have a plan of attack in order to be successful in the insurance industry. Therefore, you must expect to receive a certain amount of leads per day in order to close a certain amount of deals per day to meet your targets. With knowing that, you want to make sure the lead vendor you choose has the ability to send you the minimum amount of leads you need per day.
Lead Filtering Options
Depending on whether you are a face-to-face agent or telesales, you definitely want to make sure the lead vendor you choose is able to target your geographic area where you will be servicing your clients. It is well-known in the industry that selling face-to-face does have a better longevity for your customers to stay on the books but telesales is better when using lead vendors because you’re able to sell to the entire United States of America if you have licenses in all 50 states. We’re not saying that telesales doesn’t have business that sticks because it does as long as you sell the right products but just keep in mind that telesales in multiple states gives a higher lead volume possibility from lead vendors. Also, if you are selling certain products that you know people with health problems won’t qualify for, you want to make sure your lead vendor has the ability to filter those leads out for you, so you can get the highest quality leads. Typically, highly filtered leads are more expensive.
Lead Quality (Shared / Exclusive / Live Transfer + Inbound Calls)
Depending on the lead vendor and type of lead purchased, the lead quality varies greatly. Lead vendors typically offer shared and exclusive leads while very few lead vendors offer live transfers and inbound calls. When discussing shared, exclusive, live transfers, and inbound calls- shared leads will have the lowest quality because they are sent to a minimum of 3 other buyers. So you will have a minimum of 3 other agents calling the same leads that you are calling, it would definitely be a race to see who can contact those leads first in order to close a deal. shared leads are going to be less expensive than exclusive leads, live transfers, and inbound calls they typically cost between $2-5 per lead and can go up depending on if you requested additional filters. An exclusive lead is a lead that is only sold to you and will never be sold to anyone else which gives you a better chance of making a sale because there’s less competition for those particular prospects. Exclusive leads are typically more expensive than shared leads and less expensive than live transfers and inbound calls. Exclusive leads can run between $15-$25. Live transfer leads are the highest quality leads that you can buy because the prospects are asked qualifying questions by a live agent and then transferred to you directly with the prospect on the line and some vendors will even do a warm intro before fully connecting you to the prospect; in the insurance industry this is typically called a warm live transfer. Now, live transfers cost between $100-$200 per transfer. Inbound calls are going to be the sweet spot for most agencies and carriers because these calls are generated by the prospect themselves directly from the advertisement they saw which means there is no middleman between the sales agent and the prospect so you would be speaking to the prospect at their highest point in interest about your product/service. Believe it or not these calls are less expensive than live transfers but more expensive than exclusive leads. Inbound calls will cost about $35-$65 per call with generous buffers to ensure agents have ample time to qualify their prospects before they actually pay for that call. So if you are an agent or agency that knows how to close deals, we recommend you purchase inbound calls and live transfers. If you are an agent that is a beginner and doesn’t really know how to sell, we recommend you purchase exclusive leads to get the marbles out of your mouth.
These are the most important things to find out from lead vendors before purchasing leads because you want to make sure you set your agency up for success. If you have any questions about leads or are looking to buy inbound calls / live transfers, fill out our contact us form so we can assist you or schedule a call below.
