Insurance Leads: The Guide for Insurance Agents

Have you heard the following riddle about insurance agents: Some of the agents within your sales office buy them for prospecting? In the past, you might have bought some for an insurance agent that you were training. Otherwise, you still purchase them in secret, for your sales manager does not know why you have so many appointments each week. By now, you probably have realized that I am referring to online insurance leads.

Why Buy Online Insurance Leads?

Most insurance agents try different methods to generate insurance leads. Some agents buy lists of names and addresses of new homeowners in their prospecting areas. Others agents feel the need to visit businesses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings to pass out business cards and company newsletters. No matter how you prospect for new insurance business, you must find people that need your services in order to maintain or to exceed your income expectations.

In recent years, we have been exposed to online insurance leads. Unlike buying a list of new homeowners, these online insurance prospects have taken the time to fill out an online form for an insurance agent to contact them. Therefore, your phone call is not a surprise. Also, you do not have to worry about the federal or state do-not-call list because the prospect has given you permission to contact them.

An online insurance prospect usually wants to purchase insurance in the near future. If you are lucky, you might find a few insurance leads that want an appointment within the next hour. Otherwise, setting up an appointment for later in the week is the norm.

Not All Online Insurance Leads are the Same

As you have already suspected, not all online insurance leads are the same. Some insurance lead programs charge on a per lead basis. The price of the lead depends on the individual company. In my experience of buying online insurance leads, the lead programs that charge $10 per lead can be just as effective as another company that charges $30 per lead. Some of you will have different results, if you decide to start purchasing online leads.

Quite frequently, you might find two different prices for online insurance leads that can be bought on an individual basis. One price refers to non-exclusive leads, while the other price refers to exclusive leads. A non-exclusive lead can be bought by other insurance agents (e.g., up to 4 agents) in your area; therefore the price will be cheaper than an exclusive lead. The exclusive lead can only be bought by one insurance agent.

Other insurance lead programs charge a monthly fee, like Insbuyer.com. Instead of you purchasing individual insurance leads, these insurance lead companies create a form on their website for insurance prospects to provide their contact information and the insurance coverage desired. In general, these online insurance lead companies usually have the prospect’s form sent directly to your e-mail address, without delay.

How to Pick an Online Insurance Lead Program?

As an insurance agent, you need to examine your marketing budget before purchasing leads. Depending on the size of your budget, you might try a variety of insurance lead programs. You can purchase life insurance leads from one company and annuity leads from another company. If you are good at converting 401K rollovers, you might consider ABCleads.com, which specializes in these leads.

Unfortunately, some of you may possess limited marketing dollars. You should not be worried. Some insurance leads can be bought for $3 to $5 dollars per lead. In addition, I should tell that I do not recommend that anyone purchase exclusive leads. Now, you need to understand that many insurance lead programs will be unhappy with my next statement, regarding exclusive leads. You should not buy exclusive insurance leads because many prospects will fill out more than one company’s request for free insurance quotes. As a result, you can save money by purchasing some non-exclusive insurance leads.

Also, call the individual lead generating companies before making a dollar commitment. Find out how many life insurance leads or annuity leads does the company normally generate on a monthly basis, in your area, especially if you are required to pay a monthly fee. If you do not receive unlimited leads, read the fine print about the company’s lead return policy.

Disclaimer: I must disclose that I have bought leads from ABCleads.Com, Insurance4usa.com, Insbuyer.com, Insureme.com, Localinsurance.com, Netquote.com and Buyerzone.com. Furthermore, in the past, I have advertised insurance agent leads for Insureme.com, ABCleads.com and Netquote.com. Currently, I advertise for Hometownquotes.com.

Agent Insurance Leads