Productive online leads, when worked correctly, can have a significantly positive effect on your agency’s sales and growth, but it’s essential to work them the correct way. 

Here are 5 common mistakes you should avoid to increase your success with online insurance leads.

Not contacting the lead fast enough

The Lead Response Management Study, published by Dr. James Oldroyd, emphasizes when sales representatives should contact web-generated leads for optimal contact and qualification.

Oldroyd’s Key Findings:

• The odds of making successful contact with a lead is 100 times greater if called within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes of receiving the lead.

• The odds of qualifying a lead is 21 times greater if contacted within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes of receiving the lead.

Based on these findings, if you delay the process of contacting a traditional web lead, the chances of you contacting or qualifying a lead, at all, decreases significantly.  The reason behind this is typically, when you purchase online leads you are competing against several other agents who have also purchased the lead’s information. While it is important to contact a lead as soon as possible, Hometown Quotes’ SEM leads are only sold to up to 4 agents, giving you the lead buyer a better opportunity to contact or qualify a lead and more flexibility in how quickly you’ll need to respond.

Being under- or over- aggressive

There is a happy medium when it comes to how aggressive you should be when working online leads. Being under aggressive can set you behind the competition and cause you to lose the sale. However, being overly aggressive can come off as annoying or repetitive to the prospect and may result in a lost sale as well.

It’s not enough to tell yourself or your producers to be more or less aggressive. You need to provide specific advice and a clear plan of action on what to do differently in these situations. When should you reach out to the lead? How many times should you reach out? What channels should you use? These are all questions that should be addressed, so you have a clear understanding on what it means to be more or less aggressive when working online leads.

Not selecting the right filters

A great perk to purchasing online leads is that you can select specific filters for your ideal insurance buyer. Most lead buyers charge for filters to justify the cost of their leads. Hometown Quotes offer free and unlimited filters.  What type of insurance do you want to sell? What territories do you want to cover? Do you prefer a specific educational level? These filters, including many more, give you the ability to choose what you want in a customer and the type of lead you receive – a benefit not currently available when working with traditional leads.

Agents can make the mistake of selecting too many or too few filters during their search.  Selecting too few filters could result in you not receiving the type of leads you are most interested in working with. However, selecting too many filters may decrease the overall amount of leads you receive. To avoid this potential issue, select only the absolute most important filters. Any on the borderline, keep it open or your lead volume will suffer significantly.

Being discouraged based on price

Many agents make the mistake of being put off by the price of more expensive leads, without fully understanding how lead price is determined. Online leads vary in price based on the value of the lead and how likely you are to sell to that lead. So, by purchasing a higher priced lead you can expect a higher quality lead that you are more likely to sell to.

A strategy that all agents working with online leads should practice is tracking the success rates of the leads you purchase. You can determine what leads deliver the best results for your agency over the long run, by evaluating the cost per lead by the close rate Chances are that the higher priced leads are bringing more value to your agency versus the lower priced, lesser quality leads.  

Not nurturing your prospects

So your prospect went with another agency. You paid for their information, why not follow up with them in 6 months and see if they are happy with their choice. Maybe now your quote price is lower. Wouldn’t you want to share that with your prospect? It is important to remember purchasing online insurance leads is a long-term investment. A common misconception by agents is if you do not acquire the customer the first time around, then it’s over.

Remain professional and positive, even after losing an opportunity, you never know if the lead may consider working with you in the future or referring you to someone else.

Whether you’re just starting out or are looking to expand your book productive online insurance leads, when worked correctly, can be highly beneficial to your agency. If you have any further questions, Hometown Quotes’ sales team is a great resource to learn more about how to work online leads and grow your business. Call us today at 800-820-2981 or click here.


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