Why are good health leads so hard to find? I have asked myself this question many times and have been asked by other health agents during my health insurance career.

The truth is that a good lead is anyone who will pick up a phone or respond to your email. A bad one is one who provides a bad phone number and email address. The ones left in between you can not really determine until they either pick up the phone or have it disconnected.

The simple fact is that this business is truly about numbers, plain and simple. The sooner you are able to wrap your mind around this fact, the more profitable your business will become.

Think about your favorite fast food joint. They usually have everything from a 1$ cheeseburger to a 7$ deluxe meal. The beauty of this is that there is something of value to everyone who walks through their door, and they have much higher traffic. The work that goes into the cheaper items is not much different than the more expensive items, but traffic keeps coming back again and again because they find what they are looking for.

It is true that if they only served the 7$ meals they would make more per customer but overall make much less money because of far less traffic.

The point is that I would rater make more money quickly and have something for everyone than wait around for those perfect health leads and try to only sell expensive policies.

There are so many good ways to generate health leads for selling insurance and being able to get your own exclusive prospects is the key to real success in the insurance business.  If you want to be the best in the game, it is absolutely what you have to be able to do and should be your primary focus.  What I have seen that causes a lot of failure for new health insurance agents is that they are told to focus on their sales skills in order to out compete other agents.  To me, that just reminds me of some kind of barbaric dog fight where someone throws a piece of meat into a pack of half starved dogs to sit back and watch them tear each other to pieces.  One dog will get the piece of meat for a second then another will snatch it away.

That is, in reality, what I have seen new insurance agents dealing with using shared leads that they are usually started out using.  The sad thing is that there is usually no other choice for you as a new agent getting started in the insurance business, but I have to tell you the importance of breaking free from the mentality that persists and that is even encouraged that you must out sell your competition, because once a prospect has been unwittingly “thrown to the wolves”  they are usually not that good of a prospect anymore, anyway.  ( I have found that those shared intenet leads can be highly productive a month or two later after all of the “dogs” have stopped fighting over them, if they are approached in the right way, so I do suggest getting aged insurance leads if the price is right…)

Back to generating your own exclusive leads:  I have seen and tried out a lot of methods of doing this, and in testing them out found ways that wasted a lot of time (and money) and also a few that did extremely well.  I narrowed them down to one major difference between the two that was the only factor in the effectiveness, (and no, it was not the color of paper my ads and signs were printed on.)  The thing that made my prospecting work well was if it was targeted as opposed to random.  So lets look at some of the techniques that do not work well because they produce very few random results:

Marketing to friends and family:  To me, this is the worst form of marketing (and is a lot of times what is expected of you as a new health insurance agent) because it is first, a limited pool of prospects, and two, it pressures them into doing you a favor.  Also, if they become unhappy with their coverage, it all comes back on you.

Cold calling:  Just too time consuming and piss poor results.  It is a waste of time, even though it is the most inexpensive way to prospect, and if you are flat broke, you can knock out a lot  of calls and get back on your feet, it is just not sustainable or effective time wise, and lets face it, if that is the only option that you have, you would be better off getting a part time job just to fund a better insurance marketing method.

Door to door selling:  Going around a neighborhood randomly knocking on doors trying to get a random sale is just outright desperate.  That is best left to high end vacuum cleaner sales.  It usually just has the effect of pissing people off and is not suited to selling insurance at all.  It is also very time consuming and will eat up your time.

Untargeted advertising peices:  I have personally used a TON of these trying to get sales, and allthough I did get a few, I usually wasted nore in getting them made than I was able to make back.  I am talking about fliers, door hangers, pull tab sheets, and kickdown signs put at intersections.  THese usually go straight into the landfill instead of making many sales, (and I don’t feel like needlessly killing any more trees…)  I have also seen the use of magnets plastered everywhere from mailboxed to gas pumps.  People like these a lot but they dont produce many sales at all.

Now that I have bashed these methods of leads generation, I am going to divulge to you the secret of using just those same methods in a targeted way to get your own exclusive insurance prospects and to make a lot more sales in a shorter time.  This is what they don’t tell you how to do effectively.

Here is how to use those same inexpensive methods in conjunction with one another:

First you start with cold calling. ( I know, everyone hates cold calling, but it is what it is.)  Instead of randomly calling numbers, go to one of the map websites, like Google maps, Mapquest, Yahoo Maps, that list businesses.  Plan a route to drive in a day and then look for locally owned businesses.  This is who you will cold call.  When you cold call, DO NOT try to sell anything.  Your mission here is to find out who the owner is and a good time to come by and talk to them for a couple of minutes.  This is the only information you need.  Again, do not pitch any product at all.  make sure you write the information down because you will need it to plan out your route.

The next step is to have prepared several different advertising pieces prepared, ideally in several different sizes and formats.  I am not talking about the actual insurance company literature either.  What really works is pieces that are written in the first person that are fairly simple and straightforward.  At the top, include an attention getting headline, something like “Hey, Do You Want To Save Some Money?” or “What Would You Say If I Told You I Could …”  These are general, attention getting statements, that will get someone to look further at your advertising.  Just dond make the mistake on putting something insurancy sounding there.

After the headline, list several questions that will keep the person reading, like “Are you tired of overpaying for insurance that does not cover everything you want it to?”  Stuff like that, just think from the perspective of your customer.  Them follow it up with a brief summary of how you can help them solve the problem and also a summary about yourself and your experience.  Finally, put a direct call to action at the bottom.  Ask for the business in a straightforward and direct way.

Now that you have several different pieces prepared, plan out your route.  I know that this is very similar to doing the door to door sales but here is the trick:  You are not trying to make any direct sales today.  What you want to do is walk into each business and ask to put your advertising in their place of business, like in their customer waiting area alongside the magazines, on a checkout counter, in a window, etc.  You get the picture.  This is a perfect way to start a conversation with a business owner, and you will be surprised at how many are willing to help because you are not coming into their business trying to sell them anything.  You are  more asking a fellow business owner to partner with you to help your business.  They tend to respect that.

Now this is the important part, where you will make the real sales.  Every couple of weeks, make a point of stopping back by to change out your advertising pieces with new ones.  (This is why you should have several different ones to start out with, instead of always having to pay for new ones, you can just simply switch them out with others that have been sitting in other businesses.)  This way, they get used to you stopping by, and they will start to regard you as an expert instead of a fly by night salesperson that just randomly stops by pushing their services. Do you see how this all works?

The advertising pieces will get you some random customers, but the ones that will really be buying your insurance products are the small business owners and their employees, because they will be used to seeing you and know you.  You will have already overcome the hugest barrier to making sales in the process.  You will have earned their trust.

I know that this may be disappointing to those looking for the magic bullet to have a set it and forget it sales system that produces home runs at will, but anything good takes some effort and work.  I just don’t like to see someones effort and time wasted and this method has produced the best results.

If you are looking for a passive way of generating leads, a good way to do this is through internet advertising.  This is another place I have done well with, but it takes a pretty large time investment initially, and a substantial amount of knowledge.  If you do not know what you are doing, you could lose your shirt with this.  In my opinion, if you do not know a lot about building websites, search engine optimization, pay per click, geo targeting and such, you would be much better served to get an expert to do that for you.  If you want to persue this, there are some factors that you can control even if you have someone else diong it for you.

The biggest mistake that I see with agent websites is that they tend to be to “flashy” and complicated.  The ones that perform the best are ones done up like your offline insurance advertising pieces that are simple and personal.  Have a good headline, the questions, how you can help get the answers and a call to action.  I have seen a lot of sites with quote engines on them and what I have experienced using these quote engines is that a visitor will end up getting a quote but never take any further action.

Having prospects taking action should be your primary focus when advertising insurance online.  Anything else is unnecessary and is a distraction.  I just see all to often that agents try to set up a self service web page that ends up being totally useless, and a lot of times expensive.

The other type of prospecting that I have found to be passive but effective is the old tried and true direct mailing.  Although not as effective as the first method of leads generation that I outlined,  it has the advantage of being passive and non time consuming.  There are a few twists you can put on direct mailing advertising campaigns to make them more effective.  I have found that using the services that hand write the addresses and put real stamps on the envelopes get much better returns.  They cost a little more but are well worth it.

Anyway, I hope I have given you somethings to chew on and mull over.  These are the ways that have worked well for me over the last few years, and have proven to be the most effective way of generating health leads over the long haul.

Please leave your comments and questions because I always like to know what you think and to also answer questions.

Good Luck

Mac

I was looking through the insurance agents forum today and read a great thread started by Joe Stevens, (TXINSURANCE) about how the new bill might affect health insurance agents in a positive way.  He made some really good points.  It all comes down to this:  people are going to be required to get health insurance.  Low income clients are going to be able to have their plans subsidized.  No exclusions for pre existing conditions. here is some of what Joe Wrote:

“Items that COULD be good for agents…

1. GUARANTEED ISSUE W/ MANDATE
This has never been attempted before and would GREATLY expand the market place either way you slice or dice it the market will grow faster than ever imaginable. It is hard to compare NY / NJ / ME GI to a national GI w/ mandate offset, as it has never been attempted.

2. NO GOVERNMENT PLAN OR MEDICARE EXPANSION
This bill is literally almost all 100% private insurance

3. GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES TO BUY PRIVATE PLANS
All of the sudden big brother is going to help you sell more policies by picking up a portion of the tab.

4. EXCHANGE STATE RAN, NOT FEDERAL (Senate Bill)
There will be significant variation state by state and these website(s) could be CLUNKY , CONFUSING, and clients might need assistance (Imagine that!)

5. AGENTS EXPLICITLY NOT ELIMINATED
Bill specifically states preservation of agents roll

6. NO PRE EX WAITING PERIODS
Buy today, use tomorrow. Hey if the commission is the same… so what!

7. LOWER COMMISSIONS? MAYBE OFFSET BY HIGHER PREMIUMS?
Half the commissions and double the premium is a wash. Who knows.

8. SUBSIDIES NOT AT LOWER % OF POVERTY LEVEL
The family of four making $88,000 is no longer subsidized it is VERY low level of % of poverty level on last senate bill.

9. CHILDREN GUARANTEED ISSUE IMMEDIATE
Is this really a bad thing? If rates are sellable and policy is commissionable – everyone wins.

10. THINS THE HEARD
Lower commissions means VOLUME game. Small time agents go and sell something else. Lead pricing drops like a lead balloon. No one is ran away for farting in the last 5 years as a pre existing condition. Pregnancy is no longer a bad word.”

So what does that mean to you as a health insurance agent?  Nobody knows quite yet.  Are you going to be able to find more customers quickly?  Are you going to be able to generate your own health insurance leads?  Is everybody going to be buying through internet portals instead of agents?  Are the insurance companies going to be paying lower comissions?

It is still all up in the air, but like in any situation, it all depends on what you do with what you already have.  If you can market your policies successfully in your market, be somene who your clients can trust, and get referral biz, you should do well no matter what happens.

You can read the full thread here:

http://www.insurance-forums.net/forum/bill-good-agents-thread17097.html

Hit me up with your comment below.

-Mac

Internet Health Leads are a great way for beginners in the health insurance industry to get started quickly. Most successful health agents will tell you that it takes quite a bit of time for your own advertising to start to generate enough business to become a sustainable source of income, and for many of us time can be our greatest enemy.

I have personally seen too many agents fail because it just took too long for them to get things working in the right direction for them. This usually had nothing to do with their sales ability. Usually when money started running out for advertising before income started coming in to cover their expenses, they were forced to give it up.

Another reason they had this type of problem was a lack of focus. Instead they would look for too many methods to do business instead of picking a select few tried and true methods that truly worked. I actually knew one agent that in his first week spent over $2000 in newspaper ads, pole signs, take one flyers, joining a chamber of commerce, buying magnets for his car, buying a yellow pages ads, and sent out a mailer. The problem was that he spent all of his time and money advertising instead of prospecting.

A few weeks later the news paper ads had run their course, the pole signs were getting knocked down by state highway mowers, the take ones were getting thrown away, and he only had a few mildly interested prospect call him. Most were looking for something really cheap or couldn’t afford much of anything at all.

One month later, he was spending his time cold calling telemarketing lists and going through numerous disconnects and hang ups. To me he sounded really good on the phone and was a genuinely likable fellow. He soon left due to frustration and financial difficulty. It was a shame because he could have been one heck of a salesman.

What if he had instead bought health leads for people who were actively searching online for health insurance? Better yet, what if he had gotten them through a reputable and fair dealing health leads company?

Anyways, check out this Health Leads company.  And leave a comment.

First, this is not a Health Leads review site. Period. I have seen a lot of those popping up lately that have several lead companies profiled and are nothing but an advertising board. If you dig a little further you will find that these so called “reviews” are copied directly from the lead company’s website. It’s all a bunch of worthless fluff. I had a reader ask me if that was my intention with this site. Heck No!

My Intention is to help other agents utilize their leads to get the best bang for their buck when buying internet insurance leads. Most of this stuff I have gone over in my older blog, new agent solutions, but being that it was my first blog and I did not know exactly how to get it found in the search results so it ended up in a place where only a few health agents would ever see it.

Anyway, I am not endorsing any particular lead company as being the best or worst. (Although if I learn of one that is blatantly ripping off agents, you better believe I will call them out on it!)

Over the time that I have been a health insurance agent I have seen other agents successfully using internet health insurance leads while other agents failed miserably with them. Most of the GA’s and managers I have worked with mistakenly dismissed this as the ability or inability to close health insurance sales, or the agent’s work ethic.

Both of those are important, but the biggest reason I would see behind the high failure rate of health insurance agents was that they would run through their marketing money much more quickly than their advances and commissions would come in. It always caused a feast and famine situation for new agents and most folks are just not going to live like that. A lot of these agents that I saw give up were really good salespeople and/or hard workers.

The ones that would “make it” usually fell into one of three categories:

1. Started into the insurance business with quite a bit of cash. Does that describe you? Well if it does, more power to you. That is the correct way to start a business. It is just not the way the majority of us come into the insurance sales business. If this is you, don’t stop reading, a dollar is a dollar, and if I can help you save one or a thousand, I will have done my job.

2. Stubborn as a bulldog. This describes me. Thick skinned and thick skulled. There are a few of us out there that are determined to succeed and overcome all obstacles to be our own boss. I came from a world where I had to schedule a break to take a bathroom break. Never again. There are definite drawbacks to this approach though. I have had to watch my wife cry when we did not know how we were going to make a house payment. I drove a car until it literally started to fall apart. But through stubbornness I eventually started doing well with health insurance sales.

3. Learned how to work the system. This is the type of agent I want to show you how to be. One of the agents I worked with started like most of us, just over broke. He went from working the cheapest old leads to now using top dollar exclusive health leads. He makes more in a month than most people make in a year. The thing is that although he is a hard worker, he is not a slick salesman. A lot of people even consider him a jerk.

My point is, these ideas on this health agents blog are not my own but a combination of things that I have seen working well for others, that I have tried out myself, and have introduced to other agents to work out the bugs.

What I have come up with many ways of saving money and optimizing health leads in order to make more money. So keep reading, and come back for more because I will keep writing about every way I find out to save money while making more money with health leads.

Cheers

Mac