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Anyone working with independent insurance agents?

by Shrugg
12 replies
This seems like a huge opportunity. Just curious if these folks venture outside of the vanilla billboards with their picture or the form letters they seemingly mail to every soul in their respective markets? I am sure they receive co-op funds if the brand is the lead in their marketing efforts....but this is speculation on my part.
#agents #independent #insurance #working
  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by Shrugg View Post

    This seems like a huge opportunity. Just curious if these folks venture outside of the vanilla billboards with their picture or the form letters they seemingly mail to every soul in their respective markets? I am sure they receive co-op funds if the brand is the lead in their marketing efforts....but this is speculation on my part.
    No co-op funds for insurance. Other than that, they buy leads generated from websites. Insurance people buy leads. However you can get them, they will buy them. Leads meaning people who indicated an interest in a particular kind of insurance. Not just a list of names.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    The one's that nake the biggest bucks control the lead process, sell them to the agent on a fixed rate basis, and in return make a cut of the commission.

    Selling insurance is all about generating leads to sell to.
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    David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.
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  • Profile picture of the author sham2
    This is such a nice information you share with us. The one's that nake the biggest bucks control the lead process, sell them to the agent on a fixed rate basis, and in return make a cut of the commission.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sheila
      I was an independent insurance agent before I retired and yes, insurance agents will buy leads. But it's important that the leads are specific to the type of insurance they sell. For example, some agents specialize in disability insurance, some in life insurance, some in long-term care insurance, others in health insurance, etc. If you provide good leads, you will have a customer for life! You might want to give them a few leads to try out, and then they'll be hooked. If the agent is making money from the leads, it'd be stupid for them not to continue with your lead service.

      A word of caution, though, I wouldn't expect an insurance agent to pay for the leads, and then also pay you a cut of the commissions. That's being greedy, and I know I would never have agreed to that. It's one or the other - pay per lead, or pay a percentage of the commissions. There are many lead-generating companies out there, so you need to be aware of the competition and price your leads accordingly.
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      • Profile picture of the author Rearden
        The way it works nowadays is the big mail houses that pump out hundreds of thousands of mailers and manage the entire process for you are also responsible for doling out carrier contracts.

        Truth is response rates have dropped precipitously for burial insurance (in the 90s you could get 3% plus -- nowadays 1% is considered a successful mailing), and agents are more and more turning to the big mail houses that have Economies of Scale to reduce and spread out the cost, in return giving out fixed prices on lead costs in exchange for a piece of the action.

        Originally Posted by Sheila View Post

        I was an independent insurance agent before I retired and yes, insurance agents will buy leads. But it's important that the leads are specific to the type of insurance they sell. For example, some agents specialize in disability insurance, some in life insurance, some in long-term care insurance, others in health insurance, etc. If you provide good leads, you will have a customer for life! You might want to give them a few leads to try out, and then they'll be hooked. If the agent is making money from the leads, it'd be stupid for them not to continue with your lead service.

        A word of caution, though, I wouldn't expect an insurance agent to pay for the leads, and then also pay you a cut of the commissions. That's being greedy, and I know I would never have agreed to that. It's one or the other - pay per lead, or pay a percentage of the commissions. There are many lead-generating companies out there, so you need to be aware of the competition and price your leads accordingly.
        Signature
        David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.
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        • Profile picture of the author Daniel LaRusso
          Originally Posted by Rearden View Post

          The way it works nowadays is the big mail houses that pump out hundreds of thousands of mailers and manage the entire process for you are also responsible for doling out carrier contracts.

          Truth is response rates have dropped precipitously for burial insurance (in the 90s you could get 3% plus -- nowadays 1% is considered a successful mailing), and agents are more and more turning to the big mail houses that have Economies of Scale to reduce and spread out the cost, in return giving out fixed prices on lead costs in exchange for a piece of the action.
          I am also a licensed life and health insurance agent and marketer.

          A thought occurred to me. What if this big drop in mail return rates is more because people are going online to learn about insurance and get quotes? If you could make a landing page and do google or Facebook ppc, I wonder if that could deliver some fresh, new, and profitable leads.
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          It is unwise to trust all you read on the internet.
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          • Profile picture of the author shane_k
            Originally Posted by Daniel LaRusso View Post

            I am also a licensed life and health insurance agent and marketer.

            A thought occurred to me. What if this big drop in mail return rates is more because people are going online to learn about insurance and get quotes? If you could make a landing page and do google or Facebook ppc, I wonder if that could deliver some fresh, new, and profitable leads.


            I was actually thinking of getting into this niche.

            I have a bunch of friends in my network who sell insurance, so I wanted to find out more and let them know some of my ideas.

            Basically I told them that I could setup a lead generation site for them and setup PPC ads, and eitther sell them the leads, or they could pay me a monthly rental for the site.

            And each one of them (they all work for different companies) have told me that up here in Canada it is illegal for Insurance Reps to have their own websites, or to promote themselves online.

            This just doesn't make sense to me.

            After thinking about it though, I think what is happening is what Rearden explains below.



            Originally Posted by Rearden View Post

            The one's that nake the biggest bucks control the lead process, sell them to the agent on a fixed rate basis, and in return make a cut of the commission.

            Selling insurance is all about generating leads to sell to.
            What I am thinking is that their "bosses" or whoever got them into the insurance business are the ones who are controlling the leads and selling them directly to my friends, and at the same time they are telling my friends that they can't setup websites because they don't want my friends to go around them and get their own leads.

            But has anyone else heard about anything like this?

            Thanks

            Shane_k
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          • Profile picture of the author DABK
            I worked with an independent insurance agent once. Redid his website (made it convert) and SEO.

            He missed the 2nd payment and, as per agreement, I stopped work and SEO results got delayed; he declared himself unhappy with me. (He had the option to get all his money back, if I did not perform. He did not ask, so I assume despite his declaring himself unhappy with me, he was happy.)

            I stopped working with him about 1 year ago because he went and bought himself tons of links to 'help me get there faster.' As a result, he went from #3 to Google Neverland.

            Anyway, the real issue is making sure you break down the leads you're going to get, as mentioned above... home is different than life, life is different than auto... SR clients don't stick around so long, but the upfront is higher than regular auto.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    Life insurance is sold, not bought.

    Probably one of the better products to cold call for, specifically in person.
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    David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.
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  • Profile picture of the author gg282
    I'm gonna guess if you work with an insurance agent to do online marketing... There might be more online traffic towards 'property and casualty' than life insurance. However, generating auto insurance leads online could be competitive. If you are looking to sell leads find a less competitive industry, because insurance is very competitive.

    I have websites and webpages ranked for competitive life insurance keywords and there is not really much traffic. In fact I have given up on trying to generate life insurance leads online.
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  • Profile picture of the author Deidra Renee
    The insurance agents that I work with (currently 4) aren't interested in online leades. Why? Because those are usually people just looking for quotes and not necessarily ready to buy. I do telemarketing for them. I gave each one about 5-10 free leads first so they could see how *warm* the leads were.

    You can set it up several ways, but like someone mentioned, you must be specific for that insurance agent, but if you're telemarketing for the leads that should be common sense. When you present the offer to them let them know all the information you will gather (name, age, etc..) and ask what other information they need you to collect from the lead before you pass the info on to them. You want to get as much information as possible to make it an actual *lead* (and also make sure they qualify for whatever type of insurance your agent is selling.)

    You can set up phone appointments with the agent or an actual meeting for him/her to go to the customer's house (ask which one they prefer) you can also do live transfers (I don't do that, but it's an option.) I can't help with online leads because as I said I don't generate leads that way. I'm guessing the way to make that actually worth their time would be if you captured the lead and then called back and got the information and then passed it on to the agent after setting up the appointment? I don't know, but if you're just gathering online leads for them it seems like something they could be doing on their own.

    I generate auto, life, and health leads, seems to be the demand right now. I did have an agent ask about mortgage protection, but he didn't want to pay so I didn't get into it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Better Local Leads
      Deidra, I am a local insurance agent and interested in more information about your services. Email me paystobefree gmail com

      Originally Posted by Deidra Renee View Post

      The insurance agents that I work with (currently 4) aren't interested in online leades. Why? Because those are usually people just looking for quotes and not necessarily ready to buy. I do telemarketing for them. I gave each one about 5-10 free leads first so they could see how *warm* the leads were.

      You can set it up several ways, but like someone mentioned, you must be specific for that insurance agent, but if you're telemarketing for the leads that should be common sense. When you present the offer to them let them know all the information you will gather (name, age, etc..) and ask what other information they need you to collect from the lead before you pass the info on to them. You want to get as much information as possible to make it an actual *lead* (and also make sure they qualify for whatever type of insurance your agent is selling.)

      You can set up phone appointments with the agent or an actual meeting for him/her to go to the customer's house (ask which one they prefer) you can also do live transfers (I don't do that, but it's an option.) I can't help with online leads because as I said I don't generate leads that way. I'm guessing the way to make that actually worth their time would be if you captured the lead and then called back and got the information and then passed it on to the agent after setting up the appointment? I don't know, but if you're just gathering online leads for them it seems like something they could be doing on their own.

      I generate auto, life, and health leads, seems to be the demand right now. I did have an agent ask about mortgage protection, but he didn't want to pay so I didn't get into it.
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