CIS Marketing

[RolloverCoach]

Why not print and mail the cards yourself?

I wonder about CIS's database. Personally, I like knowing
that the cards actually go out.

 

[Mr. Bill]

The cards are what comes back. What the mailer actually consists of, does anyone know?

As in, what's the return address? Is there a letter inside? I used a different company and I got pink cards (filled out) but I don't really know what the mailer itself consisted of.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I am about to do a 3000 piece mailer to prospects 60-76, over 50k income, with 75,000 investable assets, that own their own home. The mailer I am planning on using with CIS has a 1.68% response rate in Texas which sounds pretty good. I understand the whole law of large numbers thing, but has anyone had success with mailers for annuities?

Based on that response rate, I should average about 50 qualified leads (business reply mail) per mailing. My cost for each mailing is going to run in the neighborhood of $1400. Basically $20,000 of premium is my break even point, which seems pretty easy out of 50 leads...

Any feedback would be appreciated!

I have never done Annuity mailers but why is the cost so high. Are they that much more expensive than other mailers? Last time I checked I could get a mail drop done for just over $300 per thousand. Maybe the price has gone up since the last time I checked.

The only thing I see wrong with your logic is that you believe you will get 50 "qualified" "leads". Why do you think those "leads" will be "qualified leads"? What is your definition of a "qualified lead"? Are you assuming that if they return the card, that person is a "qualified buyer"?

My experience with direct mail pieces for Med Supp and LTC insurance has been disastrous. Especially when marketing to the demographics you have stated. I have never felt that direct mail return cards was a cost effective way of marketing, especially to the people you have described.

I would think you would have better luck if you lowered the income and investable assets parameters. Don't you think that those people probably have someone they are already working with?

What is the one sentence in the direct mail piece that would cause one to return the card to someone and a company who they don't know to invest that kind of money? I'm always looking for a "tag line" that really gets people's attention.

 

[Vanbret]

I agree with Frank; people who have more money are typically going to have someone who manages their $......

 

[gregfurlong]

I did a 1500 piece mailing for an Elder Care update and got back 10-15 responses. Some were dud leads and some were very good. One lady had at least 100k in a variable annuity that she had just surrendered and her money will not be liquid again until June of next year so I had to wait to meet with her. One man will have about 60-80k that he wants to put into an indexed annuity next year when he sells his home. One guy has about 50k that should go into a multi -year guarantee. Two others I have sent info to but not met with yet. It is all law of averages.

 

[budfox7]

I did a 1500 piece mailing for an Elder Care update and got back 10-15 responses. Some were dud leads and some were very good. One lady had at least 100k in a variable annuity that she had just surrendered and her money will not be liquid again until June of next year so I had to wait to meet with her. One man will have about 60-80k that he wants to put into an indexed annuity next year when he sells his home. One guy has about 50k that should go into a multi -year guarantee. Two others I have sent info to but not met with yet. It is all law of averages.

Greg, I am also here in FL, what company did you use ? I am looking at doing some mailings too, where they annuity mailers, or LTC , LIFE and just did some cross selling ?

 

[aguilartx]

It really depends if they "scrub" the zip codes they are sending to. Some companies (and I am not saying CIS is doing this) will just mail blindly to zip codes. BHC will scrub the zip code demographics for avg age, income, home value, and other demographics to make sure it meets our requirement before we send out a mailer for an advisor. We will not mail to affluent areas because the response is very low, like one of the posters said. We average a 2.3% return on our GPS program. The cost is free if you submit a $35K case through one of our carriers, or $799 if you have no cases to submit. We gurantee at least 15 prospects per 1000 mailing. There are definately some good mail programs out there, you just have to make sure they do some type of scrub to better meet the demographic you want to target. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Frank Stastny]

It really depends if they "scrub" the zip codes they are sending to. Some companies (and I am not saying CIS is doing this) will just mail blindly to zip codes. BHC will scrub the zip code demographics for avg age, income, home value, and other demographics to make sure it meets our requirement before we send out a mailer for an advisor. We will not mail to affluent areas because the response is very low, like one of the posters said. We average a 2.3% return on our GPS program. The cost is free if you submit a $35K case through one of our carriers, or $799 if you have no cases to submit. We gurantee at least 15 prospects per 1000 mailing. There are definately some good mail programs out there, you just have to make sure they do some type of scrub to better meet the demographic you want to target. Hope this makes sense.

I just want to make sure I am understanding what you just said.

You charge $799 to do a 1,000 lead drop. Is that correct?

For that you guarantee at least 15 prospects. Is that also correct? Are these "real" prospects? What kind of refund policy do you have. What if the person no longer lives there or says they did not fill out the card?

I've never done thins kind of lead drop so maybe I don't understand the value of spending $799 per 1,000.

 

[theinsuranceman]

You can drop a 1000 piece mail drop filtered to your specs for MUCH lower than $799! Several places for $400-$450.

 

[Frank Stastny]

You can drop a 1000 piece mail drop filtered to your specs for MUCH lower than $799! Several places for $400-$450.

Yes I know. That is why I asked the question. Some places will do it for under $400 if I'm not mistaken.

I don't care what kind of filters are applied, $800 seems very excessive. I understand the need to make a profit but not to totally fund someone's retirement.