Court Denies Netquote Claim for Injuction Against MostChoice

[TXINSURANCE]

I would charge chumps $1000 deposit.

It's not like you don't have the money when the average Ohio premium is approaching $100 a month.

LOL.

 

[MikeLevy]

Good points. But perception rules this argument. If brokers perceive $500 is too high...they won't pay it. Even if it is justified.

Or...to rephrase...may brokers won't pay it.

Many brokers won't pay it. That's ok. We can't take them all. There are over 500,000 active retail brokers out there. I doubt we have room for more than a few thousand.
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I would charge chumps $1000 deposit.

It's not like you don't have the money when the average Ohio premium is approaching $100 a month.

LOL.

I hear he keeps that type of money in the glove compartment of his Ferrari. Spare change.
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Taking a $100 lead order is indeed a complete waste of time. It will yield responses such as "I received 10 leads and didn't sell one policy!".

If you are not willing to drop $500 then you do not have a business. You have a hobby.

In 2008/2009 I don't think $500 is unreasonable for business marketing (truthfully this is a joke compared to other industries).

This is simply my opinion , as stated before I have never used Most Choice so I can not comment on the lead quality in any manner. I can't imagine they are any different than NQ, IM, PZ or any other lead aggregator but I have no stats to back this up.

The real issue is your process and measuring results not only on a large sample but TIME. You can not spend $100 and tell me if a lead company is any good, it's not happening. Not to come to Mike's rescue here but just my two cents I agree with his policy on $500 minimum, those are not customers most companies have time to mess around with.

This post just made my 2009 training manual for salesmen at MostChoice. It is dead on - except for that part about us being a lead aggregator. We are a lead originator. That is a good subject for another thread as the definition of those terms is largely misunderstood. Suffice it to say, our close ratios are 2 to 3 times higher than the other services you mentioned because we don't use affiliate programs, spam or incentivization programs, or sell each lead to 8+ agents. But enough of that for now.

30 leads is a statistical sample. That's statistics 101. 10 leads is a craps shoot. Selling 1 out of 10 leads over time is not unreasonable - but the first 10? It will be hit or miss.

At $12 a lead for Health leads (most common price) 30 leads is $360. Hence, why in 2009, we will charge a $350 minimum order, paid up-front as always, for health lead orders. Life leads we are still debating whether or not we will drop the minimum order or maybe even raise it. At $28/lead $500 will not get to 30 leads. We may simply make the minimum order 30 leads but just limit the upfront payment to $350. About a quarter of our agents do $1000 orders anyway.

The only thing I can add is that agents put the most work into the leads which they paid for up front. The chances of them being successful are greater when they have some "skin in the game." I don't think you do the agent any favors when you make it easier for him to fail.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"average Ohio premium is approaching $100 a month"

Or less!!!

Sadly, the P&C rates here are low too.

 

[djs]

I feel like I'm defending Mike, I'm not, just defending the concept of the $500 upfront, pay to play.

Personally, I'd rather there be a barrier to entry for leads, this keeps a lot of agents out of the pool who are just hungry to write anything, which makes it harder to do my job. Lead companies that sell to a lot of agents don't need this, because they will simply sell you leads they are already generating.

This doesn't mean just by having the initial deposit, that the lead company lives up to their end of the deal. I've wasted a few $500 (and higher) deposits on leads, I write it off as the cost of business, though I grumble to myself for being snookered again.

A good lead company has a cost for aquiring leads, this tends to be a bit front end loaded, so it's not all a bad idea.

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That said, I still don't understand carrier exclusive for health leads. If I picked as my two carriers both Aflac and Time, would I not be able to sell HealthNet or BlueCross to the lead?

If I can under the terms of the agreement, then the concept of a carrier exclusive is a marketing gimmick, not a reality. I just need to pick carriers that I'm appointed with that you don't have yet, not a big deal.

Now, in reality, I've pretty much dropped all internet leads for now. Quality has gone down hill so much it's hard to make a living on them. There are a few good providers out there, but they are rare. To some degree, it isn't the lead providers as much as the shopper isn't committed to anything but a quick 'I wonder...', and is highly irratated that their information was sold. Providers that make this OBVIOUSLY aware to the 'shopper' are always better quality leads. Their lead volume will be very low.

Dan

 

[MikeLevy]

That said, I still don't understand carrier exclusive for health leads. If I picked as my two carriers both Aflac and Time, would I not be able to sell HealthNet or BlueCross to the lead?

If no other agent that is in your territory has the carrier exclusive on HealthNet or BlueCross, than you are in the clear to sell those companies as well. Just ask the salesman you are working with if any other agent in the territory has secured them. Also, we can sometimes go to 3 carriers for health insurance leads.

The idea behind the carrier exclusive is to keep agents from stepping on each others toes by quoting the same product to the same lead. It also keeps the people being quoted happy because they aren't getting handed the same quotes by 3 different agents. It is far from a gimmick. It really works! You just need to filter your leads so that they fit the companies you have the exclusives for and know what the other agents in the territory have exclusives upon so you avoid quoting those companies to start with.

How many companies do you find yourself placing health insurance with? Are there 3 companies that you find yourself placing a combined total of 90% of your business? If not that high a percentage, what percentage would you estimate the top three companies total to?
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Personally, I'd rather there be a barrier to entry for leads, this keeps a lot of agents out of the pool who are just hungry to write anything, which makes it harder to do my job. Lead companies that sell to a lot of agents don't need this, because they will simply sell you leads they are already generating.

Those agents that are hungry to write anything screw it up for the agents that are the real professionals who can work the leads right and do right by the customer as well.

The key to staying in business for 10 years as a lead company is carefully picking your agent base. As I tell my sales guys, "you will be successful based on not just who you sign up, but who you choose not to sign up!"

Fortunately, when we raised the minimum deposit from $250 to $500 we cleaned out a lot of the "threshold agents" that were coming to us. I'm a little nervous about dropping to $350. I don't want territories being locked up by guys who will inevitably leave the business.

You get what you pay for in this world. Nothing good comes cheap.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

My advice to newbies is without $1,000 don't even think about leads - get into other types or marketing to get off the ground. If they're not geared towards cold-calling and don't have the grand that's fine. Target is always looking for 3rd shift assistant managers.

 

[MikeLevy]

My advice to newbies is without $1,000 don't even think about leads - get into other types or marketing to get off the ground. If they're not geared towards cold-calling and don't have the grand that's fine. Target is always looking for 3rd shift assistant managers.

My advice to Newbies is to not buy leads at all!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I make them aware of options and typical returns. After that, it's up to them.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

Target is always looking for 3rd shift assistant managers.

John stop trying to give away all of my secrets! How do you think I afford to buy leads. I have 3rd shift in Houston covered, don't get any ideas.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I'm a little nervous about dropping to $350.

My BS detector alerted.

If you didn't need the business, you wouldn't drop it to $350.

An attempt at spin - and a rather lame one at that...