HometownQuotes Leads

[Insurance1guru]

I have tried them all including Hometown and Netquote. Insureme has really improved, but admittedly it was not good enough either at least for P&C. Too many damn agents getting the leads. I don't care what they tell you, probably 10 agents getting the leads in most areas. I wish the freakin lead companies could pull back to 5 agents. Last I heard all the lead companies are all making a lot of money, but agents struggle with it because there is so much competition with each lead. SEO baby SEO☺☺☺

 

[P&CGuru]

I have tried them all including Hometown and Netquote. Insureme has really improved, but admittedly it was not good enough either at least for P&C. Too many damn agents getting the leads. I don't care what they tell you, probably 10 agents getting the leads in most areas. I wish the freakin lead companies could pull back to 5 agents. Last I heard all the lead companies are all making a lot of money, but agents struggle with it because there is so much competition with each lead. SEO baby SEO☺☺☺

I use insurme and I cant get enough of them. I hate their credit policy coz it stinks but they have great quality leads for P&C, tried them for life and got horrible results, only 1 of the first 16 leads i received were valid so I called to speak to my rep that told me "many of our agents have great closing ratios with our life leads" my response "Send me some leads that Bart Simpson didnt create and Ill have good ratios too"

 

[somarco]

Just a wag, but Hunter and Bob, the two guys that started HTQ were P&C agents before they got into the lead business. They probably have a better grasp of what makes a good P&C lead than any other lines.

 

[Hunter]

If the CEO takes time out to post on forums then that company deserves a shot at my business. Hey Hunter, who do I call to get signed up for life leads in VA?

Thanks! Sending you a PM now.
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I have to say Hunter is very responsive. At the first of the year, we had probably a 2 hour conversation about why I was leaving after coming back. Never once got defensive or let ego get in the way. We had a good conversation and I felt he listened. Just came back on board. Of all the lead companies HTQ I have used the longest and I have come back to, which is something I would never do with several others.

Thanks Larry. I enjoyed the call and I appreciate your kind words.

"Send me some leads that Bart Simpson didnt create and Ill have good ratios too"

LOL. Dang and Bart just contacted us about sending leads. I will put him on the do not accept leads from list.

Just a wag, but Hunter and Bob, the two guys that started HTQ were P&C agents before they got into the lead business. They probably have a better grasp of what makes a good P&C lead than any other lines.

I would agree that is where we started but we have both at some point in time sold all lines. Fortunately I think a lot of the same principles apply across all lines.

1. No incentives for filling out a lead form.
2. Government sponsored programs don't make anyone any money.
3. No matter what you do...not all lead sources are created equal.

All lead gen companies are going to have some bad leads...the question is how you handle those once you get them.

Bob whether you know it or not...we learned a lot from you on credit requests and how to better handle them. Same goes for Larry...he taught me something that never crossed my mind about how we process bad leads. I am appreciative of you guys for that.

 

[Evan]

Hunter,

Why does Hometown Quotes sell they're leads to Netquote and 2Insurance 4-Less?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

If they are unsold leads, that's OK. But if they have been sold already (max times)...that's not good.

The assumption is that lead companies sell lead to each other which is why many brokers stopped buying leads and developed their own lead-generation techniques.

I wish that guy that worked for a lead company would chime in. He'll set things straight.

Disclaimer: Since this thread is about HQL...admittedly (I like that word), I'm not that familiar with their practices.

WebNanny was used in this post
WebWhere'sWaldo was not used in this post

 

[whatyouwantfinally]

If they are unsold leads, that's OK. But if they have been sold already (max times)...that's not good.

The assumption is that lead companies sell lead to each other which is why many brokers stopped buying leads and developed their own lead-generation techniques.

I wish that guy that worked for a lead company would chime in. He'll set things straight.

Disclaimer: Since this thread is about HQL...admittedly (I like that word), I'm not that familiar with their practices.

To the rescue!

Nowadays, lead sales between companies happen via "ping post". Pretty much every company is involved in a "ping tree" with others, that operates like this;

Company X gets a lead (from their site, from an affiliate, whatever). Within 3 seconds, the following happens;

-Their system looks to see how much revenue can be generated by selling the lead to their own agents

-Their system then "pings" the lead (all the lead info minus the consumer's contact information) along with "distribution directives" to the other companies in their ping tree. The distribution directives are info about what agents/captive companies the lead can't be sold to, since company X will already be selling the lead to them, as well as how many more times the lead can be sold (8 total is the standard). The other companies then answer the ping with a 2 bids; 1 for how much they would pay to get the lead exclusive (thus not having to worry about distribution directives) and another for how much they would pay to get the lead and obey the distribution directives. Company X's system then weighs it's options and does whatever will generate the most revenue.

So, yes, companies are selling leads to their own agents as well as other companies at the same time. However, there are systems in place to make sure leads are not sold to the same agent by 2 companies as well as to make sure they are only sold to 8 agents.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Hey...Welcome back. I miss your posts.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

To the rescue!

Nowadays, lead sales between companies happen via "ping post". Pretty much every company is involved in a "ping tree" with others, that operates like this;

Company X gets a lead (from their site, from an affiliate, whatever). Within 3 seconds, the following happens;

-Their system looks to see how much revenue can be generated by selling the lead to their own agents

-Their system then "pings" the lead (all the lead info minus the consumer's contact information) along with "distribution directives" to the other companies in their ping tree. The distribution directives are info about what agents/captive companies the lead can't be sold to, since company X will already be selling the lead to them, as well as how many more times the lead can be sold (8 total is the standard). The other companies then answer the ping with a 2 bids; 1 for how much they would pay to get the lead exclusive (thus not having to worry about distribution directives) and another for how much they would pay to get the lead and obey the distribution directives. Company X's system then weighs it's options and does whatever will generate the most revenue.

So, yes, companies are selling leads to their own agents as well as other companies at the same time. However, there are systems in place to make sure leads are not sold to the same agent by 2 companies as well as to make sure they are only sold to 8 agents.

As there are always two sides of every story, the vendors could no longer make it work only selling a shared lead three times as marketing costs started to rise, especially PPC.

Regarding independent agents, selling to only three absolutely doesn't work because the vendor has a huge surplus of unsold leads. Why?

1st agent only wants 3 per day, 2nd agent takes "unlimited leads" but pauses their account on Wednesday. 3rd agents wants unlimited leads, but only between 9am and 5pm. No nights, no weekends.

You cannot operate a company that way. If it costs you to generate 1,000 leads in a day then you need to sell 1,000 leads - not 300 of them because agents don't have the budget to buy the additional 700.

Dealing with bitching agents is nothing less than a nightmare. "These leads suck" is meaningless. They suck for who. An untrained agent? An agent with no closing skills?

When I was working leads successfully it really didn't matter that the lead, in theory, went to 8 agents. 5 of them don't have their heads in the game and don't even call. 3 of those 8 agents might call.

Buyers are also liars. They are prone to hyperbole; "YOU'RE THE 14TH AGENT TO CALL!!!" Maybe. More like the third.

I'd never suggest that anyone put in for a quote but if you did I can guarantee you wouldn't have "14 agents" calling. Nor, 12, or 8, or 4. More like 2.

This, however, is not to say that lead vendors didn't play around with maximizing their profit to a fault. To me, it's bad business to create a profit model that upsets most of your agents and results in heavy turn-over.

I'd rather suck up a lead credit request and keep a solid agent then watch him blow out and go with another source. Replacing that agent who's likely spending consistent money is hard to do.

There's also a "headache" cost of running any business. I'd rather make a bit less of a percentage of profit if it means happy agents then make a great deal of profit if it means I'm scared to answer the phone every day.

 

[somarco]

The problem isn't so much how many times the lead is sold, but rather who is buying the lead.

The perception of 14 agents calling is tied to the phone mills that cycle and recycle the lead internally. Keep calling until you get no answer or a sale.