Leads...when to let go

[LostDollar]

Make a file folder for each zip code you work. Stick your old leads in the zip folder. Then if you are going to be in a certain zip and think you might have any spare time, bring that folder with you to call through or door knock "at your convenience" if you don't have new leads to keep you busy.

Other than that they are rainy day files. If you come up short on leads you have a great collection of B leads.

Good advice. I started doing that several years ago for fill in activity when I got porched and had a little time on my hands. I just keep a file box in the car for my old leads so they're at the ready. I think I got the idea from somebody on the forums. It might have been you, @Newby !

(P.S.: I sold a couple of policies off of one of those just recently. The person on the lead had moved away, but it just so happened that the new tenant and her mother had just been talking about getting life insurance when I knocked on their door!)

In late 2016 and early 2017 there were some great FE threads-I think they were current to that time frame and not older ones that I found then.

One of them covered this issue at length. I think the spectrum ran from JD using the system which newby mentioned to goillini stealing his mother's receipe card box, dumping the receipes, and inserting the important insurance information.

JD's posts indicated a pretty intense dislike of doorknocking and he was able to use his new leads very effectively, so I think he abandoned his old "unworkable" leads a little more freely than other agents might choose to do.

 

[LostDollar]

I agree with what Newby stated above, but I would suggest using a route planning tool instead. If you have a CSV of all your leads, you can upload them straight into mapmycustomers or a similar program.

If they're direct mail, you can pay a VA to enter your leads on a spreadsheet and upload them.

Then when you're out running appointments and get no showed, open up your map software and it will show dozens/hundreds of pins around your current location.

It makes door knocking so much more efficient. Now you can knock them at your leisure without driving all over town.

Here's a conference call we did on that subject:

Good suggestion! I guess I sort of do that in a non-tech way. Mine are filed in postal carrier route order. If I've got time, I just go to the next few that follow sequentially after the current lead.

Again, a topic that was covered in one or two of those great old threads.

Goillini52 likes porches. I continue to believe he might be able to have a second career advising Anderson or Pella on front door designs if he wants to retire from insurance. I hope I am not doing him an injustice here with an oversimplification, but I think his "low cost" "startup" advice in those threads for an agent that either has to, or wants to, consider doorknocking, is: buy a list from Josh, put it in postal route order and get to it.

In multiple discussions where the issue has come up in the past, newby has continued to suggest an old microsoft program which they no longer support-but at least as of the last time he recommended it-he felt was still current enough to be useful.

Others went to modern gps and/or route organizer systems.

Successfully using any of those options continues to rely on some variant of the one card sales system mentioned in the other posts above, ranging from JD's carefully organized file folder system of his territory to goillini's menu card file boxes.

Seeing these issues pop up again in this thread continues to emphasize to me-as a non=agent, that the core basics for success in the FE market do not/have not changed.

 

[shonceman]

...
Seeing these issues pop up again in this thread continues to emphasize to me-as a non=agent, that the core basics for success in the FE market do not/have not changed.

Right. The more things change the more they stay the same! Coming from 100% debit, working in route order was certainly not a new concept for me. Neither was doorknocking, and finding efficient use of down time. But prior to @jdeasy's suggestion of carrying aged leads in your car filed by zip code, I filed them by the age of the lead with the oldest ones likely to never again see the light of day! Filing by zip +4 makes better sense, and I've found more fresh prospects by using that method than I did by just revisiting the more recent leads.

 

[LostDollar]

I am not going to retract my posts above, but it appears that I should express a caveat to balance them somewhat-particularly if an inexperienced agent reads them and is deciding whether, or how, to act upon them.

I am not an insurance agent. My comments above relate to things I have seen in the FE forum over a period of two years or so. They represent things that made sense to me at the time (2016-2017) as an outside observer and the approach I would have taken at the time to attempt to sell FE as an undercapitalized new agent.

All of those ideas that stick in my mind as approaches to selling FE which I would implement in my own business, may NOT be things that a successful FE agent, or even successful FE IMO would recommend that another implement in their business.

 

[Patrick Falcone]

Unless you've received a request to not call or contact them again and you know it's a working phone number, stick them in a file for a later date. Don't throw them out. Keep them organized, utilize them in the future....I wouldn't call the same household more than once per week though. 3/4 times per month is the max for me.

 

[Life Hawk]

Situation: I have a good number of leads that I have door knocked, called at multiple times of the day for months now and never been able to reach anyone. I have no problem continuing to call as perhaps they will answer one day. That said, my lead inventory looks a bit misleading since only the "newish" leads may turn out to be reachable. How does everyone handle this? I hate holding a stack of 60 leads for a zip code and taking 2 hours to call through the leads the same 35 or 45 never answer. I really only have 15 to 25 in the area and had I had a more accurate view of this I would probably supplement with TM or FB leads. Again very interested to hear how others handle this.

For those that will say "that is a upline question!" I have asked them and got great feedback but would also like to see feedback from some non kool aide drinkers.

Another perspective:

Moving on frees up head space... I work my leads tight... paid too much to waste them. However, if you let unproductive leads tie you up, they can waste your time and play havoc with your gray matter. I know the frustration of running no hitters at $31 a pop...

 

[Newby]

In late 2016 and early 2017 there were some great FE threads-I think they were current to that time frame and not older ones that I found then.

One of them covered this issue at length. I think the spectrum ran from JD using the system which newby mentioned to goillini stealing his mother's receipe card box, dumping the receipes, and inserting the important insurance information.

JD's posts indicated a pretty intense dislike of doorknocking and he was able to use his new leads very effectively, so I think he abandoned his old "unworkable" leads a little more freely than other agents might choose to do.

JD is way quicker to pitch a lead than new agents should be. You have to keep in mind that he has many years of insurance experience and a huge customer base where a new agent has only his leads in his hand. Big difference.

We teach agents to call and set appointments with their new leads from this week and run those appointments first before anything else. But after that you door knock your new leads that didn't set appointments and thirdly (is that a word?) call or knock your own personal B leads.

If you have exhausted all these possibilities then work Facebook Leads, telemarketer leads, etc.

JD doesn't like people knocking on his door so he is more reluctant to knock on other people's doors (with no appointment) than most agents are. If you don't have JD's bank account, that's probably not a good thing to follow for newer agents.

 

[somarco]

Moving on frees up head space... I work my leads tight... paid too much to waste them. However, if you let unproductive leads tie you up, they can waste your time and play havoc with your gray matter. I know the frustration of running no hitters at $31 a pop

China egg.

When I started in this business in the last century one of my managers said I was holding on to leads like a china (porcelain) egg. Afraid to set it down for fear it would roll off the table and break.

I someone wants to keep trying old leads in hopes of making a sale, go for it. Activity, even if non-productive, makes you feel like you are doing something.

My time is too valuable to keep pursuing old "leads". Anything over 3 days old isn't worth my time.

YMMV

 

[shonceman]

...
But prior to @jdeasy's suggestion of carrying aged leads in your car...

Was it @jdeasy 's suggestion, or someone else? I'm asking because @Newby just reminded me in the above post that JD is quick to pitch a lead. I remember him saying that he only works by appointment, too. So that makes me think it was Newby or somebody else. In any case, I'm one of those guys who has trouble throwing anything away. So I might as well find a use for those antique leads!

 

[shonceman]

China egg.

When I started in this business in the last century one of my managers said I was holding on to leads like a china (porcelain) egg. Afraid to set it down for fear it would roll off the table and break.

I someone wants to keep trying old leads in hopes of making a sale, go for it. Activity, even if non-productive, makes you feel like you are doing something.

My time is too valuable to keep pursuing old "leads". Anything over 3 days old isn't worth my time.

YMMV

I was taught a little different version of "China Egg". "They're pretty on the outside, but they're empty inside." Those are people who seem to be good prospects, but will never buy. If they don't buy on the first visit (unless they're debit and want to pay me cash on payday), I'm usually done with them. When they want to put me off until they pay their car off, or some other delaying excuse, I hand them my card and say, "Give me a call when you're ready." (They never call.) So I'm not advocating holding onto lead cards for non-buyers. The leads I hold on to are the ones I've never reached.