Midyear-2008 Lead Company Update

[TXINSURANCE]

Joe, your roi process and determinants are different than John's or Bob's, because you have a bunch of agents working for you and you need to figure in all of those expenses. People who are merely buying leads to work themselves have different factors in their calculation.

Correct.

I guess my only point was to have reasonable expectations. I have received emails of people buying $250 of leads and ONLY selling 4 cases (not to mention what might pop later). That $62.50 per case - which is a steal.

Back on topic how many agents does NetQuote share with these days?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Netquote - yet another case of "if it works for you." I personally had horrible results with them - also know agents who swear by them.

 

[Lancealot]

If it works for you is right...the key is to give it a shot.

don't spend $100 on leads and if they don't work, give up. that would be like running a yellow page ad for 1 day and if you only get 3 calls, you quit.

You should try at least 25 leads...most companies will give you a deal on the first 20 or so.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I'd say 50 leads produces a more accurate results of true ROI.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"Back on topic- How many agents does NetQuote share with these days?"

If given the chance, they will sell the lead eight times. That's too much. That's why I readjust my NetQuote filters to use zipcodes with four or fewer agents. Of course, four this month might be six next month. You have to keep adjusting it.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

If given the chance, they will sell the lead eight times. That's too much. That's why I readjust my NetQuote filters to use zipcodes with four or fewer agents.

8 times, wow. I am hearing this is very common from a lot of companies - seems very high to me.

How do you know how many agents are getting leads in particular zip codes - does NetQuote reveal such information to you?

 

[InsuranceBenefitsGroup]

We love them, hate them, love them, measure the ROI, despise them, love them, hate everything they're all about. In a nutshell, as many already know, the unsuspecting consumer fills out the form with the hopes of seeing online quotes. Sure they're "just shopping" and what not. Everyone is just shopping, we just need to help facillitate that sale, right? So they see that notorious ehealth link and then their phone is lit up by a bunch of agents. They just love ehealth right?! Browsing those Saver 80's, Right Starts, and Monograms with $20K deductibles. Just what they need to see. Meanwhile we're over here cutting eachother's throats to get the deal. I love competing with lying sack of sh*t captives selling junk. If you haven't truly captured the client, they'll end up hearing the same sh*t from every agent they talk to. Now they've had enough and will flounder for weeks and not pick up the phone. THEN, what do you think they do? Now that they're miffed by the internet, some go to the phone book. 2 days later a UA or Mega agent is sitting in their kitchen. I follow up a day later and they tell me they're "all set". Now I have double the work to do.

Let's not kid ourselves speaking of the honesty and ethics of these lead companies. They're all built on trickery. They all forget who their true customers are. They're too preoccupied with affiliates, not the agents whose backs they climbed. Their top affiliates are in Romania, Czech Rep, and Kazakhstan -bunch of crazy programming gurus. They're making $100K a month helping bastardize our business. The whole thing is a cluster*&#.

That company I've worked with for 5 yrs, you know, they were recently sold for 65 bazillion or so; I joke with them about the kool aid they drink, the fresh Denver air, the altitude. I just love training my new guys on how to manipulate their system to pause the damn leads, really time and energy efficient!

We can't forget about our grassroots efforts. Getting with you local chamber, doing a trade shows, BNI, all that goodstuff. Leadpod is here to help us keep our sanity, however you have to buck up. It may just be the wave of the future for those that appreciate the concept of spending $ to make $ and keeping your BP steady.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"does NetQuote reveal such information to you?"

Upon request, they will. However, the numbers change very often. For example, the zip code where I am located went from 3-8-4-8 within two months.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

We love them, hate them, love them, measure the ROI, despise them, love them, hate everything they're all about. In a nutshell, as many already know, the unsuspecting consumer fills out the form with the hopes of seeing online quotes. Sure they're "just shopping" and what not. Everyone is just shopping, we just need to help facillitate that sale, right? So they see that notorious ehealth link and then their phone is lit up by a bunch of agents. They just love ehealth right?! Browsing those Saver 80's, Right Starts, and Monograms with $20K deductibles. Just what they need to see. Meanwhile we're over here cutting eachother's throats to get the deal. I love competing with lying sack of sh*t captives selling junk. If you haven't truly captured the client, they'll end up hearing the same sh*t from every agent they talk to. Now they've had enough and will flounder for weeks and not pick up the phone. THEN, what do you think they do? Now that they're miffed by the internet, some go to the phone book. 2 days later a UA or Mega agent is sitting in their kitchen. I follow up a day later and they tell me they're "all set". Now I have double the work to do.

Let's not kid ourselves speaking of the honesty and ethics of these lead companies. They're all built on trickery. They all forget who their true customers are. They're too preoccupied with affiliates, not the agents whose backs they climbed. Their top affiliates are in Romania, Czech Rep, and Kazakhstan -bunch of crazy programming gurus. They're making $100K a month helping bastardize our business. The whole thing is a cluster*&#.

That company I've worked with for 5 yrs, you know, they were recently sold for 65 bazillion or so; I joke with them about the kool aid they drink, the fresh Denver air, the altitude. I just love training my new guys on how to manipulate their system to pause the damn leads, really time and energy efficient!

We can't forget about our grassroots efforts. Getting with you local chamber, doing a trade shows, BNI, all that goodstuff. Leadpod is here to help us keep our sanity, however you have to buck up. It may just be the wave of the future for those that appreciate the concept of spending $ to make $ and keeping your BP steady.

I was buying leads back when the agent were the clients - and we were treated as such.

I could almost freeze the moment in time when the almost all lead companies went south - shilling out call centers, selling to 5, 6, 8 agents, Ehealth redirect and at that moment we no longer became clients - we became impositions.

The problem is no one's winning - it's degrees of losing. The lead companies are burning through agents as one cancels right after the other.

Clients aren't winning after being barraged by phone calls and certainly agents are not winning.

For me - stated yet again - screw it all. Feed all that junk into Leadpod and let them sort it out.

I will never spend my days calling and calling and calling prospects who are trying to avoid me from leads generated by affiliates who's only dream is to get rich and don't have a horse in the race.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

For me - stated yet again - screw it all. Feed all that junk into Leadpod and let them sort it out.

That is certainly a strategy, I would however call the Leadpod "bad lead list" as there is still some good prospects listed where their screeners could not get results, a good agent can.

I would feed LeadPod and call the leads as well. Leadpod could be a solid backup, I do not recommend as primary though as the overall costs might be high - $11 transfer fee + lead cost, and lower transfer rate.

Good backup - I am with you 100% on that.