Midyear-2008 Lead Company Update

[Crabcake Johnny]

I found the opposite - higher transfer rate for me since I was never one to call people twice a day for days.

 

[MattMcWilliams]

Granted - so you seem to do a good job catching these thieves. Why even work with affiliates in the first place? You're paying these people per lead, right? Why not just hire in-house people so you can monitor them.

OK, stay with me on this because I know it's an extreme example, but...

Why not start your own insurance company? Why not hire the people needed to do it?

OK, I acknowledge that is extreme, but look at it this way.

Here are some facts that you may not know

1. Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. all restrict listings in paid search to ONE per company. This is FAIR, ethical, and BEST for the searcher.

So to answer your question...what good would it do? We DO hire people in-house. Our marketing department as grown almost 200% in the last 2 years. But if we can only have one listing, what would another 10 people do? Seriously, if you have suggestions, we are more than open to them!

2. There are what? Like 10 companies that do what we do?

3. There another 10 or carriers

4. And about 50 affiliates that bid on good keywords.

Totaling 70 active bidders. That means on a GOOD day we MIGHT get 1/20 of the pie.

More facts:

5. Affiliates DO exist and they WILL send their traffic to someone

6. 90% of affiliates (and about 99% of the volume) are the types of people we WOULD hire if we could (and the same goes for any company) but the affiliate would rather work from home and not have to move etc.

7. About half of the affiliates are better at Pay Per Click and SEO than anyone who actually WORKS FOR a company. Why would the affiliate share in the dough?

So if the pie is 70 pieces big and Google and Yahoo and MSN say we can only have ONE piece and there are LOTS of good affiliates out there, why would we not get more pieces?

You are letting a handful (out of hundreds) of bad affiliates ruin it for you. The bad ones are also the small ones. Odds are you could go a year with us and never get a lead from a bad affiliate. We catch them too fast and get rid of them.

So again to put it into perspective, I would equate it to the following:

Why don't you start your own carrier?
Why do you represent more than one company?
And for that matter, why use advertising agencies or things like LeadPod, etc.?

The same reason we work with affiliates is the same reason independent agents quote many companies. Market share. It's the same reason you work with ad agencies or LeadPod, or whoever you work with. Heck its the same reason you buy your groceries at Kroger and dont raise cows.

They are good at it and we want more pieces of the pie...and as long as we have agents who want more leads and our retention rate is the highest in the business with agents, we will keep seeking more QUALITY pieces.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

That was a fantastic post and really explains a lot.

 

[MattMcWilliams]

That was a fantastic post and really explains a lot.

Ah thanks! I am glad. I hoe it does clear up things. Ultimately, the one thing I can assure anyone of is that we DO take bad affiliates serious.

In fact, we hold them to a higher standard than our own Google marketing.

Also, and yes this is a PLUG but about 10-15% of our affiliate lead volume is from agents themselves.

Many agents like you have their own sites but are only licensed in 1, 2, 3 or so states. They send their overflow to us.

We all know that no agent is going to advertise for free iPods or laptops, so we LOVE these types of affiliates. The leads are great and the agents love making a little extra income.

So, if you are like these agents, feel free to give me a call at 615-550-5337 or email me at matt [at] hometownquotes.com

End of plug now.

 

[indmedins]

I just wanted to post my 2 cents regarding Benepath.com leads.

All I can say is I have been with Benepath.com for two months and my ROI is good as well as my closing ratio.

If I receive a bad number, they credit returns. If prospect is uninsurable, they credit returns with a health filter.

From what I understand, you have to have Norvax. Benepath's prospect form interfaces with your Norvax account and the prospect sees your quotes and plans directly from Benepath.com. What I like is that after a prospect enters their info, quotes are generated from your Norvax site. What's cool is you get that lead in your email, plus the prospect is comparing plans and checking quotes directly on your Norvax account, which enables you to send a quick proposal, plus a welcome email.

So, all in all, I see no reason not to endorse them as a solid lead vendor.

As a matter of fact, I am looking for another area in FL, but all areas are currently sold out. My cash flow can only increase with additional areas. My thanks goes to Benepath.com for all the hard work and effort.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

What's unique about Benepath is just what you stated - after they enter their info they hit your Norvax quote engine and Benapath designs the page with your info on the left.

Now that client has what they were looking for - quotes - and are less likely to hop around filling out more quote forms.

With most areas sold out - and have been sold out - doubtful that they are anything but a great lead source. With as many agents buying their leads as we have I assure you that it would be well posted on this forum if there were problems.

This is not to say they're perfect for even close - just that they are a very solid source - especially if you're not a fan of hunting down shared leads or competing with other agents.

 

[dmiller90]

What's unique about Benepath is just what you stated - after they enter their info they hit your Norvax quote engine and Benapath designs the page with your info on the left.

Now that client has what they were looking for - quotes - and are less likely to hop around filling out more quote forms.

With most areas sold out - and have been sold out - doubtful that they are anything but a great lead source. With as many agents buying their leads as we have I assure you that it would be well posted on this forum if there were problems.

This is not to say they're perfect for even close - just that they are a very solid source - especially if you're not a fan of hunting down shared leads or competing with other agents.

What's unique about Benepath is just what you stated - after they enter their info they hit your Norvax quote engine and Benapath designs the page with your info on the left.

So you bring the Hype, get a new agent to sign up, Benepath Leads, Norvax Quote engine, and what do you have? A new agent that has no clue, spends all his or her money on the tools and makes minimal sales. I seen a Agent from Illinois that this happened to, and spoke to him, You guessed it BROKE!!! Too Much Hype and Plugs for me.


$18.00-$19.00 per lead, they better be decent. Also sells leads to Vimo. (Affiliate) so I guess Affiliate Leads Suck?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

No, he only sells to Vimo if that zip code is not sold. Once it's sold it's exclusive.

 

[indmedins]

No, he only sells to Vimo if that zip code is not sold. Once it's sold it's exclusive.

True. I can attest. I have never, ever had a lead prospect from Benepath.com tell me the were bombarded with other agents calling. When you own an area code, those leads are yours exclusively.

The only time a lead becomes shared is if the prospect was shopping around other sites looking for quotes.

 

[dmiller90]

No, he only sells to Vimo if that zip code is not sold. Once it's sold it's exclusive.

I realize that, My point was your post on Affiliate Leads. Also you state on your Website that Producer Pipeline is 100% Search Driven, that is far from being the Truth. They use several affliates. Once again, No Major Vendor that deals in Volume is strictly running a PPC campaign.