Prospecting Help

[Angio333]

I just passed my test to get my P&C license and I am working on my Life&Health.

Can any of the veterans offer any basic advice on prospecting? What have you found to work and what is a waste of time?

Is it worth hitting a target neighborhood with "door hanger" ads? What uinternet lead companies are good, and which ones are bad?

What cost effective methods are you currently using?

Thanks in advance.

 

[HomeService]

I literally go door to door and knock doors. Not too many do that nowadays, and I do it in less than wealthy neighborhoods. I find small businesses are more receptive to me than are the homeowners. You may not want to knock on the door, so a door hanger with a mail back card that rips off the bottom of it -may work.

Or, mailers with the return card. Maybe. It seems as though most agents just use the phones and the internets, now. I think the internet kind of put the kybosh on mailers a little. Unless, you put your www address on the mailer, now you are using two different forms of advertising.

 

[Agent Jeff]

I just passed my test to get my P&C license and I am working on my Life&Health.

Can any of the veterans offer any basic advice on prospecting? What have you found to work and what is a waste of time?

Is it worth hitting a target neighborhood with "door hanger" ads? What uinternet lead companies are good, and which ones are bad?

What cost effective methods are you currently using?

Thanks in advance.

djs has shared a fair amount of recently-tested practical experience on P&C prospecting for personal lines auto and home policies; maybe you should read through his posts.

There hasn't been a lot of discussion about methods for commercial policy prospecting other than cold canvassing businesses.

 

[CHAS.R]

I ran into some interesting and seemingly valuable prospecting info for real estate agents that I believe would also benefit the life agent in the same way. Brian Buffini is the Real Estate Brokers name. I am always leery of product driven sales motivative speakers but this guy seems legit.

"In a nut-shell"....you put together your own referal base or Data-Base of clients from your existing circle of family, friends, co-workers, neighbors etc. then w "farmer hunter" sort of mindset you cultivate new leads through them and with common sense, patience, practice and a teachers heart your referal base should grow thereby generating more income (in theory). "COLD CALLING NOT REQUIRED".

If you want I could burn you a copy of a CD that explains this referal base phylosophy. This is free info so you can take it for what it's worth. If you are a self starter then this first bit of info should suffice to get you started and on your way. Because of my nature I believe this style would work for me as well. Send me an Email and I will send you a copy.

Let me know....

CHAS.R

 

[NWInsurance]

I still like to look at the basics.

As long as you are doing something, you are doing better than doing nothing.

Once you start doing something you need to record your results. As you are able to track your results you can then determine your ROI. Once you know your ROI you can have an idea of what system works.

Once you have found a few systems that work you need to continually look for ways to improve your ROI.

I am being a little vague because there is really no right answer. What works for one person may not work for another. This has to do with many reasons.

Your market
Your product
The Quality of your message
The quality of your "pitch"
etc. etc. etc.

The bottom line is this. You need to find the systems that produce the best results, for the least money.

If you work in P&C that means finding the best clients for you. Many of the people here work in Life and Health, although they also need to build long term relationships, and need to get referrals they are not effected as greatly by quality prospects as you are.

Getting commission on a Auto will not pay your bills. Having that Auto renew every 6 months for years, getting their homes, and life, and referrals will. Make sure that your marketing systems focus on that TARGET PROSPECT.

Also you need to realise that many marketing systems have limits. You are not guaranteed any volume with internet leads. The cost can be quite expensive. You will notice a close rate of between 5%- 12%. (Some may get higher but I would not expect that)

Using that math..... Lead cost $8-$15. Close rate say 8%. and lead cost $12.00

You will need to get on average 100 internet leads per month to close 8 deals. That will cost you $1,200.

Most of the internet leads are for Autos, (P&C) and a large number of those are for renters. Lets say that on average you have 1.5 autos per sale. Depending on the state that you are in, and your premiums and the quality of the prospect you could expect to get a 6 month commission of 30-50 per Auto? That would give you about 500-600 bucks. Lets say that you cross-sell some home etc. you may be able to break even.

In the long term you may be able to have a good amount of those renew, and add to their households. If you have good systems you could also get referrals from those prospects as well.

Bottom line here, at least where I am. The agents who are really growing using internet leads are having to buy huge volumes, and normally do not recoup their investment for 6 months- 1 year.

If you are a new agent then you may need to make some money to pay the bills. If that is the case you may want to look at creating your own lead generation. I am not sure how to do that online, as I am not able to make my own households (Captive)

The most important thing is for you to realise that every prospect is a chance for a sale, or future sale. Increase that households by collecting as much info as possible up front, good follow-up and again constantly look for ways to increase your ROI.

If you are doing mailers how many point of contacts do you have. Phone, E-mail, households, Fax, BRC?

Are you mailing to 1,000 people or 100 people every few weeks 10 times.

Target the markets that you want to chase, use event based marketing.

Get new mover lists, or X-date lists and start mailing to them 90 days before x-date. Make sure that they receive 2-3 letters before their renewal and then call them if you have the number.

Find a niche and chase it like crazy, become the one person that specializes in that niche.

Track, Track, Track

At the end of the day you need to hold yourself accountable for your success. Action alone is better than nothing, but Action combined with good processes and systems are my best bet.

 

[OCNobel]

NW's advice is gold! Specialize, Specialize, Specialize, You will need a niche, if you try to be a generalist you quickly be working with me at Home DEpot!

One very important aspect to keep in mind with web leads, these people are shoppers who view insurance as a commodity. In the P&C market most "shoppers" will not close on the first call which means they will be waiting to get hammered by the 3-9 other agents the lead was sold to. If you can do anything to find out which carriers are etremely competitive in the market you are going after you'll be ahead of where I was when I started. If you can find out more about their situation, home owner, need an umbrella etc., they are more likely to work with you after getting hammered by the rest of the pack...