Social Selling: LinkedIn, MyFace, Insta-Twit because Cold Calling is DEAD

[Rick Deckard]

I thought you were the cold calling professor? I guess class is dismissed.

Greetings DHK, love your work on these Forums. I don't really feel cold calling is Dead in Fin Svcs and Insurance...however, it is vilified on Linked In and many social networking platforms. I wanted to get a temperature gauge of what folks are experiencing or doing that might actually be working.

It's getting harder and harder to have a good system for B2C with outbound calls, almost no home phones so its all cell #s and it just is a tough sled to pull or push either way.

 

[Rick Deckard]

Any particular age ranges that come up better with facebook (say 35-55) or do you get a turnout from all across the age spectrum?

This is a great vertical to discuss, who is our/your market? If you work in a small boutique agency that doesn't get into SEO or the like, I bet you service a lot of folks in the 45-65 range, perhaps a lot older as we have many in their 70s and older who do not like to use the computer to transact business, it scare the hell out of them. Some of course in that age range are totally comfortable going on line and not using a professional.

They say folks 25-45 crave personal relationships and tire of the Insta-Twit but that is not my experience. They view insurance as forced upon them to drive their cars and want the least amount they can skate by with.

 

[Rick Deckard]

I don't think he said (cold calling) class was dismissed, i think he's looking at other avenues to generate leads.

I personally know an individual who does nothing but cold call for commercial agents
(that's all she does and makes a pretty decent wage).
.

Yes, this!

I'm still the Cold Call Cowboy

 

[Stephen]

I have had a roller coaster ride my first 12 months. Went to a lot of Chamber events, Network events, Outbound calls, and in the Social Media World it seems that cold calling is dead. Now you and I know that targeted Outbound phone calls will work and will continue to work but it would be nice to generate more inbound calls because I find the close ratio on them is rather high.

That said, does anyone in here really understand this platform? From personal experience I tend not to buy in the end when I am not working with an associate from the company. I have never transacted a policy without some real interaction with the client. Just working up a quote, email it, signed and return, never. And yet so many new age digital media folks are bashing cold calls which really is an umbrella for ALL OUTBOUND calls.

Is anyone converting inquiries from social media? I have read up on it, been sent "social media" tips direct from authors thru Linked In, still it just seems like a mystery. No agency I know of around my area is spending any kind of money on social media presence and awareness, what say you?

I had a social media firm send out thousands of linkedin requests and messages on my behalf. That venture will definitely lower my tax burden at the end of the year

 

[Rick Deckard]

I had a social media firm send out thousands of linkedin requests and messages on my behalf. That venture will definitely lower my tax burden at the end of the year

I also hired a social media management type firm that would send out 12-15 messages, articles, and such on behalf over several social mediums like L/I, FB, Twit, etc...and I quickly shut that off as I could have duplicated what they were doing. I actually got them to reverse the charges and end the contract which was set to run for 12 months.

The biggest investment is time and I'm not sure how you measure that for ROI in this field, it's hard to measure the impact.

 

[kstein]

We have been using an seo company for about a year and paid them around $30k which included a website revamp, a you tube video, a drip ail campaign for new clients and an AEP campaign, and ongoing seo work (which is about 2k/month). I'm not 100% sure what they do with regards to seo but it works and they have had pretty good communication .

I'd estimate we have written about 60 -80 med sup and mapd cases directly from someone calling us on the phone strictly from our Google reviews or by landing on our website. We also get a ton of obamacare calls which we help pro bono and it turns into sales in the future l. Now we are an established agency so we are comfortable breaking even or losing a buck on the first year as we can afford to have a long term view.

Many of these clients set an appt w my secretary and come into my office so the close ratio is almost 100%.

We are rebranding our website as we recently opened an office in VA but here is the link. www . Medicareplansstcharles.com

 

[LostDollar]

We have been using an seo company for about a year and paid them around $30k which included a website revamp, a you tube video, a drip ail campaign for new clients and an AEP campaign, and ongoing seo work (which is about 2k/month). I'm not 100% sure what they do with regards to seo but it works and they have had pretty good communication .

I'd estimate we have written about 60 -80 med sup and mapd cases directly from someone calling us on the phone strictly from our Google reviews or by landing on our website. We also get a ton of obamacare calls which we help pro bono and it turns into sales in the future l. Now we are an established agency so we are comfortable breaking even or losing a buck on the first year as we can afford to have a long term view.

Many of these clients set an appt w my secretary and come into my office so the close ratio is almost 100%.

We are rebranding our website as we recently opened an office in VA but here is the link. www . Medicareplansstcharles.com

I like your website. I have not had a chance to watch video, but have scanned a number of the pages.

The only (unsolicited) observation I have:
There have been threads in the past about newsletters and keeping content and current flow. The current updating of your blog is so infrequent that I wonder if you might be better off removing it from the website until you'all can figure out a plan to update it more frequently. IMO, the current situation makes your website look neglected even though you have just spent $30K.

 

[Rob Lion]

If you don't produce content you are already years behind. Insurance agents have a boring section on youtube compared to all of the realtors that market on instagram and youtube.

 

[kstein]

Good feedback, I appreciate it. I've always struggled to keep on top of blogs and newsletters. Like many small business owners I get distracted with more important pressing things and quickly fall behind and procrastinate!

 

[DayTimer]

Yes, this!

I'm still the Cold Call Cowboy

The original cold call cowboy was Steve Andersen, a broker for Paine Weber in the 80's. In the 90's I spent some time as one of Andrew Lanyi's cold callers at CIBC Oppenheimer, and it was basically Anderson's 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM schedule. Being a cold caller for another broker was kind of like being on a MLM 50% contract with $45 leads, only the MLM pays better.

If it weren't for the do not call list, I'd be cold calling for leads. I didn't like my paltry cut when I was a Wall Street trainee, but I'll be darned if I didn't love smilin' and dialin'