The end of the lead generation companies?

[InsurEasier]

That is still a lead.

I have two dispositions in my CRM, lead and client. Leads are people who haven't bought a policy from me. Clients have bought a policy from me.

Some leads may be a lot warmer than others (referrals, organic SEO, etc.) but they're still just leads. Maybe they can be considered a prospect vs. a suspect but they're still a lead.

I'm not sure why you're calling them anything different. You're just going to confuse people...

I'm sorry if I'm confusing people but I'm simply trying to show that what we're doing is not just selling a lead but someone who has already made a decision on whose quote they want to turn into a policy.

 

[InsurEasier]

On InsurEasier.com they would have already communicated with and created a quote for a lead but unless the lead selects that agents quote, that agent does not pay. They're basically already a client when the agent pays, instead of a lead.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

On InsurEasier.com they would have already communicated with and created a quote for a lead but unless the lead selects that agents quote, that agent does not pay. They're basically already a client when the agent pays, instead of a lead.

So if the client doesn't pass underwriting on your life quotes, you refund the agent?

I'm not sure why this is so upsetting to so many of you..?

Because you're not supposed to solicit on this site until you've been a part of the community and added value beyond your offer.

If you just want to solicit, you can buy advertising on the site like our sponsors do.

 

[InsurEasier]

So if the client doesn't pass underwriting on your life quotes, you refund the agent?


Because you're not supposed to solicit on this site until you've been a part of the community and added value beyond your offer.

If you just want to solicit, you can buy advertising on the site like our sponsors do.

If the agent does their due diligence and client doesn't pass underwriting, the agent would not pay in the first place.
I did send a message to one of the admins about buying ads. I haven't heard back.
But, InsurEasier.com will become a site that I wish I had access to when I first became an agent so I am offering something that is beneficial to agents, so that they do not need to pay for leads that get them nowhere.

 

[tippingpoint]

So you're not going to charge for leads who do not pick up the phone? If I have to call the lead it's the same as all the others. You said you're selling coversations though right?

What's the cost of a lead? I can generate leads who do not pick up the phone all day long for $3 - $9 depending. Insurance agents need A LOT of leads, scaling is not easy and you won't be doing that organically anytime soon.

And the new FCC rule? You're going to request your prospects give their information to three specific agents? If you have them provide their information to YOUR company, you will be required to be the company they deal with for their services.

You're getting free advertising at the moment don't complain about getting grilled. There's more to come lol. There is a lot of experience here in insurance and marketing.

 

[InsurEasier]

So you're not going to charge for leads who do not pick up the phone? If I have to call the lead it's the same as all the others. You said you're selling coversations though right?

What's the cost of a lead? I can generate leads who do not pick up the phone all day long for $3 - $9 depending. Insurance agents need A LOT of leads, scaling is not easy and you won't be doing that organically anytime soon.

And the new FCC rule? You're going to request your prospects give their information to three specific agents? If you have them provide their information to YOUR company, you will be required to be the company they deal with for their services.

You're getting free advertising at the moment don't complain about getting grilled. There's more to come lol. There is a lot of experience here in insurance and marketing.

All communication is on InsurEasier.com. If the member selects a quote, to turn into a policy, the agent will be able to call or continue communication on the site, in order to get any information needed to turn the quote into a policy. The conversation with the member is free.
The cost of the "lead" depends on the policy being requested, there's a table that breaks it down, that any agent who registers can access before they choose which Quotes Request they want to create quotes for and each Quotes Request will show the amount before deciding on whether or not to create quotes for that individual. It's a pledge amount.
Scaling will take time but if we can get about 50 agents in a state to commit to checking a few times a day then we can use SEO and many other avenues to increase traffic.
I've reviewed the FCC rules. They wouldn't be different for InsurEasier.com than they would be for other similar sites. All deals would be completed on our site.
I don't mind being grilled but there's a difference between being grilled and being attacked.

 

[tippingpoint]

I don't mind being grilled but there's a difference between being grilled and being attacked.

I don't think you're being attacked. It's a great idea if it can solve getting quality leads at an affordable price. As far as the FCC rule goes, I wouldn't worry about the other companies. It looks like the customer will have to give their consent, to give their information, to THE company that will be servicing them. Or maybe they will be able to give their consent to multiple listed companies. You tell me! I don't think anyone knows right now. You will have to be in strict compliance or nobody will touch your leads.

The agent will have to call, and the client will have to answer the phone. If you can build the relationship over your site enough that they answer thier phone and it complies then you might have something to sell.

 

[InsurEasier]

I don't think you're being attacked. It's a great idea if it can solve getting quality leads at an affordable price. As far as the FCC rule goes, I wouldn't worry about the other companies. It looks like the customer will have to give their consent, to give their information, to THE company that will be servicing them. Or maybe they will be able to give their consent to multiple listed companies. You tell me! I don't think anyone knows right now. You will have to be in strict compliance or nobody will touch your leads.

The agent will have to call, and the client will have to answer the phone. If you can build the relationship over your site enough that they answer their phone and it complies then you might have something to sell.

Oh, if that's all you meant with the FCC rules, then Yes, the Members offer their information step-by-step and give consent to us and to our verified agents to use for the purpose of getting quotes and a policy. It's in the Terms and Conditions, and they have to actively offer the information. There's no deceptive practices or even wording.
We are very diligent about our Members understanding that once they select a quote, they will need to speak directly with the agent they chose the quote from - as agents understand it to be for underwriting purposes. We let the Member know that it's for legal purposes.
Thank you for taking the time to understand! I truly wish I had this as an agent and I truly think it will help many of the agents on this site. Come to think of it, I wish I knew about this site when I first became an agent to offer my experiences and learn from such a large network.

 

[whatyouwantfinally]

Wow! I seemed to have upset you. I take it that you do not understand what I'm trying to get across to agents that would benefit from InsurEasier.com and, if you do, maybe it's causing you to worry.

I'm trying to help you. If I were about to throw time/money into something that will obviously fail, I'd be grateful for honest feedback from people with experience in the field. I think YOU are the one worried.

I'm not sure what you do for a living - whether you're an agent or you sell marketing strategies, etc. If it's the latter or something similar, not to worry, your profession can still be an asset.

I'm in insurance agent with real experience in the leads/marketing business. Whether you listen or not is on you.

However, I'm sorry to inform you that InsurEasier.com is able to present agents with real time prospects to communicate with, without purchasing them as just a lead. If you want to label real time prospects as leads, fine. But you're missing the point. If you want to use the label of a lead for what InsurEasier.com offers then you're also saying that putting an agent in an in-person conversation with prospects, that are actively seeking a policy, is also just a lead. You know as well as I do that is not what is referred to when speaking about things like lead generation.

No, I know that's exactly what a "lead" is; a person who has indicated interest in what you sell.

Agents on InsurEasier.com are peer reviewed. That means that other agents will see everything that any agent posts, when communicating with the member, and, since they are trying to sell their policy, they'll call out other agents that aren't honest. It will be limited to those creating quotes so we are not putting agents in a large pool agents where they would just be overlooked. There's a proprietary process we use to facilitate this.

And how would agents know whether another agent is low-balling quotes or not? How will the agents know if the prospects are being honest/telling the whole story when giving their information (people seeking quotes online lie/omit all the time)? Why wouldn't agents negatively review all others regardless?

Also, the agents creating quotes would have access to all the information they need to create accurate quotes, including, again, communication with the real time prospect, that is peer reviewed (peer meaning other agents).

Have you ever quoted, say, an auto insurance policy? You need get permission to pull reports on prospects to get an accurate quote. People are hesitant to give the info required for this to people they haven't spoken to, let alone multiple people at once. Not only that, but it takes time. AND, if you pull a bunch of reports that don't turn into policies, agents get charged for pulling those reports. That's both time & $ wasted on these "free" opportunities.

And, in the future, we do plan on having additional information pulled, like history, etc., but that's already done by the carriers so there really is no reason for us to start doing that yet.

Right, because you want to agents to waste that time/$ rather than yourself.

As for quotes, agents will need to present them in a way that is revealing of any discrepancies by entering key coverages, which will be compared directly with other quotes. Members can then ask about these discrepancies to the agents creating quotes, thus calling out any agent that tries to lowball (it's cute that you think I don't know what that means ) their quote...

So, people who don't have time and don't want to talk to anyone are going to have the time/desire to listen to agents argue about things they don't understand? Train wreck.

You're right about me being limited on resources. I need the help of other agents even though I have my L,H,&HMO and P&C General Lines licenses, because I will not have time to practice as an agent on the site since I'll be busy running and improving on the site. But it wouldn't make sense for me to anyway since that would diminish from the experience that I'm trying to provide to users and agents. I want InsurEasier.com to remain unbiased and continue offering more advice and features that help the user.

Listen to what you're saying. You're a licensed agent, confident you've got a game-changing marketing strategy that you can scale. But you're not going to go the tried-and-true route of using this to grow an agency/IMO/etc., because you'll be too busy working on a website in an overcrowded industry you have little knowledge of.
I haven't even mentioned the fact that countless websites essentially do this already directly with the carriers...I would hope you already know this.

Do you really believe that most people set aside time to spend in front of an agent to get their policies?

I don't just believe it, I know it for a fact. Most people talk to an insurance agent to get their policies. Lots do it over the phone, sure, but shopping for insurance online is super far from new and innovative. The market for people who don't want to talk to agents/don't value their expertise/just want a transactional experience is already cornered by Geico/Progessive/etc.

And/Or do you honestly believe that agents do not want to reach these people too? Which is it? You know as well as I do that this is the majority and agents would love to have them in their book of business. Why not?! They'll get more people that they need to spend less time with and less money on. It's ludicrous to think otherwise.

Have you ever actually worked as an insurance agent? Spending time working up quotes for people who don't want to have an actual conversation with you first is a complete waste of time and will get you WAY more hassle/stress than $.

Yes, there will be quotes made that aren't chosen but that's the life of an agent.

It's the life of a failed ex-insurance agent or a soon to be one. The actual life of an insurance agent is convincing people they want to have YOU handling their insurance, then having them hope your quote comes back the lowest but being willing to pay a tiny bit more to have you as their agent/advisor.

Seriously, you should work leads yourself for awhile to see how this actually works.

By the way, if an agent is such a good salesman that they're not taking time making quotes that they do not sell, then they're probably a dishonest one, which will only push more people to use a site like InsurEasier.com, to get their quotes so that they can compare quickly and easily and get peer reviewed advice from multiple agents and an unbiased site.

No, that's not how it works. No one closes 100% of the people they quote (except the kings spending a fortune on marketing funnels), but everyone who lasts makes sure their prospects are sold on THEM before they get into quoting. Otherwise you end up with short-lived clients who cost more time/$ to acquire than they're worth in revenue.

Rest assured, I've addressed all of your concerns stated above and given many reasons why InsurEasier.com stands out from any other insurance quoting sites available. Thanks again for the segues!

You haven't addressed any of them. It doesn't seem like you even understand them. I know it seems like I'm trying to burst your bubble, but there are obvious reasons this won't work.

 

[InsurEasier]

@whatyouwantfinally Agents are welcome to try InsurEasier.com or not. There will be many agents that benefit from it and agents that do not will likely lose many of their clients to this site. You're stuck in your habits and can't conceive of how InsurEasier.com works but you don't need to understand how it works to use it. Although, I don't think you've tried to understand. You just want to argue and I'm finished arguing with you.