Why I Don't Buy Internet Leads

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I was going to say the same thing. Without looking at the total cost you pay for marketing you can't say that you only paid $7.00

Sorry, I'm fanatical about cost accounting - learned it from my Dad who owned his own small manufacturing company.

Not to break down every penny, but the four post cards totaled $1.32 (including postage), my email autoresponder adds .10 to the cost of each, my telemarketers added $1.20 each to the cost, etc., etc...you get the idea.

 

[dybdave]

Different strokes for different folks.
Some people do great with internet leads and selling from the phone, others must be face to face to be effective.
Every agent needs to find what works best for them.
Selling over the phone opens up a larger target market.

 

[kheyknee]

Somarco hit the nail on the head.

You have to look at all your marketing costs - including all those postcards and other marketing messages sent out to non-responders.

Regardless of your marketing approach it pays to understand all costs - both direct and indirect - and compare your costs to the future value of customers acquired.

 

[mike-]

So this thread also got revived. Cant wait to the day I am internet lead free. Cant wait until 2011 to see if its even possible to make money buying leads with new comps.

 

[maksim]

my take on it, if you cant generate your own leads, go work for someone, you should not be in sales.

 

[mike-]

my take on it, if you cant generate your own leads, go work for someone, you should not be in sales.

That seems a bit off. If a telemarketer generates leads for me and I am able to close them then why would I not need to be in sales?
If I could generate my OWN leads via SEO and could not close them cause of my selling ability then I should be in sales cause I generated my own leads?

 

[maksim]

That seems a bit off. If a telemarketer generates leads for me and I am able to close them then why would I not need to be in sales?
If I could generate my OWN leads via SEO and could not close them cause of my selling ability then I should be in sales cause I generated my own leads?

If you can generate your own leads that is the key. No one says you cannot buy leads, but.... key but... if you are dependent upon them, you should not be in sales.

then again, depends if you are a product pusher or doing holistic wealth management. If I only did 1 product, or was transaction based, I would probably play around with leads, however every single client I brought on this year, came out of building relationships, networking, and private events.

 

[OH-healthcare]

I had a 53 year old female CPA call me today. During tax season no less!Never met her, or talked to her before. Over the last year, she's received a monthly email from me, and four post card mailings. Total cost to me has to be less than $7.00.

Sounds like you have a huge pipeline or good residual income to wait for those to call you. Unfortunately, I am a year into the business and actually just starting selling medicare supps, so I was looking for internet leads to jump start my pipeline until I have a good stream of contacts. What else can you recommend for someone in my situation? Thanks. Great post.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Sounds like you have a huge pipeline or good residual income to wait for those to call you. Unfortunately, I am a year into the business and actually just starting selling medicare supps, so I was looking for internet leads to jump start my pipeline until I have a good stream of contacts. What else can you recommend for someone in my situation? Thanks. Great post.

Learn to prospect.

I have worked every kind of lead imaginable for Med Supps and have found the vast majority of them to be no different than picking up the phone and making cold calls. In fact probably far less productive than calling from a list.

When I was buying internet leads it seemed like every person who had been turned down for a Med Supp because of health reasons got on the internet hoping that there was a company that would insure them. If they don't qualify for one company they probably don't qualify for any of them. The underwriting is practically the same from one company to another.

I also talked to a lot of people who had filled out the form who were on Medicaid. Almost none of the people who I contacted were actually in the market for a Med Supp, they were just curious.

An agent who learns to prospect will never be without someone to sell insurance to. Agents, especially ones new to Med Supps, will end up with huge expenses in lead costs and very low profits if they don't learn to prospect.

If you feel as though you must purchase leads then try to find ones that are six to eighteen months old. Those will be the best investment of your marketing dollar.

I routinely sell Med Supps to people who I have originally talked to 12, 24 and 36 months ago.

 

[OH-healthcare]

Thanks for the reply. I know how to prospect for worksite. I thought maybe it would be different for this market. I guess the process is the same, just a different product and finding a different way to appeal to an individual's needs to get that appointment. Thanks again.