You see the websites, you see the ads: exclusive, never before sold, prospects eager to buy, insurance and annuity Leads. Some leads cost a few dollars – others are over one-hundred a pop.

I was curious, just how good are these insurance and annuity leads? I decided to find out.

I’m not going to name specific insurance and annuity lead websites, but I will give you a summary of how it all shook out.

Insurance and Annuity Lead Website A:

Cost: Cheap

Results: Terrible. 10% of the leads my staff called got number no longer in service recordings. The rest: the people had no idea what we were talking about. They were not interested in annuities, insurance or investments, nor did they remember filling out a request for information form on the internet.

Sales: 0

Insurance and Annuity Lead Website B:

Cost: Average

Results: Terrible. Prospects didn’t recall filling out request for information on anything related to annuities, insurance or financial planning. Most just hung-up.

Sales: 0

Insurance and Annuity Leads Website C:

Cost: Expensive

Results: About twenty percent remembered filling out a request for info. However, they had been called numerous times by different agents. Most were getting sick and tired of the calls. A few had begun working with other agents. Most hung-up angrily.

Sales: 0

I spent two-thousand dollars on this experiment. I did not find one-receptive buyer. I had thrown away my money, not to mention time spent by my phoning staff to contact these “hot prospects”.

What the heck was going on? How could these websites sell such garbage?

I poked around, wrote a few e-mails to ‘industry experts’, not surprisingly, nobody got back to me. Luckily, I did end up making contact with a marketing person who had previously worked for a big lead selling outfit. She gave me the juicy details of how the majority of these lead companies operate, whether it is insurance leads, long-term care leads, annuity leads, or MLM/Work-from-Home leads. They all employ the same methods.

Method #1: You send cute E-card to your mother wishing her a happy birthday. You fill out name, e-mail and click send. Your name and e-mail are captured. If the site is a lead harvester masquerading as an e-card site, you will now be e-mailed by people looking to sell you annuities, business opportunity offers, etc.

Method #2: Leads site buys huge database, often just regional phone book listings. They sell these ‘leads’, which are nothing more than names and numbers picked from the phonebook. Some of these people may even be on the Do Not Call list, which could land you in hot water.

Method #3: Harvesting leads from search engines. Often these leads are quality, but are expensive to capture, so the leads companies will sell the leads over and over. By the time you buy the lead, it could have been sold twenty times. Sometimes you’re the first to buy and you will find some quality prospects, more often you’re not.

Method #4: Internet robots crawl web sites hunting for e-mail addresses associated with insurance and annuity content. Somebody might be inquiring about annuities on a newsgroup or forum, next thing they know they’re getting offers from annuity companies. The Annuity Lead companies don’t let you in on how they’ve harvested the leads. It’s called spam and you could get in serious trouble for contacting these people unsolicited.

My contact did say there are decent leads sites. She said to check their policy to see if they guarantee the leads. Keep in mind, just because they have a guarantee doesn’t mean you’ll get your money back if the leads fail to produce results. But often sites with some kind of guarantee are sites that harvest only quality leads and only sell them once.

If you’re still of the mind to try internet leads my advice is to try just a few. Don’t buy into a huge program that requires a minimum monthly or a large upfront purchase. Experiment a little with a cross-section of sites. Who knows, you may find one that’s legit that’ll help you make some money.

By: Bill Broich

If you are an insurance agent that is looking for insurance leads, more than likely you are looking for policies in the area of auto, home owners, or life insurance. It makes the most sense because this is where the higher commission is.

Due to the fact that most business insurance customers are seeking insurance policies for start up businesses where the premiums are not all that high, the business insurance lead is not highly sought after by insurance professionals.

Also, for these same reasons the customer in need of business insurance has trouble finding someone to fill their business insurance policy for them.

Here is something for Insurance agents to consider when it comes to working with business insurance leads.

If you take the time to help a customer out with their business insurance needs and take the time to build a relationship with them, in no small way will they be overly appreciative of the fact that you took the time to help them.

Remember, you are with them in the beginning and you are a major component for helping them get their fledgling business off the ground. The trust and loyalty they will have in you is second to none.

Because of the relationship and the trust you have built with this customer they will be more than likely, and more than happy to do all of their personal insurance business with you. Which of course leads to life insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance, etc.

Or, at the very least you will have their ear when it comes time to explaining your products and services and the savings that you can offer them.

Also important is finding the right insurance lead company to work with.

Look for the insurance lead companies that sell fresh, real time business insurance leads, and one with which you can start out with a low minimum deposit.

This concept has been tested and has worked for many insurance agents so it may be something you want to consider.

So the next time you find a break in your day or an opening on your calendar, invest in a handful of business insurance leads and see if you can build a relationship with a small business customer.

By: Jay Conners

Successful producers know that quality, local insurance leads are vital to ongoing success.

Funny how the pen that writes up an order for new business is always tethered to the phone.

And today that phone is tied more and more to the internet.

The internet is rapidly changing. Insurance agents thirsting for relevant insurance leads need a competitive advantage. While a competitive advantage based on paying for every lead on a per lead basis can be effective, it means you are tied to:

1. Your own cost outlay (and budget) for each and every lead

2. The number of leads any given vendor can supply.

But, an alternate strategy for successful insurance agency marketing exists. No, not alternate–parallel. No insurance agent carries just one line; it would cripple the agency’s income. Multiple lines mean multiple chances to connect with customers.

Lead generation should work the same way. Your insurance marketing efforts should combine more than one tactic to put you in front of your customers.

And this is where search marketing comes in. Local search.

A recent stat shows that Google will soon account for 30% of all online advertising. Why? Because companies will pay good money to be in front of the right prospective client at the right time. And, they’ll pay even more money to get in front of that prospect with the right message at the magic moment in time.

That’s what you can do with successful search marketing It’s not easy, but it can be sustainable. Unlike pay per lead, a strong natural search campaign, coupled with thoughtfully placed paid search efforts can send your agency sales soaring.

Search can really be your best referrer.

By: Craig Lutz-Priefert