Insurance Info

Is it possible for insurance agents to get insurance leads that are winners? Today’s internet business community has made it easy. Agents can actually buy reliable leads from companies that provide insurance leads generation services. Though this runs into extra dollars it is nevertheless a tried and tested method of expanding the client base of insurance buyers for an agent. It also saves a lot of time which can be utilized in convincing prospective insurance buyers and coaxing them to buy. So as an agent you would do well to look into getting leads from such companies and work them to win deals.

The first task for an insurance agent is to find insurance leads that yield results that is fetch them insurance buys. It is quite a tough task that involves effort in analyzing and deciding on a lead delivery service that suits your needs. But once you have found the right source for insurance your future business is pretty much secure. You could talk to your co agents and find out about their lead delivery companies. You could also get their feedback about the same. You could of course get mixed feedback about the same service with some agents claiming them to be winning insurance while others consider it a waste of good money. Some agents may not be forthcoming at all about a good service as they would treat you as nothing but competition. Continue reading ‘Insurance Leads – Finding the Best Ones’ »

Insurance agents today have the big advantage of having numerous options in lead generation and marketing from companies that provide their services in this direction. This is largely due to the exponential growth in internet based insurance marketing. More options certainly do not translate into easy leads and insurance sale; in fact it is the other way round and the competition is much tougher than ever before. Insurance buyers have the facility to study and compare quotes from various insurance companies just sitting at their desks. This means insurance agents have to go that extra mile to get insurance leads, attract a client and sign a deal.

An ideal situation is where an agent has a solid list of clientele and keeps adding to this list purely from referrals. But to build a credible client list agents need good insurance leads. This is true for those wanting to add to their list as well as those new to the field and have to start a client base from scratch. There has been a drastic shift in leads generation due to internet boom. Lead delivery services exist today which have made the traditional lead generation methods null and void. Agents can buy good leads today from such companies – they can then follow up on the leads and land insurance sales. Though paid insurance leads cost money, they save time and effort for agents – they can invest this time in attracting and retaining prospective clients. Continue reading ‘Insurance Leads – How to Find the Best Ones’ »

Finding insurance leads is the biggest challenge in front of an insurance agent. Though in this online business boom there are several options to generate leads, it is still difficult for agents to find the right companies or services that could get them leads that will eventually emerge as winners. So as an insurance agent how do you zero in on the leads that will work for you? Are there some basic tips you could use in this process? The answer is “yes”. Read on to get a few useful tips that you can try out while looking for good insurance lead.

First off it is important to get a source that will serve you consistent and reliable insurance leads. Talking to fellow agents might get you a few names to start with. To get a sound source you will typically be required to study the leads that are given by them. You could consider this as “testing the waters” phase. Finding out how the company generate the leads is a good place to begin. Any leads generated from organic searches are usually found to be winners; those from affiliate programs and paid searches might turn out to be good too. You have to take into account many factors before you decide to choose a particular company or companies to service your lead requirements. Continue reading ‘Insurance Leads – Tips to Find Good Ones’ »

An insurance agent in today’s internet market has numerous options to generate insurance leads. There are scores of companies that offer their services to find insurance leads that an agent can work to culminate in an insurance sale. On the other hand, as consumers also have it easy to get and compare quotes online, agents have to be more proactive in getting clients who will buy insurance through them. Buying leads is one of the most effective and proven methods of lead generation today. Though it costs money agents prefer to go with this method because it ultimately gets them regular, reliable business and saves time. In this business time saved is equal to money earned because after all the same time can be spent profitably in convincing prospects to buy insurance.

Are you an insurance agent looking to increase your customer base or new to the industry looking to start your business from ground up? Getting good leads could be the best starting point for you. As there are many services that are out to give unreliable leads you need to be careful and do your home work well before going with a company. Your fellow agents might be able to recommend a good insurance leads generation service for you. But there are few things to watch out for – some agents may not be willing to reveal a good service, some might not be able to work good leads and end up blaming their service and so on.

For a start you can ask the lead generation service provider how they generate the insurance leads. There are methods like paid search, using their own websites – for organic search as well as through affiliate programs and so on. Just ensure that their method is logical and result oriented. You should get all your leads with proper details that you can use to work them easily. Usually lead delivery websites will have samples or you could ask for samples to determine if enough details are being provided on the leads. A company that discounts leads that are bogus can be an attractive proposition. You will need a steady stream of insurance leads that are reliable and a high volume is likely to get you more hits. But at the same time a few leads are also acceptable if they are all high quality. Continue reading ‘Insurance Leads – What Should You Look For?’ »

An ideal situation for an insurance agent would be when he has a constant supply of winning health insurance leads at his disposal. Is it possible to have such a situation in real life? It is certainly possible provided the agent is ready to put in some effort to find good sources to get his leads. As far as health insurance is concerned there is a big advantage for agents – group insurance plans help them to achieve greater profits. Even if they get one winning group insurance lead they can land a bulky deal.

There are many ways in which an agent can get hold of high quality insurance leads. Referral leads can be said to the best among them. In this method, an insurance agent’s existing customer who is happy with the service he gets talks about the agent to his friends and neighbours. The good word about the agent spreads and he soon has people looking to do business with him rather than the other way round. So every agent would do well to invest time in keeping his customers happy by serving them well – giving them cost effective deals, getting them all possible discounts and helping them get their insurance quickly when they do make claims. Continue reading ‘Get Winning Health Insurance Leads’ »

When you start combining major medical plans with ancillary plans, is when you will start separating yourself from your competition, protecting your book of business from client poachers and increasing your average commission per client. Ancillary or supplemental plans are your tools for closing benefit gaps created by trying to decrease premiums.

For example, for most clients the premium for a $5,000 or even $10,000 deductible plan is attractive, but the high deductible can make them nervous. So here’s what I do. I automatically include the A&I (accident & injury) coverage into the proposal and many times even the CI (critical illness) coverage as well depending on the age of the adults. And here’s exactly how I propose it: “Mary I am going to recommend that you consider the $5,000 deductible plan over the lower deductible plans and here’s why. The premium is $200 per month less than the $1,500 deductible that you were interested in. What we’ll do is add the ancillary accident and critical illness coverage to your plan. Continue reading ‘How to Combine Ancillary and Supplemental Plans With a Health Insurance Plan to Fill in Benefit Gaps’ »

If you’re a captive or career insurance agent that has been considering going Independent, the decision sometimes can be a hard one to make. It can be a bit scary taking that big step to go out on our own.

So, when is the right time to make the move?

I would say that there never is the perfect time. The longer you wait the more time you spend building another persons business. On the other hand you may need to build up a bigger reserve to have more to fall back on if your new venture takes longer than expected to get in the black. Some general guidelines that you should follow to know when you might be ready to make a move are… When you’re fairly confident in your sales ability. When you feel like you got a handle on how to market yourself and prospect for new business. It’s a good idea to have a reserve account big enough to pay for three to six months of overhead expenses. Then it may be time for you to step up go for it. You may consider a lower overhead option to start with by setting up an office in your home until you get established. Continue reading ‘Perfect Time to Finally Move From Captive to Independent Agent?’ »

After the Hurricane Katrina devastated several parts of the United States, it was realized that the adverse impacts of a natural disaster are more pronounced after the community starts rebuilding life. Although, the personal loss can never be compensated by financial aid, a lot can be done to make sure that the house remains protected after a natural calamity hits the house. Americans have been quick to understand the importance of having a home insurance cover in place to protect their house in wake of a calamity. As a result, of this growing awareness popularity and demand for house insurance policies has also gone up. Many insurance companies are thus seen offering specialized home insurance covers to attract more buyers. These companies also taking several steps to retain their existing clientele by modifying existing policies.

Thanks to the Internet, procuring all relevant information with regards to the home insurance leads is no longer a daunting task. Instead of waiting for the brochures of the various insurance companies and queuing up at the service centers to seek details, a growing number of home owners are found taking the internet’s help to gain an insight on the leads. Continue reading ‘Tracking Home Insurance Leads Online’ »

Regardless of how smart you might be or how much business or sales experience you may have had, if you are new to the insurance business I would encourage you to find someone to mentor you. Like any new industry you enter, the insurance business has it own language and acronyms. Each category of the insurance business, whether it’s property & casualty, or life & health, has its own idiosyncrasies. Besides the obvious product differences, each company has their own forms and processes. There is so much someone new has to learn and the learning curve is so long, a mentor is crucial to helping you to focus on what’s most necessary.

GO IT ALONE OR JOIN AN AGENCY

This is strictly a personal choice. As I said in the introduction, I initially joined an agency. However I realized very quickly that wasn’t my style. I found it too confining and restrictive for the way I work best. However, that first organization is where I met the person who taught me the basics of the health insurance business. During those first few months I learned enough to be dangerous not only to my self but to my clients. In an agency environment you should expect to get the initial training that will be the foundation for everything else you learn in the future. Your fixed costs will be covered i.e. phones, copying, office supplies, etc. It’s my opinion that you should stay away from captive agreements. Those are agencies or companies that mandate that you only offer their products to your clients. Those arrangements restrict your market too dramatically and whatever they are offering (leads, stock options, etc) the trade off is NEVER worth it. Additionally, you won’t get the well rounded experience needed to build up your own online agency. Continue reading ‘How to Find and Work With a Mentor’ »

Whether you are online or on the phone, it’s not as easy to establish rapport with your prospects as it is in person. However, your video tools will make it much easier. So make sure you use them early in the sales process and frequently. The sooner and more frequently they see YOUR face the faster and more readily they will connect to you versus the other 8 agents chasing their business. In my opinion the perfect posture is that of a consultant NOT a salesperson. And that is accomplished by asking questions. Make sure that your new prospect understands why you are asking each and every question. You are going to have to ask some very personal questions so the quicker you move from stranger to someone who is helping them, the better chances you have of gaining their trust. When working online you must control the conversation and questions can accomplish that without irritating the prospect. Also the questions you ask will establish you as the expert and give you the credibility that you must have to sell online. Here’s my list of questions that I ask to gain information and establish trust and credibility:

“Mary for me to help you find the most comprehensive plan at the best rate I need to get some information from you to help tailor the coverage”

* Why are you shopping for health/life insurance now? (This question gives you an idea what the sense of urgency is with your prospect and will tell you a lot about this opportunity).
* Are you covered now? What company & what plan?
* Has your premium gone up recently? To what? (That’s how I find out their current cost).
* Is anyone in the family taking ANY monthly medications?
* What are they and what are they taking them for? (Even though you know what Lipitor is for make them say everything that is wrong with everyone).
* Do you plan on having any or anymore children? When?
* I know we all would like to lose 10-15 pounds but is anyone in the family more than say, 50 lbs overweight? Continue reading ‘How to Establish Rapport and Build Credibility With Your Online Prospects’ »