Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

Do you sometimes feel managed by your leads? Are you tired, run-down, listless? Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? Oops, sorry….I started thinking of Vitameatavegamin from I Love Lucy…that was a great episode.

Our veteran agents may remember when InsureMe used to fax the leads to them, before the Internet. You probably had to file the paper fax once quoted. Time has certainly changed, and with the advent of the Internet, more consumers are now comparison shopping. More shoppers may lead to more leads, and with this, a difficulty in managing them.

We do understand there are more facets to an insurance agent than just quoting rates, and that your time is valuable. Therefore, for those who may not be aware, lead management systems/comparison raters/quoting systems may be an option in managing your time and leads.

The following overview is courtesy of InsureMe’s Lead Management Specialist:

Lead Management Systems (LMS) contain several features that enable agents to better manage their leads. An LMS will assist agents in managing marketing and sales operations for optimization and increased conversions.

In addition, LMS performs agency management and tracking. Typically, agents using an LMS are able to handle more leads and accept more volume than if they were not using an LMS.

Comparative raters (or raters) assess the given insurance risk across multiple insurance carriers for comparison. Comparative raters are primarily used by independent insurance agents and can be PC- or Web-based.

Quoting engines are used to generate multiple, automated quotes for ease and convenience. InsureMe has integrated with several company quoting engines to decrease the time it takes to quote consumers.

Sounds great, don’t you think?  Check out InsureMe’s LMS and quoting partners.

Don’t turn to Vitameatavegamin to cope with your leads successfully. Please stay tuned for a listing of our lead integration partners, available on the agent site soon!

The other day I was telling a friend how easy it was for me to train my dog, Buffy.  My friend was really frustrated because she could not get her dog to do what she wanted.  It made me think about what I did to train Buffy so easily.  At first I was frustrated because she would not listen to me until I found out what motivated her—food.  As soon as I started rewarding her with food, she started responding to my instructions.  Then training her was rather easy.

 When calling on leads, you need to understand what will motivate them call you back or even go with your company for insurance.  Now, I am not recommending that you bribe them with food or anything else. That will get you a quick call from the state department of insurance.  What I am talking about is this: what sets you apart from the rest of the bunch?   Do you say things like “We have the lowest rates in town!”?  That may not work the best because they are probably hearing that from everyone.  We’ve all seen the insurance commercials that claim switching can save you hundreds of dollars a year. 

 What works for you may be different from the next agent.  Use a different talking point each time you make contact so it doesn’t go in one ear and out the other because they keep hearing the same thing.  When everyone has the lowest prices, you need to focus on what’s unique to your agency: personal service, fast quotes, convenient location, or anything that makes you different.  Once you understand what motivates your prospects, they will respond and may even come back for more. 

 Now Buffy expects a treat every time she goes outside.  I think I’ve created a monster.  But she is very loyal, and your customers will be too once they know that you understand their needs.