2008 Lead Company Update

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

You love them. You hate them. You love them again. You leave them. But for many of you...despite the frustration...they are profitable for you.

Here's the latest:



DISCOUNTINSURANCELEADS.COM- The Good- Plenty of leads and easy to navigate site. The Bad-Overpriced and somehow, many of the leads end up with other lead companies. Note-They are a reseller.



HEALTHLEADSDIRECT.COM The Good-Very low prices. The Bad-Poor quality leads that have been sold numerous times.


HOMETOWNQUOTES- I have not used them in a while, so I'm not familiar with their current policies. When I did use them, the quality was poor and I believe an EHEALTH link was provided to each prospect.


INSURANCELEADZ- The Good: They often offer a trial period which consists of free leads. Quality of lead is above-average. Good filters. The Bad- Prices are too high. Confusing printout of leads does not identify which medical condition coincides with which applicant. They claim 10%-30% closing rate but refused to offer documentation after numerous requests.


Insureme- The Good: Volume is never a problem and you control the filters. The Bad: They are now overpriced in many areas and use UHC call centers more than any lead provider. Minimum daily purchase requirement.
Note:Unless you want to be inundated with leads, be very selective in choosing your geographic areas.


LEADCO-The Good: They claim they do not use affiliates, and I believe that is true. Generous credit policy and good customer service. Generally, not a bundle of agents to compete with. Prices are competitive. The Bad: Lackluster filters and confusing printouts (ie nonsmokers often indicated by a number...not Y or N).


Netquote- The Good: Plenty of filters and decent credit policy. Prices are competitive. The Bad: Ongoing battle with affiliates, although they are making some headway. Note: If you use Netquote, make sure you request zip codes with no more than four agents and update your areas quarterly.



PROSPECT ZONE (Select leads)- The Good- Prices are competitive. Decent filters. Good volume available. The Bad: For whatever reason, a high percentage of leads are single with low income.


VIMO- The Good: Plenty of volume and helpful customer service. For the most part, leads are not oversold. Prices are competitive. The Bad: Only four filtered medical questions means many of the leads have health problems not indicated. Every prospect gets an "instant quote" which is generally inaccurate. "Live" leads seem to be waining in popularity. Note:It is possible that the number of filters will be increased in the next 90 days.

 

[elliottmarks]

Thanks for posting this! Have you ever worked with or know anything about mostchoice.com and Javelin marketing Insurance Leads and Investment Leads?

Thanks!

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I posted on another thread about Javelin. Stay away from them. Far away.

Re Mostchoice...it has been a while since I used them. I think they still have an upfront fee, which is not good. Maybe someone else has recently used them.

 

[Angelp]

I used them about 2 years ago for life leads. I will not use them again. The quality of the leads were terrible. Most were not interested in having an agent call them.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I have purchased leads, and I have developed my own.

My ROI is at least three times higher when doing it myself.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

nm

 

[Mr. Bill]

Thanks for posting this! Have you ever worked with or know anything about mostchoice.com and Javelin marketing Insurance Leads and Investment Leads?

Thanks!

With Chumps on this one - Larry Klein = Javelin Marketing = STAY AWAY, FAR FAR FAR AWAY!!!!!

 

[Soaringagent]

Has anyone tried Quotesauction.com?

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Has anyone tried Quotesauction.com?

One word. Brutal.

 

[djs]

Just a word of caution... Ones person experience with a lead company, good or bad, is not necessarily the same experience someone else will have.

Lead companies come and go, and the same company will have good times and bad times. I've also noticed that the same company but different parts of the US will have considerably different results.

I've frequently had great lead sources, only to have others tell me how bad they are, and I've had bad lead sources only to have others tell me how great they are.

It would be interesting to have some sort of standardized way to look at leads and sources, outside of your personal ROI. There are some major things that I look for, and some minor ones, though I can't say I track them well enough. To get a good grade in my book, a lead company must at least:
- Have validated contact info for the client.
- Limit the number of agents the info is sold to. I don't buy the 'average number of agents' type of line, unless they tell me for the specific areas I'm shopping.
- A reasonable credit policy. Unless something is really flakey, I don't turn leads in for credit. If it is truly a bogus lead though, I will, and I expect it to be honored.
- Flow control. I only have so much capacity. I need to limit the number of leads that I get in a day, so I don't have leads I can't tend to.
- Flow control. I get behind sometimes, I want to be able to turn off leads for a short while, or at least severely restrict the number of leads I get. This is easier with health leads, very few P&C lead companies have as good of controls here.

Some things that make me hesitate to accept a lead source, but more in the minor category:
- Send me text emails, not html. To each is own on this, but I auto-import them. HTML doesn't work well. Most companies will send 2 emails, which is the best.
- Send a text to my cell phone that I have a lead. Of course, if you deal in high volume, this is annoying.
- Don't make me log into your site to get the lead.
- Volume that is to low to measure effectiveness.
- A large percentage that are not serious shoppers. I figure this out pretty quickly, if I don't think a significant number of the leads actually were interested in getting quotes, and making a purchase decision (with someone, me or somebody else), I'll can the lead source. If people are buying, but not from me, I'll can the lead source as well, but it will take me longer.....
- Filters that are decent. If a lead source is offering free ipods for completing 10 things, it doesn't matter what filters you have since the lead isn't serious. They won't answer the questions accurately. If you have serious buyers, then the filters will do their job much better.

I'm sure I could list more if I thought about it, but these are the biggies in my book on what I use to determine the value of a leadsource.

Dan