Prospecting Letters

Sure, the "pre-approach" life insurance letter has been around for a long, long time.

Problem is, most are lame, "me too" type pieces of dung mailed in an envelope with the insurance companies name/logo on it which guarantees it goes straight into the trash - unopened.

Three challenges to direct mail:

1. Getting it delivered. Use first-class postage. Third class bulk (now called standard) is FALSE ECONOMY. As 20-30% is never delivered, it actually costs more.

2. Getting it opened. Mail in a plain envelope with no insurance company name or logo on it. No mailing labels (screams junk), printed-on directly, or hand addressed.

3. Getting it read. You need an interesting piece, not just the old, boring "your family's financial security" crap. A good headline is CRITICAL. For some copywriting tips, pick up a book from someone like Dan Kennedy.

Test, measure, adjust, repeat.
 
If you have a nominator endorcing the letter saying the person you are sending it to should take a few minutes to meet with you, then it might be helpful. As M&M said, plain old prospecting letter the carriers produce sent to a group who has no idea who you are or what you do, probably worthless.
 
If you have a nominator endorcing the letter saying the person you are sending it to should take a few minutes to meet with you, then it might be helpful.

No doubt Matt, great point.

The most effective ones that I have ever seen are where you write the letter and print it on the client's stationery, have them sign it, then you mail it, followed by a call from you five days later. Learned it from LEAP.
 
With direct mail you can be cheap and get a crappy open rate or do something creative that will actually standout.

As mentioned, handwritten is best. Avoid meters and use big colorful, non-generic stamps. That being said, here are a few creative ideas to help with an open rate:

1. Use vomit bags instead of envelopes. Your letter could say something like, "Are you sick of paying too much for (whatever line of insurance you sell)?"

2. Put something in the envelope to make it stand out. Candy, pens, etc. Avoid anything that the Postal Inspector might not approve of. Bulky and light is what you are aiming for...

3. Use clear envelopes and slide a dollar bill inside. Or, print off your prospect's website if they have one and put it in the clear envelope.

4. Send out greeting cards instead of normal letters.

All of the things mentioned above will guarantee a very high open rate. Be creative. There are thousands of things you can do to improve open rates. The more creative you are, the more likely the prospect is to remember you when you call. Standing out from the crowd is important here. The goal is to get in front of the client.
 
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The more creative you are, the more likely the prospect is to remember you when you call. Standing out from the crowd is important here. The goal is to get in front of the client.

If you're going to call anyway, I would just pick up the phone to see if they are remotely interested and qualified. If so, then you can start a drip campaign. In my testing, I haven't found any advantage to sending out pre-approach letters. I don't remember the exact numbers anymore, but I sent out 50 letters a day doing everything as recommended (handwritten envelopes, plain white, band-aid attached to the top of each letter with the tag line "are your health insurance premiums starting to hurt?") for a month. I then followed up with a phone call to each of the 50 a few days later, over a month I sent out around 1,000 letters.

The next month I just made a phone call to 50 a day without a pre-approach letter mentioning I worked with heatlh insurance. The numbers were the exact same, almost no variation of dials to leads (3.5 to 4% if I remember right). That was enough to convince me. Granted, it was a smaller sample size, but still large enough to see a trend. I believe M&M somewhat qualifies his list before sending anything out, so it's more of a drip approach than a cold pre-approach. If I'm wrong, hopefully he'll be along shortly to correct me.

I'm working on creating a drip list, but it's almost all people who I've met face to face or at a minimum, have spoken to on the phone and received permission to keep in touch via email. My only objective to have them recognize my name, know exactly what I do, and view me as an expert when I call back in 6 months to check back. That's why I don't count it as a loss if I call someone cold and they don't want to meet now, but I get permission to stay in touch, I don't mind calling back in 6 months when they forget how we originally met and know who I am.
 
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I don't do dialers and mailers anymore. But, there is a way to get the best out of one of those "mail" cards.

Go to the dollar store and get you a box of "Thank You" cards. They WILL open it.
Immediately send them one after you receive your lead, while you are still excited, thanking them for sending your card back to you and let them know your schedule is very busy but you will contact them in the next couple of days. Be sure and write your phone number down so that when you do call them, they won't be so scared to answer. The responsiveness is much better, and they will be more docile when you get them on the phone.

Then........they will tell you they thought you were going to bring them $255, or did'nt fill out the card, or did'nt know
why they filled it out...etc.

But, if you go through enough numbers, and there will be a deal in there somewhere.

Good luck!

You do well to believe in God. Satan also believes...and trembles.James 2:19

Bible
 
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