Working Web Leads!

[Bob Klee]

How long does it normally take for you to work a life insurance lead to close? (when they are not web leads?)

Hey Julie,

Do you have any personal experience on how long it should take to close an internet lead vs a non-internet lead?

Should they be different in your opinion?

Thanks,

 

[Frank Stastny]

Hey Julie,

Do you have any personal experience on how long it should take to close an internet lead vs a non-internet lead?

Should they be different in your opinion?

Thanks,

Bob, don't you agree that this is something that is almost entirely in the hands of the agent?

How knowledgeable the agent is, how well the agent is at educating the prospect, whether or not the agent exudes confidence in what they are saying and the agent's overall communication skills.

When I had agents working for me I gave them leads. They would return a bunch of them saying that the lead was either no good or the prospect wasn't interested. I can't tell you how many of those no good, not interested leads that I took after they returned them to me and made a sale.

Many times it isn't that the lead is that bad, it's that the agent's ability to sell the lead was worse than the lead itself.

 

[Bob Klee]

Frank,
I would agree 100%.

There are many agents one could give a "lay down" to & they would still blow the deal. Discussed on other threads I've read.

That is why it is so important that new/old agents, mentor and/or work with someone that can show them how to "give good phone" as you like to say

I'd highly recommend your system Frank after talking to you. You get it & you care. Others on this forum do also & are valuable resources for new/old agents as well.

If there is anything I can do folks, please don't hesitate to call or email me.

 

[Julie.Pham]

Hey Julie,

Do you have any personal experience on how long it should take to close an internet lead vs a non-internet lead?

Should they be different in your opinion?

Thanks,

Hey Bob,

I was mainly trying to find an answer to runawaykinms 's Question #2: How many leads do you purchase each week?

Depending on how long it takes for that agent to close an insurance lead, and based on Frank's post (which I agree with), could help answer how many leads to purchase in a week.

I would also say that the source of the lead is also a factor in how long it would take to close a non-internet lead. If an agent is just working cold leads vs. warm web leads, I could make a case that the web leads could do better. :-)

Would you agree?

 

[Bob Klee]

Hey Bob,

I was mainly trying to find an answer to runawaykinms 's Question #2: How many leads do you purchase each week?

Depending on how long it takes for that agent to close an insurance lead, and based on Frank's post (which I agree with), could help answer how many leads to purchase in a week.

I would also say that the source of the lead is also a factor in how long it would take to close a non-internet lead. If an agent is just working cold leads vs. warm web leads, I could make a case that the web leads could do better. :-)

Would you agree?

100% Julie, 100%

But I was asking if you have any experience in the insurance business yourself....i guess not which is okay, just curious your background.

Thanks,

 

[ksigmtsu]

Leads to purchase in a day has nothing to do with time to close. It has a lot more to do with ratio of valid to invalid, which is usually close to 2:5 valid, and duration of calls based on your workflow.

If you're finger dialing there is no way you can do 10 a day. Average answer rates and follow up duration would kill you.

Average answer rate for a lead on each call goes something like this:
call 1: 40%
call 2: 30%
call 3: 15%
call 4: 5%
call 5: 3%
call 6 and beyond: 1%

With just 10 new per day with your finger, if you made 7 attempts each, you'd be up to an average per day of over 60 calls daily just to keep up with the leads and make valid attempts after 2 weeks.

A dialer can increase the volume you can handle by 2-3x or more. A good agent with a dialer and crm integration can handle 30 leads a day.

Closing ratio is typically always going to remain 5%-10% on the gross volume, with a 25% return.

I tabulated that with over a years worth of work using multiple vendors, a good rule of thumb on a lead vendor is that if their leads do not result in 5% closing ratio on the gross volume, and your COA is over 100$ per sale AFTER factoring returns, the vendor is not worth using.

One odd statistic, I found my closing ratio on people that came from my own website or that called me to be over 25%, vs my average lead vendor numbers averaging 5% on shared, and around 12% on exclusive.

That tells me something funny, in general, is going on, or the numbers are way off averages.

Closing ratios off Hometown when I did my testing over a year ago were up over 8%, closing ratios off allwebleads were below 2%. My best shared vendor was netquote at the time, only on their medicare leads, and I was closing over 11% of those. Best exclusive I got at the time was benepath.

I don't work leads anymore so I have no clue if the ratios now are similar.

 

[Bob Klee]

Leads to purchase in a day has nothing to do with time to close. It has a lot more to do with ratio of valid to invalid, which is usually close to 2:5 valid, and duration of calls based on your workflow.

If you're finger dialing there is no way you can do 10 a day. Average answer rates and follow up duration would kill you.

Average answer rate for a lead on each call goes something like this:
call 1: 40%
call 2: 30%
call 3: 15%
call 4: 5%
call 5: 3%
call 6 and beyond: 1%

With just 10 new per day with your finger, if you made 7 attempts each, you'd be up to an average per day of over 60 calls daily just to keep up with the leads and make valid attempts after 2 weeks.

A dialer can increase the volume you can handle by 2-3x or more. A good agent with a dialer and crm integration can handle 30 leads a day.

Closing ratio is typically always going to remain 5%-10% on the gross volume, with a 25% return.

I tabulated that with over a years worth of work using multiple vendors, a good rule of thumb on a lead vendor is that if their leads do not result in 5% closing ratio on the gross volume, and your COA is over 100$ per sale AFTER factoring returns, the vendor is not worth using.

One odd statistic, I found my closing ratio on people that came from my own website or that called me to be over 25%, vs my average lead vendor numbers averaging 5% on shared, and around 12% on exclusive.

That tells me something funny, in general, is going on, or the numbers are way off averages.

Closing ratios off Hometown when I did my testing over a year ago were up over 8%, closing ratios off allwebleads were below 2%. My best shared vendor was netquote at the time, only on their medicare leads, and I was closing over 11% of those. Best exclusive I got at the time was benepath.

I don't work leads anymore so I have no clue if the ratios now are similar.

Brook,
I'd say those are good numbers you have. The reason IMHO, that you did better on your own site is the consumer went to Your site. Exclusive lead, your name, info, etc. and thus an easier close. No surprise there to me.

Interesting, I saw you majored in Finance in college...so did I

Folks, we have been tweaking our metrics. Volume is still down as I refuse to increase Quantity & sacrifice Quality. BUT, we still have Bogus leads! Especially with Life leads more than other types. You might get as high as 50% bogus on any given day & none the next day. We are constantly tweaking, trying to stay ahead of the crooks preying on you/us.

Call & give us a try. What is the WORST thing that might happen? We can help you make money with internet leads. Something our competitors cannot do.

FYI: For you Health Agents. I know these are the most abused leads in the business. Consumers are beat up by call centers in a certain part of the USA. I've made sure they don't/can't buy our leads. [as long as I know who they are] Give us a try & tell me what you think. I'd like your feedback.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Here's a lead study done a few years back - don't know how relevant it is but most of it's a good read:

MIT_study_NEW.pdf - File Shared from Box

 

[runawaykinms]

I attended a webinar from Agent Navigator the other day about working web leads and one of the points that really stuck in my head was:

Listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The more the prospect talks, the better chance you have to make a sale.

When you call them don't talk their ear off about yourself but ask them, what is your need?

 

[Bob Klee]

I attended a webinar from Agent Navigator the other day about working web leads and one of the points that really stuck in my head was:

Listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The more the prospect talks, the better chance you have to make a sale.

When you call them don't talk their ear off about yourself but ask them, what is your need?

Yep: God gave you two ears & one mouth. Listen TWICE as much as you talk & you'll be surprised how much more successful you are. Works well with your wife too