When making sales as an insurance agent, knowing how to work leads is important. Simply put, a lead refers to an individual who has shown an interest in your insurance product or service, and is a potential opportunity for a customer. In the insurance industry, a lead is typically defined as a prospect who has asked for quotes for a product. To consider a prospect a true lead, you must have specific information about them, such as their name, contact address, and other vital information.
Generally, there are two types of insurance leads: warm and cold. A cold lead refers to a random contact, while a warm lead refers to an individual who has shown interest in your product or service. It is important to note that warm leads are already interested in a particular insurance product.
Warm leads are generally the most desirable leads. Insurance leads are crucial for agents as they allow them to hit their quotas. To be successful as an insurance agent, you must know how to generate leads. However, generating leads is only a step in the process. You must know what to do with the leads you generate. You must be able to convert the leads into active clients. Below are some steps to follow:
Contact the Prospect As Soon As Possible
Though this may not be necessary for all situations, it helps most of the time. With cold leads, you will eventually make contact even though the lead is not expecting you. This means it’s better to contact them as soon as possible. If you buy leads, the prospects will expect your call or email, and you’ll need to contact them first. If you delay, other agents will likely make a move. So, the earlier you contact the prospect, the higher your chances of being the first agent to contact them.
Stay in Touch
Many times, the first conversation will not be the final one. Many customers prefer to shop with different insurance providers before settling for one. This is why staying in touch with prospects until they purchase your product or shop with other providers is important. While it’s important not to bombard your leads with calls or emails, it is advisable to contact them periodically to ensure they still have you in mind. They may sometimes have questions or request additional information before making their final decision.
Provide a Detailed Quote
Prospective clients usually shop around with different agents or insurance providers to get the best quote and coverage options. Due to this, it is important to always provide a detailed quote as soon as possible to your leads. Also, ensure you include the coverage details and other necessary information to let them know what they are getting. It is important to provide a detailed quote on time before the prospect goes to shop around with other agents. This will help you navigate industry competition.
Offer Competitive Products
As an insurance agent, it is important to determine which of your products are the most competitive. This will give you a better chance of turning leads into active customers. Prospects are more likely to purchase competitively priced products. Most people shop around for quotes from different providers before choosing one with a good rate and coverage option. Thus, once you offer competitive products, you have a higher chance of making a sale. Prospects are more interested in products that they are more likely to purchase.
As an agent, it is important to do your best to determine what your prospects are looking for, as well as your most competitive products. Since buyers are not identical, you will need to probe each prospect to know what they need so that you can offer the best product available.
Have a Script
This is especially useful for insurance agents who are new to the job. When contacting a lead, either through the phone or through messaging apps, a script will help you stay on track. While having a script helps, ensure you do not sound scripted. Having a script can help new insurance agents overcome fear or nervousness when calling leads for the first time.
For new agents, stick to a sales script to help you control the conversation. This will help to reduce the quiet periods between sentences or awkward pauses, making you sound confident and increasing your chances of turning a lead into a customer. As you get better, you’ll know how to converse with different prospects without a script.
Your script should include how to overcome objections from your prospect. The fear of rejection should not stop you. It is possible for clients to have objections or for them to be reluctant. This can be discouraging for an inexperienced agent. However, it is important to know how to overcome this situation. When meeting prospects in person, you may need to have a blueprint beforehand, but with a personal tone for each prospect.
Utilize Processes
Another way you can work insurance leads is by utilizing effective processes. Ensure you follow processes that can help you maximize your time and bring better results. For example, we mentioned having a script above. This is a great process to utilize. Also, client relationship management software (CRM) can help you manage the lead’s information up to a sale. Through a CRM, you can automate this process, which will help you maximize your time and ensure you do not miss out on any prospects.
Templates
Templates can help you a lot during repeated communication. Different templates exist for calls, follow-up emails, sales emails, text messages, and voicemails. Templates allow you to act quickly without spending time thinking through every situation. This will help you a lot in converting prospects to sales. They also help you scale your business so that prospecting doesn’t overwhelm you.
At Western Marketing, we are equipped with tools and resources to help you succeed, for more information, contact us today.