Buying Insurance Leads: The Pros and Cons

Solid leads are the lifeblood of an insurance agent. To grow your business successfully, you will need to constantly fill the top of your funnel with new leads that you prospect to convert into customers. When you are a captive agent, most — if not all — of these leads are given to you. But, when you are an independent agent, the majority of this duty falls directly on you. There are many ways to increase the number of leads you have so you can increase your customer base, and one of the most common ways is to purchase leads. Is buying insurance leads worth it, though? Below is a list of some of the pros and cons of doing so.

How Can You Buy Insurance Leads?

Insurance agents can buy insurance leads through companies whose job it is to compile lists of people who might be good prospects for one of your products. By purchasing leads, agents can get a head-start on converting these leads into active customers. This is especially important, as generating leads is often one of the biggest challenges that independent insurance agents face. Lead providers come in all different shapes and sizes, and the leads that you can purchase from them do as well. You can buy leads that are exclusive to your company or also sold to other companies. You can buy leads that are “aged,” meaning they came from someone who filled out an online form, for instance, at least 30 days ago. And you can even buy organic leads in real-time. The better the leads are considered to be, the more expensive they will be to purchase, generally speaking.

Pros of Buying Insurance Leads

There are many advantages to buying insurance leads. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that buying leads can save a lot of time, effort and potentially even money. When you generate leads on your own, you have to first come up with a marketing plan for how you’re going to spread your message. In addition, you also have to figure out how to collect information from people who viewed, engaged or responded to those messages so that you can place them into your sales funnel. Any time that you spend on generating leads is time that you can’t spend on other important things for your business, including but not limited to actually working the leads you have to convert them into customers. And since time is money in business, buying insurance leads can actually be very cost-effective. Another major advantage is that when you buy insurance leads, you’ll be delivered contact information for people who are more likely to purchase a product sooner. Cold leads — or those that haven’t been “worked” or vetted yet — take much more time to convert. If you’re able to purchase “warm” leads, you completely eliminate that step in the process. Many newer independent agents will turn to buying leads because of this fact. Branding and marketing can take a lot of time, and that can cause challenges when you’re trying to start a business. Buying leads can help you jumpstart your business and get you on the fast-track to positive cashflow.

Cons of Buying Insurance Leads

Of course, buying insurance leads isn’t always a slam dunk. There are many factors that go into whether it’s a good idea for your business or not. A common con of buying insurance leads is that not all of the leads that you buy are going to be quality. Some of the leads won’t be good prospects for your business at all, which essentially means you will be throwing your money away. Some leads may contain contact information that isn’t correct or that is old. This can happen if people enter fake information just to get through an online form, or if the leads are older. When you’re considering buying insurance leads, it’s important to work with a reputable provider. There are some companies out there that don’t provide quality leads, or enough quality leads to make it worth your while. In addition, if you don’t work with the provider to set the best criteria for your agency, then you could end up getting low-quality leads that are hard to convert. The biggest factor that turns a lot of agents off from buying insurance leads, though, is the cost of doing so. No matter what the quality of the leads are, all will require you to shell out money upfront without any guarantee that you’ll get a return on your investment. This can be a daunting undertaking, especially if you’re a newer independent agent or don’t have a lot of extra budget to spare. As such, it’s important to weigh all options before immediately buying insurance leads.

Discover the Good Life

We understand that all of this information can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be when you have the right support. At Good Life Insurance Associates, our experienced insurance sales associates are here to provide support and training for both new and experienced agents. To learn more about us, remember to explore our business support services. Or, to speak with a member of our team about your journey to becoming an independent agent, contact us today!