Effective Lead Generation Strategies for Insurance Agents

For independent insurance agents, consistent prospecting is one of the most important keys to success. Without a stream of quality leads, building a sustainable client base becomes a challenge that isn’t easy to overcome. Fortunately, there are many ways that you can generate a book of quality leads. To help you in your transition to independence, read on for a list of the most effective lead-generation strategies.

At Good Life Insurance Associates, we want to see you succeed. To learn more about the business support services we provide to financial advisors and insurance agents in our network, contact our team today!

Back to Basics: A Trip Down the Sales Funnel

Most insurance agents are familiar with the sales funnel. For those who aren’t, it’s the journey that customers take when deciding whether or not to purchase a service or good from a company. You would be surprised at how many agents forget to guide their prospects through the buyers’ journey. However, if cultivating leads is proving to be a challenge, it’s important to assess your technique. Remember, quality leads don’t happen overnight. Let’s revisit the basics.

Awareness

During the awareness stage, potential clients are forming their first impression of you. How do you want prospects to perceive you and the services that you offer? At this point in the sales funnel, people are searching for educational resources, insights, and data. It goes without saying that most people these days are finding these resources and insights through Google.

Interest

After the awareness stage, your prospects decide whether or not they want to move forward with investigating your services or products. Remember, always provide a clear path from the awareness stage to the interest stage in your sales funnel. For example, your awareness stage may consist of an educational blog where prospects can find answers to frequently asked questions. At the end of your “awareness resource,” always provide a clear path for prospects to learn more about your services. One way to encourage interest in your prospects may be an offer to schedule a complimentary consultation.

Decision

Following the investigation/interest phase, the prospect has a very good idea of whether or not you are the person that they want to work with. At this point, the prospect has likely spoken with you about your services and what you can provide. During this time, your prospect may be contemplating the pros and cons of working with you. Too many high-quality leads slip away during this time due to bad technique on the insurance agent’s side.

To prevent some of your best leads from slipping away, start every conversation by getting to know your customer and asking about their goals. This will tell you why they scheduled a consultation with you.

 Always write their answers down. And remember to cater your response to each individual prospect. Now is not the time for the elevator speech. If someone is interested in supplemental health insurance, don’t go on a tangent about bundles at the start of the conversation. At this point, you must tell your prospects what you can offer and how you can provide exactly what they are searching for. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Always end your conversation by asking if there are any concerns. This question is often forgotten and many times, quality leads slip away for this reason. Now is the time to address any concerns that your prospect has vs wondering what went wrong if your lead disappears.

At the end of your conversation, it is also wise to send over a follow-up thanking your prospect for their time—but don’t stop there. Information packets are extremely helpful to send along to your client during this time, too, particularly if they wish to speak with their spouse before making a decision.

Action

If a prospect doesn’t decide to go with your services right away, don’t be shy about following up a couple of days after your conversation. At this point, you will know very soon whether or not a prospect will become a customer.

Smart Ways to Cultivate Leads

Start with a Website

Before digging into any other form of digital marketing, you need to begin with a strong website. This is the foundation of all your digital marketing campaigns.

Remember, all digital marketing campaigns should be teasers to entice people to act–and that action, in most cases, will be a trip to your website. Think of the website as the façade of your business. Retail stores in downtown shopping areas spend a lot of time decorating and designing their storefronts because it’s the first thing people will see. Your website acts in the same way.

Google Ads and PPC

One of the most common digital marketing channels for insurance agents is PPC, or pay-per-click, campaigns. The most popular of these is Google Ads. Essentially, you select phrases that people are searching for on Google–for example, “health insurance agent in Charleston, SC.” PPC campaigns can be very effective, but they are costly. Remember, you’re probably not the only one who wants to show up on Google, and that’s why your website is so important. Think: if someone clicks on your ad and it leads to a broken/slow-loading website, you’ve just lost money and a prospect.

You want your ads to turn into leads and that’s what makes your website so important. Before you spend your hard-earned money, make sure that your website is user-friendly, attractive, and easy to navigate.

Build Trust through Education

It is always wise to establish yourself as an expert in your field, and one of the best ways to do that is by providing free educational resources. You may consider publishing whitepapers that people can download on more complex topics, holding webinars and podcasts, producing a regular email newsletter, or even producing YouTube videos. Do what feels best to you, as all of these techniques are effective.

Get Social

What is the use of educational resources if you aren’t sharing them with your current customers and prospects? After investing your time in creating helpful news or resources, get social and share them! Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram are free. More importantly, they provide another opportunity for prospects to discover you.

Discover the Good Life

As you can see, there are so many creative and effective ways to generate new leads as an insurance agent, and the above list is only scratching the surface. 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!