You can’t be confident aged leads will work for you unless you know exactly what you’ll do once you have them. Will you be emailing quotes? Mailing out introductory letters? Making calls? We’ll touch on all of that and, hopefully, have you ready to hit the ground running.
Before you or your producers pick up the phone or work up a single quote, you’ll need to spend some time on organization. The days of making calls off of lead cards or paper lists are long gone.
You’ll be talking to more prospects and having more conversations than you may be used to and you absolutely must have systems in place to track who you’re contacting, take notes on the conversations you have and follow up with prospects at the appropriate time.
The first thing we recommend at Link1st Solutions is a lead management system. If you’re a captive agent, chances are your company already provides you a software solution. If you’re independent, there are a lot of software options on the market. Loading your leads into a management system will make a digital record of each lead, allow you to take notes about conversations you have with them and schedule follow-up calls. We use many of these systems ourselves at Link1st; don’t be afraid to call have a chat with us about the best option for your situation.
Once you’re confident you can track your work efficiently, it’s time to look at methods of contacting leads. Without a doubt, the #1 way to get new clients from aged leads is to call them. Sending emails and direct mail are good ways to supplement your calling and to follow up with prospects you’ve contacted, but expect most of your first contacts to be by phone.
The time of day you’re calling is something many agents overlook, but it matters. You’re not always able to answer your phone during the day and neither are your prospects. Because more people answer during evenings and weekends, consider having a “call night” at your agency, making calls one Saturday per month, etc. Also, switch up the time of day you’re calling. You should be trying multiple times to get each lead on the phone, so it makes sense to vary your call times.
The biggest opportunity to turn aged leads into customers lies in the follow up. Agents usually think they understand the basics of following up with people, but in practice, follow up for most is nothing more than calling old prospects when there’s nothing better to do.
If you’re asking the right questions and recording the information prospects are giving you you’ll find countless opportunities to be the only one contacting them at the perfect time. Eventually, through follow up alone, your agency should see a sharp increase in quoting volume.
Some follow up strategies most agents don’t use:
When there are violations/accidents on a prospect’s record, keep track of when they drop off and schedule follow up calls accordingly. This will allow you to reach and quote them lower rates mid-term.
If a prospect tells you they’re planning on buying a new home in 6 months, set a callback and contact them a few months prior. People hate scrambling for an insurance agent during the home buying process, and if you reach them at the right time, they’re often happy to let you take that stress off their plate.
Keep track of why people you quote didn’t buy and who their current carrier is. If it was a rate issue and your rates decrease, you’ll have a list of people to call back and re-quote. The same applies if a competitor company takes a rate increase; proper note taking and tracking will let you reach out to people who have just seen their rates go up.
Get permission to text your prospects when you talk to them. This can’t be stressed enough. Once you have established enough rapport with people for them to want a quote from you, they will almost always prefer text message as the preferred method of contact. Agencies who communicate with prospects by text messages can fit almost twice as much marketing activity in a day as those who don’t. There is software than can manage/track your business texting, so use it.
If you’re still looking to purchase aged leads or have any questions, please read our FAQ page or give us a call today!