Health Insurance is About Trust

The keys to converting health insurance leads are trust and patience. Purchasing health insurance is a big decision. The buying process is often long and drawn out as prospects carefully consider their options. Some insurance companies fail to understand this and stop following up with a lead who might have, with additional nurturing, become a valuable customer.

Aged health insurance leads are often leads who were almost ready to make their purchase when a previous agent abandoned them. If you can earn their trust, you can often make that sale.

There are several tools that can earn you can use to build trust during the buying process:

1. Maintain a Clean Website

Before you start lead prospecting, make sure that your website is attractive, easy to navigate, and search engine optimized. Make it easy for leads to contact you by providing your email, direct mailing address, telephone number, and an online opt in form to get a free quote. Make sure you respond promptly and courteously to all requests for information.

2. Offer an Informative Blog

Use your blog to inform prospects about health insurance issues, breaking news, and changes that are taking place within your company. A blog that contains accurate, helpful, and up-to-date information gives you “expert” status in the eyes of your leads and makes it easier for them to trust you.

3. Keep Up with Social Media

Social media is a great tool for lead prospecting. If you haven’t already got your company signed up with the big three – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – now is the time to do so. You don’t have to check your accounts every five minutes, but an agent should check at least twice a day for new messages and inquiries. Take a few minutes to post to your accounts several times per week. As with your blog, make sure the information you post to your social media accounts is timely and useful.

Next Wave Marketing Strategies getting-life-insurance-leads

If you’re selling life insurance, your career depends on coming up with quality life insurance leads. Luckily, there are many different ways to cultivate such leads. Here are the top six:

1. Hire a Telemarketing Firm

A telemarketing firm places cold calls to potential customers. When they find a respondent who agrees to talk to a life insurance agent for further information and a free quote, the telemarketing company notifies you immediately so that you can follow up with the lead. This method of lead buying has proven to be very effective, especially if you follow up with leads as soon as you are notified of their interest.

2. Use the Internet

If your company has a web page, and you should, place a brief form on the landing page. Anyone completing the form fills in basic contact information and agrees that you may call them to discuss your life insurance plans. This type of lead generation can be a big timesaver, since you only contact people who have expressed an interest in what you are selling.

Another way to use the Internet is to establish a Facebook Business Page where potential clients can leave questions and comments about your insurance policies. Again, speedy follow-up is the key to making a sale.

3. Cold Call Small Businesses

Small businesses of 100 employees are fewer are often looking for cost-effective benefits they can offer their workers. Do a little online research prior to making your call. Try to find out the name of the person you need to speak to. Having a name will get you much further with a receptionist than merely asking for the person in charge of employee benefits. Also, try to find out if the company already offers life insurance through a competitor. If so, prepare to make them a better deal.

4. Advertise

Internet and print ads can be remarkably successful at lead generation. To ensure that your campaign draws potential customers, hire a copywriter to come up with compelling text. In general, life insurance leads respond well to offers of discounts, free products such as a book on financial planning, and ads that inspire a mild degree of fear or anxiety (“Who will take care of YOUR family if the worst happens?”)

5. Face to Face Networking

No amount of technology will ever take the place of human-to-human contact. Attend networking events whenever possible. Always carry plenty of business cards that contain all of your contact information. Prepare a brief–thirty second or less–speech about the benefits of carrying enough life insurance. If you’re speaking to someone who isn’t interested or who already has life insurance, ask that person if they know of anyone who is seeking life insurance. Referrals can be a great source for life insurance leads.

6. Read the Paper

One way to find leads without lead buying is to simply follow your local newspaper. Many newspapers, especially those in small towns, routinely print news about weddings, births, and other life transitions. Make a note of the names of the people mentioned, look up their contact information online, and contact them to offer counseling about their life insurance needs and a free quote. People who have had a big change in their life circumstances often haven’t taken the time to think through how the change will affect their insurance needs.

Generating leads for life insurance is not difficult. All it takes is an advertising budget, a little time, and a little creativity.

Next Wave Marketing Strategies Cold-Calling

When it comes right down to it, cold calling probably isn’t any salesperson’s favorite way to spend time. Speaking to a new person for the first time is awkward enough anyway, and many individuals and companies make it clear that they don’t appreciate receiving cold calls. If done right, however, cold calling can generate some valuable leads. The following tips will help you spark your cold calling program.

1. Do Customer Research

Before picking up the phone, find out as much as you can about the business or individual whom you are calling. Items of interest include people in a head position (in a company), people who have been newly promoted, the needs of the company or individual, and how you might be able to meet those needs.

When you cold call a company, for instance, don’t simply ask to speak to “the person who makes decisions about health insurance.” Instead, know who that individual is and ask for him or her by name. When you get on the phone with your lead, offer a compliment or make a comment showing that you know something about the business. For instance, “Congratulations on being voted the Chamber of Commerce Person of the Month,” or “Congratulations on your promotion to Human Resources Manager.”

Finally, acknowledge who is presently meeting the customer’s need and ask if there are any gaps that you might be able to fill. For instance, “I know you currently buy health insurance through ABC Company. Their rates climbed pretty steeply at the end of last year. Can we set up a time for me to tell you about our rate structure?”

2. Use Lead Nurturing Techniques

It’s not realistic to expect to score a huge sale on your first phone call. Instead, go for a smaller “yes.” That could mean getting the person to agree to a face-to-face meeting, to look at materials you send via email or regular mail, to talk again on the phone at a later date, or even to follow you and your company through social media.

Lead nurturing means being interested in more than just a sale. It means coming to understand your lead’s needs and showing him or her that your company is the right one to meet those needs.

3. Use Online Lead Generation

If your company has a web page, and you should, develop a brief online form that customers who want more information about your products or services can fill out. When a potential customer completes the form and clicks send, your company will immediately receive an email with the lead’s name and contact information. When using online lead generation, it is important to follow up with leads as quickly as possible so they don’t lose interest or, worse, select a competitor to provide the goods or services they are looking for.

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and also be a valuable way to generate leads online. On Facebook, you can set up a business page and even run ads based on your average customer’s demographics. Again, if a lead contacts you through social media, it is important to provide a personal response as soon as possible.

Cold calls can make even the best salesperson sweat a little bit, but if done right, they can be quite profitable.

nextwavemarketingstrategies.com searching-tax-leads

When the economy is in a slump, people tend to have increased trouble with debt. And as everyone who has ever had tax problems would acknowledge, one of the worst entities to be in debt to is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS can be merciless about collecting taxes and penalties it believes it is owed, spurring people to look for help and advice.

If you deal with tax settlement issues, one of the best ways to capture leads is to open a Twitter account. Each account holder is entitled to a profile page where you can post the website for your business. Twitter is a type of social media that allows followers to post status updates of no more than 140 characters each. These updates, commonly referred to as tweets, can be a valuable source for finding new leads. You can also use updates and information to help leads find you.

Before you start using social media as part of your marketing, decide in advance which words or phrases you will use as lead triggers. For instance, you may decide to focus on the phrases “tax help,” “tax settlement,” “IRS problems,” “back taxes,” and “IRS debt.”

Once you have chosen your lead triggers, go to Twitter’s home page and look at the section entitled “Trending Topics.” These topics are the current hot topics that have the attention of many readers. Do any of the trending topics match or come close to matching your triggers? If so, join the conversation by posting a brief statement about tax settlement and referring readers to a website where they can get additional information.

If none of the trending topics match your triggers, don’t despair. You can use the search function to look for tweets that include the keywords you have selected. Respond to these tweets in the manner described above.

Since identifying leads in real time is important, you can also request to be notified by cell phone each time the keywords appear in a tweet. You can then immediately respond to the user with (brief) helpful advice and the address of your website.

Another way to find leads is to initiate an online conversation about tax settlement issues. Briefly inform readers about your company, about tax settlement issues they should be aware of, and about any specials or deals you may be offering. (“Free book on dealing with IRS. [Your website]“) You’ll soon gain followers, and, with proper nurturing, those followers may become dedicated customers.

Social media is the wave of the future. Make it a part of your marketing plans, and watch your number of leads, as well as your percentage of conversions, increase dramatically.

Nextwavemarketingstrategies.com Tax-Settlement-Leads

If you’re in the tax settlement business, lead generation may be difficult, but it is not impossible. There are several ways to go about finding tax settlement leads.

1. Purchase Debt Leads from a Reputable Company

Many companies on the Internet sell tax settlement leads. These leads range from expensive (a lead who called within the past 24 hours in response to the company’s advertisement) to relatively low cost (Internet leads aged 31-90 days old). Typically, the higher-priced leads are the ones that are more likely to convert to customers, but the less expensive leads can be a good deal because, if your sales force can convert only one or two of them, you’ll likely earn back the money you spent on the purchase.

2. Develop a Quality Business Website

Work with a web designer to design a quality site for your business. The site should contain your company’s name, physical address, email address, and telephone number, helpful content about tax settlement, and an online form that potential clients an complete if they would like you to contact them with further information. This type of website allows you to generate your own leads rather than pay a third party to do it for you.

3. Use Social Media

Another way to generate debt leads is to set up a Twitter account and a business page on Facebook. Once your accounts are set up, offer brief regular posts tax tips. You can also use your social media accounts to advertise any specials you may be offering and to spread word about company news, such as the publication of a new book or manual. As you gain a following, you may also gain some clients.

4. Advertise

Direct advertising is a reliable means of lead generation. Depending on your budget, run ads with local newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television stations. Display your phone number and email address prominently. Ads are particularly effective when they offer “freebies,” such as a free consultation or a free subscription to your company newsletter.

5. Review Tax Lien Filings

If a person falls behind on property taxes, the IRS will file a tax lien, meaning that the property cannot be sold or transferred until the lien is satisfied. People who are the subject of tax liens often require help with tax settlement issues. Many states allow you to review tax lien filings online by the county where the lien is located. In states that don’t publish this information online, you can go to the county recording office or the lands records office in your county to obtain information about new lien filings. Such information is public. Before you contact a lead, however, check to make sure he or she is not on the “Do Not Call List.”

When the economy is slow, many people run into trouble keeping up with taxes. If your business is debt settlement, finding leads should not be difficult.

Simply adding these people to your various social networks is like stocking the pond. Here’s how I keep my radar up for opportunities.

Keyword Searches

Start with keyword searches on your various social networks. Many of them will feed you conversations and discussions in real-time. Just do a few searches and find a good refined flow of chatter about debt, credit cards, spending, budgeting, and other finance terms. Then blend in modifiers like need, problem, pay, or trouble.

These simple searches will start to show you a new world of consumer debt problems.

Facebook, Twitter, Google Alerts

Where should you search for these debt problems? Where the people are, naturally.

Start with the most popular–Facebook. Chances are as soon as you start adding Friends to your network you will see indicators of debt problems. However, for real debt lead (potential) volume I suggest start a Fan Page. Focus your Facebook page on debt education and you will attract debt problems like flies.

Second to Facebook, I like Twitter. The fundamental question is, "What’s Happening?" and boy do people tell you. Even something as personal as financial woes are flying across the network. Add to this the efficiency of Search.Twitter.com and you have another ready flow of debt relief prospects.

Finally, although not as sexy as real-time social media like Facebook and Twitter, Google Alerts is still a good source of debt leads. I add my debt keyword searches into Alerts and gobble up lots of people talking about debt problems on their blogs and social networks.

RSS Feeds

Watching all of these debt problems flow by can be overwhelming. Even worse it can be distracting and waste your time. The truth is most are not ready to close, or even inquire into your debt relief services. That means you need to find an efficient way to monitor these streams over time. RSS is the best solution.

Most of these social networks and real-time searches can produce RSS feeds. You don’t really have to understand the details of the technology, but if you subscribe to them in a RSS reader (Google Reader) you will have a steady flow of social media debt leads to supplement your debt lead buying.

It seems like everyone is selling with social media or social networking these days, or at least making that claim. But, how successful are these rainmakers?

I have shared several tips on this blog. And I think it all comes back to one fundamental principle: social selling is for building relationships. Social networks are like cocktail parties. You might get a sale from them, but you are not selling at them.

This is a nice little summary of this point I found over the weekend:

Manners, please! Social networking isn’t for hard sell.

Here are Jon Lasner’s common sense tips:

• Don’t lead with a sales pitch (though an “elevator pitch” may still be appropriate with proper context),
• Don’t come with the sole intent of seeing how many business cards you can pass.
• Be interested in others.
• Be engaging without making it all about you.
• See whom else you can connect with those new people you meet.
• Find opportunities to help someone.

What are your rules for social networking and selling online?

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Sales 2.0, social media, social networking, and other like terms are literally sucking the air out of the room. But, will it really work on it’s own? Will it work without “real” contact, real connections?

Here are a few really good lessons to review before you begin believing sales happen without phone and “belly-to-belly” interactions.

Funnelholic on the “Pounce Controversy”

This all started with a simple post/survey by Mike Damphousse on his blog asking, “Webleads: Pounce, pause, nurture, or wait?”

Funnelholic gave his initial answer, which then evolved into this essential conclusion: Phones still matter!

Please remember:

1. The phone still works.
2. For it to work, we need to get our phone resources connected with the right people (NOTE: if you sent an email to someone, I hope you sent it to a targeted list).
3. New technologies should increase our connect rates, NOT keep us from talking to people.
4. The phone is your best weapon in the lead-conversion rate war.

Need some more convincing? How about from the master marketer himself…

Seth Godin on Social Networking

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Chances are that you have a lot of customers in your CRM that you could be engaging directly with social media or in your existing social networks. But, how do you connect them?

Here is a quick way to connect your CRM and your social profiles.

Segment Your Consumers

The first step is to segment a group of prospects you want to target on social media. These could be new prospects, aged leads, or maybe some demographic that you think will be more responsive to social media marketing.

Export this list to a spreadsheet, vCard, or other format that Gmail accepts.

Use Gmail

I suggest setting up a new Google Mail account just for this process, but you can use your existing Google Contacts. When you are ready import your prospects list into Gmail.

Now you are ready to select your favorite social network.

Connect in the Social Profiles

I suggest you start with Twitter. Twitter tends to be a bit more open environment. Connections are more open and people are expecting to be connected to by people that have like interest, but are not necessarily closely connected.

This means you will certainly be able to follow what makes them tick and you may pick up several new followers.

Listen for Opportunity

Now you have a great listening post for prospects in your current sales database. Listen closely for opportunity. Learn a little more about them.

If they follow you, then you have a double bonus. You are also going to get the opportunity for them to see you in action-helping and providing advice on mortgages to debt settlement. It is like getting a highly qualified opt-in email list.

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I really enjoy reading and listening to Chris Brogan. He has quickly become one of the rockstars of social media. Following him is sure to get you smarter and producing more sales with social media.

Lately, he has been talking a lot about Presence Management.  This is a critical concept in improving your credibility, trust, and reputation online. One step in building those online relationships that converts.

This is a great article on the “19 Presence Management Chores You COULD Do Every Day.”

Are there other techniques and “chores” you do everyday to enhance your online presence?

What social media and networking sites do you use?

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• ActiveRain
• BrokerOutpost

I would love to hear of more examples and the best way to use them.

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