Medicare Supplement Leads Now…
Insurance Marketing That Works for You!
Medicare Lead Generation: How to Brand You
Medicare lead generation has become increasingly arduous! With the advent of the do not call list and the skyrocketing costs of direct mail, it is getting more and more difficult to build a profitable business selling Medicare Supplements.
In this post, I want to talk about one of the most effective and yet overlooked marketing tools you have at your disposal: namely you!
You may have never thought about this way, but as an insurance agent, the greatest marketing asset you possess is yourself.
What do I mean by that?
There is currently a trend in this country away from “corporatism.” People are sick and tired of dealing with big corporations who serve their shareholders first and have little concern for their customers… as people.
The fact is, people don’t want to deal with “corporations,” they want to deal with people. Think about your own relationships; who would you rather do business with… someone you know and trust, or a complete stranger?
Following then, is what you can do to engender trust with your prospects and turn prospects into trust relationships.
1. Forget About Your Company Name
People don’t really care what your company name is. People will ask who you work for and you should tell them… “You, I work for you! I am an independent agent and I represent all of the big insurance companies, but in reality, I work for you.”
2. Brand Yourself in a Professional, Yet Personal Way
The best way to do this is to establish a personal, yet professional website. The first thing you should do is go over to Godaddy.com and buy a domain name that is about you, i.e. JohnSmith.com If that is not available, be creative and try different variations, such as “JohnSmithOmaha.com” or whatever. The key is to get a domain that is about you, not about insurance, not about your company name, about you.
Next, you should set up a professional website. Unless you are a graphic designer, forget about setting up your own site. I used to be cheap and I tried to do everything myself, until I realized that doing it myself was only costing me money. People would land on my websites and bounce right off because they looked cheap and cheesy. Who wants to do business with someone who looks cheap and cheesy? I don’t. Do you? Invest a little money in yourself and your business and you will not be sorry.
3. Use Your Website To Generate and Follow Up on Leads
Most insurance agents don’t write thank you cards and monthly send out cards, because frankly, it is a LOT of work and hassle. The great thing about a website is that it can put your lead generation on auto-pilot.
Once you get a prospect to come to your website, you can get them to sign up for a free newsletter. Using an auto-responder, you can easily keep yourself in front of them, automatically and effortlessly.
So there you have it. In three easy steps you can build a new powerful brand (YOU) to sell Medicare Supplement insurance.
The Three Little Secrets Lead Companies Don’t Want You to Know…
If you run a lead company selling Medicare Supplement leads, your business would be totally dependent upon your customers doing one thing… buying more leads.
I think of lead companies a little bit like pushers. If they can get you hooked and give you just enough information to make a few sales, you will make the sales, get your commission and keep coming back for more.
The fact is however that a large percentage of leads you buy will NEVER answer their phone or email. They fill out a form (or more likely, several forms) online and within minutes, their phone is ringing like crazy and their email is jammed with sales messages from hungry sales people. Our numbers indicate that about 60% of the leads we buy will collect just enough information and then go straight to the company of their choice.
I am going to reveal 3 little secrets that allowed us to capture about 30% of the leads that were falling in to the lead black hole. You should be warned, if you are looking for a “quick fix,” this is not it. Many of these leads take a year or more to convert to sales, but if you can convert these leads, your return on your investment will skyrocket.
1. You MUST Build Trust With Your Prospect Before They Will Ever Buy from You
Most of our prospects for Medicare Supplement insurance are going online because they want to buy their insurance without the hassle of having to talk to some insurance agent. The ironic thing is however, they don’t trust the internet. The web is fine for information, and it is OK to buy a crock pot from a big trusted store like Amazon, but other than that, people know that the web is full of scammers. If you call them from the web, they don’t trust you. Period.
So, how do you build their trust? The first thing to do is show them that you are a true human being. The first thing we do after we get a lead that doesn’t respond, we send them a hand-written thank you card with a picture of our staff. If you don’t have a staff, then send them a picture of your family.
Why? You need to let them see that you are the real deal, not some “internet shadow” hiding behind the building, waiting to rip em off.
After we send em a real card, we send em an e-card in about two weeks, from a legitimate e-card company. There are several good ones. We like Blue Mountain, because they are cheap and easy to use.
The next thing we do is send them an e-card about once a month. But here is the trick. Don’t EVER mention insurance. Send them a “funny” card, or holiday card. Again, the idea is to let them see that you are a real human.
By about the second or third month, you will be amazed at how many people are still in their open enrollment, who begin to call you and say, “Thanks for all the cards. I’ve been meaning to call you…”
2. You MUST Be Persistent. Persistence Pays
Most agents lose most of their sales for lack of one thing… persistence. I don’t mean pesky, in your face, high pressure sales kind of persistence (those days are gone forever, get over it). I simply mean, staying in front of someone long enough for them to get to know and trust you.
Every lead we get, we “assume the sale.” Not necessarily in the first week, or even the first couple of months. But, we never throw away a lead until essentially, that person says, “go away, you are bothering me.” Even when someone says that, we don’t give up. We send them a final, paper card that says, “I am sorry I bothered you, if you ever need my services in the future, I am here for you.”
3. You MUST Use Technology and Forget About the Kitchen Table
Unless you already know them, baby boomers don’t want you coming to their house. There are a couple of ways around this.
A. Rent a cheap office. Did you know you can get a very nice, executive (even penthouse) office for about $30 per month. Companies like Regus allow you to buy what is called a “mail account” which gives you access to two things. 1) A real mailing address and 2) Access to rent an executive suite by the hour or day (for very reasonable rates). If you can get clients to come to your office, it makes you look professional and you become a “trusted advisor” rather than some schmuck salesman.
B. Get a website. Forget about building a big website and driving thousands of visitors to your site. Unless you are willing to invest about $50,000 in time and education to learn how to effectively do this, you might as well forget it. Insurance is one of the most competitive niches on the web. There are big companies with big dollars invested on the web. You will not compete with them.
The good news is, you don’t need to compete with them. Did you know that studies have shown that in online marketing, small websites actually “convert” better than big fancy websites. Why? I don’t know. I suppose it goes back to the trust factor. If people think you are just another one of those “internet shadows,” they will probably avoid you. This is not to say, you should get a cheesy, ugly website. To learn more about this, read my article on medicare lead generation and branding you!
So there you have it, three little secrets the drug, er, the lead companies don’t want you to know. Go forth, be patient, be persistent, build your business and stop supporting those pushers.
