Medicare Supplement Leads Now…

Successful agents have learned that working internet generated Medicare Supplement leads requires a different mindset than working traditional leads, generated for example using direct mail.

Following are two things you really need to grasp if you intend to use web leads.

1. Most Leads are Shared Leads

Do shared leads work? Yes they work. We have bought and worked and closed many, many shared leads. But know this for certain, if you expect to work shared leads with a casual approach, you will not close many sales. Notice, I didn’t say “any” sales. As a good friend of mine says, “Even a blind hog finds an acorn in the forest once in a while!”

Here is the way that shared leads work. Lets say that there are 3 agents subscribing to get a lead in your zip code or state. The second that lead is generated, it is emailed to all 3 agents. If one of those 3 agents is at the coffee shop reading the paper, and another of those agents is golfing, too bad for them. If you missed a lead, read my post, “Three Little Secrets the Lead Companies Don’t Want you to Know.”

The fact is, if you want to be successful with internet leads, you really need to be by the phone during the hours the leads are coming in. The best thing to do is to dial the phone the very second the lead comes into your box. In many cases, if you wait 5 seconds, you will be too late.

2. Don’t Give Up Too Quickly

In fact, never give up. We have closed many sales by calling the lead a few days after the lead comes in. Remember this, people are busy. They are running out the door, or getting ready for company, or whatever. Sometimes, people are simply frustrated that they get what seems to them “so many calls” (even if it may only be a few), they won’t answer their phone and they delete their emails (if they get them at all).

After a few days, most agents just give up and the dust settles. If you call them back, you might just find that you are the one they talk to and you are the one who gets the sale.

I have one word of caution about internet-generated Medicare Supplement leads.

There are a few lead companies that generate leads using a process called “incentive’s.”

At one point or another, I am sure you have landed on one of those sites where you are promised some product or service and all you have to do is complete 3 free trial offers. Sometimes, one of those offers might include getting a free quote for health insurance (in our case, a free quote for Medicare Supplement insurance).

If you have done this, then you know that you really aren’t interested in those other offers, you just want to get the prize that drew you in initially.

The point is, these leads suck air. In our opinion, incentivized leads are of the lowest quality and not worth our time.

So why would companies generate these types of leads? Greed. Pure and simple greed.

What companies sell these kinds of leads? I’m not going to name names, but I will tell you that some of the biggest, well-known, industry leaders generate some of their leads using this method.

What we have found is that the smaller lead generation companies don’t generate leads in this way. None of the companies that we recommend use this method. But do keep this in mind, even big lead companies buy leads from the biggest lead companies, so every now and then, a few of these garbage leads filter through.

So what. It does happen, but we don’t whine about it. This game is a game of numbers. When we get a bad lead, we use one word and one word only. NEXT!

So there you have it. By following the example I have outlined here, you are armed and dangerous. You are ready to buy leads and jump in. Don’t be afraid, the water is great!