Sure you can fix a flat tire just buying a brand new car but you’d have to spend thousands more than you needed. The same applies to live insurance lead transfers. There are many different ways to find and close new insurance business but if there is a much simpler, potentially less expensive way to do it, wouldn't that be better?

Bad comparison? Okay, let’s just get down to brass tacks as I’ll just show you.

Live lead transfers solve many problems for insurance agents. Being a “new kid on the block” of sorts, however, most agents either don’t know about them, or don’t know “enough” about live leads to care. To these agents, it’s still a new technology that only Millennial agents and tech savvy producers use. That’s just because, like anything new, even new-ish like live transfers, there are naysayers.

Why Live Lead Transfers?

  1. Save Money

    “It’s a numbers game” - I’m willing to bet you’ve said this before, at some point in the history of your life. I’ll offer it in practice.

    You could spend thousands of marketing dollars on any number of things to grow your business. Local print advertising, community sponsorships, cooperatives, networking events, web promotion/design, gift card bait...you get the idea. But the question is: Do you know what each of those channels ROI is?

    Most live call programs are cost-per-lead (CPL) concepts...only way better! In the acronym CPL, “lead” implies that limited information is provided to an advertiser (in this case, you the insurance agent), however live leads are living, breathing, pre-screened, high-intent insurance consumers ready to speak with you. With most platforms, you’re only paying for the call so you know your exact CPL...the cost of each caller.

    With live call programs you can track your cost-per-lead down with each call and leave the “numbers game” to local print advertisers.

  2. Better Time Management

    This one is simple. People are calling you, instead of you calling them.

    Take stock for a second, the time you spend managing your business. It might surprise you how much time you actually spend on general maintenance that feels good and helps keep you organized, but may not really help keep the lights on.

    Marketing is a huge time suck for any small business owner and if you’re just starting, it’s even more taxing. Using a live call transfer service can help augment your strategy so that your talking on the phone with interested insurance shoppers between managing your business the way you need. This way, you can re-focus efforts on what moves the needle in your agency while a marketing campaign drives new and interested live consumer calls to your phone in the background.

  3. Pre-Qualified Consumers

    Self-reported consumer information runs the gamut from surprisingly accurate to eh...“not exactly”. Consumers typically don’t purposely inflate or deflate numbers, sometimes they just don’t know specifics and throw out random information to move through a sales process.

    With all online lead generation channels, extensive filters target customers within your sweet spot. These complex filters go to work the instant a new consumer insurance application is received to compare and match consumer data points to agents that are ready to make a sale. If you’re looking for drivers with great credit and multiple cars, you can set specific filters to receive calls from consumers that identify with that criteria and better focus your ideal customer pipeline.

  4. Pre-Screened Callers

    Tire-kickers are the toughest aspect of being a salesperson in any industry. They’re hot, then they’re cold, they’re sending you paperwork, then...poof...they disappear from existence.

    Most companies offering live transfers further verify each new caller with a quick, pre-screen interview to determine each contact’s intent and ensure they are ready to speak directly with you about their insurance needs. This is a crucial step in the sales process and one that differentiates live transfer leads from all other insurance lead types available today. This final verification makes for the ultimate “hot” transfer lead.

  5. 100% Contact Rate

    If you’re like most agents, you want more than anything, a phone number of interested insurance consumers. Knowing that someone will pick up the phone and say “hello” is paramount to anything else.

    Imagine your “fresh”, shiny new auto insurance lead is a married 30 year old with multiple cars, an impeccable driving record, and great credit. If you’re a P&C agent, you’re probably salivating. But when you call, there’s no answer. If you’ve got your feet under you, this is still a fabulous lead and one that you’ll probably close...because you’re just that good. But by adding a live lead call transfer program to your sales strategy, you can cut out the out-bound “effort” in favor of an in-bound “connection”. With live transfers, when your phone rings, you can feel confident who will be on the other end.

  6. Better ROI

    This really is the best part. With most live lead transfer providers you only pay for the insurance leads you connect with on the phone.

    Like I mentioned previously, most programs are a cost-per-lead (CPL) service still. If everything else passes your filters but you don’t get the call, you are not charged for the lead. Most programs work this way, with a few exceptions, but only paying for the “connection” is the real benefit of using live insurance transfers.

    It’s reasonable to expect your return on a live call program investment to be better than most of your other channels. I’d like to say it WILL be better than ALL of your other channels but I’m not allowed to say that without legal representation. :) With live lead transfers, you’re talking with insurance consumers who are shopping for the policies you’re selling. The measurement of your return is just as simple.

Are Live Lead Transfers Good for Your Agency?

Finally, let’s be straight for a second. You probably won’t and in most cases shouldn’t find a live lead transfer company, sign up, turn them on, and expect that business will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Though these new technologies are made to compliment many sales strategies, the proof behind any live lead service is creating an effective sales process once you’re connected with them.

Live lead transfers are a great augmentation strategy to fill the small gaps in your book of business or even kickstart a much larger marketing effort. It’s a great strategy that doesn’t require a great deal of resources to be successful with. It just takes some getting used to and but it’s worth looking into to stay on top of your game and keep your phones ringing with new prospects.