7 simple Insurance Leads Generation tips, auto insurance leads, life insurance leads, health insurance leads and lead generation for insurance agencies

Running an insurance agency can be a lucrative business but the hardest part of growing insurance business is to get qualified insurance leads, especially if your business is new in the insurance space. If you are in a particular niche such as health or auto of life then you need to generate qualified health insurance leads, auto insurance leads and life insurance leads to make a career in the insurance business.

No matter if you know insurance inside and out and can explain the unmatched features of your insurance product with impeccable clarity, you cannot survive as an insurance broker or agent without qualified insurance sales leads.

• According to a survey conducted by Hubspot, 63% of businesses say that generating traffic and leads is their biggest marketing challenge.

If you think that finding leads is not challenging enough because of the large market size of insurance industry in the United States, the fact is that insurance market is notoriously saturated. On the other hand insurance lead generation can be expensive and time consuming which makes it even more difficult for the new comers to stay in the business.

Hundreds of insurance brokers and agencies compete for the attention of precious few qualified leads and prospects.

Finding the right leads and getting in front of these prospects before your competition finds them is crucial if you want a lucrative, long-term career in this insurance business. Insurance marketing can be expensive for new agents and brokers leads generation techniques such as cold calling, lead program, prospecting and telemarketing are dead.

The good news is that there are hundreds of ways for generating qualified insurance leads but which one would work you, that remains a big question. Internet leads are still the biggest lead source for insurance companies.

Which of the lead generation methods is best, the answer depends on the individual insurance agent. Online insurance is offered in several niches such as life, health, auto and home and each requires a dedicated lead management program. Whether you are looking to generate Life leads, health leads and auto leads for insurance sales, you need a solid leads generation strategy.

Different lead generation methods are going to work better for you than others based on your local market, level of competition, sales style and the niche you are targeting. The following methods represent the best ideas to consider for generating life insurance leads.

Before we dive into the best ways and tips to generate leads, let’s take a look at the insurance industry facts and market size in the United States.

Insurance Industry facts and Market size in the United States

• U.S. insurance industry net premiums written totaled $1.2 trillion in 2017, with premiums recorded by life/annuity (L/A) insurers accounting for 52 percent, and premiums by property/casualty (P/C) insurers accounting for 48 percent, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
• P/C insurance consists primarily of auto, home and commercial insurance. Net premiums written for the sector totaled $558.2 billion in 2017.
• Health insurance is generally considered separate. The sector includes private health insurance companies as well as government programs. P/C and L/H insurers also write some health insurance.
• In 2018, there were approximately 266.9 million of life insurance policies in force in the United States.

Common Questions about Insurance Sales that agency owners generally have in mind

What are leads in Insurance?

Leads in insurance mean the prospects that are looking to buy insurance policies to cover life, home, auto, business and other valuable assets.

Generally, insurance leads are generated in many different ways such as through referrals, email marketing, inbound online marketing for insurance companies, website lead capture forms and word of mouth marketing.

Insurance agents get leads through dedicated inbound online marketing designed to generate leads. Purchasing leads from providers (who perform the marketing campaigns to generate the insurance agency leads) is not a very reliable method because most of those leads are not qualified.

What is the best way to get new insurance leads?

Well, there are several tested ways to get insurance agency leads and every agency has its own way of generating leads whether its life insurance leads, health insurance leads, home insurance leads or auto insurance leads. But the most common alternatives that insurance agencies often use are:

• The first and most common method is buying leads from a lead generation company that could cost you as low as $10 per lead and could go upto $50 per lead. While most of the lead generation companies never tell you that most of the leads are shared leads but that’s how they make money. A shared lead is the one that is shared among multiple agencies by the insurance lead generation company. The disadvantage of a shared lead is that it makes it tough for you to sell insurance policies to the prospects because of competition and too many quotes that a particular prospect receives from various competing insurance agencies.
• The second method is much more reliable which is generating insurance leads by yourself but is time consuming and needs to lot of hard work to generate leads organically. The leads that you generate organically by yourself are 100% qualified and much more likely to convert into sales. The biggest advantage of generating insurance leads by yourself is that you don’t have to share it with other agencies and you get to learn new methods of lead generation for insurance agencies. In case you have too many insurance leads in hand, you can sell it to other agencies for a price.

Below is the list of some of the best lead generation methods for insurance agencies that you can try in you insurance business. It doesn’t matter if you are looking to generate health insurance leads, auto insurance leads, life insurance leads or qualified leads for insurance agency that you have just started. These lead generation methods are tested and will definitely help you get qualified insurance leads:

1. Buy a List of Contacts – easiest way to get insurance leads, initially

Purchasing a list of contacts from verified source of a company that specializes in insurance lead generation can makes your job a lot easier. All you have to do is pay a fee for acquiring a list of contacts that has all the information such as name, phone and email ids that you can use for cold calls, direct mail, and emails. Here are few important things to check before dealing with a purchasing a list of contacts:

• Check if there’s any contract – Some lead providers insist you sign a contract, so check on that detail before making a decision.
• Find out if they offer exclusive leads – A provider may sell you shared leads, increasing the number of agents vying for the sale. And exclusive lead options may cost more, but it eliminates the competition.
• Check what’s their return policy – Many providers offer some sort of compensation for lousy leads, so avoid the ones that don’t.

However, you can also get in touch with an insurance agent who’s looking to sell the entire business or switch over to another business as he/she can provide you valuable insurance leads that you are looking for.

2. Offer incentives in exchange of referrals

Asking for referrals directly is fine but if you can offer an incentive to an existing customer in exchange of a reference can make a huge difference. Offering a small gift can go a long way in the insurance business when it comes to collecting valuable referrals from your customers. You can offer one of the following below as an incentive:

• Shopping vouchers.
• Gift cards.
• Movie tickets.

However, before you start offering incentives check with the state department first as many state insurance departments allow incentives as long as they aren’t attached to a sale.

3. Ask for Referrals

When it comes to generating leads for insurance agency, nothing can beat the referral of a satisfied client. The problem is that they’re a bit tougher to get if you’re new in the insurance business and you do not have a huge client base. But there’s no reason to wait to sell or service policies before you ask for referrals. Get introductions to potential clients from people who already know you such as:

• Friends.
• Existing customers.
• Family members.
• Former coworkers.
• Relatives.

4. Build a Strong Web Presence

In today’s digital age, where everyone searches for a business or a service online, not having a website means your business does not have any digital identity or web presence. The research data below reveals some interesting findings about small business web presence:

• 6 out of every 10 small businesses in 2018 don’t have a website for their business. (Devrix)
• 35% of small business owners feel that their business is too small for a website.
• 46% of small businesses didn’t have a web presence in 2018. (The Balance Small Business)
• 19% of small business owners without a website believe that their business would grow 25% in three years or less with the benefit of a website.

The first step towards building online presence is your website. There are a few approaches here: while including only a value proposition and contact information works for some, most of us do have to provide some relevant and engaging content to get prospective leads to visit the website in the first place.

5. Local directories and Reputation management

This is one of the very few types of achieving online exposure which doesn’t require having a website.You can add your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information to a handful of social platforms, online directories, Yellow Pages and classified websites.While some of them require a fee to include your details, there’s also a selection of free directories as well.

In addition to driving direct traffic, they’re good for your local search engine optimization, meaning you’ll show up higher in local online searches for insurance.Encouraging reviews from satisfied customers on major platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp as well as responding in a helpful manner to any complaints will earn more exposure and inbound leads.

How much do insurance leads cost?