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Are you struggling to convert your sales leads into paying clients? The problem may be coming from your pre-qualification process. Maybe you don't even have a process in place.
One of the best things you can do for your agency is to pre-qualify your insurance leads. Pre-qualified leads are easier to convert and give you a better ROI (return on investment). Companies that excel in their lead-nurturing practices generate 50% more sales at 33% lower cost, which means it’s something that every insurance agent should keep top of mind. Nothing beats getting greater results with less cost and time involved.
The pre-qualifying process can be lengthy and time-consuming, but the efforts are well worth the return. Not all leads are equal, after all. If you invest the bulk of your lead generation and sales time with clients who are already looking for the types of insurance coverages you're focused on selling, you're well on your way to maximizing your efforts. Put in the effort to pre-qualify your prospects, and you’ll be surprised at the benefits. Let's look at how it works.
Pre-qualified leads are people specifically looking to buy what you have to offer. They aren’t generic in any way. When you contact them about insurance, they already come with a base level of interest. In fact, these types of leads might be incredibly happy to hear from you because you’re solving a problem that they find pressing right now.
Rather than convincing someone why they need what you’re selling, pre-qualified leads are already past that sticking point from the very start of the conversation. Instead, you get to focus the conversation on why they need you as their agent for the insurance services they’re already looking to purchase.
Did you know that 67% of lost sales boil down to sales reps selling to the wrong people (aka not selling to qualified leads)? Talk about wasted effort.
It’s frustrating to get through an entire presentation and conversation about insurance only to find out when it comes time to close that the prospect isn’t even looking for what you offer. They may give all kinds of excuses as to why they won’t purchase, but the real reason is that they were never qualified to begin with.
It’s not the prospect's fault, though, since it's not their job to know whether they're qualified. Most buyers rely on professionals to direct them toward the right buying decision. Not only that, but they're often grateful when they’re pre-qualified, as it saves them just as much time as it does for you.
At the end of the day, there are so many aspects to improve when you’re growing your insurance agency that it can be difficult to pin down the area that will help the most. But when you realize that you could be avoiding two out of every three lost sales by improving your pre-qualification process, that’s hard to ignore.
Once you improve your ability and in-house processes for pre-qualifying leads, you’ll notice that you not only spend less time completing each sale but that your overall quality of policies sold also improves.
Now that you have a grasp on why pre-qualified leads are so important, it’s time to get into the tactics. Here are a few ways you can pre-qualify your leads.
Almost every step in improving a business begins with enhancing clarity. Maybe you already have an idea of exactly the types of policies you want to sell and precisely the type of clients with whom you want to work. If you do, you simply have to customize the following steps to fit that market segment.
If not, it’s time to get a pad of paper or your smartphone and begin brainstorming the ideal qualifications for prospects with whom you want to do business. You might start with someone who has the budget for the policies you want to sell, who needs those policies, and who has purchasing authority.
Yes, you are selling others on your insurance policies. But the basic idea of qualifying leads is that prospects have to “sell you” on why you should work with them. Your time is valuable, and the right people will see you in that way. Defining qualified leads for your business helps you take the right steps toward connecting with the right people.
Whenever you get on the phone or meet in person with a new prospect, save yourself time by beginning the conversation with qualification questions. Remember, you only need to give your full sales presentation to people who both can buy and want to buy what you’re offering.
Consider questions such as:
You don’t have to be too direct, but people appreciate clarity around cost and value. Be just a little forward with your questions so you can determine how much your prospect can spend and what they’re looking to purchase.
Whenever you run an ad, whether online using Google, Facebook, or other platforms, or using traditional media like newspapers or billboards, include qualifying phrases in your messaging. It doesn’t always work, but in some cases, you help people filter themselves in (or out) of sales conversations with you by the wording you use in presenting your business.
Try using words like:
You can also include negative phrasing like:
Of course, you have to be careful with phrasing. The last thing you want is to push people away or make them feel like they can’t do business with you. But there’s nothing wrong with establishing a standard for your clientele by the words you use in your advertising.
Contact forms require a keen eye on analytics to be successful. Before making any changes to your contact forms, make sure you understand your current stats and conversion rates. Once you establish a baseline, you can either adjust current form fill-out options or include more.
The idea with contact forms is for them to begin the sales conversation on your behalf. Consider:
Overall, extra form fields on a contact form diminish conversion rate per site visitor. However, you may find that an extended contact form filters out more of the sales leads you didn’t want anyway.
Pre-qualifying leads for your business is critical. But, as you can see, the methods involved are often time-consuming and sometimes come with challenges of their own.
The value is certainly undeniable and justifies the time and energy spent, but you may not have the ability to drop everything you’re doing to start working on your own pre-qualification processes. You may see the benefits of pre-qualifying, but you may also feel that it’s one more thing on your plate.
While you’re building up your own in-house pre-qualification strategies, try out Nectar’s high-quality, pre-qualified insurance leads. You set the pre-qualification metrics you want to see from us, and we send you those exact types of insurance prospects, local to the area you select. You select the times of day and days of the week when you want to receive leads.
Because these leads are already vetted for you, you don’t have to worry about sorting through intensive pre-qualification processes on the front end. We handle getting you leads so you can grow your business immediately, and we also apply the entire pre-qualification process for you, so you only talk with your ideal prospects. With Nectar, you save time and get the advantage of finding the perfect clients for you.
Nectar is your partner for insurance lead generation. Our leads are premium, pre-qualified, and sourced using the industry's latest marketing techniques, data analytics, and technology. While you’re building up your agency, we deliver high-quality, real-time leads directly to you to help you grow.
Nectar does not require a subscription of any kind — no contracts or obligations. You simply set your budget, the number of leads you want, and times of the week when you want to receive leads. Sign up and start receiving premium pre-qualified leads today.
This article reflects the features of Nectar as of the date of publication. Features are subject to change at any time. This article is meant for informational purposes only, it is not a guarantee that using Nectar will help you achieve specific business or financial results and is not intended to serve as the sole recommendation for any business financial decisions.
