What leads are you going to start with?

Customer acquisition costs are real.

In the case of insurance leads, that acquisition cost is a balance between money and time. The stronger your financial budget for leads, the fewer hours you’ll need for calling to fill your appointment schedule.

Fresh direct mail leads are the most costly to produce. Only between 1 & 2% of those leads mailed are filled out & returned. The advantage is that these leads answer the phone, and because it is fresh in their mind they set appointments at a high rate. So, when you are in a position to work A Leads, you’ll save time, and typically increase your return on investment. Note that Equis does ‘subsidize’ the cost of A leads - it costs between $85 & $100 to generate one, and agents pay about half that for each lead, based on their contract level.

“Inventory Leads” are those that were once A leads, and have aged 45 days or more without an application being submitted. There are many reasons a lead may not have resulted in a policy, from the agent never reached them, to they met the agent and weren’t ready to put coverage in place. The time investment for customer acquisition with inventory leads can be 5x or more than for A leads. The financial commitment is substantially less.

“Every lead becomes an ‘A‘ lead every 90 days.“ - Dick Sylvester

Circumstances change constantly.  A family who was unsure of their budget when they settled on their new home has had time to figure it out. The young father who thought he was immortal has had a friend diagnosed with cancer. A breadwinner got a promotion, or the car got paid off. Now they are in position to take coverage. Or a potential client who kept missing the first agent’s calls may pick up for the next agent.

So, what will your lead investment look like as you get started?

Are you able to commit to a strong financial investment at the start? What is that amount? Maybe not necessarily the ‘safe’, ‘comfortable’ number, but the amount that makes you just a little nervous, so that you feel like you have something at stake…

How about your time investment? Working inventory leads (and we all start on inventory leads) can require 5-8 hours of weekly dial time to set 12-15 appointments. If your financial budget is on the lower level, you must be prepared to invest the time needed to fill your appointment schedule.

Your manager will consult with you regarding your time budget (schedule), and your money budget for leads, to get you started. They’re going to direct you to the most efficient lead program for your circumstances, and help you place your initial lead order. Once you have that first batch of leads in hand, there’s one thing to do.