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How To Waste Money By Blowing Good Health Insurance Leads

What Agents Should NOT Be Doing With Their Web Leads

It's a catchy title and a little funny. But it hides a sad irony about how too many producers and carriers are wasting good money by misusing good health leads.

High-quality Internet-generated insurance leads have led to higher sales volumes, closing ratios and ROIs for many insurance professionals. But many of those web leads also go to producers who use the wrong sales tactics on those prospects.

That's good news for savvy producers who know what online health insurance shoppers require and demand. That's bad news if you're not one of them. Here are three big mistakes that too many agents are committing on their Internet health leads.

Mistake #1: Failure To Educate

For many users, the Internet's best feature is its easy access to information. Yes, commerce is an accepted part of the Internet; but web users have grown to expect service providers to give them the information they need to make the right decision.

In fact, the Pew Internet & American Life Project published a report last year that found Internet users tended to trust the Internet - more than they did experts, family and friends. The study presented respondents with 10 serious life problems, including health and finances.

According to the Pew study, 45% of respondents looked to family and friends as sources of advice and information, while 53% turned to professionals such as doctors and lawyers for guidance. But a leading 58% of respondents said they looked to the Internet for help.

Unfortunately, many agents and brokers fail to grasp the desire of online insurance shoppers for information. They want to be educated before they make their decision.

Smart agents need to have educational material ready and available. Informative sections, such as a description of different health insurance programs, how the application process works and answers to frequently asked questions are highly effective.

Some of these materials should be on your website. All of it should be in a digital form that you can quickly email to whomever needs the information.

Mistake #2: Establishing No Relationship

Many agents and brokers do supply a steady stream of educational material to their Internet leads, but then lose that prospect to another producer. Often, it's because they've committed the 2nd big mistake of health insurance sales: They fail to create a relationship with the prospect.

Successful producers know that a crucial ingredient for higher conversion ratios is creating relationships. Educating your client and keeping them informed helps to build trust. But the next step is to use that trust to guide your client toward the right product for them.

Remember the old sales adage: "People don't care about what you know until they know that you care."

The Internet is efficient at providing information, but it's impersonal. Powerful web-based tools can assist an agent's marketing program, but most online insurance shoppers still yearn for a human they can trust before they make their buying decision.

Nurturing this relationship requires actively listening to your client's needs and concerns. Then guide them to the programs that best addresses those issues and helps them make a decision.

Mistake #3: Giving Up Too Soon

Many brokers and agents waste good Internet health leads by abandoning them too soon.

It's common practice with too many sales teams to give up on a lead if it doesn't turn into an app within the first week or so. This practice used to have some merit, because top producers simply didn't have time to work aging leads that may never pan out.

The problem with this "quick surrender" approach is that online health insurance shoppers often take longer to convert into apps. As noted earlier, they often want to gather information about their choices first. That educational period can stretch the sales process to at least one or two months.

The good news for savvy producers is that they don't have to sacrifice new and ready prospects in order to nurture aging leads. Email autoresponders and newsletters can keep you in constant contact with these longer-term clients, with minimal effort.

Reports of seasoned leads closing after a year on the autoresponder support the strategy of never giving up on a lead - unless they tell you to take them off your marketing list.

Are any of these mistakes part of your routine?

If you're finding that your conversion ratios on Internet-generated health leads aren't as high as you think they should be, make sure that you're not committing one of these 3 common mistakes.

It's going to take more than overnight fixes to address these mistakes. They'll require a re-thinking and re-working of your whole sales approach.

But the alternative to correcting these mistakes is to continue wasting good money by blowing otherwise good health leads.

Jeremiah Desmarais is vice president of marketing at ProspectZone. He is the recipient of 9 awards for his marketing and design initiatives online. He is also editor of the ProspectZone Newsletter, which delivers helpful sales articles, tips and marketing strategies to 15,000+ insurance agents monthly. Author of several white papers, Jeremiah is a contributor to the Agent’s Sales Journal, Health Insurance Underwriter and Broker World, as well as a guest speaker at various carrier events and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders.

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Quick Tip

Are exclusive leads worth the investment?

Agents and brokers looking for an edge ask this question a lot. As with all investments, you have to look at the ROI, the return on investment.

Whether or not exclusive leads are the right strategy for you depends on how much they'll increase your closing ratios over shared leads. Exclusive leads do cost more than standard leads. But they should also bring higher closing ratios and ROIs.

Many lead providers charge at least double the price for exclusive leads. If your conversion only inches up, the higher price may not be worth it. But that's a worthwhile premium to pay if your conversion ratios at least double.

Consider testing exclusive leads as part of your marketing mix. See how their conversion ratios stack up with shared leads. If your conversion ratios on exclusive leads are twice what they are on shared leads, then exclusive leads may offer you more bang for the buck - and deserve a place in your lead mix.