The biggest problem for a Sales Agent is finding enough qualified prospects to offer their products to. Insurance companies attempt to solve that problem by offering agents a lead program.

This is how it typically works;

1) Agencies advertise that they have leads for agents. Typically they are either direct mail or telemarketing.

2) Agencies either advance leads to their agents and charge them as they are received or they require them to pay upfront.

Sounds like a real plan. Yet this plan has within it inherent faults that agents need to be more aware of.

1) Costs – its not uncommon for agencies to charge anywhere from $2 (cold leads) to $60 for a hot lead.

2) Quality – although agents pay for leads the truth is many leads purchased are truly a waste of time

3) Type – these leads can allow an agent to make a good living. But agencies don’t makes good leads available without an agent jumping through a lot of hoops to get them. Have you ever asked yourself “why”?

it is very, very difficult to find a qualified prospect who can purchase an insurance policy from you today. Insurance companies know that. So they work hard to have agents find those prospects for them. For many companies promising to provide leads is just a way to get new agents through the door. Then by having agents sell their family and friends these same companies can increase their client base at the expense of the agent.

So what is the solution? Is my goal to put down Insurance companies? No. Instead I think that agents need to know that if you play the lead game chances are your career will lead you to making a change.

Here are some ways to try to not fall into the lies told about leads;

1) Pay attention to the actual cost of the lead – leads can be expensive but you don’t want to pay for the cost it took someone else to get the leads. You want to pay for a good lead which can lead to a sale.

2) All leads are not created equal – I got some leads and had a professional telemarketer call them to set appointments for me. She was so frustrated with the quality of leads I gave her that she quit. Her comments to me was “I can’t waste my time calling people who have not expressed any prior interest at all in your product. It’s a total waste of time calling these leads.” What was sad is these leads represented leads I had purchased so I was out of the money to buy them and they resulted in no sales.

3) Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all leads have the potential of being good. Some leads are a total waste of time (such as trying to sell senior citizens on a fixed income a high premium policy plan.