There's a Party in YOUR Pants... and EVERYONE is Invited!

Written by Taylor Dobbie | Sep 11, 2017 6:33:00 PM

We hear it in The Insurance Soup Facebook group literally every single day. There is always an agent in our 14000 member FREE group that is wondering who the best company to purchase leads from is.

We totally get it. You need opportunity. Clients are not just walking through the door or calling the office like they did when the dinosaurs in your districts, territories, and towns were young and spry.

The advice you get from leadership and carrier marketing reps do not sit well with you but you do not outwardly question it because you know that YOU do not have all the answers. Some of the advice seems "ok" and makes sense but a lot of it just sounds outdated and archaic.

Failed agents turned carrier “leaders” tell you to buy leads from lead companies. They tell you to send out massive amounts of direct mail and put up billboards. Hire the weird dude in town that trains carrier pigeons. Rent out the guy that dresses up like Paul Revere at historic reenactments to ride a horse around your town for a day announcing, “The rate increases are coming!” Find a Native American down at the local reservation to send out smoke signals…

You know in your heart of hearts that stuff does not work well; except the Paul Revere guy. That guys is a LEGEND!

You have burned through thousands of dollars and experienced it first-hand and mama didn’t raise no fool!
The problem with purchasing leads is that you do not know how or when or why these prospects truly hit the market looking for a new policy but one thing is for sure. They are proactively looking to make a move… or so you are led to believe. But WHY? Someone who is leaving a current carrier is leaving for one of many reasons and most are not in your favor.

Were they incentivized? Recent rate increase? Were they dropped? Are they simply transient and move every 6 months? Did their agent give them the boot because they were so difficult? Clients that are financially and personally responsible generally do not have issues with their carrier.

Compound that with the anxiety behind the chase.

How many other companies are contacting this person right now? How do I cut through the noise? How do I stand out? How many times should I call them each day? What does my email follow up look like? Should I text them? Am I being annoying? Should I care?

Now you look at your bank account and see ALL that money - $8, 10, 15 per lead fly out the window and your stress and frustration are peaking.

All those reasons for changing and the anxiety behind following up with them can be put to bed AND you can stop your bank account from bleeding so heavily if you make the move from chasing prospects that are already proactively IN the marketplace to attracting your OWN prospects that were NOT shopping INTO the marketplace reactivly

Now you can do this old school by going door to door. You can do business walks. You can whip out the white pages, smile and dial. You can partner up with loan officers, realtors, accountant, and attorneys if you can figure out how to keep them happy and thinking about you for any and all opportunity but lets be real. If you are an Agent under 45 years old chances are you are not super psyched about any of these options.

Enter social media. The virtual PARTY in YOUR pants! (or bag if you’re one of the many supremely talented lady Agents)

Social media allows you to basically be hosting a table at an event in your pocket or at your computer all day every day. It’s where everyone is and you know it; but generally you do not know how to leverage it.

When you have your social media game on point you can generate your own leads for FREE from people you are engaging with but most agents have no idea how to do it. Most Agents vomit marketing all over new connections with poorly crafted copy and paste messages and fail to actually be a real person with their new contacts.

They bombard the news feed with daily reminders that they do insurance.

The thirst is real and we’ve all been raised with a certain element of stranger danger and suspicion weaved into our DNA.

It turns people off and generally does not work without annoying 99 out of 100 people along the way. You don’t even realize it but you are losing future prospects by annoying them today. What is amazing though is when you are a PERSON with other PEOPLE on social media it is AMAZING the doorways that open up. When 2 average adults engage in conversation for the first time the typical topics of conversation that come up are family, sports, kids.. and…. Wait for it… CAREER! Now you’re off to the races and no one thinks you’re slimy!

Not one for chatting all day? We get it.

When your advertising game is on point on social media you can bring in more targeted and exclusive leads than you can handle that mirror your perfect prospect for less money then you are paying for shared, non targeted leads just like Farmers Agent Steven out of Georgia did.

Steven recently brought in 1900 leads (of married homeowners living in homes worth $300,000 or better that have at least one child between the ages of 3 and 12) for $1500.. or you know… 78 cents a lead. Not just leads… but his target market.

You could bring in 1700 leads (of married homeowners that earn over $75,000 a year) for $2600, or $1.53 a lead like independent Agent Leo out of Minnesota literally did just last month.

You could have net a haul of 1800 leads of married teachers and parents of school aged children for $80 in 7 days like Farmers Agent Chris out of Missouri did a couple months back… That’s called a lead problem by the way… but not the type you are probably accustomed to having.

You just need to understand how to craft the right messages and offers for the right audiences.

Too many Agents try and go too broad with their approach and fail. They blame social media ad platforms. They’re rip offs. They’re thieves.

The reality is the Agents are trying to brush with too broad a stroke. When you are trying to talk to literally everyone all at once, not many listen. Its why your billboard and direct mail have such bad return rates. Nothing about it speaks to any individual.

You have the ability to dial in your audiences as creatively as your imagination allows. There are literally thousands of demographics to choose from to be able to speak directly to a very specific type of person. Create interesting offers and opportunities for people and watch them get super psyched to take you up on them.

All your future perfect clients are not waiting to be transferred to you from a 3rd party vendor. They're sitting in your pocket… literally.

Stop burning your money for the right to fight over bad prospects and tune up your social media game. You'll reduce your marketing spend, increase the quality of your leads, and build a book that mirrors the exact client you know will be with you for the long haul.

Need help? Don’t know where or how to start? We get it.

We were you just a short six years ago when we began our social and digital media marketing journey.

We recommend that you hop on an info session with the number one social and digital media marketing course and mastermind in the industry, Career Agent Concepts. They’ve helped over 1500 Agents the last 2 years and most of their clients are swamped with opportunity constantly. Do a search in the FREE Insurance Soup group for #CACproblems and you will be overwhelmed.

They hand out free tips and answer all questions on their 2x a week LIVE info sessions. No stone is left unturned and you will walk away with several ideas to implement into your agency immediately.

Take control of your agency and stop relying on vendors to provide you enough opportunity to keep the doors open. Writing business is great but if you are going broke to do it your doors will still close.

Rev up the dance music.

Its time to start the Party in your Pants.. or bag.. or computer. Whatever. Get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about your cell phone.

Embrace social media.

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