What Really Constitutes A Qualified Insurance Lead? By: Jason Hornung – President Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. I got this response on a survey where I asked the question: what's your most important question about generating insurance leads online? "How to get a qualified insurance lead, one that's hungry for my solutions." In this post, I'm going to give you the answer to that and I guarantee you that it's something that you don't expect But before I get into the details, let's talk about what most agents are thinking when they say the buzz term, qualified insurance lead, because the majority are using it incorrectly. Most insurance professionals I talk to associate this term with someone who is already pre-sold and basically ready to sign on the dotted line of a brand new insurance policy on the first contact. That this person was so "qualified" for the policy before meeting with the agent that they had plenty of money and no selling needed to take place whatsoever. Let me ask you a really important question. Have you ever had one of those situations? Now I realize that a lucky few of you may be able to say yes to that question, but it's not going out on a limb to say that the overwhelming majority of you are laughing at the thought So what really makes someone a qualified insurance lead? My contention is that term is an oxymoron. No one can be a qualified insurance lead! Especially if you are marketing for any type of insurance other than auto or home. Let me explain why. It all boils down to the stages that someone has to go through in the buying process. A lead is simply someone who has raised their hand and said they are mildly interested in what you have to offer. With a lead, there is no urgency. There's no desperate problem that needs to be solved immediately. They can't possibly be so hungry for your solutions that they are ready to buy immediately. And let me tell you, the people who come to your office desperate for auto or home insurance are the people you either can't write or you don't want to anyway ©2012 Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. – All Rights Reserved http://lifeinsurancemarketing.info A lead for any other type of insurance can't become qualified until it has passed into the prospect phase, at which point it is no longer a lead. A prospect is someone who has made a commitment to solve a problem in their life within a given time frame. That decision can't be made without a certain level of marketing and sales. If you are expecting to be able to get a qualified insurance lead, particularly life leads from the internet lead companies, you've got another thing coming. It will never happen. The vast majority of lead companies are only generating people who have raised their hand indicating mild interest in a product or service. Usually the interest is generated by using the "save money on your insurance" appeal, which will never make someone a prospect on its own. You'll have to hit a much deeper problem in the person's life to move them into the prospect phase. Alright, so that begs the question - how can you move someone from lead to prospect as quickly as possible? It all boils down to your marketing. If you are dependent on the lead companies, you don't have any control over that process. You are stuck trying to turn the lead into a prospect on your first contact. If you are doing your own marketing, particularly online - you can create a funnel that automatically moves your leads into the prospect phase prior to you ever having contact with them. That's really the only way to generate a qualified insurance lead, which technically isn't a lead :) You may be wondering why I keep using that term. There's a couple of reasons. First it's something that people understand. Second, it's really hard to change someone's beliefs quickly. One of the purposes to this article is to get you to shift your thinking and I'm trying to bridge that gap for you. From here on out, we're going to be talking in terms of prospects. As you look around my website, if you see me talking about qualified leads, keep in mind that what I really mean is prospects as we are discussing in the scope of this conversation. I just have to use terms that resonate the most with people before I try to change their perceptions! What are the steps to generating prospects online? I'm going to teach you a method developed by Dr. Glenn Livingston. He's a renowned internet marketer who has generated over $20,000,000 in sales online. ©2012 Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. – All Rights Reserved http://lifeinsurancemarketing.info It's really just his unique take on the age old marketing principle of A.I.D.A - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. He calls it the "Golden Glove of Persuasion". Think of how your hand has 5 fingers. Each finger represents one of the crucial elements of persuasion, which you absolutely must present to anyone you want to turn into a prospect. The first finger is a desperate problem. You have to identify the desperate problem in your ideal prospect's life and call out to that on your website. The second finger is your unique solution. You have to take your product or service and conceptualize it in a way that makes it unique - something that the person on your site has never seen before. You then clearly state your unique solution all over your site. The third finger is overwhelming proof. People are increasingly skeptical about stuff online. You have to show every possible reason why the person visiting your site can trust you and that you can deliver on the unique promise you are offering. The fourth finger is an irresistible offer. I'm sorry but, "get a free quote" or "free consultation" is not going to fit into the category of an irresistible offer. They may have worked in the past, but today you are going to need to come up with something far more unique and far more valuable to the person visiting your website before he or she will fork over their information to you. The fifth finger is one that will be a tough pill to swallow for most insurance agents, but it involves having an outrageous guarantee. I know you compliance junkies are thinking that you can't possibly guarantee anything - and you are right if you are talking about the product itself. However, you can guarantee your offer for getting them to become a prospect. Let me give you an example: Let's say your offer is for a no-risk, no-taxes financial blueprint. You can say something along these lines. I'm so confident that you will be blown away by my no-risk, no-taxes financial blueprint that I'm willing to back it up by an unprecedented guarantee. If you don't feel that this blueprint was worth your time and that I didn't show you at least one new strategy that can allow you to significantly reduce your financial risk and taxes, than simply let me know in writing within 24 hours after your blueprint meeting. ©2012 Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. – All Rights Reserved http://lifeinsurancemarketing.info I'll gladly buy you a steak dinner to make up for wasting your time! You see how easy that is? It's totally compliant and avoids all rebating laws. When you incorporate all five of these elements appropriately on your website, you are going to generate a ton of prospects out of the traffic you send to it. If you think this is valuable information, I have to tell you that it's just scratching the surface of this concept. It's also only one of the three strategic pillars involved with marketing for insurance online. In my Agent's Lead Machine Internet Marketing Mastery Program, I'll teach you everything I know about these strategic pillars in extreme detail. It will allow you to short cut the failure process I had to go through before I figured all this stuff out and will allow you to have the fastest and easiest path to successful insurance marketing online. Before you look into my ALM Internet Marketing Mastery Program, I highly suggest that you watch the free video I put together on the #1 secret to generating exclusive, qualified and affordable insurance prospects online. The reason I suggest this is two-fold. First, you are going to get some incredible free info. Second, you'll actually find a special offer on my ALM Internet Marketing Mastery Program that you won't find any where else. And it's a really great offer if I say so myself :) So to get this video, simply click the button below: ©2012 Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. – All Rights Reserved http://lifeinsurancemarketing.info . What Really Constitutes A Qualified Insurance Lead? By: Jason Hornung – President Jason Hornung Agency, Inc. I got this response on a survey where I asked the question: what& apos;s your. you ever having contact with them. That's really the only way to generate a qualified insurance lead, which technically isn't a lead :) You may be wondering why I keep using that term but it's not going out on a limb to say that the overwhelming majority of you are laughing at the thought So what really makes someone a qualified insurance lead? My contention is that term