5 sales funnel tips for 2013

Here are five ideas to fill your agency sales funnel in 2013:

1. Appointment setting. Professional and articulate telemarketers who understand insurance and the market they are pursuing can offer you the most direct route to your prospects.
2. Email marketing. Educational, valuable email messages, which help your prospects solve their business challenges, can provide a way to identify who is interested and will help you warm up your calls.
3. Search engine optimization. Effective SEO campaigns can drive targeted prospects to your website and content offerings. In addition to search optimization, make sure your site is optimized for conversions.
4. Update prospect lists. Companies change ownership or management and employees leave and are replaced. Consistently refreshing your prospect lists will help you stay on top of your market.
5. Be patient. Marketing is not instant oatmeal. If it were, you would already be flush with opportunities. Find the right target markets and the right strategy and commit to staying the course.

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• Advisors: Successful sales pipeline habits
• 5 ways to make sales (even in bad times)
• 3 cold calling strategies that work

John Scranton is an insurance agency marketing expert and vice president of StartUpSelling, Inc. which helps small businesses with lead generation, sales, marketing, website design and branding. For more information and tips from John, visit www.StartUpSelling.com, or go to his blog at http://startupselling.com/blogs/johnscranton.