10. Revive stale leads.
Calling back old leads can be awkward and uncomfortable. Sometimes “old” feels eerily similar to “cold.” Try my 5+5+5 method:
Step One: Every day (and I mean every day – this is a discipline) write 5 handwritten notes to old leads. Just reintroduce and reconnect, and keep it brief. At the end of the note write, “I’ll call you in the next few days to check in and see if there are needs I can help you with.”
Step Two: Wait 5 days. Of course, each of those days will be spent sending 5 more handwritten notes.
Step Three: Make 5 calls to the people you wrote notes to 5 days ago. It will no longer be a cold call – you will have reintroduced yourself. You’ll be amazed at how many people say, “I’m glad you called!”
5 notes + 5 days + 5 phone calls. And you’ll change someone’s world.
— Jeff Shore, sales expert, author, speaker & executive coach, Shore Consulting
9. Use Facebook to draw prospects.
I really enjoy Facebook! It’s fun and informative. My goal is to have as many friends as possible. I post on average once or twice a day, and I enjoy reading my friends posts. Most of my posts are personal. I try to make my posts sassy, upbeat, and fun. I give opinions, but in a tolerant, non-inflammatory way. About 15-20% of the time, I will post a link to an LTCi article or a blog, along with comments about why the item posted illustrates the need for LTCi ownership. In this way, I hope to plant a subliminal desire for LTCi ownership, and establish myself as an expert in LTCi. When they are ready for LTCi help, Facebook friends approach me. When this happens, the result is often a high-quality prospect and an appreciative client.
—Honey Leveen, LUTCF, CLTC, LTCP, The Queen of Long-Term Care Insurance
8. Buy traffic, not leads.
Buying leads … what a nightmare! While buying leads is still quite profitable if done right, buying traffic is much more profitable and controllable. Media buying is all the rage, and if done correctly and tested thoroughly one can generate a lead at a cost of around $8. And they convert. Finding traffic sources is actually quite easy, and setting up a campaign is even easier. The first campaign I ran was with advertising.com’s “AdLearn.” I spent $500 in 3 days and generated $1800 in commissionable target. Not quite the numbers I had hoped for, but we continued to refine our website landing page to optimize conversions and have dramatically increased our ROI. Since trying media buying in early 2013, it is now 1/4 of our total business.
— Nic West, Director of Business Development, www.TrustedQuote.com
7. Find a niche.
This worked very well for me in 2013. Niche down and use social media outreach. For example, pick a niche like “Skydivers” and write a helpful article on your website about getting life insurance as a skydiver. Nothing salesly — just make it a resource page with a quote request form and phone number prominent. Then put together a spreadsheet of every blog, forum, Facebook and Twitter account geared toward skydivers and ask them to share your article to their readers. Wait 2–3 months and do it again to those who didn’t respond or didn’t share. Rinse, repeat.
— Jeff Root, Owner, www.selltermlife.com
6. Harness the power of a picture.
Visuals work great online and are very “shareable” in social media. We developed an infographic on the “High Economic Costs of Smoking” including the increased costs of life insurance. The result? Over 1,100 “ likes” on Facebook, including shares from government-sponsored smoking cessation programs, and increased traffic and brand awareness to our site.
— Liran Hirschkorn, Founder, BestLifeQuote.com