Interesting insight from the folks at Accenture.

To build long-term relationships with insurance customers and/or prospects, you need to understand them. Communication is not “one size fits all”. All relationships vary. To ensure you’re communicating effectively, take time to learn more about your audiences.

Whether you’re purchasing Internet insurance leads from us, another lead provider or generating your own leads through Facebook or your own website, implementing a lead follow-up strategy is key to closing more sales. Here are a few tips for staying in touch with your insurance prospects:

1) Determine your next touchpoint. Will you call him/her back in another 2 weeks? Have you added their email address to your monthly email newletter? Plan your next step so this lead doesn’t get caught in limbo…

2) Schedule time in your calendar for prospecting. Just like any other critical business activity, if you don’t plot out time in advance, there’s a good chance it won’t happen. Most importantly, follow through on these prospecting appointments with yourself. If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to get distracted. Not to mention, you may experience a reluctance to pick up the phone. If it’s on your schedule ahead of time, however, you’re more likely to complete the action.

3) Take good notes. We all know the insurance business is a relationship business. If you’re not staying on top of what’s new in the lives of your prospects, you may be missing out on business. Always document your conversations as they happen or immediately following the conversation.

Everyone wants to feel appreciated – especially your insurance prospects and clients. While we should always go above and beyond to express our gratitude, making this a priority as we move toward the holiday season is especially important.

There are a number of ways to say thank you:

- Mail a personalized note
- Send a gift card
- Host a customer appreciation event
- Donate to your customer’s favorite charitable organization

And many more!

When it comes to showing your gratitude, there’s nothing too large or small. Just remember to be genuine. What’s your favorite way of saying thank you?

Over at his blog Ask Tim, independent insurance agent Tim Dodge provides his view on the price versus coverage debate.

This is a popular topic for most insurance professionals. In our “Closing The Deal” webinar, HometownQuotes co-founder and CEO Hunter Ingram encourages insurance agents to ask prospects, “What’s most important to you? Price or coverage?”

If the prospect responds that coverage is most important, Ingram encourages insurance pros to deliver the best coverage options available, regardless of cost. If the prospect indicates that price is most important, Ingram recommends building a customized insurance policy based on what the prospect says is most important to him or her.

All prospects are different, so providing coverage options for both types of consumers is key to growing your business.

If you’re looking for a way to connect with qualified prospects in your coverage area, we can help! Click here to get more information.

“I just wanted to pass along some positive feedback. I thought it was a great call that was worth my time. I got a lot of useful information that I’ll try. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a webinar that I actually walked away with some useful information. So thanks!” – insurance agent in Nebraska

“Thanks for pointing out that insurance agents need to sound like human beings. It’s really good to hear that you made a good living without having to can a fake-sounding, corny speech. I’m encouraged.” - insurance agent in Texas

“I only attended the Q&A session at the end of the presentation but I enjoyed and benefited from it very much. Please let me know about any and all educational opportunities you have available. Thanks!” - insurance agent in Colorado

“Thanks for being up front and honest with no hype.” - insurance agent in Ohio

On December 2, we had a record-breaking webinar. More insurance professionals participated than ever before AND it was our longest-running webinar at 2 HOURS. Our CEO Hunter Ingram answered dozens of wonderful, thought-provoking questions supplied by the participating insurance agents. Here are a few of them:

Question from an insurance pro: How do you attract consumers to your site?

Hunter Ingram: Let’s start by discussing what we DON’T do. We do not attract consumers by incentivising them. No free poker chips. No free trips to Maui or new iPods. That is not in the best interest of the consumer NOR you, the insurance professional. If a consumer is incentivised to complete an insurance lead form, that is not a legitimate lead and you shouldn’t be paying for it. We attract the highest-quality leads by thinking like consumers and spending our marketing dollars with Google and other search engines.

Question from an insurance pro: What do you think about text messaging prospects?

Hunter Ingram: That’s a great question. I think it’s an interesting way to do business. We haven’t had any agents share their experiences with text messaging to prospects. When I ran my insurance agency, text messaging wasn’t really even in the realm of possibilities. I think it’s great to be cutting-edge with technology, but I don’t have any personal insight since I haven’t used text messaging in that regard. I’d like to get feedback from anyone who has used it in this manner. If any of you are texting consumers, how are they responding? (If you have feedback, please share at the bottom of this blog post!)

Question from an insurance pro: What type of prospects look for online insurance quotes?

Hunter Ingram: There is a wide variety of consumers who use the Internet to shop for insurance. From my experience with the YellowPages and other methods of advertising, the ROI was not good, the lead tracking was not effective and I was reaching a small segment of consumers. With Internet leads, insurance professionals have access to a vast pool of consumers, the return on investment is great and the tracking is easy.

Question from an insurance pro: What advice can you offer regarding followup emails?

Hunter Ingram: Following up with prospects is very important and I highly believe in email. It’s a good way to stay in front of the customer, but it’s not the only communication method you should be using. Pick up the phone and call the consumer. Just because the prospect searched for insurance online does not mean online communication should be the primary mode of contact. Make sure you balance the two mediums.

Question from an insurance pro: What is the best way to handle leads that come in after hours?

Hunter Ingram: For the online insurance leads you receive after hours, I recommend using an auto-responder indicating that you will call first thing in the morning. I don’t know about all the federal/state do not call laws, but I’m sure they vary per state. Most agents do not make calls after hours or on weekends, so your close ratio should really increase if you work the leads at these times.

Stay tuned for more great questions and make sure you email Krista (krista at hometownquotes dot com) if you’re interested in attending our next webinar about closing Internet leads!

“I subscribe to many different Internet lead services. Many hold similar conference calls. I felt this was one of the better ones. The speaker was very genuine in his presentation and gave real world examples. I would recommend this to others.

Thanks for the invitation.”

- Gary L., insurance agent in Illinois

Last week, our CEO Hunter Ingram presented our most recent webinar about closing Internet leads.

We had a great turnout! Thank you to all who attended! If you have peers who would benefit from the information you received, please tell them about the presentation and put them in touch with us. You can also click here to access the registration information for our next webinar and forward it to any friends who may be interested.

The more, the merrier! Hunter always gets great questions from the agents who are listening in on the presentation. Here is a synopsis of some of the questions from last week’s webinar, as well as Hunter’s responses:

Agent 1: You made a statement earlier about voicemail. Do you have any tips about an effective voicemail message to leave for prospects that will get your phone call returned?

Hunter: If you want a different outcome, you have to leave a different type of voicemail message. Read some of Jeffrey Gitomer’s books. He offers some great, creative tips for leaving unique voicemails.

Agent 2: After sending a quote to a prospective client, how long do you wait before following up if you don’t hear from them?

Hunter: I didn’t wait. When I was an agent, I followed up immediately, hoping to catch the person in front of their computer so I could explain things to them while they were looking at the quote.

Agent 3: What are your thoughts about calling leads on weekends?

Hunter: According to a study that I read the other day, leads called on weekends convert 22% better than those called during the week. If you’re not calling on weekends, you’re missing out on some great prospects. The weekend is a good time to get in front of the consumer because s/he is not distracted by work and you can have a lengthier, in-depth conversation with them than you could during the week. Plus, if you’re calling the consumer on the weekends, it’s a great selling point. You can tell them “I work on the weekends, so if you ever need me on a Saturday, I’m always available.”

Thanks again to all of the insurance agents who attended last week’s webinar. Thanks also to Hunter for providing insight about your experiences as an insurance agent. We’ll post more questions and responses from last week’s webinar soon. Have a question for Hunter about working Internet leads? Leave a comment here and we’ll make sure your inquiries are answered.