Monthly Newsletters... It really surprises me that most insurance agents, financial advisors and financial planners are not in regular contact with their Clients, Family, Friends and Prospects! "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" Is A Deadly Mistake... Especially For Anyone In Life Insurance Sales!!! Life Insurance Sales is tough enough without you giving away the easy sales! Consider, everyday, your friends, neighbors, relatives and even some of your clients are buying the same products and services you're selling. But, they're not buying them from you! Why are these people going to your competition? Is it because they don't know you're in the business, or if you're still in the business? Is it because they never hear from you? Maybe the agent just happened to call them at the right time? Or, maybe they called the agent with a question? By sending a monthly newsletter to your friends, relatives, neighbors, clients and prospects, you are constantly reminding them of what you do (or in some cases, who you are) in a very non-threatening way. It's non-threatening, because there's no pressure to buy anything. Note: Remember, the average person buys life insurance 7 times during their lives. On top of that, many of them will buy DI Insurance, Long Term Care, Annuities, IRA’s, and other investments. When they are ready to make their next purchase do you want them to buy it from the first agent who contacts them, or do you want them to buy from you?

Offering Information Booklets and Free Reports... Another big mistake agents often make is they try to sell themselves directly in every communication they produce. And as a result, they generate large amounts of prospects that lead to little or no business. They end up dealing with a lot of people who are merely curious, but never serious. As we are now in the "information age", giving away a free report, or a free booklet is a great way to make your target market come to you. It's the "try-before-you-buy" approach. Done right, the people who come forward, have been indirectly screened and are qualified prospects for your products and services. You should be offering your free report, or a free booklet in everything you do. (even on your business card) The problem most agents have with this lead generation method, is they expect everyone who steps forward to buy right now. Unfortunately, people buy when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell. Note: To make this work you must keep in front of these prospects, so when they are ready to buy, you are the one they contact. And, you should be inviting them to your seminars and/or workshops.

Lead Groups... Another great way to get high quality leads is by joining or forming a lead exchange group with local business professionals that cater to your ideal prospects, and who have already built strong relationships with them! A lead exchange group is a formal group of successful business people who get together every week, or every two weeks for breakfast or lunch, for about an hour to exchange leads. At every meeting, 2 or 3 members give a 10 minute talk about what they do and who their ideal prospect would be. Then, someone might share an idea that is helping them grow their business. They only allow one person from each industry into the group, so there is no competition. The criteria is they must bring in leads each month for another member, to remain in the group. Note: I'm not sure why more agents are not joining or forming a lead exchange group. However, they are missing out on a great opportunity. Lead exchange groups are a great way to get known in your community, and set up joint ventures.

Educational Workshops... One of the most overlooked and very best ways to find new prospects and introduce them to the services you provide, is with an educational workshop. Would you agree no one wants to meet one on one with a salesperson! The beauty of an educational workshop is that for the prospects there is safety in numbers. People feel much safer coming to a workshop than meeting one on one with a salesperson. It’s a non-threatening way for them to get to know you, see the type of work you do, and the help you provide. The beauty of the educational workshop for you is that you can offer them in small groups. They cost very little to hold, at generally less that $200 per event. And, because they are considered a public service you can hold them almost anywhere - in your local library, association rooms, conference rooms, etc. However, most agents have no idea how to get the right people to attend their workshop. Note: To get the right prospect there involves personally inviting the people you already know; friends, family, relatives, people you do business with, client referrals, joint venture referrals, people who have asked for your free information booklet and more.

Joint Ventures... Joint venture marketing is the ultimate ‘insider secret’ to generating literally thousands of new life insurance prospects, in your area, rapidly and with the utmost credibility. Are you looking for a way to be in front of more prospects? Are you looking for ways to attract high quality prospects to you? Then, consider sharing your clients and prospects with other successful business people... in return for them sharing their clients and prospects with you. When done right, with the right businesses, it can make your search for new and better prospects much easier! As you know, most businesses maintain lists of their best prospects and customers. They use those lists to send helpful information to them, to build positive relationships. Why? Because people prefer to do business with people they know and trust. If you are thinking; “I’ve tried that before and it doesn’t work.” The reason it didn’t work is because most agents are going about it all wrong! Note: Most agents are just setting up a passive referral system where the business will refer people to them only if someone asks for information, or a referral. To make a joint venture work you must set up an active contact system that gets people to call you looking for help, more information, or gets them to come to your free educational workshop.

Dinner Seminars... While dinner seminars are somewhat expensive, ($4,500 - $5,000 with the mailing and dinners) they are still one of the best and quickest ways to generate lots of new prospects each month. When done right, you can be in front of 50 or more high quality prospects in less that 6 weeks from now. Unfortunately, there are two critical mistakes that 90% of the agents make with dinner seminars. One is they try to go cheap on the restaurant and/or invitation. For example, they'll run an ad in their local newspaper, to save money. The problem is the newspaper goes to everyone, and not just to your best audience. So, you generally end up with a lot of the wrong people attending. To get the right people to attend your dinner seminar, you have to specifically invite them. You need to target your message to a specific group of people meeting the right criteria. However, the biggest reason why advisors struggle with dinner seminars is they are only able to set appointments with 10 to 30 percent of their seminar audience. And, then half of those appointments are canceling or are no shows. There are several reasons why this occurs, but the predominant reason is the advisor is not getting their audience emotionally involved in the seminar. If the prospect does not see and understand how the information relates to their situation, and how they'll benefit by meeting with you, then why should they set an appointment? Note: With a little coaching and some small changes we've been able to help agents to set appointments with 70-90 percent of their seminar audience, and those appointments are sticking.

Educational Workshops... One of the most overlooked and very best ways to find new prospects and introduce them to the services you provide, is with an educational workshop. Would you agree no one wants to meet one on one with a salesperson! The beauty of an educational workshop is that for the prospects there is safety in numbers. People feel much safer coming to a workshop than meeting one on one with a salesperson. It’s a non-threatening way for them to get to know you, see the type of work you do, and the help you provide. The beauty of the educational workshop for you is that you can offer them in small groups. They cost very little to hold, at generally less that $200 per event. And, because they are considered a public service you can hold them almost anywhere - in your local library, association rooms, conference rooms, etc. However, most agents have no idea how to get the right people to attend their workshop. Note: To get the right prospect there involves personally inviting the people you already know; friends, family, relatives, people you do business with, client referrals, joint venture referrals, people who have asked for your free information booklet and more.

Annual Reviews... If you ask these same "million-dollar" producers where they get most of their new life insurance sales from each year, they'll tell you it's from annual reviews with their existing clients. Did you know that, according to LIMRA, the average person buys life insurance seven times throughout their life? And, that's not counting the other sales you'll get, such as Long Term Care Insurance, Disability Insurance, Annuities and Investments. Working with, and coaching hundreds of agents each year, I'm shocked at how many agents are not doing annual reviews with their existing clients. Most agents are so focused and busy with bringing in new clients they are totally neglecting their existing clients. (And, then they wonder why they aren't getting any calls from their existing clients or referrals) Note: If you are one of the few agents who does offer your clients an annual review, and your clients are refusing your offer, is it because they view you as just another salesperson trying to make a sale, and not as a trusted advisor?

Many of the agents, advisors and planners who call us are looking for the quickest, most cost effective and best ways to generate a constant stream of the highest quality life insurance leads, to make more sales. These people have tried purchasing leads, preset appointments, using information booklets and free reports, client newsletters, direct mail, postcards, joint ventures, dinner seminars, educational workshops, asking for referrals, articles for the newspaper, press releases, being a guest on a local television or radio program, lead groups, etc., without much success.
The reason they are struggling with these life insurance lead generation methods isn't because they don't work. It's because they were never given or learned the little 'insider secrets' and 'tricks of the trade' to making these proven methods work. Plus, they didn't follow through. They tried one method at a time. They were looking for 'one quick way' to generate a consistent flow of life insurance leads, instead of learning how to combine each of these proven lead generation methods into a complete life insurance marketing program that will consistently put them in front of more of the 'RIGHT' life insurance prospects in one month, than most agents will see in an entire year. (In spite of this economy)
What follows is a list of the best and the worst lead generation methods being used today, and the primary reasons why they aren't working for most agents, advisors and planners!

The Best Lead Generation Methods


Referred Lead Programs... There is no question that among the "million-dollar" producers that referred leads are the best prospects you can get. However, the majority of agents I talk to are frustrated with them, and aren't using them. Why? The main reason most salespeople have trouble with referred leads, is they haven't made themselves referable! People are not going to refer their family, friends, relatives, or associates to just another salesperson. If you want people to give you a referral, then you must earn the right to receive it, by providing ongoing service, following through on your promises, and establishing a relationship of credibility and trust. Note; The ultimate goal of every agent, advisor and planner (or any other businessperson) should be to put their prospecting on automatic, as quickly as possible. You want to be spending 90% of your time in front of prospects, making sales. One of the best, easiest and most cost effective ways to accomplish this is by making yourself referable and setting up a referred lead system that constantly generates high quality prospects...