Your Internet Leads Need a Strategy

More Leads Won't Fix a Broken Follow-Up Process

I hear agents talk about leads all the time.

We need more leads.

Better leads.

Higher-quality leads.

More marketing.

More referrals.

And those are all reasonable things to want.

But before we spend another dollar trying to get more opportunities, I have a question.

What are we doing with the opportunities we already have?

Because sometimes the problem isn't lead generation.

It's what happens after the lead comes in.

Follow the Lead

Think about your current process.

A new lead comes in.

Then what?

Who receives it?

How quickly is it assigned?

What happens if that person is out?

How many contact attempts are made?

Where are those attempts documented?

What happens if the customer doesn't answer?

When do we stop following up?

And how do we know whether the lead ultimately became a customer?

If those answers depend on which team member you ask, we may have found an opportunity to improve.

Activity Isn't the Same as Opportunity Management

Here's something I think we need to pay attention to.

Just because someone is busy calling leads doesn't mean the agency has a strong lead strategy.

Are we making meaningful contact?

Are we asking good questions?

Are we identifying the customer's needs?

Are we following through when they ask us to call back?

Are we learning which marketing sources actually produce business?

Or are we simply counting calls?

There's a difference.

Marketing Shouldn't Be a Guessing Game

If you're investing money in marketing, you should understand what's happening with that investment.

Where did the lead come from?

Was contact made?

Was a quote completed?

Did it turn into an application?

Did it become a customer?

And if not, what happened?

Without that information, it's difficult to know whether the issue is the marketing source, the lead quality, the sales conversation, or the follow-up process.

Those are very different problems.

And they require very different solutions.

Don't Forget the Household

Another thing I encourage teams to think about is the difference between writing a policy and developing a customer relationship.

Someone may contact us about auto insurance.

But that doesn't mean auto insurance is the only thing they need.

Are we asking about the household?

Are we understanding what matters to them?

Are we identifying other appropriate protection needs?

Are we looking beyond the immediate transaction?

Because the goal shouldn't simply be to turn a lead into one policy.

It should be to build a relationship with someone we have the opportunity to serve.

Before You Buy More Leads...

Take a look at your current process.

Find out where opportunities are getting stuck.

Look at your follow-up.

Look at your conversion.

Look at your documentation.

Look at your marketing sources.

Then ask yourself:

Are we losing opportunities because we need more leads?

Or because we haven't built a strong enough process to handle the ones we already have?

More opportunities won't automatically create more growth if we aren't prepared to capitalize on them.

Sometimes the smartest marketing decision isn't spending more money.

It's improving what happens after the phone rings.