All agents get leads and unfortunately not all those leads convert to sales. When a lead says no, most agents just forget about that lead and move on. Some will, some won’t, so what, next. That’s a great little saying but I say “a no today doesn’t mean that they will never buy”. So, when you get a no, ask if it’s OK if you check with them next year. Then, put them in your calendar to call next year. After all, that lead took the time to talk with you. You probably gave them a quote and explained the coverage. Why would you never contact them again? I can’t tell you how many times I called people back one, two or even three years later and then finally got the sale. You could say it took 3 years, but I say, it took 3 phone calls. To become a top agent work every lead until it is dead! That is why you need a good CRM. Without one, you would never be able to effectively keep track of all your call backs along with the notes on every call.
Work every lead until it is dead! Means never stop calling until they tell you to never call again, or you get the sale. This system works, and every call back sale is gravy on top of the normal sales you get each week. Before I started this system I got 3 or 4 sales a week and after a few months I was getting 5 or 6. After a few years I was getting 6 or even 8 sales a week and all over the phone.
I put prospects into two categories, prospects and good prospects. Both categories would start receiving my drip emails. Good prospects were someone that took the time to talk with me and I gave them a quote. When they said no I would ask if I could check with them in a year. (I don’t think I have ever had a good prospect tell me that I could not call them in a year.) And when I actually called they were shocked. This showed them that I was for real and that I would do what I said. Even if they didn’t buy on that second year when I called on the third year they were even more impressed. Think about it. All I was doing is taking a few minutes to make a phone call and once I had sold that prospect I had a client that respected me for the insurance professional that I was. And more than likely they stayed with me for many years.
Work every lead until it is dead! Means never give up!
The same goes for hot leads that drop off the face of the earth. I have story after story of prospects that I was sure were going to buy and then they never answered the phone again. So, I would start by calling them once a day for the first 4 or 5 days. Then I would call back twice a week and then after 5 or 6 weeks, I would call once a month. With each call, I was sure to leave a short message with my name and number. This was my commercial and I consider it crucial to my success. (Why do you think McDonald’s spends millions of dollars on advertising? If you don’t leave a message they will never know you called.) Eventually they would answer the phone and tell me a story about why they had not returned my calls and most of the time I would end up with another loyal client.
Keeping track of all your prospects notes on each call. When to call them back would be a nightmare without a Good Contact Manager. And remember that if a good prospect is in your Contact Manager and they are not in your calendar with an appointment to call them in the future then they are lost forever. Give this a try and I guarantee that you will turn old leads into new clients more often than not. And above all remember Work Every Lead Until it is Dead!
P.S. I ran across a great article on working Internet leads by John F. Carroll and I thought you might like it. Click Here
Marc Montgomery, Owner BusinessETouch