Direct Mail Leads: where’s all the promises?

Latest

If you’ve been in the life insurance sales business for a while, then you’ve also worked direct mail leads. Whether they were final expense or mortgage protection you’ve ordered them be they “B” leads or fresh you tried and frustration was the result instead of closing.

You’ve heard the promises like, “Our leads are the best on the market…”, “Agents are making $100K + a year on our direct mail…”, or the best one “We absolutely can generate leads in your area…” only to find your returns are low, nobody is buying, or you get three or four leads in your area.

If you have a manager you can’t get any help, direction, or answers. If you ordered from an independent lead vendor they’re even less help. So, why is this happening? Where are the promises?

The answer is three basic reasons. One, the quality of the lead itself; two, the data used to generate your direct mail campaign; third, fresh and exclusive or not. Let’s look all three.

Lead quality considers every part of what goes into the mailer potential prospects receives. From the envelop to the letter including color, paper stock, and information layout.

The better companies who develop proprietary mailers generally keep this information close to the vest so getting a sample of the lead isn’t going to happen; viewing a sample maybe. The opposite is true for lower quality companies. They’ll gladly send you everything they have downloadable.

Low returns are a direct result of the data used to generate your direct mail campaign. Mortgage Protection direct mail with poor returns means they are mailing to the wrong zip codes, income level, and housing value.

The best companies and a practice Legacy routinely conducts for Legacy Direct Mail is testing every zip against a specific set of criteria. If one item in the criteria fails, then the zip code is eliminated from the direct mail campaign.

Final Expense direct mail depends on age and income level. The lower the income the less sales you’ll make or worse chase after each sale due to NSF’s. The younger the person equals low to non-existent returns.

Fresh vs Not. Fresh exclusive direct mail leads can be expensive. Most lead vendors offering fresh exclusive leads for mortgage protection will charge $550 to $650 per thousand.

To be exclusive you’ll need to commit to mailing 8 to 10 thousand pieces in a four-week period or another agent may drop mail to your same area. The cost is high because lead vendors make money on the leads. Those companies are in the business of selling leads; they need to make a profit.

IMO’s rarely offer true fresh exclusive leads. If they offer leads at all your choices are “A”, “B”, or sometime “C” leads. The cost is usually on a per lead basis of $46, $36, $26 respectively. Your closing ratio or sales per thousand on people you’ve meet with is generally 50 to 60%, 10-20%, 0-10% respectively.

“A” leads are generally those that have not been sold or sold one time prior to you buying the lead. They generally have been sitting on a self for six months to a year. “B” leads have been sold several times to previous agents as well as previously worked. “C” leads are the bottom of the barrel and avoided at all cost…don’t waste your time or energy.

Think about this process and you’ll see why your manager is nowhere to be found when you call looking for help. On fresh leads, you can expect to get 50-60% of the returns to set an appointment. With “A” and “B” leads 30-40%. Of those the average agent will close 50-60%.

So, the IMO sells agent A 100 “A” leads for $460. Agent A sets 50 appointments and closes 25 new apps. The IMO takes the remaining 75 unsold direct mail returns adding 25 from another agent and sells them again as “B” leads. Agent B just paid $360 for same 100 leads previous sold.

The same process happens several times until the leads are 2-3 years old at which point they’re fresh again! It’s no wonder those IMO groups do not offer much direction they know they’re setting people up to fail. It’s also the reason they tell you to recruit. The rare agents that do succeed are the ones you’ll see but never speak with.

If want to deal with an IMO founded, directed, and managed by agents who experienced exactly what you’ve been or going through then Legacy is your answer. Quality fresh exclusive leads only available to contracted agents without a dollar added to the cost beyond what it costs Legacy to generate your direct mail campaign.