Last night I read a great article on insurance sales leads generation that was talking about how many new agents put up some fancy web site online that have the full quote engines and look like a sales brochure. Many of them fully expect this to make sales for them even while they sleep. Turns out that it does not work out that way. Even if the site gets a lot of traffic, it does not translate into many sales because the glossy look does not translate well on the internet and the quote engine gives the visitor too much info without them knowing what they are actually looking at.
What you are basically doing is taking yourself out of the picture, which is the wrong thing to do. You are the key element in the sales process. The website should be a tool to generate leads for you to sell to, not an tool that sells the policies for you. That is your job. A cool looking website is not a magic bullet.
You can see this in other websites that are used in different services if you need some examples. I was looking at a website a friend of mine had put up some time ago for his landscaping company. It was absolutely beautiful, with flash animation, full of portfolio pictures of the company’s work and employees and everything. The problem was even though this site has been up for years, he had never gotten a sales referral from the site, and the site ranked really well for a lot of good terms.
The problem was that the site did not get the core message across to the viewer and did not have a call to action. The lead form also had too much barrier to it. In effect, the viewer saw a pretty website with a lot of good pictures, thought “that’s nice” but just kept going on to other sites.
Speaking about the lead capture forms having too much barriers, this is another huge problem when it comes to agent websites. They usually ask for too much info. In fact, all you need is a name, number, and an email address. Who cares about the rest? You will find out that people would rather give another human being that info anyways rather than typing it all in on a website. This will also let you start to establish a relationship with the person.
That is why I have a big problem with having quote engines on insurance websites. They are throwing out numbers to people who don’t have a clue what they need. They just know they need something, and in many cases would appreciate someone helping them understand what it is that they are purchasing. A website usually can not do this, but if you can get basic contact info from a visitor, you can give them this info directly.
Anyways, here is a link to the article: Glen’s Little Black Book of Insurance Leads
Although it is three years old, it should be required reading for any agent starting to set up a website. The only thing I think has changed is getting an e-mail submit, because you can have an auto responder set up to drip market, but the whole article is right on target.
Thanks For reading my article on insurance sales leads generation.
Win
BLBX
