If you’re in the insurance business, you know how much a good lead matters. Gaining leads is half your job, a major part of making the sale. You already know most of the ways to gain sales leads, but which ones are the most effective in the long run?
Online Marketing
As the internet grows, online marketing is absolutely worth your time. Making sure you business has a good website, proper SEO, and a place in social networks will all lead to customer involvement. As more and more people quickly look up what they need online, making sure your website comes up first is important. This is important as the traffic generated are usually highly targeted; giving the leads what they want (read: converting them into clients) will results in more sales.
Traditional Marketing
For traditional marketing, the venue you use will probably depend on your success. While some tried and true strategies will still get you brand recognition, such as freebie distribution and sponsorship, other venues are becoming less likely to produce sales. As radio and yellowpages become more obsolete, it will probably be a better use of your money to invest in online ads instead. Door hangers and flyers as well are more a thing of the past, and while it might create a sale, the time and expense would be better put to use elsewhere.
Telesales
While telesales have some advantages, including the ability to sell from a distance and personally interact with clients, overall the negative connotation of telemarketing outweighs its advantages. People resent telesales. That negative aspect could damage your business’s reputation in the long run, making the services you offer seem cheap, and your customer service invasive.
Telesales can also be costly, since customer lists are expensive, and you can potentially put your business at risk of breaking the law, since not all customer lists are clean and opted in. For insurance, health insurance telesales, final expense telesales, and others would be better replaced by quality sales leads.
Referrals
This tried and true method of getting sales will probably always be the best. If you can encourage your clients to recommend you to their friends and family, you’ll have a much better shot at making a sale. The potential customers will know you’re someone to be trusted, someone whose made an acquaintance of theirs happy. People trust people, not blind sales, so whenever you can come referred, the better off you’ll be.
Conclusion
As the world changes, some methods of gaining sales improve, some decline in effectiveness. While telesales once worked well, they’re now a strange, invasive remnant of a bye-gone era. As the internet expands, marketing on the world wide web becomes more and more important. Referrals stay the same–one of your best shots at making a sale. As someone who works in insurance sales, you want to make sure all your leads are worth your time.