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Medicare Café - Your Leads Strategy

Work Your Leads

“If I only had more leads, I would be more successful!”

More leads usually are not the answer; a better system for working your leads is what most need.

What do I mean?  Read part 3 of our Medicare Leads 101 series to learn more.


 

How leads are usually worked:

An agent buys a lead.  This can be a business reply card, a telelmarketed lead, or any other lead that was generated by a third party. The agent will take the lead, attempt one contact, then dismiss the lead and move on to the next.  There are numerous issues here, the top two being:

  1. On average it can take six attempts to reach a prospect.

  2. It is awfully expensive to burn through leads, which will erode your profitability.

Medicare Leads Strategies

A More Successful Way to Work Leads

There are two outcomes when working leads: Next and No.

 

Next

Next being there is a future action or attempt to contact. If you attempted a phone call and left a voicemail, then you should have your next attempt planned out. This could be another phone call, a door knock, a letter in the mail, etc. 

Here is an example schedule if you only have their phone number and address:

  • Attempt 1 – Call on the day the lead was received – If no answer leave voicemail
  • Attempt 2 – Call on the next day – Leave Voicemail
  • Attempt 3 – Call 2 days later – Leave Voicemail
  • Attempt 4 – Call 3 Days later – Leave voicemail – watch for letter in mail
  • Attempt 5 – Call 4 days later – Reminder letter was sent
  • Attempt 6 – Call temporary closing file – will reopen in October

Again, this is just an example. Your process may be different, but it should involved at least 6 attempts, and rather than permanently closing the file, it should have a re-open date in the future.

The top question we receive when we discuss this method: “What should I say when I leave a voicemail?” 

There are three main parts:

  1. Who you are
  2. Why you are calling
  3. What is your next step

Example:

“Hello. This is [NAME] calling from [AGENCY]. I am calling regarding your Medicare coverage which you had inquired about. Please contact me at [PHONE]. If we do not hear back by [DATE] we will reach back out. Thank you and we look forward to answering your questions.  Again, this is [NAME] at [PHONE].”

Yes, you should leave a message every time. In the time of robocalls, if you do not leave a message most people will just write it off as a SPAM call.

They key part of the voicemail is telling the lead when you will be calling next. This shows that you are a professional and not a pest. An expected call, even if it is not one they are looking forward to, is a far better approach then just randomly calling.

 

No

The other outcome is No. This is when the lead says they don’t want insurance, they don’t want to talk to you, and it is time to close the file.

This could be for various reasons; they have group or employer coverage, they were misled by another agent and have a distrust towards them all, or any other reason they have justified to themselves.

At this point, my answer is to politely say “thank you for your time, and I am here in the future should something change. I hope you have a great day.” Then move on. If you are working your other leads property; you should have plenty of work ahead of you to focus on.

One attempt to contact a lead and your leads will just assume you are a spam caller. A strategic approach always yields more profitable results. 

Need to map out your lead strategy system?  Let us know and we can help you build it out!

Join the conversation every Tuesday at 10 am CST.

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