When agents work a lead program they often do more things wrong than they do right making it impossible to succeed.  In fact, most lead programs fail before the first lead is provided.  They fail because the agent has not prepared himself, or his business to work leads.

The first key is often a hard pill to swallow for agents who are searching for leads.  It is to  understand that leads cannot be the foundation of your business.  They will never be stable enough, nor produce enough consistency to build a business on.  Leads are a weak foundation and will not sustain a business for long.  You will either need to transform your business into something else, or spend a lot of money chasing the next best lead every year.  Leads can be a part, and can add to your prospect pool, but cannot be your main source.

The second key is to develop a business that is lead ready.  A business that is lead ready places the correct expectations on the leads, and develops strategies once the lead introduction is made.  At the very moment when you meet the client through the lead your business needs to be ready to take over, work with the client and put you in the position to succeed. The first step in creating this type of business is to understand that an insurance business needs to be treated just like any other business.  If you treat your business differently you will fail.

Click here to watch a short presentation on building a business that is is capable of being lead ready.

The third key is to understand what type of business you are in.  Many agents think that they are in a sales position.  This is usually why they fail.  They are looking for a sales job where other people (third parties) do the marketing so they can just go on sales appointments.  This couldn’t be further than the truth.  Think about it, who makes more money the owner of the company, or the salesman who works for him?

Click here to watch a short presentation about what type of business you are really in so that you can create the strategies necessary to make any lead program work.

The fourth key is a concrete business rule that applies to insurance agents without fail.  It takes money to make money.  Lead programs are exactly the same as any other type of marketing.  It takes time, effort, and a whole lot of money.  Agents need to fund themselves for at least three rounds of leads before they can make a judgement on the quality of leads.  The learning curve is at least three cycles before you even have enough information to make a decision.  Agents who try a lead program one cycle and skip to the next, never gave the program enough time, or effort to see if it works. No one can succeed at leads without working them through several cycles.

The fifth key is the mind set needed to succeed at a lead system.  Leads are generated in a number of ways, and through a number of different communications. Some are back door approaches.  Some are slightly misleading.  Some, well you don’t want to know.  The mind set you need is that you are at the door now, with the client and it is time for you to kick it into gear and do two things.  First, you need to create a relationship.  Second, you need to find common ground so that you can proceed into a full blown appointment.   If you can’t do those two things, on your feet, in the moment, regardless of where the lead came from, or how the appointment was set, you will not succeed.  This is where your business needs to be ready and developed to work through the lead and into a presentation.  If you understand this going into the lead, your chances of succeeding are 100% improved.

The sixth key is to not get caught up in the minutia of the lead itself.  You don’t need to know how it works.  You don’t know how your remote works, or the microwave, but you use them everyday, right?  Building a door approach based upon your business and your strategies is how you will succeed, not on how the lead works.

The truth is, agents who can work one type of lead can work any type of lead.  The key is to learn how to work leads in general and that has more to do with you the agent then the lead itself.  Don’t believe me? Why then, do successful agents succeed at any lead program while other agents can’t succeed at any?