Each year, the average company  is going to lose up to 25% of its customers. Is your insurance agency prepared to generate new leads to make up for the potential loss of revenue?

In the past, we’ve discussed the importance of having a declared sales funnel for your agency. Once you have that in place, the most important thing to do is to understand what sales and marketing strategies you must put in place to adequately move your leads through the funnel. Your ultimate goal is to turn your leads into sales, right?

To do this, let’s take it one step at a time:

Attracting Insurance Leads

First things first, your insurance agency must determine what it considers a lead. Depending on whether you are looking to sell personal or commercial insurance, you may have to consider demographics or firmographics; these are the identifiers and characteristics which help you find your ideal customer or organization.

These may include:

Demographics

• Gender
• Company
• Age
• Income

Firmographics

• Company Name
• Company Size
• Company Location
• Company Revenue

In addition to that, you also must determine the quality of your leads. In other words, ask yourself some questions:

1. Is this person or business qualified to do business with you?
2. Do they need insurance? Does this specific individual have the authority to make a purchase decision?
3. Can this person even purchase insurance at this time (for example, are they currently in the middle of a policy with another company)?

The answers to these questions will help you determine which lead generation strategies you will want to establish as you attempt to move the lead through your sales funnel.

Lead Generation: Strategies for Insurance Marketing Success

According to IDG, 61% of marketers feel that generating high quality leads is their #1 challenge. Fortunately, there are many lead generation strategies your agency can implement today to help ease that concern.

The process of stimulating and capturing interest in your product or service is what we call lead generation. However, depending on the channel, buyer, and relationship, your marketing is going to have to utilize many different strategies to implement a successful process.

Online consumer behavior has changed how we must look at lead generation. With that said, let’s break down the process into two different categories:

1- Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Strategies

The internet has made it possible for there to be an abundance of information available to buyers. With that in mind, you must utilize your inbound marketing strategy to be sure you are providing the right information to earn the interest of your insurance leads.

Old school lead generation simply meant you would actively seek out customers and pass their names along to sales; however, now, buyers will often do their own research online and find you – this means you have to have the right information available for them to find.

The most effective lead generation strategies, when it comes to inbound marketing, will be:

• Your website
• SEO
• Social media
• Content marketing

2- Outbound Marketing Lead Generation Strategies

Despite the success of inbound marketing, you must have a well-rounded marketing strategy. This means you must include outbound marketing tactics as part of your lead generation strategy. Inbound marketing alone will not drive a lead to buy your product. You will need to be diligent in targeting your opportunities. Outbound marketing is one way to do so.

The most effective lead generation strategies, when it comes to outbound marketing, will include:

• Email marketing
• PPC
• Events
• Your Sales Representatives (i.e. Picking up the phone!)

Learn More About Lead Generation For Your Insurance Agency

What else does your agency need to know about lead generation? Download our Lead Generation Strategy Guide and take advantage of knowledge about qualifying your leads, important metrics to track, and important details about the inbound and outbound lead generation strategies mentioned. Also, be sure to register for our webinar on May 14, 2014 and learn how to attract new prospects.