Sales funnels are funny things. We often only think about the end result – the sale. But there is so much more work that goes into building a strong insurance pipeline. Where we see most agents flop is the focus on the hot leads. These are the right now call in business. While it’s certainly low hanging fruit often times there is just not enough of it to really fuel a successful new business strategy. They say over 50% of the sales buying process is completed before someone picks up the phone and well, only 3% of people are in active buying mode TODAY. That means we are leaving an awful lot of lead nurturing on the table.
We believe you need 3 things to be successful at building a strong and sustainable funnel:
- A basic sales CRM tool
- A well branded and awesome website
- A willing agent to use these two tools
Once you have these items set up (we recommend Hubspot sales and it’s FREE) you can build your funnel. We believe in the following funnel:
Visits
Visits are people checking you out. You may have met them at a networking event, they Google the agency or read an awesome blog you posted on social media. They have become attracted to learn more about you. You want to track this by tracking the number of visitors to your well branded and awesome website. We target at APP a 20% growth in website traffic every quarter. If we are doing our jobs to build awareness website visitors follow.
Leads
Leads are people who show interest. This is a different take than the traditional insurance lead that wants a quote like 10 minutes ago. These are people that maybe liked you on social media, gave their email address in exchange for a white paper or connected with you via email. They are showing increased interest but are in research mode not yet buying mode.
Marketing Qualified Lead
This is someone who is interested and ready to go. They may fill out a form, use the contact us page of your site or call in. They have expressed direct interest in doing business with you.
Sales Accepted Lead
Let’s face it, not all leads are created equal. The no prior/late payer may not be a great fit for your agency. Sales accepted leads mean that this contact meets your agency’s qualifications. If they do not d0n’t waste your time on an unqualified prospect.
Opportunities
These are the people who you are preparing a quote for. Leads turn into opportunities.
Customers
Opportunities convert to customers who you hope to convert to evangelists for your agency!
As you can see you need a good CRM tool to help you identify expiration dates to help you pull people through the funnel. Each step and stage requires a unique strategy for success! We can help your agency master this new funnel!
