Working With A Telemarketing Service

WORKING WITH A TELEMARKETING SERVICE

Telemarketer-supplied leads are among the best sources of prospects for our agency. They represent quality leads for us: 70% result in appointments, and up to 15% lead to sales.

In this article, I'll tell how telemarketing works for our agency, from how we develop prospect lists to how we turn leads into insureds.

I introduced telemarketing to our agency when I joined it in 1990. I became experienced with this technique while with a former agency, and I convinced the principals at Mayer, Steinberg & Yospe to start a telemarketing operation. I had worked with Jim Lowitz when he was a telemarketing consultant. When he established Target Telemarketing, I turned to him for telemarketing services.

About three times a year, I provide the telemarketer with about 600 names in a given business classification, such as masonry contractors. I send the names to the telemarketers, and its staff calls them until it secures between 100 to 150 qualified leads. I distribute these leads to our producers, who set their own appointments. I select the names from Dun's Marketing Service's computerized directory. I am specific when making selections. I might want to limit the masonry contractors to those with $1 million or less in gross receipts that are located in four designated Maryland counties. I also have the option of specifying the number of employees on each firm's payroll.

If my parameters don't provide me with as many leads as I want, I simply adjust them. For instance, I might raise the amount of gross receipts to $1.25 million. Dun & Bradstreet prints the prospects' names on individual cards, charging 88 cents apiece. I send the cards to the telemarketer for processing, after which it furnishes us with information about each prospect. This information includes the decision-maker's name and title; the X-dates and carriers' names for package, commercial auto, bonds and workers' compensation policies; the incumbent agent's name; the actual number of employees, locations and vehicles; and the premium range.

Additional information includes responses to these questions:

• How long have you been with your present agency?
• Has your claims experience been positive?
• Are you prepared to switch carriers if we are competitive?
• What is the nature of your business?
• When do you begin your bidding process?
• When do you prefer to be called to set your appointment?

The leads are qualified because the prospects wouldn't take the time to discuss their insurance with a telemarketer if they have no intention of investigating our service.

The telemarketer's script emphasizes that prospects may be able to save money by moving their business to our agency, an incentive that is difficult for them to reject in today's economic climate.

The telemarketer provides names within a week after I send it the D&B cards. Its staff calls me immediately if they find a prospect who wants to be contacted 'right now.'

We pay $18 for each qualified lead. The telemarketer guarantees that 70% of them will result in appointments by promising to provide additional leads until we hit that percentage for the original quantity we ordered. I've never had a shortfall, however. We spend about $6,000 a year for this service. I never want our agents to run out of leads, so it's worth that much to me to maintain a supply of qualified prospects. We've never lost money on telemarketer-supplied leads.

Telemarketing saves time for our producers by providing basic information about a prospect that a producer or CSR would have to obtain if we developed our own leads. Of course, X-dates occur up to 12 months into the future, so we diary those prospects that will not need attention until later. However, we call every lead as soon as possible, regardless of the renewal date, to keep the lead from growing cold. If the X-date is not imminent, the producer maintains contact by telephone and sometimes stops by the prospect's place of business. The later the X-date, the harder the producer must work to make the sale. It takes from four to six months for our producer to process 150 prospects.

Some telemarketers will develop lists of names for their clients if requested to do so. They ask clients to scan the lists so undesirable names (such as current clients) can be eliminated before calling begins. This service would save me some time, but I prefer to select the names myself from D&B for a couple of reasons:

I track the leads I give to producers. I make sure that each producer is comfortable with the classification I provide and that they have time to follow the leads.

Many telemarketers are willing to schedule appointments for producers. I used this for a while, but no longer do. I found that although the appointments were made two weeks ahead, there were times when producers were not able to keep them. The result usually was a lost opportunity, since prospects seldom reschedule after we cancel an appointment.

I stress the importance of proper follow through when producers phone for an appointment. I advise them to keep calls low-key and short, and to mention the prospect's carrier's name and the X-date, so that he or she realizes that the producer is familiar with the account. Producers should mention the telemarketer's call and ask prospects if they are still interested in our competitive insurance products. When responses are negative, producers usually diary the names to come up at renewal, although agents sometimes attempt to sell personal-lines or life/health products to these commercial-lines prospects.

Because of the lackluster economy, prospects tend to examine our quotes carefully and respond quickly if we can save the money. Occasionally a prospect wants to switch to us in midterm, especially when the savings are sufficient to cover any cancellation charge from the current carrier.

Our producers don't rely entirely on leads from telemarketers. We get numerous referrals and also secure leads from a direct-mail firm. However, the leads from the telemarketer outperform all others except referrals. Leads from other sources often are outdated; we may find prospects' phone numbers have changed, or that the decision-maker's name is no longer current. The firm may even be out of business. Some producers prefer to develop their own leads, but when their lists grow short, they appreciate the telemarketer-supplied lists. A few producers prefer to prospect in certain suburbs. Our telemarketing service can provide them with leads for whatever ZIP codes they desire.

Some producers complain occasionally about the quality of telemarketer-supplied leads. But their problems usually are due to their follow-up method. They might reach someone other than the insurance buyer, or they might come on too strong and turn the buyer off. Others might neglect to build on the message the telemarketer provided on the initial call.

Producers usually have to work hard to build rapport with telemarketer-supplied prospects because they have no prior relationship with them. A person who is called out of the blue by a telemarketer will not be loyal to the agency until he or she is convinced that the agency can perform well. Even then, the new client likely will shop the account at renewal. So our agents must provide exemplary service throughout the policy term. And they must work hard to retain accounts at renewal, especially if they are large enough to attract competing agents.

A telemarketer helps pave the way for sales. It supplies qualified leads in a business classification for which we have competitive products, as opposed to a referral, which might be for a classification in which we are not competitive.

Telemarketing has opened the door to increased sales for our agency. I developed my largest client from a telemarketer-supplied lead. Why not see what telemarketing can do for you?