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Cover - Best Final Expense Leads Review

Best Final Expense Leads Review

By David Duford - January 02, 2023 - 5 Mins Read

Are you looking to buy final expense leads?

Are you burned out from your current final expense insurance leads source?

Looking for the best final expense leads you can find?

As top producers selling final expense insurance say…

Leads Are KING!

A source of QUALITY final expense leads is one of THE most important factors to an agent’s success.

Whereas an inconsistent, POOR quality final expense lead can DESTROY an agent.

In this article, I’ve created a comprehensive best final expense sales leads guide.

My objective is to give detailed information on:

  • What final expense leads are,
  • What the best final expense leads options are, and,
  • What type of final expense leads you need to run FAR away from.

If you are thinking about getting your insurance license, or are an experienced agent getting into final expense, this is for you!

Bottom line, you MUST arm yourself with the best final expense sales leads if you want to succeed.

So get comfortable, take notes, and let’s begin!

NOTE: Are you an aspiring or new insurance agent looking for more insight on how the insurance sales industry works? Check out my free New Insurance Agent Resource Guide to help answer many of your questions (as well as ones you didn’t know you had!).

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Why Leads Are Important

As you look for a final expense agency or IMO to join, you MUST implement a final expense lead generation system that provides a consistent source of quality prospects.

Without the best final expense leads in hand, you are nothing!

For example, even if I recruit a charismatic and persuasive Tony-Robbins-type of agent, he WILL fail if he ain’t got no people to sell final expense to!

In fact, I’d prefer a “Mr. Mediocrity” at sales with a steady flow of final expense leads, versus “Mr. Charismatic” with elite sales skill and no leads.

Moral of the story…

Without final expense life leads, failure is GUARANTEED.

So, find a lead generation that works for you ASAP =)!

What Is The Best Final Expense Lead?

Here’s something interesting I’ve discovered about the “best” final expense lead programs…

I can put 10 top-producing, six-figure-earning final expense agents in the same room, and ALL would argue about which final expense lead is best.

As experienced agents, we have our opinions about which leads work better than others.

After working with close to 1,000 final expense agents in my national insurance agency, it’s ultimately up to YOU to determine which final expense lead is best.

Because what final expense lead program works well for one producer… might NOT work well for you.

Best Final Expense Leads Are Consistent

If there’s one factor that matters most, consistency in insurance leads is absolutely paramount.

It doesn’t matter what kind of leads you generate…

If you get your final expense prospects in a haphazard manner… even if those leads are GREAT quality… you’re lead “system” is junk.

Think about it...

If you can’t generate final expense leads on a recurring basis, what value does your system REALLY have?

That’s why consistency in lead flow is JUST as important in quality of leads.

In fact, I’d rather have an AVERAGE quality final expense lead that’s consistent…

Versus a GREAT quality lead that’s TOTALLY unreliable in generating a steady flow of prospects.

Direct Mail Leads

Here’s something that may surprise you…

Virtually ALL successful final expense agents working with me use direct mail final expense leads to attain high levels of production.

Called “business reply mailers,” these leads are sent out via letter or postcard with a detachable mailer.

The recipient reads, fills out, and sends it back postage-paid.

Direct Mail Is King!

When it comes to generating the best final expense leads, direct mail is king.

Business reply direct mail final expense mailers provide a balance of quality of quality and consistency.

If you’re brand new to final expense and wonder,

“How am I going to get in front of final expense prospects?”

Do what I tell my new agents to do…

BUY DIRECT MAIL LEADS!

Acting on this advice will put you leagues in front of your peers.

How Direct Mail Works

Let’s set some expectations up about how direct mail works.

Longer Turnaround Time

Expect your direct mail leads to return after 4 weeks from your purchase date.

Remember, the mail house has to:

  • Print the mailers.
  • Mail them out, typically 3rd class to lower postage rates.
  • The final expense lead receives it, reads it, discusses it with her spouse. This can take days to weeks.
  • Finally, after filling out the lead, it’s walked back to the mailbox, and shipped back first-class.

In best-case scenarios, I’ve witnessed 3 to 4 week turnarounds on lead returns.

But the average is closer to 4 when seeing lead responses return.

Straggler Leads

It’s important to understand you won’t get ALL your leads back within 4 weeks.

You’ll probably get about 80% of your leads within the first 4-8 weeks.

Then the 20% remaining over the next 9-12 weeks.

Some people take your mailers and shove it in a drawer somewhere, revisiting it a few months later.

Direct Mail Requires A Larger Investment

Compared to other sources of final expense sales leads, direct mail leads require the largest upfront investment.

In fact, most direct mail programs require up-front, weekly payments.

The direct mail lead houses are creating fresh, exclusive final expense insurance leads leads for you.

Direct Mail Costs

Costs vary depending on what type of final expense mailer program you follow.

Per-Thousand Leads

You can pay “per-thousand” for your final expense mailers.

This means you pay out on average $450 to $500 for every thousand final expense mailers you buy.

Response rates range between 1% and 1.5% on average.

Actual response rates depend on what type of mailer you use (more on that later).

For example, if you pay $500 for 1000 mailers and get a 1.2% response rate, you receive 15 leads at an average price of $41.67.

This leads me to the second type of mailer program…

Fixed Priced Leads

Fixed priced final expense leads allow you to get a guaranteed price per lead, regardless of actual response rates.

This eliminates low response rate uncertainty, streamlining your weekly lead expenditure.

Almost Always Prefer Fixed Price Leads

Agents that work in my agency almost always do a fixed-price final expense lead.

Poor response rates have driven up the cost of direct mail. Fixed pricing achieves peace of mind and removes the risk of high per lead average costs.

My costs average between the upper-$20s to the lower $30s per lead.

How Many Leads A Week?

Bottom line… if you’re goal is selling final expense full-time, you’ll need around 20 fresh leads a week.

That puts you at a $600 to $700 weekly investment for 4 weeks or more before you start getting leads back.

Interested in selling final expense part time?

Look at buying 10 to 15 leads a week, which puts you at an average weekly investment of $300 to $490 per week.

Other Advantages Of Direct Mail

A few extra benefits of direct mail…

First, there is no “do not mail” list.

Unlike working final expense telemarketing leads, you can send solicitations to every home with a mailbox.

This allows you generate leads within a compact area, even if you work a small town, or rural market.

Second, direct mail has the longest track record of success.

Direct mail has decades of proven success across the nation.

As mentioned earlier, why try to reinvent the wheel when it works well already?

If you’re new, you’re best bet is to simply DO WHAT WORKS if you want success faster.

What Type Of Final Expense Direct Mail Lead Is Best?

Now you know the advantages of a direct mail final expense lead, let’s get into the heated debate experienced pros have over what TYPE of mailer is best to use.

Specific Versus Non-Specific

Not all direct mail final expense life leads are the same.

If you’re new to selling final expense insurance, understand there are variations of successful final expense insurance leads.

However, if you peel away the layers of the onion, final expense leads fall into 2 different categories:

  • Specific, and,
  • Non-specific (or direct and vanilla).
How Specific Final Expense Leads Work

Do you know there are exclusive final expense life insurance leads that do NOT say “life insurance?”

Bet that sounds weird if you’re new.

We’ll explain that later but FIRST let’s discuss cards that say “life insurance.”

I define these leads as “specific/direct” final expense insurance leads.

Somewhere on the card is the term “life insurance,” usually in first line of the first or second paragraph of the body copy.

As you’d imagine, using the word “life insurance” better describes what the solicitation is about.

And mentioning “life insurance” potentially increases the response of interested people in life insurance.

Again, stick with me if this is new to you.

Much will make sense momentarily when I discuss vanilla mailers in detail.

Here’s an example of a “specific/direct” final expense lead.

Make a note of where it says “life insurance” on the card.

Vanilla Direct Mail Mailers

Basically, think of a “vanilla” card as a “less-specific” final expense lead card that does NOT say life insurance anywhere.

Here’s how the card reads:

Notice how you cannot find any direct reference to life insurance anywhere.

See Also  Happy Agent Leads Review

While reading the body copy, ask yourself if this card may cause a higher rate of confused responses.

For many agents, this is exactly what happens.

Which Lead To Use?

Let’s spend time describing why you’d use one final expense lead over another.

Specific Card = More Interest

The specific final expense mailer produces more leads that are interested in life insurance coverage.

Only makes sense, right?

It’s obvious that NOT including the words “life insurance” may lead readers to think that this solicitation is for something else.

Then why are there top-producing final expense agents that opt for the vanilla lead card instead?

Marketing Saturation

It is no secret that direct mail is the best final expense leads available.

Most final expense agencies choose direct mail leads as their primary lead generation system.

And with more agents now than ever selling final expense, our prospects are getting HAMMERED with direct mail about life insurance.

And not just from us. But also from Colonial Penn, Globe Life, and AARP.

Saturation Example

Imagine your ideal prospect. We’ll call her Mildred.

She finally decides at 70 years old it’s time to buy a $10,000 life insurance plan.

She’s received these business reply mailers for years and finally decides to send one back.

Will it be yours?

Maybe.

You have about a one out of eight chance because she’s literally receiving 6 to 8 similar-looking business reply final expense mailers every month.

What’s my point?

All this marketing has reduced response rates, motivating many agents to use leads that don’t say “life insurance.”

A rule of thumb regarding business reply marketing…

The less specific, the better the response rate.

And NOT including “life insurance” can increase response rates 50% to 100% compared to a specific, “life insurance” language lead.

Here’s The Catch…

The QUALITY of the response tends to go down.

Sure, you’ll have more responses.

But will they want life insurance? Are they confused?

When you read the vanilla lead card copy, you can’t necessarily blame their confusion.

Bottom line, there’s always an inverse ratio between specificity and return rates.

The less specific the final expense lead verbiage, the higher the response rate is going to be.

Simultaneously, there’s an inverse ratio between specificity and quality of return rate.

There are agents that will argue with me about that, but I think it holds  true more often than not.

However, many top producers prefer the vanilla card because:

  • It gets more response. Many top producers care more about volume of appointments over lead specificity, and
  • The best person to sell insurance to is the guy already paying the premium. Many vanilla lead card respondents HAVE life insurance. This makes great candidates for replacements if they are overpaying or have inferior coverage.

Dave’s Recommendation

Now that you see both options, which type of direct mail lead is best to use?

Personally, I’m concerned with what works for the majority versus the chosen few.

That’s why I’d rather have an agent working with a specific final expense lead to begin.

When you start selling final expense, you need ALL the advantages you can afford.

That includes optimal final expense carrier selection… quality sales training… and quality final expense leads selection.

There is a longer learning curve in final expense sales than you’d think.

Why upend your chances of success with a more difficult-to-work lead?

Stick with the specific lead when new. Once you gain traction and experience, consider testing the non-specific mailer out.

Top Direct Mail Vendors

Now you have an understanding of direct mail, allow me to share my top 4 favorite direct mail lead vendors.

Lead Concepts Review

LeadConcepts is a vendor that does per thousand pieces, but no fixed-price lead programs.

They’re great people to work with and make the process of buying leads really easy.

One of their best-performing senior final expense leads is a “bribe card” lead that offers a free Walmart gift card for replying.

As long as you select the version that says life insurance on it several times, it tends to pull a higher-quality prospect while elevating response rates.

Need-A-Lead Review

Need-A-Lead is a great source of quality final expense leads.

They offer a fixed-price lead program.

Costs for the leads range between $30-$35. Quality is excellent, too.

I know of one agency in Georgia that has its producers use this lead with several writing $25,000 to $30,000 in final expense monthly.

RGI Leads

RGI Leads are based out of Marietta, Georgia, and generate predominantly direct mail final expense leads.

Historically, RGI Leads has only offered its services direct to insurance agencies.

However, RGI Leads informs me that they will soon roll out direct mail lead purchasing directly to agents, as well as begin to offer Facebook final expense leads.

Final Thoughts On Mailers

Here are my concluding thoughts on final expense direct mail leads.

Always Start With A Fixed Price Lead

I believe fixed price direct mail final expense life leads are necessary to your success as a final expense agent.

There’s nothing worse than paying $40 to $50 on average for a lead that you could have purchased in the low $30s per lead.

Do the smart thing. Control your expenses and guarantee your lead pricing.

Use A “Life Insurance” Verbiage Lead

Newer agents should always use a lead that says “life insurance.”

There’s enough of an uphill battle as a new agent in selling final expense.

What’s the point in making your life as an agent harder than it already is?

Make your life easier. Use a lead card that says life insurance.

That’s what I recommend to all of my agents, and what I do personally when generating the best final expense sales leads myself.

Commit!

Commit to a weekly final expense insurance lead flow.

Ideally, you want access to enough financing for 6 to 10 weeks’ worth of weekly lead investment.

This gives you cushion in case you have tougher weeks.

Don’t have the money?

Consider dropping a one-time order of direct mail leads.

Forty or fifty leads is a good starting point.

The idea is to take the proceeds from the sales you make and reinvest them back into a recurring weekly order.

What if direct mail costs too much?

Keep reading as we discuss alternative strategies to generate senior final expense leads…

Telemarketing Leads

Let me give you the short on final expense telemarketing leads

They suck!

The past few decades have brought dramatic changes in the purchased telemarketed final expense lead business.

Robocalls for lead generation have been illegal for years.

And the FTC banned avatar-based telemarketing for lead generation purposes.

What’s left now in the telemarketing business is either:

  1. Spending a LOT of money on a on-shore solution, or
  2. Spending less money on an offshore solution and dealing with the inherent and persistent quality control issues like language barriers, etc.

UPDATE: While my perspective remains almost completely negative on final expense telemarketed leads, my agency now has access to an excellent off-shore telemarketing call center.

The vendor is a former final expense trainer and producer.

He physically relocated with his family to the Philippines to run his call center.

I have many agents writing business using these telemarketed final expense leads successfully.

In fact, an agent of mine out of Columbus, Ohio, wrote $24,000AP off of 220 telemarketed leads in January. Nice!

Impact On Prospecting

Shifting back to the “average” final expense telemarketing lead, let’s think for a moment how low-quality telemarketing lead generation works with our prospects.

When you start talking with a thick accent, what do you think our senior prospects are going to do?

They are going to hang up the phone!

To make matters worse, many telemarketing vendors define a lead as a person agreeing to a call back.

This is the WORST commitment a prospect can give, especially when all they want is to get off the phone!

Is this the kind of lead you want? I sure as hell don’t!

Best Way To Make Telemarketing Work

The best way to make telemarketing in final expense work is to cold call yourself, or to pay an American to do it.

This allows you to control the script and make changes to set better-quality appointments.

Sure, you may pay a little bit more, but that is the only way I could see cold calling actually working successfully.

Otherwise, final expense telemarketing leads are a dead end. I do not recommend it.

Facebook Lead Vendor Reviews

Now let’s talk about the “new kid on the block,” final expense Facebook leads.

Facebook final expense leads came on the scene around 2015 with the uptick in Facebook-based marketing.

Getting leads from Facebook is simple, and there are two ways to do it.

Vendor Reviews

If you don’t want to learn how to self-generate your own Facebook leads, you can purchase them from a 3rd party vendor.

You simply fill out a form for how many ever leads you need, and begin to receive them typically within the next few days.

No Facebook account is required.

Below are some Facebook final expense lead vendor reviews:

TTC Review

TTC is short for the “Tips, Tricks, And Closers” Facebook group started by Ryan Saridakis which you can join here. I highly recommend it =).

All you need to do is mosey on over to his website linked above, indicate the city you’re interested in targeting, and work what leads come in within a 25-mile radius.

See Also  The TRUTH About Final Expense Facebook Leads!

As of writing this article in January 2020, Ryan charges $20.00 to $25.00 per lead.

Social Insurance Leads Review

Social Insurance Leads sells final expense Facebook leads to any agent interested in buying.

As of February 2020, Social Insurance Leads range from either $19 each final expense lead, up to $29 each final expense lead.

What’s the difference?

The $29 final expense lead reduces the lead generation radius to 20 miles instead of 50 miles.

That’ll help you stay more local to an area you are targeting.

This eliminates longer drive-times associated with working Facebook final expense leads.

Social Insurance Leads also offers Spanish final expense leads, too.

You can read more about Social Insurance Leads testimonials here.

Secure Agent Leads Review

My friend Cody Askins is the owner of Secure Agent Leads. He and his team offer exclusive final expense leads generated via Facebook.

They’ve generated more than 1,000,000 Facebook leads for agents since their inception, and are one of the most popular final expense lead vendors out there.

Secure Agent Leads cost is $23 per lead. They take about a week to fulfill an entire order.

Also, with Secure Agent Mentor Leads, some of the leads may actually call you to set up an appointment. Nice!

Calendar Leads

Calendar Leads is run by Final Expense Entourage agency owners Joshua Jones and Brandon Smotherman.

Both are experienced agents with years of experience working final expense leads.

They offer a Facebook final expense lead that mentions “affordable life insurance.”

That’s great as it boosts the quality of the final expense lead.

Calendar Leads costs range between $20 a lead and $25 a lead as of February 2020.

What’s the difference in Calendar Leads costs?

The higher priced Calendar Leads promises a higher live transfer conversion and higher pre-set appointment rates.

Gametime Leads

Gametime leads is owned by Andrew Pryor and offers high-intent Facebook final expense leads to any agent interested in purchasing them.

Per their website, Gametime leads cost $20 in most states except FL, GA, NC, ID, CO, & UT. These states are marked up higher.

Unlike other final expense lead vendors, GameTime Leads asks if the prospect has current coverage, how much they want, & who their beneficiary is.

This information is useful in securing a higher percentage of appointments.

 

DIMG Leads

DIMG Leads is owned by Thad Sipple and offer Facebook final expense leads to any agent interested in purchasing.

I used to purchase telemarketing leads from Thad back in the day.

He is a former top producing insurance agent, and understands the final expense lead game first-hand.

DIMG leads start coming in within 24 hours after your purchase, and ads show a detailed, educational video on final expense insurance.

Most vendors only have an image and write-up.

DIMG leads cost are as follows:

  1. You can purchase a fixed priced lead at $19.50. Spanish final expense leads cost the same.
  2. Or, you can pay a flat rate of $350 or $500, and DIMG Leads will generate as many leads as they can.

The benefit is that the average cost may be less expensive than the fixed price final expense lead cost above.

Make Your Own Facebook Leads

The other way that you can generate Facebook leads is to do it yourself.

Jerry Moore at Ad Assassins does a great job teaching final expense agents to self-generate leads on Facebook.

He walks you through how to set up your Facebook ads, what advertising to use, and how to scale up your ads to generate more leads.

The training walks you step-by-step through how to set it up. It’s very simple.

What’s nice about doing self-generating your own Facebook final expense leads is that you eliminate the middle man.

Some markets I’ve seen final expense lead costs as low as $5 a lead. It’s incredible!

So, if you would like to learn how to do it yourself, consider the do-it-yourself approach.

Final Points

“Facebook leads are either HOT…. or NOT.”

This is how my agent Chris out of Texas describes the unique nature of Facebook leads.

It’s weird.

Unlike direct mail or telemarketing leads, where you have not various levels of interest in final expense, Facebook leads produce either “lay-down” sales…

…Or have NO interest in life insurance whatsoever.

Another point: expect more door-knocking prospecting to work Facebook leads than other types of leads.

Why?

My hypothesis is that Facebook leads respondents are more sophisticated than direct mail respondents.

Having access to a smart phone as a senior puts you in an “elevated” category, and means you’re screening calls better.

The good news is when you door knock your lead, they are still good quality.

Free Final Expense Leads

What if you’re financially-strapped and cannot afford direct mail, Facebook, or telemarketing final expense leads?

You can go “old-fashioned” and self-generate your own final expense leads using cost-free methods.

Let’s talk about 3 free lead-generation methods that work.

Referrals

The ultimate self-generated leads are referrals.

BUT… you have to ASK to get them.

Admittedly I am not consistent in asking for referrals.

I have too many direct mail leads to worry about, so referrals take a back seat for me.

The good news is that you can get referrals if you have an existing book of business, or if you’re doing some sort of lead generation already.

Existing customers, referrals from existing customers, and even clients you’ve JUST wrote up. Ask them for referrals.

Cold Calling

Cold calling still works and is a method to consider if you cannot generate sufficient referrals or do not want to hold lead-generating, educational seminars.

Cold calling is simple.

You can cold call door-to-door, or over the phone.

If you door knock, pick a lower-income area and simply start knocking.

If you’d prefer to call, I’d recommend buying a dialing system like Mojo Dialer, getting 1500 names from InfoFree, and start dialing away for appointments.

I like the following script for cold canvassing for final expense door-to-door or over the phone:

“Hi Mrs. Jones, this is David Duford. The reason I’m stopping in is because you recently received a card like this about our state-regulated final expense program (point to the direct mail final expense card above – print it out and carry it with you) and my job is to follow up with people who may not have responded. I wanted to see if you have 5 minutes to go over this information, and wondered if I can come in and explain it?”

The good news is that few insurance agents are prospecting cold, and good prospectors typically close 1 life application daily.

Seminar Marketing

Lastly, you can generate quality final expense leads from seminars. You talk to a group seniors and tell them about final expense options and coverage.

This is my FAVORITE “free” final expense lead program.

Since it combines a low-cost lead generation strategy ($20 to $30 expenditure per seminar) with delivering high-quality final expense insurance leads that have high odds of buying.

You can learn more about my Seminar Marketing Mastery program here.

It’s available to agents currently writing business with an agency, and for those interested in working with my organization.

Avoid Subsidized Lead Programs

The last point I’ll make about free final expense leads is this.

If you can help it, do NOT start in a free final expense leads program if you can afford to invest in your own leads.

Free final expense leads can cost you big time!

So make sure to check out my article above for more information as to why that’s the case.

Summary – Final Expense Leads Are VITAL

The takeaway of this presentation on final expense insurance leads is that no leads means “failure!”

If you don’t think leads are important, you’ve already failed.

Go back to whatever job you had before, and don’t waste your time in this business.

Taken further, if you don’t understand the value of investing your money into your business buy final expense leads, you’ve already failed before you’ve even started.

All business ventures have risk. Selling final expense is no different.

Every business has an operating cost requirement.

Whether that’s rent, paying employees, or marketing, all business experienced owners must outlay an investment if he seeks to return a profit.

Final expense is no different. In many ways is actually a lot better!

In final expense you don’t have to have an office space.

There’s no rent, and the only expenses include gas, travel, and to buy final expense leads.

Plus, you can scale your lead generation higher if you want a higher income.

All without hiring employees or a team. Wonderful!

Worst Final Expense Leads

Now that I’ve spent time explaining what types of leads ARE good to use, let’s spend time discussing the WORST options for final expense insurance leads.

In my experience personally selling final expense, there are 7 types of leads you DEFINITELY want to avoid.

Why?

Because investing money in crappy leads will end your final expense career super fast.

The reason I put this “Worst-Of” list together is that you may have ONLY one shot at making final expense work.

As a new agent, it is in your best interest to give yourself the best odds of success selling final expense insurance.

Doing otherwise will demotivate you and risk a higher chance of failure.

Let’s get started!

#1 – Preset Final Expense Appointments

The first lead to discuss is what’s called preset final expense appointments.

See Also  Aged Final Expense Leads – Worth The Investment?

This is everyone’s pipe dream, right?

Imagine yourself in a position where every day you wake up and you’ve got five to seven appointments booked that YOU didn’t have to call!

All you had to do was hand over money to the vendor, run the appointments, and sell some final expense policies.

But the truth is pre-set final expense appointments are usually a gigantic waste of time.

Allow me to explain…

Foreign-Run

First of all, many pre-set final expense appointment program have foreign-based call centers set your appointment.

These folks sometimes BARELY speak English, and their managers teach them to be VERY pushy on the phone.

The results suck for the agent.

Many go on appointments excited, just to find out half no-show.

Sometimes, the “appointments” say, “Look, I told the person I didn’t want you to come. I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to get off the phone with them.”

Bottom line, I’ve never seen one vendor pull off pre-set final expense appointments that are consistent in quality. 

Instead, it’s better if you just buy or self-generate your own final expense leads.

There are some activities not worth outsourcing, and for most final expense agents, prospecting for appointments is more effective when YOU do it yourself.

#2 – Foreign-Speaking Telemarketing Leads

This ties into the first worst final expense lead.

There are vendors out there that believe all leads are equal, no matter WHO does the pitching, and WHAT the advertisement states.

The problem is that these vendors use this excuse to put some of the hardest-to-understand group of people in charge of persuading names on a list to become interested prospects.

And many times, because these foreigners are taught aggressive phone tactics, what they convert to as a lead isn’t really what you’d call a lead.

In many cases, the senior caved in to the call and just said “yes” to get the person off the phone.

By the time you call, your “prospect” (I use the term LOOSELY) yells at you, saying, “I never wanted anything at all about insurance,” before hanging up.

Case Study On Crappy Outsourced Leads

Here’s a situation I was in when I used one of these junk outsourcing lead vendors.

I bought these leads back in 2015. The first three appointments no showed me.

I called the fourth one, and I asked, “Hey, I’m like three hours ahead of schedule, can I come see you and do the appointment early?”

She said, “That’s fine. That’s not a problem at all.”

So, as I was pulling into the driveway, I discovered a cop car at my client’s home.

I’m thinking, “Oh man, I’m late. I should’ve got her insurance earlier,” joking to myself and making a little light of the situation.

Then I realized that they were there for ME!

I popped out of the car, and I said, “Officer, what’s going on?”

He started telling me how she was scared and thought that this was a scam because someone from India called her about setting up this appointment.

It was ridiculous.

I explained to the officer that she agreed to see me earlier today, showed my credentials, and eventually was let go without issue.

To this day, I have NEVER had 3 no shows in a row, nor have had the cops called on me.

Moral of the story…

If you insist on doing telemarketing leads, do them yourself.

Or just buy a better type of lead, like Facebook or direct mail final expense leads.

#3 – Working Aged Leads

Moving on down the list of the worst final expense lead options, number 3 is working aged final expense leads.

Worked aged final expense leads are different than unworked aged leads.

Let me explain.

A lot of these large organizations, captive companies, and multilevel marketing type setups have a huge profit center on recycling leads, selling them over and over.

What happens is that when you work these worked aged leads, you’re spending time with folks who already bought or already have been pitched.

Think about it…

What will happen when you go behind a good agent that has worked all these leads?

First, you’re going not going to find many sales opportunities.

This is because if a good agent had the lead before you, then you’re in a situation where they’ve already been sold, or they express that they’re not interested.

I don’t like the worked aged leads for that reason.

Try UN-Worked Aged Leads Instead

I like to work what’s called unworked aged final expense leads.

These are cheap final expense leads that have never been purchased before.

Somebody sent a card in, but nobody actually bought the lead that came from it.

Therefore, there’s a good chance that person has never been seen.

Low Cost, High-Opportunity Leads

Now, some of these people send in another card, and somebody sells them. Those are replacement opportunities.

Additionally, many of these people send one card and then they figure, “Hey, I’m waiting for them for months on end.”

When you finally go, they say, “I’m glad you made it. I’ve been waiting for you the whole time.”

Many times, these leads are similar in quality to a fresh direct mail lead, and you can get them quickly.

With direct mail, it takes about a month, but these take about a day or two depending on the situation that you were set up in.

If you need leads quickly, unworked aged leads are great.

#4 – Shared Leads

When you buy a final expense sales lead, do you want someone else also working that lead, too?

Believe it or not, there are final expense lead vendors that sell leads to multiple agents.

Obviously, this not an ideal option.

Having 5+ agents calling at once on one prospect gets the prospects frustrated and angry.

Second of all, you’re in competition immediately.

With these leads, everybody gets instant access to the lead, meaning you’re at a disadvantage from the get-go.

You got to be careful of the shared leads that are out there.

Luckily enough, you don’t see this too often with the exception of some Internet-based leads.

Get Exclusive Final Expense Insurance Leads

Instead, always purchase exclusive final expense insurance leads. Exclusive final expense insurance leads are exclusive to you.

You’re the only one buying them, and you’re the only one working them.

They give you the best chances of getting in the door and making the sale.

And, you don’t have to worry about some other guy coming behind you to try to replace you.

#5 – Lead Vendors That Don’t Accept Credit/Debit

WARNING – Scam alert!

I’ve seen the scam in some form or another over the past couple of years.

What happens is a vendor will offer pre-set appointments and ONLY accept money order or a rechargeable card as payment.

Naturally, once you pay, you never hear from the vendor again. And no, you do NOT get your money back.

Paying With Credit Cards Protects You

That’s why you always want to deal with vendors that accept debit or credit card payments.

This protects you if the vendor goes sideways and doesn’t do the job.

You always have leverage with the threat of requesting a refund from your credit card company.

Many of these credit card processors are consumer friendly at the behest of the vendor.

The bottom line for you, as the agent, is to NEVER send cash-money, money order, or a check for any payment of leads.

Always use a credit or debit card.

#6 – Press One & Voicemail Leads

The 6th point to discuss is that press-one and robo-call senior final expense leads.

NEVER do them because they are COMPLETELY illegal to use in prospecting for business (not for politician’s, however).

Further, there are some vendors that claim their press-1 and robocall leads are sourced compliantly.

I’ll tell you right now…

If ANYONE is saying this, they are LYING.

It’s important that you never, ever buy anything that’s a press-one lead or a voice mail lead.

I don’t care if they look honest. They’re not!

The vendors that sell these are breaking the law and what you may run into is that you will be sued.

I have heard of agents who have gotten sued or named in some kind of shakedown by a professional litigant if they’re cold-called.

It’s just not worth it.

There are plenty of other final expense insurance leads out there to avoid a lawsuit.

#7 – Cheap Final Expense Leads

Cheap final expense sales leads follow the old adage…

You get what you pay for!

You want to proceed carefully and not get suckered into this idea that “cheaper is better.”

The simple answer is to JUST DO DIRECT MAIL.

Using only direct mail final expense life leads almost ENSURES you’re giving yourself the best odds of success.

Beyond that, there are a few other final expense leads options that work to some extent.

I’ve seen success with exclusive internet leads off of Facebook, as we discussed above.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed this article.

If you’re interested in learning more about my program for new and experienced final expense agents, go here and fill out and submit the contact form.

Also, I help agents become top producers selling Medicare AdvantageannuitiesMedicare Supplements and mortgage protection. Reach out to me above if you’re interested in that, as well.

I’ll get back to you within the next 24 hours.

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