Managing Your Return On Investment

September 12th, 2011

When purchasing Mortgage Leads, it is important to keep in mind that not every single lead is going to be a home run. Like any other marketing campaign (Direct mail, Radio, Print etc), you will have people you can never get in touch with, people who do not qualify for any type of loan or people who won’t do business with you for one reason or another.

Let’s take a look at a typical lead campaign scenario:

Out of 100 leads, it is inevitable that you will have some bad leads and not be able to get a hold of some. Assuming you have great speed to contact, let’s say you manage to come in contact with 50 out of the 100 leads.

Out of those 50 contacts, you will probably get half of them interested, giving you 25 prospects. Due to the unfortunate economic conditions, it is inevitable to run into everything from poor credit scores, to title liens, no equity on the home, underwater mortgage, or another LO coming in and low balling your deal.

Realistically, you should expect to secure 5 out of the 25 prospects. Out of 5 pre-sold clients, a couple may fall out, but that still leaves you with 3 funded loans.

Read the rest of this entry »

3 Marketing Lessons Applicable for Enrollment Marketing

August 7th, 2011

The more we learn, the more we forget. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like my brain can only hold so much information before it starts automatically deleting things. I’ve often thought I should create a binder with all of the important marketing tips I accumulate throughout the years. You know the real zingers you think about weeks after reading the latest marketing best-seller. That way, in 10 years from now, I’d have the ultimate marketing guide to rock my career. Well this is by no means that binder, but it’s a few of the tips I’ve picked up thus far and I thought I’d share them with all of my fellow education professionals.

1. Never be afraid to take a risk.

Like Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results”. Don’t be afraid to do something outrageous when it comes to your marketing enrollment campaigns. The less traditional the better. If you use an advertising agency, choose their wildest idea; chances are this will be the most successful.

2. Forget about selling, and start creating a culture.

People know when they are being sold to and normally, they don’t like it. Instead of trying to enroll more students, focus on creating an engaging way to interact with your target audience that has absolutely nothing to do with getting them to attend your school. If you can establish yourself as an industry leader through your reputation and useful/interesting/funny (you fill in the adjective) information you provide, the students will flock to you. *Confession- I’m not the best at this.

Read the rest of this entry »

6 Ways to Beat the High Cost of Insurance Leads

July 4th, 2011

Insurance agents and brokers are increasingly faced with higher cost per lead prices for quality customer prospects. Here are six tips for lowering your cost per lead without sacrificing quality.

1. Do your research!

Don’t just run a test with the first company you call. Compare different price models and options from different lead vendors.

2. Buy in Bulk.

Increasing volume can help to decrease cost.

3. Aged Data!

Purchasing 30-60 day old data can help cut the costs especially when data comes at $1 per record. If you can save someone money on insurance you may be able to get them to switch even if they recently signed a new insurance agreement.

4. Mix it up.

Purchase a mix of aged data and real time data. This will help to keep costs down without sacrificing volume.

5. Open Filters.

Keep in mind that the more open your filters are the better the price. If you limit your filters too much you will increase price and limit volume.

6. Commit to a month campaign.

Signing up for a month’s worth of leads can not only drive down price but it will also give you the most accurate idea about overall contacts, conversions and closes.

Mortgage Lead Mistakes to Avoid

June 27th, 2011

It is well known that many large banks have made some big mistakes in the mortgage industry. Below are five common, but important mistakes to avoid when buying mortgage leads.

Cost Per Funded Loan (CPFL) Is Important

People often say that it is all about the quality of the leads, but the truth is somewhat different. While quality certainly plays a big role, price is also important. In fact, a combination of the quality and price is what matters most when making decisions about lead purchases. Your decision must be made based on the total cost per funded loan.

How much the mortgage leads cost you divided by mortgage leads you convert to funded loans gives you CPFL. It is very important to track the success of your lead sources. You want to monitor the cost and close rate of your mortgage leads, that way you can focus on the most profitable sources and increase your profits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interview Beau Bratton of ConsumerTransfer.com

February 21st, 2011

Curious how to get a leg up on your competition when contacting leads? In this interview of Beau Bratton, CEO of ConsumerTransfer, discover what separates top sales teams from average sales teams. A few key points from the interview:

  • Speed to contact is very important
  • Well defined sales processes are a must
  • Increase contact ratio with automated lead response
  • Pre-defined sales paths help new & seasoned sales reps close more

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Get the Best Quality Insurance Lead for Your Buck

January 21st, 2011

In the world of insurance lead generation, you get what you pay for. But quality doesn’t always have to come with a high price tag. Don’t panic if you can’t afford to pay through the roof for those top notch leads because here are some insider tips on how to get quality insurance leads without draining your bank account:

Choose a Professional Lead Generation Company
Not only are you paying for the leads themselves but you are also paying to work with the company selling you those leads. Make sure that you purchase from a reliable and experienced lead generation company.

Check the Quality of the Customer Service Support
In case you have questions, you want to make sure that someone will be there to help. You should know the name, number and email of a representative from the lead generation company.

Check the Replacement Policy of Your Leads
Sometimes, even the best filters will let through a bad lead. While this isn’t uncommon, you do want to make sure that you have options.

Go Semi-Exclusive and Trust that Your Agents Will Close
The industry stigma is that semi-exclusive leads are not as valuable as exclusive leads. However, semi-exclusive leads are a good way to go to ensure that you get quality leads at an affordable price. If you have a rock solid team with agents that you can count on then there is nothing to be afraid of. Let your agents showcase their talents, and save some money along the way.

Make Sure Your Leads are Verified and Pre-Screened
This will help increase the quality of the leads and enhance your conversion rates.

Remember Quality Over Quantity
Don’t waste your time and money on a ton of leads with no conversion possibilities. Make sure the leads you purchase have high quality and high potential for conversion.

Lead generation is a vital part of your business. It can make or break the success of your company. Don’t settle for anything but the best and use these tips to make sure that you are getting the best quality insurance leads possible for your dollar.

How To Increase Student Enrollment in 5 Easy Steps

January 17th, 2011

Here are the five most important factors to significantly increase student enrollment numbers for your school.

Creating a targeted marketing strategy

You know your school best, which is why it’s so important that you create a marketing strategy to target your key demographic; the more specific the better. If you do not know the exact demographics of your students, including where to find them, then you NEED to spend some of your marketing budget on market research. While “branding” is important, it’s best to “brand” yourself in front of the type of students you want to attract.

Contacting the prospective student within minutes

Whether you sit on the Non-Profit or For-Profit side of the fence, you need to realize how crucial it is to contact a lead immediately. I have to tip my hat to For-Profits, because for the most part, they seem to get this. When a student is looking for colleges, they are shopping and want answers immediately. If you wait even 10 minutes before calling, there’s a chance that they have already mentally moved on or are no longer available to talk to you. If you want to see a difference in your conversion rates, get on the phone within minutes.

Positioning the institution uniquely

Once you have the student on the phone, it’s important that you can sum up what makes your college different than every other college they’ve previously looked at. Know your institutions strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t know why your current students chose to attend your school, then you won’t be able to convince prospective students to choose you.

Outlining the enrollment process

Now that you have convinced someone to attend your school, make the process easy. Knowing what documents are needed and understanding the acceptance procedures can be confusing. Outline a step by step process of what they need to do next to get enrolled and send it to their email. If you don’t know the rules, you aren’t going to play the game.

Following up (and then following up some more)

It happens all the time, admissions counselors get off the phone with a prospective student thinking they’ve got an enrollment and then the student drops off the face of the earth. Remember, you are selling. It’s your job to keep in contact with the prospect until they have started a class somewhere. If the prospect says that they aren’t interested right away, that’s fine, just don’t forget about them. Ask them what their time line is for starting school and keep in contact with them. We all need to be held accountable every once in a while, and if you’re not there to follow up, they will forget about you.

Insurance Lead Generation: Growing at the Speed of Light

January 14th, 2011

There are many verticals within the lead generation space and Insurance is proving to be the next up and coming vertical to get into. Over the past few years, shopping online has gone from the basics like clothes and office supplies to include insurance. Consumers are moving online to find the insurance company that’s just right for them. As a result, Insurance lead generation has evolved into an ever growing force in the industry.

The success of an insurance agent can depend on the leads they receive, which is why the quality of a lead is important. Here are three insider tips from an inside source to increase close rates:

• Choose a lead generation company that you can communicate with. Feedback is the key to success with leads and its important to find a company that you can establish a relationship with.

• Have an idea of who your ideal lead would be, but be open to broadening your range and opening up your filters. It’s OK to be picky when it comes to your leads, but being too exclusive can actually hurt you more than help.

• Monitor your Geo targeting. Make sure you keep track of which states you have a higher closing rate in. This will help you in the future when it comes to filtering your leads and creating a higher turnover rate.

Lead generation companies take a unique approach in handling the marketing side of the insurance industry to create valuable and high quality leads. The demand from buyers is what has facilitated the growth of the insurance lead generation industry. While the quality of a lead is up to the lead generation company, the closing rate depends on the quality of the insurance agent.

Best Practices for Working Mortgage Leads

January 13th, 2011

• Responding immediately, regardless of the day and time, is fundamental to a successful inquiry response strategy.

• Staffing your sales team according to lead volume and outside the classic work week (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm) gives your organization a strategic advantage.

• Purchasing and generating leads, including inquiries, outside of the classic work week is most likely to produce a higher ROI.

• Responding to leads received on a Saturday convert 10% higher than the regular work week.

• Consumer inquiries should receive immediate response (within 5 minutes) to further increase conversion rates.

• Responding to each inquiry by following the 6 call attempt approach will produce nearly the maximum conversion rate while minimizing workload.

Note: Research has found that attempting contact 6 times resulted in the maximum possible conversion rate, yet nearly 60% of sales people made less than 6 contact attempts.

• Ensuring that each inquiry receives 6 contact attempts within the time frame windows specified will result in a dramatic increase in conversion rates versus making calls at other times.

• Creating a systematic business process for responding to consumer inquiries with speed and consistency is critical for any organization.

1. Change your thinking—and your business.
2. Research the right leads and right providers for your business.
3. Re-educate your sales force.
4. Select a lead management system.
5. Determine how you want to distribute leads.
6. Become metrics driven.

5 Secrets to Better Insurance Leads

January 7th, 2011

Lead generating landing pages with contact forms may seem similar.  In a lot of ways, the forms are similar as they collect contact information, vehicle information and driving history.  So what makes one insurance lead better than another? The source!

Here are 6 insider secrets on what to look for in a quality insurance lead.

  • Know where your leads come from.  Watch out for companies that employ affiliate companies that do their generation for them, spammers, or those that use co-registration paths in their marketing campaigns. The most important aspect to generating a quality lead is being able to control where the lead grows. At Underground Elephant, all leads are generated internally through organic traffic to our landing pages, though pay-per-click campaigns or through social media displays.
  • Get what you pay for.  Make sure your lead generation company gives you specific criteria and volume options so that you have a higher chance of closing. Underground Elephant generates leads based on the demand of our buyers.
  • Buy real-time leads.  With search based marketing, you are receiving a lead that is actively seeking a quote for insurance.  We take that information and deliver it to you in real-time so you are connected with the consumer at the peak of interest.
  • Narrow the competition.  Buy leads that are only being sold exactly 2 times.  Often times, leads are sold up to 6 times, hurting your contact rates and closing ratios.
  • Test with Confidence.  Commit to testing an adequate sample size.  While testing 50 leads may sound more cost effective, it is more difficult to judge contact ratios, closes, and conversions unless you increase your sample.  Don’t skimp on your test to save money.

  • Give Feedback. Performance based agencies like Underground Elephant rely on the feedback that clients provide.  Because each campaign is unique, we fine tune campaigns to meet the criteria that you have requested.  Without your feedback, we cannot provide you with the best, homegrown leads.  Even if you don’t use Underground Elephant, be proactive in giving feedback to your lead provider to get the most relevant and highest closing leads as possible.