There are 5,965 insurance companies and about 38,000 independent insurance agents in the United States. This much competition in the industry – with every agent, broker, and company trying to generate their own leads – significantly affects marketing budgets as spending on digital marketing alone surpasses every other sector by nearly 8%. What agents need to be successful today is to learn and use the most effective strategies to generate quality leads.
John Wetmore was once a part-time insurance agent questioning if this industry could provide a rewarding career, as many of these competing agents ask themselves now. By prioritizing his lead generation skills and volume, Wetmore grew out of his past of odd jobs and financial struggles to building an income from hundreds of thousands to millions, selling his own brokerage, and becoming a managing partner at Integrity Marketing Group (Integrity) – a firm with over 6,000 employees and 11 million clients.
“Growing up in the projects outside of Boston was difficult. There weren’t many options to get ahead and I worked a lot of dead end jobs, but I knew I wanted a career where I could make a big impact and change lives, which led me to the insurance industry,” shares Wetmore.
While holding an accounting position, Wetmore obtained his life insurance license to work part-time and assess the viability of a full-time insurance career. Any agent can relate to seeing the daunting learning curve of insurance sales for the first time and the persistence required to begin building a lucrative business. In retrospect, Wetmore identifies lead generation and focusing on the sheer number of appointments he held each week as the catalyst for his success.
When Wetmore began his career in insurance sales, adoption of new technology was slow and the most common tactic to generate leads was to use direct mail and go door-to-door. Luckily, Wetmore was able to find a mentor in the industry who was able to provide the simplest, yet most effective, guidance that Wetmore should set tangible goals for his lead generation.
Wetmore was then driven to find the best technology and automation tools that could enhance his search for leads and manual processes as he recognized that this was the next step to put himself above other agents.
“When I asked one of my first mentors, Marc, about his success, he simply said, ‘I set 10 appointments a week.’ That advice resonated with me and I committed to doing the same using the best technology I could find. Little did I know that sticking to this practice would lead to earning $100,000 in my first year as a full-time agent.”
Of course, success is all about setting and achieving new goals so once Wetmore had reached 10 appointments and a $100,000 income, Marc laughed and told him, ‘I set 90 a month’, he then strove to diligently set 30 appointments a week. Wetmore’s dedication to lead generation and exceptional volume in those initial appointments led to a remarkable income of $460,000 and the ability to build up his own brokerage that he eventually sold off before joining Integrity.
Wetmore truly believes that the power of increasing leads cannot ever be overstated and is essential for higher sales success. Increased lead activity means increased sales opportunities and deal closures, which is proven not just by Wetmore’s own story, but agents he has mentored as well.
“Zac, a young and driven agent, only joined the industry at 22 and is making rapid progress, selling $800,000 in insurance a year.” Wetmore continues, “He’s a machine at selling because he’s focused on running more appointments and generating leads, which at the time, led to him becoming the youngest managing partner at Integrity.”
In today’s insurance landscape agents can leverage many more marketing tactics than just going door-to-door. With the advancement of technology in the industry there are digital lead generation programs, SEO optimization strategies, A/B email marketing, social media advertising, online contact forms, and live transfer leads that agents can leverage to transform their business.
All of these systems can help agents save valuable time at every step in the sales process which can then be better spent on nurturing client relationships and fine-tuning face-to-face sales approaches.
Wetmore is a proponent of using technology to its fullest advantage to generate leads, as well as any other automation tools that can streamline the manual policy and claim processes.
Wetmore summarizes, “Good technology enhances productivity, generates more qualified leads, and makes communicating with clients easier. With all the time and effort saved here more energy can go into building relationships, nurturing clients, and tweaking every other part of the sales approach which altogether increases lead conversion and income. This completely guided my own career trajectory as well as the many successful agents I have worked with over the years.”
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