A Successful Sales Strategy

My name is Kris Montierth, I own Your Personal Secretary.  Direct mail marketing, lead calling and appointment setting for insurance related products are what I have worked with professionally for 16 years. Each year has been a challenge with events that influence potential customers. Over my time in the insurance appointment-setting field, the American economy has sustained terrorist attacks, politics, and wars, housing bubbles, economic recession and good and bad job growth. While these are influential to the way people spend money, a few basic things are consistent from year to year.

But first.

In 2006, YPS scoured the data of approximately 20,000,000 outbound calls made by insurance companies where I had worked as Director of Operation. Using this data, efficiency increased 33% by eliminating calls placed over the sixth call to any lead. The data revealed that there was only a 0.013 percent chance of setting a qualified appointment on calls seven, eight, and nine. Therefore, an agent paying appointment setters to call beyond the sixth call was essentially idle in production, but still paying wages –or throwing good money after bad. Six-call campaigns are now a standard across the appointment setting industry.

In early 2008, YPS reviewed our own calling data with attention to the lead sources that were most successful in their mail card return yield. Using these free reports, agents could see what lead companies were pulling higher return numbers. When they cross-reference their sales data with appointments, they could see more appointments were returning more sales. Incidentally, America’s Recommended Mailer outperformed their competition and still has the same success today.  

Outside of calling data and return yields from direct mail, another consideration that can help insightful agents is associated with the “season of customers” or seasons, as there is more than one optimal advertising window each year.

Summer is the least productive time of the year for mail return cards. Potential buyers are on vacation, or sometimes spouses vacation separately and “one-leg’ appointments are not wanted. Many insurance agents are vacationing as well. The insurance industry slows each summer; with hard work, a person can be successful in the summer months, but with proper planning vacation is a better goal for the summer. Summer is a challenge, therefore setting goals and attaining those goals by getting the most out of January 1 to June 1 is an essential key to a successful annual sales strategy. If you would like more information on this Successful Sales Strategy, send me an email today! Kriss@callingleads.com                     www.callingleads.com