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Lead Tip #17:

When To Say Good-Bye To Dormant Prospects - Never!

So many dormant prospects, so little time! If you're like other top agents, you can quickly build up a database of hundreds of unclosed prospects and unresponsive leads that can eat away at your time and budget. You then have to ask yourself: "when is the right time to give up on a dormant prospect"?

With the automated marketing tools now at your disposal, the answer is "almost never." But you will need to separate and segment these prospects as they age to make sure you're sending the right message to the right group.

Categorizing Your Prospects

The character of your prospects and leads change as they age; and your marketing strategy will have to change with them. But they don't all change at the same speed.

That's why many agents use a three-step system for classifying prospects - and adapting their selling tactics:

• Hot prospects. And very FEW of your leads are HOT!
  These prospects have expressed strong interest and are ready to be closed. They get the lion's share of your time, because they've got the greatest odds of producing a commission check.

• Warm prospects.
  These prospects have expressed interest, but the timing is just not right. The challenge is to somehow pull them into the hot zone and closer to an application. They could also be turned off by the amount of calls their getting - so don't be pushy, etc.

• Cold prospects. OR SO YOU THINK!
  Finally, you've got the leads and prospects who haven't responded in months - if ever. They're sitting in your database and mailing list. You may be tempted to cut them off - BUT YOU SHOULD BE MARKETING TO THEM!

Long-Term Marketing To Cold Prospects

After three months of no response, it often doesn't make sense to invest the time and money to send out more than one or two mailers a year to these leads.

Fortunately, internet marketing means never having to say good-bye. As long as you've got their email, they can stay in your system forever - and it costs you little or nothing to continuously market to them:

1. Email newsletter. You should already have an email newsletter for all of your prospects and leads. It often doesn't cost anything extra to add more emails to your newsletter's distribution list.

2. Email specials. If you're announcing a special event, promotion or holiday greeting, make sure to email it to all of your leads and prospects - including the dormant ones.

3. Email autoresponder. Lastly, you can design a targeted email and use your email autoresponder to "nudge" each dormant lead or prospect as they hit the 6-, 9- and 12-month mark - and beyond.

Using the Norvax email autoresponder, many agents now convert up to 1.9% of their database into sales each month. Some agents intentionally look for leads that are over a month old, figuring that other agents have already given up on them. They then use email autoresponders to convert those low-cost leads into high-yield apps.

Emails and online newsletter programs have come a long way. Companies such as ConstantContact.com, iContact.com and VerticalResponse.com let you create and distribute professional-looking newsletters for everyone in your database - and they'll include all the "unsubscribe" programming and disclaimers required by law.

When They Say Good-Bye
An email marketing program will still lose a lot of older leads and prospects. Some emails will simply start bouncing back. Other prospects will take the extra step of removing themselves from your list.

Don't take it personally. It's just business. It can actually be a good thing, because they're helping you to weed your database and let you focus your attention on more promising prospects.

Jeremiah Desmarais is vice president of marketing at Norvax, a company whose web-based tools help insurance agents consistently increase productivity by 2500%. He is the recipient of 9 awards for his marketing and design initiatives online. He is also editor of the Norvax Newsletter, which delivers helpful sales articles, tips and marketing strategies to 15,000+ insurance agents monthly. Author of several white papers, Jeremiah is a contributor to the Agent's Sales Journal, Health Insurance Underwriter and Broker World, as well as a guest speaker at various carrier events and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders. Reach him at jdesmarais@prospectzone.com or 1-877-561-9663.

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Lead Improvements

One way to resurrect dormant leads is to entice them or grab their attention with something special.

A give-away that costs you little (or nothing) is best. But offer them something they'll find valuable. Here are a few tips:

• Free seminar on how to file claims, available policy upgrades or new programs.

• Free e-book or white paper on an insurance-related or personal finance issue.

• Raffle for a free iPod or tickets to a big event

These tactics won't necessarily result in an immediate sale. But it does help to "poke" your cold prospects and leads - and remind them that you're ready to serve their insurance needs.