How Many Apps is Your Poorly Designed Pipeline Losing Each Month?
3 Steps to building a sales pipeline optimized for more submitted applications.
By Rey Villar
Whether you call it an assembly line, sales conveyor belt or bins, top sales teams discovered long ago that you need an effective system if you want to close a large number of sales.
Unfortunately, too many agents are losing deals because they…
- Don’t have a lead management system
- Have a poorly designed sales pipeline
- Fail to use the tools they already have
So why do so many agents fall into this trap? It’s primarily because the courses you need to get licensed usually don’t have much in the way of sales training. And there are few sales and marketing courses that offer continuing education credits.
An effective pipeline not only helps you close more of your leads, it also allows you to project what your sales will be down the road. Using the right sales pipeline will help you plan for contingencies. And it’ll tell you when you may need to open up the lead faucet a little more.
An effective and well-tuned lead management system will also tell you exactly what your closing ratio is. You can then use that metric to determine how many leads you need to meet your goals.
For example, if you can improve your close ratio to submitting five percent (5%) of your leads, then you know that 1 out of every 20 leads turns into an application. And if your goal is 30 submitted applications each month, then you need to adjust your lead flow to only 600 leads.
Here’s a 3-step process to make sure your pipeline delivers the highest close ratios possible.
1. Set Up Your Lead Status Category
Do you have your bins set up? The traditional sales system organized prospects into bins.
The bin in which your prospect folder is filed gives a ready indicator of which leads are hot, which leads are cold — and which leads are at key points in between.
You also need to take the time to define what leads are considered hot or cold. For many top producers, a hot lead is one where the prospect has indicated that they plan to buy health insurance in the next 30 to 60 days. A cold lead is one where the prospect won’t decide for at least six months.
If you have an automated lead management system, your lead’s “status” has replaced bins. One of the big advantages of an automated lead management tool is that you won’t have to worry about finding space for all your bins — because everything is kept online.
But before you can use this powerful feature in top lead management systems, you need to set up your bins. Here are a few of the status categories or bins you should include in your system:
- Hot – Ready to Close
These are leads you have personally qualified. In addition to qualifying for multiple plans, you’ve also confirmed that they can afford them and just need your help in making a decision.
- New – No Connection Yet
These are leads that have just come in, but you have not yet contacted. This would include leads you have called multiple times but have been unable to get on the phone. Keep in mind that this bin has a time limit for many of its leads, because many lead providers will only replace leads if they’re returned during a specific window.
- Current Clients – Up For Renewal
Many agents take for granted that they’ll lose many of their individual health insurance clients as soon as their policy is up for renewal—and they get a notice of rate increase. But top producers have found that they can increase their retention rate and overall revenue by contacting their current clients a few months before their current policy expires and help them shop for the most affordable plan on the market.
- Current Clients – Recently Added
Too many agents file away prospects who become paid clients. They forget that these new clients are an excellent source for referrals. Make sure to follow up with new clients to thank them for their business, build a long-term relationship…and ask for referrals. And if you sell other products, such as annuities and life insurance, you may be able to increase your revenue through cross selling.
- Lead Nurturing – Qualified But Not Ready
Some leads offer good prospects that just aren’t ready to pull the trigger. Some may have been shopping in expectation of a coming lay-off or loss of coverage. Don’t make the mistake of abandoning these leads just because they’re not ready to close right away. They’re perfect for a drip marketing program that can automatically nurture them to a buying decision.
- Invalid Leads – Replace
Most lead providers give you about a week to ten days to return invalid leads. You need to have a routine for submitting invalid leads. But don’t interrupt your prime calling times to request lead replacement. Put it in your file and make the request during the afternoon or at night, when you don’t have other prospects to call.
- Dormant – Little or No Activity
These are leads you previously qualified or have been nurturing for quite a while…but no longer respond to messages. You can’t waste too much time on these prospects, but you don’t have to completely abandon them either. Here’s where an automated lead nurturing system can help you stay in touch—without taking you away from your hotter leads.
- Dead – Do Not Call
This category includes all invalid leads submitted for replacement, as well as prospects who asked to be taken off your marketing lists. You need to save this list, as a lead may re-enter your main list in the future. Remember that the federal CAN-SPAM Act also prohibits you from transferring, selling, leasing or assigning lists that include consumers who asked to be removed.
You can add even more bins or statuses, but make sure that each additional category helps you push leads toward a buying decision.
2. Regularly Update Each Prospect’s Status
A lead management system will only help you if you actually use it. This means immediately updating each prospect’s status as soon as it changes.
The easiest way to do this is to get into the habit of updating each file after every contact you have with the client.
Once you’re doing this on a regular basis, you’ll soon discover that using your new system will save you time and money.
For example, you won’t have to waste any time on invalid or dead leads, when you have hot leads and current clients waiting for your call. Put that lead in the right file and get it out of your way.
Have you awoken a dormant lead? Put it in the hot lead file right away.
Note that lead statuses are dynamic. They can change at any time, and they can go from cold to hot — or hot to cold.
The bottom line is that your lead management system can help you increase your productivity and efficiency—but only if you maintain it.
3. Budget Your Time Accordingly
Maintaining your lead management system is only the start. Now that you’ve got your statuses or bins in operation, you need a strategy to fully exploit your system.
This strategy comes down to a basic question of income-generating priorities. Which status categories offer the greatest potential returns? Which bins give you the biggest bang for the buck?
Your priorities will shape which bins receive most of your attention each day. For example, many top producers will spend 75% to 95% of their day handling leads in the most promising categories:
- Hot – Ready to Close
- New – No Connection Yet
- Current Clients – Up For Renewal
These are the prospects most ready to sign up for a plan — today. Failing to connect with prospects in these bins will have severe consequences. At best, they’ll fade into other categories. At worst, they’ll buy their individual health insurance from someone else.
The little that remains of your regular workday can then be spent on leads that offer more “long term” prospects:
- Current Clients – Recently Added
- Lead Nurturing – Qualified But Not Ready
- Dormant – Little or No Activity
Many of these prospects will turn into submitted applications in the future or provide valuable referrals. You need to stay connected, but they’re lower in priority than hotter leads.
Top producers have learned that the best way to nurture their thousands of unclosed, long-term leads is through automation. For example, an email autoresponder geared for health insurance can deliver a regular stream of marketing emails to thousands of long-term prospects — with just a few clicks.
Finally, you need to do whatever you can to avoid wasting time on dead leads. If you’re able to replace invalid leads, avoid doing it during your workday.
Instead, wait until you’re done with your higher-priority sales calls and marketing tasks. Then submit these invalid leads for a replacement credit. |
