Why are you picking up the phone? If you're not asking yourself that question multiple times a day, you're probably not giving your prospects a reason to work with you. Quality business prospects are looking for knowledge, market awareness and credibility from call one.

That is what you learned in Insurance 101, and it's just as true today as it was when they first started teaching it. Fortunately, lead generation software for gaining market intelligence, improving call quality and increasing positive results is attainable for agencies of all sizes.

Find the Right Reason

For George Whitten IV and Jeffrey Wertepny, that meant they had a lot of options when they took the big step of starting their own agency, Building Block Insurance Group, in Mooresville, North Carolina, in 2020. They chose Insurance Xdate as the backbone for their new company, sticking with the lead generation tool Whitten had been working with since the beginning of his career.

As new business owners, Whitten and Wertepny needed to cut through the clutter and map out a results-driven success strategy. Gaining an information-rich yet agile tool for surfacing actionable data and adding value to prospecting time was a priority.

"The key to our approach is strategically targeting our prospects," Whitten said. "When you can 'read their mail,' so to speak, prior to contacting them, it really breezes you right past the gatekeeper, and that's the name of the game."

View the Market and the Competition

Whitten and Wertepny valued having the ability to search companies by size, geographical radius, renewal date and standard industry class codes. Getting there required easy access to reports that provided a bird's eye view of a given market and the carrier competition within it.

They also valued being able to target workers compensation calls at companies with higher experience modification scores. "More than half of prospecting is just finding companies that are worth your time to actually go out and have a visit with," Whitten said.

Carrier insights were also important for understanding which prospects were loyal to a specific carrier and which were constant shoppers. The next step might be interpreting the relative strengths and weaknesses of all the carriers in a given niche.

"Instead of just going in blindly, you become a specialist in whatever industry you're calling that day," Whitten said.

Every Call Counts

Whitten and Wertepny's lead generation platform is also their customer relationship manager (CRM), but they value having the option to integrate as they grow. They also value accessible customer support, because the more they stay up and running and reach out, the better their results will be.

"I've increased my value as an individual producer," Whitten said. "Your software's not going to pick up the phone for you, but it'll really tighten up your time."

Visit Insurance Xdate on the web at insurancexdate.com, call 888-567-4119 or email the team.