Annuity Leads

Direct mail marketing is effective for generating annuity leads. But it only works if you do it RIGHT and there are many more ways to do it incorrectly and waste a lot of cash. Adhere to the following and you can generate a very sustainable flow of annuity leads at a reasonable cost.

First of all, your mail marketing should happen continuously, e.g. send some mailers each week. That way, you will have a continuous stream of annuity leads and you can follow up in a timely manner.

Next, make sure you get the right list. The “sweet spot” of fixed annuity buyers are people age 55 to 65, mostly female in middle-income neighborhoods (see Gallup Research study of annuity owners). You can easily rent a list of these prospects (the SRDS catalog at our local library is a directory of every list you can rent) .

Third, select the right format for the annuity lead direct mail piece. For annuity leads, we have tested both post cards and letters in envelopes.  In this case, the postcards did equally well and are less expensive that items in envelopes, so use the postcards.

Fourth, get the message right.  The message will be wrong if you sit back and think about what appeals to your prospects.  There is no way you really understand that.  The only way to find out is to ask a handful of prospects.  The question is not “what do you like about annuities?”  (Notice how product centered that question is and grows from your point of view)? The correct question to generate annuity leads is “what’s important to you about your money?”

As people start to answer, write down what they say.  Then dig deeper:

What else is important?
What would you rank second?
You said safety was important.  What do you need to give up to get it?

Only by asking these questions and really digging will you understand what matters to your annuity prospects.  Now, based on what they say, create at least 15 headlines for your mailers.  These might be:

“How to Get the Safety You want Without Sacrificing Return”
“How to Earn more Interest While you Pay IRS Less”
“How to Have a 2nd Social Security Check”

After you compose the titles, select your best and then use six of the others as bullet points:

“How to Get the Safety You want Without Sacrificing Return”

• Bullet point 1
• Bullet point 2
• Bullet point 3
• etc.

Here’s an alternate format

Fifth, make a non-intimidating offer such as a free booklet, free report, free quote, etc.  Every direct mail piece should have some form of tangible, unambiguous benefit for the customer that addresses their question, ”What’s in it for the me?”

There are many things you can do to make direct mail annuity lead generation plan work. By using these tips, though, you will be off to a good start and a continuous flow of annuity leads.

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People who have requested non-specific information

These are people who have completed a survey at the county fair, a mall, on line, etc in which they expressed information in “investments” or “tax savings.”  As you might guess, these people are no likely to be an annuity lead any better than your deaf grandmom, Bessy.

Yet, some companies will sell you such a list with the title “annuity buyers.”

People who have requested specific annuity information

Now, this is starting to get warm.  If the prospect has requested information about annuities, then we have someone we can classify as an interested annuity lead.  Of course, that does not mean they will buy.  It does not mean they will have more then $5,000, but at least they have indicated specific interest in knowing more about annuities.

But you would like to know a little more from the annuity lead vendor how these people came to express interest.  For example, did they see an offer in a newspaper and they called up or sent in a coupon?  This would be a good quality annuity lead as they received a passive offer and they had to take action.  The fact that they had to take action indicates a level of motivation.   

On the other hand, did the annuity prospect get telemarketed and get talked into getting some information on annuities?  Or did they get an email that said “win a Ferrari, click here” and the solicitation turned out to be a solicitation for annuities and the prospect thought by expressing interest they would also get a Ferrari? If the annuity lead is an “incentivized lead,” it is less worthwhile. 
People who have requested an appointment with an annuity agent

There’a an old saying, “investments are sold and not bought.”  The same is true about annuities. People do not ask to buy an annuity.  They end up buying an annuity after a fact finding sessions with a competent professional and the conversation leads to the purchase of an annuity. The prospect did not enter the meeting or the conversation thinking, “I hope I get an opportunity to buy an annuity today.” 

So if any service or list brokers wants to sell you annuity leads that supposed requested an appointment with an agent, don’t be stupid!  While the prospect may have been talked into an appointment and may have said they were “willing” to listen to what a professional had to say, there are no prospect that “have requested” an appointment with an insurance licensee. That would be like requesting an appointment for a colonoscopy (okay, I’m overstating here). 
People who have agreed to an appointment with an annuity agent

Typically, these people have been telemarketed.  They have been talked into an appointment and have expressed a willingness for a meeting.  We know once company that sells these leads for over $100 each and their big guarantee is that they have called the prospect, secured the appointment and that the prospect has at least $5,000 of investment capital.  Woohoo!  You’ve got an elephant there.

Seriously, in such a circumstance, if the prospect is even home when you show up for this appointment, it will be an uphill battle because:

They really don’t know

• what the meeting is about
• Why you are there
• What you do
• What your agenda is and
• They have no agenda

Annuity Leads that made the first move or leads that were called

As mentioned above, ask the annuity lead source for as much detail as possible on how the lead was generated.  If you find they are vague, then pass.  If they explain it in detail, show you the ad or the coupon, and explain the process, then you have a seller who is far more revealing then most.  Our experience is that they rarely clearly tell you how the lead was generated.

Additionally, get very clear if the annuity lead was generated by the prospect in reaction to a passive offer(e.g. an ad in the paper, a post card, an Internet ad) where the annuity prospect had to take initiative and action OR was the prospect telemarketed and talked into the offer or somehow incentivized to say “yes, I am interested in annuities.”

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