Two of the most popular methods of insurance lead generation are direct mail and telemarketing. Each of these methods requires a source of prospects that can be derived through various methods. Many agents generate prospect lists themselves while other elect to outsource this step of the lead generation process with a list broker or information service.
In the old days an agent would open up the phone book and start calling. While this can still be done today with businesses (yellow pages) it is a bit more challenging on the residential side with the addition of do not call lists. An agent calling on any residential numbers should always scrub their list against the state and/or national do not call registries to avoid potentially costly fines.
There are numerous ways to generate a prospect list and this is an area where creativity is often rewarded handsomely. The local chamber of commerce is a favorite source for many agents selling commercial lines and other local and government data sources such as title records can be excellent ways to derive a highly targeted list of prospects.
List brokers and information services that sell customized local contact information are very popular among insurance agents and can actually be the cheaper option considering the time required to generate your own list. There are numerous services for such lists that can easily be found with a quick search. We have had particular success with the customized Cole Information and InfoUSA list services.
