Facebook Leads vs Direct Mail Leads
When it comes to final expense leads, nothing beats the Direct Mail lead. At least, that is the old “tried-and-true” lead. Over the years, direct mail has been used to sell more final expense life insurance than any other type of lead. I’ve always referred to direct mail as “King” however, things have recently started to change. On a daily basis, more and more seniors are going online to play on Facebook. With over 214 million users in the US, Facebook has become a routine part of our lives. And seniors are loving it! Let’s face it, everybody’s on Facebook. For final expense sales, Facebook leads are turning out to be a major player. That’s why it’s important to know the differences of Facebook leads vs direct mail leads. In this article we’ll be going over the following.
The returns of investment
Cost differences
The shelf life
Serial mailers
How to set appointments
How to door knock leads
Changes in the senior market
The difference in premium for Facebook leads vs DM leads
Why we start all of our agents on Facebook leads
How are we even talking about Facebook leads?
It’s kind of crazy when you think about the changes our industry has gone through over the past 5 years. 5 Years ago, when we first started selling final expense, selling over the phone was a big no-no. Now, there are several big independent marketing organizations that specialize in final expense telesales. 5 Years ago, the only real way to sell final expense was with direct mail leads. Now there are agents that lead with telemarketing leads and Facebook leads. They don’t even use direct mail because of the cost. As a matter of fact, if you told me that I would be writing an article on the value of Facebook leads for selling final expense life insurance 5 years ago, I would have told you that you were nuts. And here we are. Yesterday, I made 4 sales and 3 of them were from FB leads.
About those final expense sales from yesterday! First of all, the AP for the Facebook leads sales was much higher than what I normally average using direct mail or final expense telemarketing leads. When I add up my personal sales over the past 6 months, I noticed the average annualized premium was around $780 for Facebook leads compared to $600 for DM leads. That works out to be over 20% higher than what I’ve been used to. Don’t get too excited. There are definitely some advantages of Facebook leads over direct mail but one negative thing sticks way out. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed the shelf life of the FB lead is not so great. If you can’t get the prospect on the phone on the first day, door knock the lead immediately. It’s not like direct mail where you can show them their handwriting 9 months later.
The Facebook Lead Brings A Completely New Prospect
Final expense agents that have been in the industry for a while will tell you that we target fixed income seniors. That is the normal demographic. This is who we want to target. The direct mail final expense lead gets us in front of these people. There is a problem with this. Throughout the years, the same people tend to mail in a card over and over again. Yes, we tend to see the same serial mailers repeatedly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled into a driveway and realized that I’ve already been there, multiple times. Some days this happens more than once. This is where I love the final expense Facebook lead. With the Facebook lead, we are seeing people that don’t sit around filling out lead cards. Most of these people seem to be brand new, completely different prospects.
With final expense Facebook leads, lot of these folks have money and are not the usual people we see from direct mail leads. This means less insufficient funds situations. Not only that but more sales stay on the books, longer. The Facebook lead tends to have a demographic that naturally gives us a better placement and persistence. Talk about a freaking game changer! With new and more people to see, this makes the Facebook lead a perfect addition to the direct mail lead. I still get the same weekly final expense direct mail leads. I simply sprinkle in Facebook leads. By doing this, I’ve brought down my Pay-Per-Lead. The PPL is the cost that it takes to generate each sale. This makes for a higher return on investment. Facebook leads cost less than final expense direct mail leads therefore, are a smart addition for final expense sales.
How to Set Appointments for DM and Facebook leads
There are some differences on what I say when calling different leads. In my opinion, you want to start calling the leads a day or 2 before you go out in the field. Actually, calling the day before is always the best as they will remember speaking with you. When it comes to final expense direct mail leads, I like to use a slightly different script than with Facebook leads. No matter what lead you are calling there are some things that must stay the same. First, always call the leads around 8 times on the day you are scheduling appointments. If you think you’re only going to call a few times, you will not be very successful. Second, make sure to be as Vague as possible. Do not mention “life insurance”. Use the words “benefit” and “final expenses” when you’re overcoming objections. Here is my direct mail leads script.
With final expense Facebook leads, always start calling them immediately, the day each lead comes in. This is important. If you dilly-dally around and wait a few days to call, you could easily allow the “sale” window to close. Not to say that you should stop working this lead after a few days! I keep calling and door knocking Facebook leads for months. The lead is dead once you’ve stood face to face with the prospect and either made a presentation, or been kicked off the property. Yes, giving up on a lead because they tell you off on the phone is what quitters do. Sales professionals push forward. Not only that but you won’t last very long in final expense sales if you give up easily. Here is the script that I use for calling Facebook leads. Notice the verbiage is different than final expense direct mail leads.
Setting up the ultimate Door Knocking situation
With final expense sales, all leads are different. They all have a different shelf life. They all have to be worked differently. You can door knock a direct mail lead a year later and show the prospect their handwriting. This makes for one heck of a shelf life. With final expense Facebook leads, it’s the polar opposite. A week later, and the prospect can easily forget about the online form they filled out. So, with final expense Facebook leads, you have to work them as they come in. Again, I suggest calling them 8 times a day for the first day or 2, then door knocking this lead within 24-48 hours. Here’s a tip. If the lead comes in during the middle of the day today, call that Facebook lead at least 6 times. On the last call, leave a message. Here is what you want to say.
This is the ultimate set up for a door knock. They know they filled out the form. You just reminded them about it. Now, when you happen to be in the prospects area, you can stop in to say hello. Yes, you can use this little technique for door knocking final expense direct mail leads too. As far as I’m concerned, this is a must for Facebook leads. Unless you’re just door knocking the lead! We have a lot of agents seeing success with the final expense Facebook lead by just going out and knocking on the prospects door. You can even do this on the day they fill out the form. There will be no doubt about them remembering, that’s for sure. When it comes to final expense sales, it’s important to do what you know works. A little creativity usually won’t hurt either.
Cost Differences – Facebook Leads vs Direct Mail Leads
Let’s talk about doing it yourself. Yes, you can actually generate your own Facebook leads. You can also use different companies to drop your own mail. With Facebook leads, the process is time staking. If you’re the type of person that is willing to try, try again, and keep on going, you might be able to figure out how to generate Facebook leads on your own. I can assure you that I have already been down this road. Let me describe myself a little bit. I write my own articles and post them on this website. It took time, but I did it. I do my own Search Engine Optimization too. I designed and built 2 websites before concluding that it’s better to hire someone for that. This is how I feel about Facebook leads after months of attempts. It’s doable, but more sensible to buy Facebook leads.
For final expense sales, the nice thing about direct mail is that there are plenty of companies that will drop the mail for you and also use their P.O. box for return mail. You can use a company like Target or Kramer and pay them to do the drops. They will also send you a copy of the leads, as they come in. The problem with this method is that there is no guaranteed on how many leads you will get. I recently spent around $1,200 to end up with 13 leads. To rub salt into the wound, I don’t think I even made a sale off of this batch. This is why “Fixed-Cost” direct mail leads is usually the better option. Yes, there are companies that will guarantee you a fixed price, per lead. Most top producers work fixed cost direct mail final expense leads over Facebook leads.
Why most NEW agents start with Final Expense Facebook leads
When it comes down to investment cost and return on investment, Facebook leads are a no-brainier. It only makes sense that newer agents start out by working final expense Facebook leads over direct mail leads. Here’s something we really haven’t gotten to yet. Sustainability vs Data! You see, there are a lot more seniors with mailing addresses than there are on Facebook. This means there is currently still a data issue for anyone thinking that they will be able to sustain a high level of sales by just working Facebook leads. In my experience, you will have to travel more often and further away from your home if you sell final expense insurance with Facebook leads, as a primary lead. No matter what, final expense direct mail leads is still king. Yes, you still will need to get onto fixed cost direct mail leads to keep your production up.
At United Final Expense Services, we suggest new agents work Facebook leads while cutting through the learning curve. After a couple of months, get on direct mail. Remember, direct mail is a lot more expensive and is a bit of a pain to get going. The trick with direct mail leads is to make sure you have a weekly amount of leads. Mail has to be dropped each week and this is why fixed cost direct mail leads is still the way to go for longevity in final expense sales. Now if you don’t mind traveling quite a bit, you can still work Facebook as a primary lead. Facebook and internet leads might become more sustainable as time goes, by but it’s also only a matter of time before the cost goes up and all of this changes. Like it did with telemarketed final expense leads and direct mail!
