The kinds of insurance lead
| Kind | Who the lead is | How it is usually found |
|---|---|---|
| Personal lines: car, home | A private individual | Referrals, your own marketing, lead services |
| Life and final expense | A private individual | Lead services, mail, referrals |
| Health and senior plans | A private individual | Lead services, with strict rules on contact |
| Commercial lines | A business | Direct contact, referrals from other professionals |
What this site does and does not sell
LeadsByCity sells lists of businesses. It sells no lists of private individuals: no life, final expense, health or car insurance leads, and nothing built from people’s ages, health or finances. The Prohibited Data Policy keeps that data off the Lead Market too.
So for the first three rows of the table, this guide can only describe the field. The fourth is where a list of businesses is the lead source.
Buying personal insurance leads: what to ask
If you buy leads of private individuals from a lead service, four questions decide whether they are worth the money:
- Is the lead sold to you alone, or to several agents at once?
- How old is it when it reaches you? An enquiry is worth most in its first minutes.
- Did the person agree to be contacted about insurance, by the channel you will use, and can the seller show it?
- What happens to a lead with a wrong number or no interest: is it credited?
The third question is not a formality. Rules on calling and messaging individuals about insurance are strict in most countries, stricter still for health and senior products, and the agent who makes the call answers for it. Check the rules where you work before you buy.
Commercial lines: the prospect is a business
Every business needs cover of some kind: liability, property, vehicles, and cover for its employees where the law requires it. Unlike a household, a business publishes its name, its trade, its address and its phone number. That makes commercial prospecting a matter of choosing a class of business and working through it.
Choosing by class is how commercial agents already think. A roofer, a restaurant and an accountant have different risks, different policies and different renewal conversations. An agent who knows one class well can say something specific to every business in it.
| Class of business | Why it suits a specialist | The lists |
|---|---|---|
| Building trades | Liability and cover for employees are often a condition of getting work | General contractor leads |
| Roofers | A high-risk trade that many insurers price carefully | Roofer leads |
| Restaurants | Premises, staff, the public and food under one roof | Restaurant leads |
| Auto repair shops | Customers' vehicles in their care, and tools worth insuring | Auto repair shop leads |
| Dentists and other practices | Professional liability alongside the premises | Dentist leads |
| Daycare centers | A duty of care that makes cover a first concern | Daycare center leads |
The lead finder shows how many businesses of a class there are in any city, with sample rows before you pay. From there the method is the one in local lead generation: one class, one area, one specific message, and a note of each renewal date you learn.
Referrals from other professionals
Some professionals meet people at the moment they need a policy. They are businesses too, and can be listed and approached:
| Who | When their clients need insurance | The lists |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage brokers | Lenders usually want home insurance in place before a loan completes | Mortgage broker leads |
| Real estate agents | Buyers need cover from the day they complete | Real estate agent leads |
| Car dealerships | A buyer needs cover before driving the car away | Car dealership leads |
| Accountants | They see when a business client is under-insured or starting up | Accountant leads |
| Financial advisors | Life cover is part of the plans they draw up | Financial advisor leads |
If you sell to insurance agencies
Software companies, lead services and carriers who search for insurance leads sometimes mean agencies to sell to. For that, the list is the agencies themselves: insurance agent leads by country and city.
Questions and answers
- What are insurance leads?
- People or businesses that may buy an insurance policy and can be contacted. Personal lines, life and health leads are private individuals, usually found through referrals or bought from lead services. Commercial leads are businesses, which can be found directly because they publish their details.
- How do I get commercial insurance leads?
- Choose a class of business you can insure well, such as building trades or restaurants, get a list of every such business in your area, and contact each with a message specific to that class. Note the renewal dates you learn and come back before them.
- Does LeadsByCity sell life, health or final expense leads?
- No. Those are leads of private individuals, and LeadsByCity sells lists of businesses only. It can supply the businesses for commercial lines prospecting, and lists of professionals who refer insurance clients.
- Are shared insurance leads worth buying?
- A shared lead is sold to several agents, so speed decides who wins it and the price reflects that. Whether it pays depends on your close rate. Track cost for each policy written, and check that the person agreed to be contacted in the way you plan to contact them.