How to Generate Annuity Insurance Leads

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There are a number of ways that you can generate high quality annuity insurance leads if you are an agent. While finding prospective clients may be a time consuming task, it is the base of your business. No matter what types of great annuity programs that you have to offer, if there is no one there to hear about them you are in trouble. As annuity programs become more and more diverse, the pool of potential clients gets larger and larger. By generating solid annuity insurance leads you will be able to match up your clients with the annuity programs that will best suit their needs.

The number one goal in setting up leads is to schedule an appointment between a qualified potential client and an insurance agent. If the prospective client is not qualified to purchase an annuity, agents are better off saving their time and mailing that person literature on their annuity programs so that they can schedule an appointment when their financial circumstances improve. There are a number of ways that you can obtain information that will lead you to clients that fit specific criterion.

If you have been considering a campaign to garner a lot of annuity insurance leads, you need a strong strategy. Start be compiling a list of potential clients based on income requirements and other information that you can assemble that will help to generate a list of clients that will be able to meet your specific guidelines. Send out a bulk mailer introducing your self and your agency and the types of annuity programs that you have to offer.

The next step would be to do follow up calls after the mailer went out. If potential clients phone you back after receiving the mailer and are interested in your financial services, deal with them first and then call the other prospective clients that you sent out the mailer to in order to generate interest. Your goal here is to set up appointments where you can sit down face to face with your potential client and sell them your annuity program.

You can also host seminars in order to garner annuity insurance leads. Many agents choose to host these types of seminars at hotels in conference rooms. By providing your potential clients with some refreshments and an opportunity to network, these seminars can be successful in attracting local businessmen that may be interested in purchasing annuities.

Annuity Selling Systems

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When it comes to sales training, not all programs are created equal. This applies especially to an area as crowded as the financial products space, which includes insurance, annuities, mutual funds, etc. In a universe where products are often as indistinguishable as they are odd, it takes solid training and solid support to be able to convey how a product is at once unique but also not so unique that has no place in a client’s risk management portfolio. Annuity selling systems are offered by most large underwriters and marketers, but just as there are ways to discern bad products from good ones, there are also ways to tell a good system from a bad one; you just have to kick the tires a bit.

First, consider the support you will be getting, because if you are a normal salesperson, chances are you will need it. Leads, alas, do not fall out of the sky like rain, and so a selling system that integrates a system of annuity leads will be instrumental in your success. If you won’t have access to good leads, you won’t sell as much – no matter how good the product is.

Next, consider how good the product is. Is it unique? Does it add value to something that is already out there to make it better? In the annuity world, leverage and downside protection are two features that make variable products especially unique, as does access to a wide range of underlying investments like currencies, commodities, or other investment strategies.

The third you thing should look for in an annuity selling system is a commitment to the customer on the part of underwriter or product wholesaler. Companies that spend all of their time developing salespeople to manipulate are not customers that last – as the recent financial crisis has shown us quite poignantly. Instead, companies that show their salespeople how to actually help their customers, either by providing more solutions or simply by providing timely free advice, is a way to make clients happy and build a lasting relationship that will assist the business’s growth fare more than sleazy pitches.

Last, consider the established target market. Is the company a college start-up geared to help you sell to college students? If so, do you think you can realistically sell enough to make a living? Do you think the product is suited to that market? A good selling system will integrate all the important aspects of making clients happy and delivering results to the agent that will trickle down to the company’s bottom line: a winning situation for everyone.

How to Sell Annuities

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Across all industries, financial or otherwise, it is widely accepted that skilled salespeople are skilled salespeople and that particular product knowledge does not necessarily make a better salesperson. Yet what is widely accepted is not always right, if we take today’s economic turmoil as any indication. Product knowledge and passion, along with real empathy with your product’s target market, is invaluable as a salesperson in any business. There is a tried and true method to teach people how to sell annuities and it is one that involves exactly this: building product knowledge; learning how the product you are selling is special and unique and why it is better than other products; learning who your product appeals to and how to find them; learning how to talk to them by understanding their personalities, their common goals and their common fears; and aligning yourself with a brand that is recognized as a leader both because it is the mark of a stable company and of real innovation and value-adding enhancements.

In other words, almost anyone can learn how to sell annuities; but learning how requires real learning and not just a good knack at schmoozing. It means knowing where to find the best leads and how to hedge downside risk out of a portfolio; it means learning what issues are most important and what the common concerns are about the annuity you’re selling.

This kind of education can be acquired over years of practice – if you can earn enough money to feed yourself through the trials and tribulations. A smarter idea is to align yourself with a company – an underwriter or a broker – that is willing to invest in your success by providing you with real classroom education on your product and who will provide you with leads that will translate into a commission for you and a sale for them – a sale that will propel their brand and your business into a more lucrative future.

Some people believe that great salespeople are born; they aren’t: they’re made. Knowledge of the product, a passion for it, and an understanding of how best to access and address the customer are far better foundations for success than the ability to schmooze your way into a sale. Whether it’s mortgages, insurance, or widgets, remembering that sales can be learned (and are learned on everyday basis!) will keep you humble – and well-fed.

Annuity Prospects

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Veteran salespeople in all industries know that sales skills can only get them so far. Just as it is notoriously hard to sell ice to Eskimos, it is also hard to sell anything to anyone who already has it or has no interest in hearing about what it is you’re selling — something cold calling continually reminds us of. Financial professionals are thus wasting their time by chasing after customers without any savings just as the ice salesman is wasting his time chasing Eskimos – waste that is measured in the hours and dollars spent not chasing after high net worth individuals (or overheated rich men, in the case of our ice peddler.)

For the experienced insurance salesperson, good annuity prospects are bankable. Depending on the source of the leads, conversion rates among prospects can pierce well into the double-digits, making the leads a very valuable thing to waste. Recently, lead generation itself has become big business, as websites have popped up all over the web aimed at soliciting information for casual would-be buyers that is then sold to salespeople eager to make a commission. But while leads generated from individuals with expressed curiosity are better than no leads at all, an alliance with a company that has a strong brand and an established relationship within the high net worth demographic – doctors and business owners, for instance – cannot be overvalued. Annuity prospects generated by reputable companies with wealthy clients are not only more likely to become annuity buyers, they are also more likely to plunk down a lot more in principle for an annuity product, translating into a larger commission with a lot less work.

Some salespeople are born talkers. In five minutes on the phone, it seems they really could convince an Eskimo to buy ice from them. But for most of us in the real world, personality and despicable fear mongering isn’t going to sell as many products as it is going to make us hated. Making sales requires marketing to the right people with the right message at the right time; it requires selling the right product – one that is tried and true, that is trusted, and that has a real place in the customer’s life.

By acquiring leads from inferior sources, you risk shooting yourself in the foot and missing out on real opportunities to sell something to someone who really wants it.

Annuity Sales Leads

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When it comes to selling insurance and financial products, few things are more valuable than good leads. In the mortgage business, brokers will often pay upwards of $200 for a lead to someone with demonstrated interest in taking out home equity, refinancing, or taking a mortgage. With commissions pushing well into five figures, a conversion of only 1% still leads to returns on the investment in leads of well over 100%. Since insurance policies and annuities often carry principle on par with mortgages and commissions that match, leads can often generate even higher returns for those products because leads tend be less expensive and in some cases can be free. Solid annuity sales leads are therefore a very high value proposition.

Every salesperson knows that networking is tantamount to free leads. But allying yourself with a reputable broker or a reputable underwriter of policies gives you a real advantage over your competition. Underwriters and brokers have amassed large marketing campaigns aimed at acquiring the vital leads their affiliates need in order to sell their product. Agencies that target higher net worth individuals in particular, who generate more of their money from underwriting than from the leads they sell to outsiders, will provide the most useful leads and are the most desirable ally for anyone looking to make real money selling proven products to individuals who want to grow their wealth and manage their portfolio risk by guaranteeing themselves income in retirement or income to their heirs. Agencies who are able to leverage their clients’ investments on top of that will create much higher principle amounts that will translate into a higher value product for their clients sold at a lower margin and a higher commission for the broker selling it, allowing them to take market share not only because of their highly motivated sales force but also because of their reputation for providing a great, value-added product.

Teaming up with the right company is just as (if not more) important than any cold-calling skills. Brand equity and a solid flow of good annuity sales leads will allow the motivated salesperson to earn as much as they want inasmuch as they are willing to put in the work for it.

Are you getting the sales leads that you need to succeed? If not, consider a partner with access to higher net worth individuals, access to leverage, and a product that is loved by its buyers.

Annuity Marketing

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With financial markets in a funk that could be here for quite some time, many savers are looking for a good place to park their savings – someplace where they will be safe and earn higher interest than what they earn in a money market, or someplace where it can provide them with income to cover regular expenses like gas, groceries, utilities, and prescriptions. Annuity marketing materials give savvy financial planners the opportunity to turn fear into security. With the phobia associated with complicated financial instruments and derivatives ingrained daily by the US media, annuities are a proverbial comfort food. Yet advancements in the way that they are structured and leveraged give them as much as flexibility and as much growth potential as other financial products, and usually do so with much less volatility.

Buyers of annuities share a few things in common that are worth noting. These characteristics will remind professional brokers and homebodies alike of many of the people they work with or know.

First, annuity buyers tend to be risk-averse. Annuities offer stability because the principle is usually protected. Also, exposure to market downside is often hedged. In addition, a preference toward annuitized payments suggests fear about either outliving money or about not being able to earn an equal rate of return in a regularly-invested portfolio.

Second, annuity buyers have often sold a valuable asset or have an asset like a business or rental property that generates cash that can be put toward growing principle or can be financed on a discounted basis to augment the initial principle in the case that current interest rates are perceived to be more favorable than future ones. Recent sellers of homes or businesses, or doctors and lawyers whose businesses are valued entirely through accounts receivable are often good candidates because they look for ways to leverage their access to capital and yield.

Lastly, anyone interested in annuity marketing should be mindful that the best annuity customers are often ones seeking stellar returns. A variety of new annuity strategies have been implemented recently that allow investors to place principle into alternative investment vehicles that provide a vehicle for outsized returns – and the risk for this investment can often be hedged for a small premium as well. Moreover, as previously mentioned, customers are now able to leverage their principle, allowing them to magnify their returns on even bonds, as the spread between the cost of borrowing and the yield earned can generate tremendous returns when compounded over the long run.

Selling Annuity

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When it comes to retirement planning, selling annuity products is an important part of every financial planner’s arsenal. Whether it’s because annuities offer stability or because a leveraged annuity strategy is a proven way to build wealth, demand for annuities is large and it is bound to grow in light of recent market turmoil. Since annuities are like hybrids between bonds and insurance policies, selling annuities is really not more complicated than either of these, and often the client will be more receptive upon hearing that principle is protected.

Annuities function a lot like insurance contracts insofar as they will often take into account the clients’ age when a determination about payments is made; but they are also a lot like bond inasmuch as they provide fractional payments of interest against principle – often a fixed payment (in a fixed annuity) but other times variable, based on the performance of underlying assets. Leveraged annuities are truly unique because they allow business owners with significant cash flow from operations to leverage an initial principle investment with borrowed money, the cost of which is covered by the underlying asset’s interest yield or else by the buyer of the annuity through additional contributions; but they are as neatly packaged as any other variable or fixed-rate annuities and as easy sellable.

Selling annuity products has radically changed the lives of the planners and brokers who provide them to the clients, in addition to improving the lives of clients who buy them by offering stability and a real shot at growing wealth. As insurance-like products, annuities offer salespeople the opportunity to earn significant commissions as a percentage of principle. Since many annuity buyers will invest 50% or more of their net worth into structured products like annuities, principle amounts commonly exceed $500k and $1m in higher net worth categories, providing significant earning potential to motivated salespeople.

Annuities have existed for a long time and will continue to proliferate because they are a unique solution to the problem of balancing income, stability, and growth. For receiving all three of these, clients can of course expect to pay a premium; and by gaining access to leverage through their own businesses’ working capital, they can also expect to reap benefits from the wealth created by nearly risk-free interest payments compounding over time. For giving clients peace of mind and a shot at building wealth with lower risk than other assets, sellers of annuities can also expect to receive great satisfaction, handsome commissions, and repeat business.

Annuity Sell

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With financial markets around the world in total shambles, many investors are looking to the security of principle-protected investments – US Treasuries being the paradigm. Yields on long-term Treasury bonds have fallen to historical lows, hovering just around 3% as investors flock to the safety and stability of the “full faith and credit” of the US taxpayer. Yet with a yield that more or less mimics the average inflation rate of the past 10 years, how is anyone planning on retiring or sending a child to college supposed to build wealth with such tiny yields?

One of the greatest annuity sell points is that, while in many ways an annuity acts like a bond, it also acts like an equity inasmuch as principle can grow when the market goes up. Depending on the annuity, the buyer will pay a small premium to protect principal – usually in the form of options bought by the annuity’s administrator – so that he or she can capitalize on appreciation when underlying investments like equity or bond index funds rally out of a bear market. Now more than ever, variable annuities hold tremendous appeal because they protect to the downside while also promising significant upside in the likely event the market corrects over the next 5-7 years.

Financial planners’ customers realize more than ever the importance of capital preservation. Only through the preservation of principle can wealth really grow, and only with a secure income can anyone ever feel confident about their financial future. By providing consistent cash flow, much of which can be used to augment the annuity’s principle, annuities hold the promise of growing nest eggs for those who don’t have the stomach for stock market volatility; and a consistent cash flow is also an appealing proposition in the nearer term, where deflationary pressures are making each future dollar look more and more valuable.

Competent retirement planners owe it to their customers to walk their customers through all the annuity sell points. Whether it’s a fixed rate, variable, or leveraged product, anyone serious about building wealth for clients should provide these valuable investment options. And with more and more people re-thinking their wealth-building strategies, there is real value in an advisor who can promise lower volatility without getting into any trouble.

Annuities are in high demand now and the demand for them will undoubtedly continue to grow as investors embark on the proverbial ‘flight to safety.’ By offering a selection to their clients now, financial planners can be sure to catch this big market move.

Annuity Insurance Leads

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Every insurance salesperson knows that leads are invaluable in the generation of life-sustaining commissions. While friends and family are a great place to start marketing, eventually one learns that there aren’t enough friends and family to make a career out of insurance and annuity sales. Great annuity insurance leads are hard to come by, especially as the space for providing them gets more and more crowded. One has to expect that, eventually, customers will be able to comparison shop from providers offering a commodity policy; but until that day – and the diversity of products out there seems to suggest that the day of commodity annuities is quite a ways away – sales leads and the personalized attention that follows them up will undoubtedly generate the most commissions for anyone who is genuinely interested in improving the lives of savers by providing them with valuable stability.

Leads have a number of points of origination, some of which are more effective than others. The most common but least reliable leads come from firms that aggregate demographic data and mine out the ‘types’ of people who purchase annuities for you to cold call. Other leads are hotter. For instance, many websites exist for the sole purpose of providing annuity quotes. Interested parties enter their contact information to receive a quote along with some basic policy information – principle, desired monthly payment, duration, age, etc – and that information is forward to a buyer of the information so that they can be engaged for a discussion and potential sale.

There are other lead generators as well. Independent brokers who don’t deal in insurance products or annuities will often make alliances with brokers in return for reciprocal references. These leads are often the most fruitful because a client who trusts his broker will trust the lead-getter by virtue of their relationship; and why not, since we say we can judge a person by the company he or she keeps?

Finally, many underwriters of annuity products will provide leads to their own salespeople. It is up to those salespeople to reach out to interested parties. This sort of support isn’t universal in the annuity business, but some companies believe that giving good annuity insurance leads to their sales force will enhance their long-term success by incentivizing the salesperson to sell a product that makes them and the company a good bit of money while also providing a real solution to the end customer.

Buy Annuity

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When considering whether or not to buy annuity products from a trusted financial advisor or broker, clients need to feel like they are well-informed and fully educated if there is any chance that they’ll disregard the media smear campaign against the annuity industry and actually pursue their own self-interest by purchasing the security and protection that comes from a structured product like an annuity. There are a few common misconceptions about annuities that should be addressed from the get-go, most of which have to do with the different types of annuities – variable and fixed rate – and the different features of them.

To begin with, any good financial advisor will advise on the difference between a variable and fixed rate annuity, being sure to explain that fixed rate annuities are regulated at the state level and have limited upside through defined payments whereas variable annuities are subject to market exposure but have access to significant growth of principle in the likely scenario that equity indexes record positive returns over the long-run. It should also be noted that there are a variety of ways to ensure against loss of principle in variable rate annuities through the purchase of an insurance contract like an option to sell the equity index at its current price, though the cost of the insurance is high and many variable annuities actually include other structured products or derivatives in their portfolio to hedge against equity prices sliding.

Next, it is worth discussing the difference between deferred and immediate annuities. Whereas immediate annuities will begin paying out immediately, deferred annuities will not pay out until after a set period of time. Deferred annuities are often considered to be a good way to save and build wealth, since interest compounds on the principle before that principle translates into regular annuitized payments.

Third, the distinction between a fixed period and lifetime annuity is worth discussing. Whereas a fixed period annuity might give provide higher current income, the prospect of outliving a fixed period by a decade or even too is enough to make most risk-averse people consider a lifetime annuity, which will continue providing payments to them until they die. (Annuities can even be structured to pay a surviving spouse until he/she dies as well.)

Finally, the taxability of an annuity should always be transparent. Only income from annuities in tax-free accounts is not taxable – these are ‘qualified’ annuities. The rest of income is taxable as normal income, or as a function of underlying investments, depending on the individual.

This sort of clarity should make it easier for all those who might buy annuity products to trust the person selling it to them; and with trust being a commodity in scarce supply these days, clarity is the key to making the sale.

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