--:-- Ryan Hanley: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the show. Today, we have a topic that is near and dear to my heart: inbound leads in the insurance industry. This is something many people talk about, but few have had the experience I've had dealing with literally thousands, tens of thousands of leads in multiple different formats.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: To give you a feel for what I mean, back in the good old days with the Murray Group, over eight years, we averaged somewhere between 85 to 100 leads a month. I was doing that on a $100 budget, making every mistake, wasting time, energy, and content all over the place. I was cutting my teeth on what inbound marketing and content marketing were. These are terms that aren't used as much today; it's more like digital marketing or brand building. But the core principles were built around these ideas of inbound and content marketing from 2010 to 2018.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: When I was doing this for the Murray Group, I learned that by answering simple questions consistently received from your target market and putting them online—written in my preferred format, video, as well as others—generates inbound opportunities. People find you. They see that you know what you're talking about. They understand that you have expertise. They may appreciate the way you look, talk, your feel, your authenticity, whether hyper-professional or casual. It could be a connection to a niche market. Whatever it is, they connect with it. They build trust with you in the digital environment. And when they have a problem, they reach out to you.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Transitioning into the second phase of my career as the Chief Marketing Officer for TrustedChoice.com and Agency Nation, I got to teach these principles and see the results in real agencies across the country. Through Agency Nation, I taught a lot of these principles. Through the lead delivery system that TrustedChoice.com has, we watched the results of agencies across the country—how they handled inbound leads, leads delivered via warm call transfer and leads delivered via email or data leads. We identified obstacles, blind spots, and easily solved problems.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Pushing through that and continuing to apply the results in my own personal brand, whether you're listening to this podcast or seeing it on social or on the YouTube channel, eventually coming to the agency I founded, sold, and exited—Rogue Risk. In less than four years, we applied these principles and saw massive growth. Over this time, I consulted with just under two dozen clients on the side, and I've been able to see this work over and over again.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: I believe that inbound marketing, generating opportunities that reach out to us, is one of the most important aspects of scaling and growing an agency. Cold calling is amazing. I have no problem with cold calling. Outbound prospecting, whether it's cold calling, cold emailing, or using tools like Loom for targeted, personalized outreach, can be highly effective. On a one-to-one basis, these methods can generate real revenue and wealth over time. However, if you're trying to scale an agency, the best way to do that is not to hire, hire, hire cold callers and spend tons of time training them, hoping some percentage hit and produce results. Instead, build a team of closers that are tremendous at closing inbound leads.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The title of this video is "Stop Selling Inbound Insurance Leads," and I firmly believe that. What is the difference between closing and selling? Selling is where we feel the need to inject ourselves into the process. If we're doing inbound right, we're not part of the process. This is why I believe we're going to do future videos on this here at Finding Peak. If you're part of our training programs or one of our coaching clients, we dive deep into this topic—how to recruit closers versus producers or account executives.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: A closer is a different personality, a different psychological profile, sitting between outbound hunters and account executives. Hunters want to write a piece of business and post it on LinkedIn for likes and hand clap emojis. Account executives are more about nurturing and caring, solving service-related issues, and retaining business. What happens in many agencies is that we try to take someone from either bucket and turn them into an inside sales rep. Neither profile exactly matches an inbound sales rep. I call this third production position a closer.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The difference is that a closer closes business; they do not sell insurance. I learned this from the very first inbound lead I ever got. In 2011, I had been writing blog posts on my ex-father-in-law's agency's website for six months. A woman called me named Virginia. She said, "Hi, Ryan, you don't know me. My name is Virginia. I'm from Clifton Park, 20 minutes from your agency. I've been reading your blog posts for a few months now, and I want you to handle my insurance."
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Virginia was already sold. She wanted to work with me, with the mindset I had. She didn't want a quote; she wanted me to look through her insurance, make sure she had the right stuff, and give her the best price. My job was to close the business, not sell her insurance. If I tried to sell her, she would have balked. She didn't want to be sold; she wanted me to solve her problem.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Another example is the first inbound lead at Rogue Risk. A contractor found a video on YouTube about workers' compensation for painters. He had hired two guys and needed workers' comp to get on job sites. He didn't want to be sold; he wanted help. I wrote the policy, and two months later, I wrote the general liability. A year later, I wrote the commercial auto. If I had pushed for all his insurance upfront, he wouldn't have done business with me. He had a problem, and I solved it.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: [pauses] If you're loving this episode, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform, I'd love for you to subscribe, share, comment if you're on YouTube, leave a rating or review on Spotify or Apple iTunes. This helps the show grow and brings more guests in. They check out comments, ratings, and reviews before coming on. Share the show, subscribe, and leave a comment. I read all the comments. If you're on Apple or Spotify, leave a rating or review. I love you for listening to this show and hope you enjoy it as much as I do creating it. [returns to the episode]
--:-- Ryan Hanley: On inbound leads, what people are saying is, "I have a problem." Your job is to solve that problem. If you're doing outbound, you want the whole account. But on inbound, they're raising their hand, saying, "I have a problem." Solve their problem; don't try to sell them insurance. If you try to sell them upfront, they'll ghost you. They don't care about your business model; they just want their problem solved.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: If you're looking at low conversion rates or getting ghosted, it's likely because you're trying to sell when they just want their problem solved. If you can change that mindset, you can maximize the lifetime value of that customer. Solve their problem, and then use your CRM, automation, and AE team to upsell, cross-sell, ask for reviews, and referrals.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: If you're ready to stop losing opportunities and start winning, visit masteroftheclose.com. This is the exact method we use to close 1,200 clients in under three years during the pandemic. No fluff, no endless follow-ups, just results. Based on behavioral psychology and battle-tested, the one-call-close system eliminates excuses and gets prospects saying yes more than you ever thought possible.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: If you enjoy this content, if this is something you're interested in, I love you for being part of Finding Peak and this community. If you're watching on YouTube, love for you to subscribe and leave a comment. If you're listening on the podcast, share this with friends. I love you. I believe the next 10 years are wide open for those who adopt the technology, systems, processes, and cultural mindsets of inbound. Those agencies will stand out and grow. At Finding Peak, that's what we're helping agencies do. I love you for listening. I'm out of here. Peace. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
