One of our top referral sources last year was one of our biggest competitors.
They couldn’t fill their orders. Instead of stringing agents along, they told them the truth and gave them my number. We share a lot of mutual clients, so they knew our work from agents who were buying from both of us. I was surprised, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Referrals are how we’ve stayed in business since 2010. They come from marketers at FMOs and IMOs, from our existing clients, and from former clients who come back. This article is about the FMO and IMO side. I recently wrote about why agents should think twice before joining an FMO lead program. This is the other side of that story: what a partnership looks like when it works, and what I’ve learned from 16 years of working with FMOs.
Why FMOs Partner Instead of Building Their Own
FMOs specialize in distribution. Lead generation is a different business, and there are real advantages to keeping the two separate.
Look at any FMO’s roster and the 80-20 rule shows up. A small group of agents, often about 10%, does a very large share of the business. Those relationships are the most valuable thing an FMO has, and the last thing you want to do is put them at risk.
Agents have very high expectations for marketing and leads. They’re not easy to make happy. When a lead program runs in-house and goes badly, the FMO takes the blame from the same producers who may write more than half its business. When you partner with an outside company, the vendor takes that blame instead.
So why do so many FMOs build their own programs anyway? In my experience, it comes down to control. They want full control over the leads and the marketing assets. What they don’t always weigh is the cost, and the risk of upsetting their queen bees, the top producers who carry the business.
Making agents happy with marketing is hard. Over the years, we’ve had agents earn 30 times or more what they spent on leads, spending $1,000 and making $30,000 to $50,000, and still quit and talk badly about us. Many of them never come back. It’s crazy to say, but it’s true. Some people are never going to be happy. In my opinion, the smarter FMOs stay out of the middle of that.
“When a lead program goes badly, someone takes the blame. It’s better if it isn’t the FMO holding your top producers’ contracts.”
It’s also hard to do well. We’ve watched many FMOs launch lead programs that failed. Even publishing companies have tried to create annuity leads and decided it wasn’t worth the effort. It was too painful for them.
Plenty of people in this industry know the products. And most lead companies are run by marketing people who don’t know the industry. What’s different about my background is that I have all the pieces at once. I’ve sold annuities myself, and I’ve spent years in direct response marketing, copywriting and media buying, including more than eight figures of my own money learning what it takes to produce leads agents can close. That combination is what separates us from most lead companies.
Your Best Agents Will Be Our Best Agents
FMOs understand something about leads that individual agents often don’t, because you see production across thousands of producers. You already know some agents do better than others, whatever program they’re in.
I tell FMOs this all the time: your best clients will be our best clients, and your worst clients will be our worst clients. Sixteen years of results have borne that out.
“Your best clients will be our best clients, and your worst clients will be our worst clients.”
About 10 years ago, we worked with an FMO that was recruiting heavily. Most of the agents it sent us were lower to mid-range producers, and some had trouble converting the leads. Management decided our leads might be the problem, so over the next several years it sent the same agents to about a dozen other lead companies.
One of my contacts there later told me what they found. The results were the same everywhere. The leads weren’t the problem. The agents’ follow-up was. The agents who failed with one program failed with all of them. Changing the lead program doesn’t fix a conversion problem.
That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from working with large organizations: who gets the leads matters as much as the leads themselves. For agents who can sell, getting in the door is the hard part. Agents tell us that once they’re sitting with one of our prospects, they usually close at least half of those appointments.
But when an agent sits down with qualified people who have money and still can’t get an application signed, that’s not a lead problem. It’s a selling problem, and no lead company can fix it. That’s why the agents you refer matter so much. You can read more about what our most successful clients do differently.
This is also why more choices haven’t necessarily made things better for agents. With so many programs available, it’s easy to blame the lead source and move on to the next vendor without fixing the real issue. Then the same problem shows up again.
How a Referral Works
Most FMOs introduce agents to us the same simple way.
It usually starts when an agent asks their marketer about leads, appointments or marketing, or about getting in front of more people. That’s when the marketer brings us up. They email the agent information about our program, include our website or a few links, and copy me. I reply to both of them: nice to meet you, here’s my direct number, call me if you’d like to talk about the program. Then the ball is in the agent’s court.
All three of us are connected, it keeps things organized, and I know who made the referral. We track where every agent comes from, whether that’s an FMO, a specific marketer, an existing client or our website.
Some FMOs go bigger. They’ll host a webinar where I explain the program and send it to their whole group, or their marketers will mention us to other agents they work with. A webinar can bring in a lot of calls at once. It may take us a few days to catch up, but that’s a good problem.
What we don’t do is hound anyone. After we talk to an agent, I don’t call them a bajillion times. We answer their questions, send them information, and let them decide. We want to be a trusted vendor, and badgering people isn’t how you become one.
We’re also brutally honest about what to expect, from the lead flow in their area to the problems they’ll run into and the contact and close rates. Agents are salespeople, and they know when they’re being sold. So I don’t try to sell them. The better prepared an agent is before they start, the better they tend to do, the longer they stay, and the happier they are with the FMO that referred them.
“If you refer an agent to us, their experience with our program is an extension of you.”
We take that seriously. If an agent you refer has a bad experience with us, it reflects on you. That’s why our site has so many long articles and videos about how the leads work, who succeeds and who doesn’t.
There are no long-term contracts. If an agent isn’t getting results, they can stop anytime. Agents like that. FMOs like it too. And I like it, because I don’t want to work with anyone who doesn’t want to work with us.
What Your Marketers Can Do
We handle the leads. Your marketers are there for everything that comes after: case design, putting together information for the prospect, and turning leads into cases.
The biggest thing they can add is accountability. Most agents follow up well for the first few weeks. After that, it often slips. A quick check-in from a marketer, asking how the follow-up on a proposal is going, works the same way a coach does. Just knowing someone will ask can be enough to make an agent follow up more than they otherwise would.
It also helps when the leadership believes in the program. One FMO we’ve worked with for several years is a good example. Its founder has worked our leads himself, so when he recommends us, his agents know it isn’t just a pitch. I think that belief has helped them succeed.
Setting Up a Group Program
You don’t have to build any of this yourself. The advertising, scrubbing, territory software and delivery already exist. We set the program up around how your organization works.
If you came to us wanting leads for 50 or 100 agents, here’s what we’d need to know:
- Which territories you want covered.
- Who will pay for the leads.
- Whether your agents will know who we are, or whether you’d like us to stay in the background.
- Where the leads should go, including any CRM you want them sent into.
- Who should be notified on the leads in each state or territory. For example, for Arizona leads you might want the marketer, the agent covering Arizona and an admin person at your FMO notified. We set up our software so every Arizona lead goes to all three instantly, and we can set it up differently for every market you work.
- How you’d like to pay.
If several of your agents are in the same market, our software can set up separate territories for each one. But I’d usually recommend limiting a market to your best two agents. Keeping fewer people in a market helps keep the lead flow steady. Our leads are exclusive, so each lead goes to one agent only.
Whoever pays for the leads on the signed agreement owns the data. If you’re referring agents and they sign up themselves, the agents own their leads. If your FMO pays and is on the agreement, the FMO owns them. Make sure everyone understands that from the start.
We’re also open to white labeling. Whether it makes sense depends on who works the leads. If your own team works them, your agents may not need to know who we are. If your agents work the leads themselves, it usually helps for us to be involved, because we can help them succeed. Either way, what matters to me is that they do well and stay with the program.
Taking Care of Your People
We’ve worked with more than 3,000 clients. When I look at our 50 to 75 worst experiences, they almost all had a bad start, and those agents were more likely to have unrealistic expectations. That’s what we try to counter before anyone signs up.
So when a new client starts off rough, we slow down and reset expectations, even if that means they decide to stop. I’d rather they stop early than spend a lot more money and end up more upset later.
When someone raises a concern, we slow their lead flow first, so a small problem doesn’t turn into a big one. Then we look at the whole picture and work it out with them. If you referred that agent, we want them taken care of. Their experience with us is part of your reputation, and we want them to succeed and stay.
How We Handle Compliance
About a year and a half ago, I hired a law firm that specializes in the TCPA to review all of our marketing. We implemented their recommendations.
I’ve also been very intentional about our ads. What gets people in trouble in this industry is promising high returns. We don’t do that. We don’t promise anything the products can’t easily deliver, nothing an agent couldn’t back up by looking the rates up on Annuity Rate Watch. I’m very picky about what goes into our marketing messages, because we want to build trust with consumers and produce a high-quality lead. This whole industry runs on trust, and you don’t build trust by lying to people at the start of the relationship. It’s simply the wrong thing to do.
Why We’ve Never Become an FMO
Since 2011 or 2012, people have been telling me I’d become a billionaire if I’d just tie my lead program to contracts and start recruiting agents. I’ve never wanted to.
Part of it is competition. For most of our history, there have only been a handful of legitimate annuity lead programs. I’d rather be one of four or five companies that can deliver than one of 200 or 300 FMOs.
That matters more now than it used to. In the last few years, several lead companies have decided to become FMOs themselves, because it’s a way to make more money. That’s the route they chose. I’ve stayed independent for 16 years. It’s not something I want to do, and if I did, I would have done it a long time ago. A lot of the companies we compete with can’t say that.
The other reason came from our clients. I’ve surveyed them several times, and the better producers don’t want to switch their contracts. The agents who will switch are usually the ones who aren’t doing much business. So a lead program that requires a contract switch tends to attract the agents least likely to succeed with leads.
“The better producers don’t want to switch their contracts. The ones who will usually aren’t doing much business.”
Because we’re not an FMO, we don’t care where your agents place their business. Our relationship with them is about one thing: the leads and what they produce from them.
That also means we have to keep earning referrals. Every year, agents retire, pass away, leave the business or simply stop needing leads. We have to bring on about 100 new clients a year just to stay even. A good reputation with FMOs and IMOs isn’t a nice extra for us. It’s how we stay in business.
What We Don’t Require From Your Agents
When you send an agent to us, they stay yours. Here’s what working with us doesn’t involve:
- We don’t recruit your agents or offer them contracts.
- They don’t move their carrier contracts or change FMOs.
- We don’t set production requirements.
- There’s no long-term commitment. They can stop anytime.
If You’re Deciding Whether to Build or Partner
We’ve supplied leads every day to one FMO for more than five years. That’s a good sign their agents are getting results.
If you’re an FMO executive deciding whether to build your own lead program or partner with an experienced supplier, here’s what I’d tell you. Lead generation is harder than it looks, and it’s harder now than it was 10 years ago, when there were far fewer programs competing. Your top producers have high expectations. If your own program disappoints them, you’ll take the blame from the people who matter most to your business.
Partnering lets you do what you do best: recruit, support and grow your agents. We do the part we’ve spent 16 years learning. And if something goes wrong, it’s on us, not you.
Want to Talk It Through?
If you’re wondering whether our program would work for your organization, I’d be glad to talk it over with you. I’m the main contact for FMOs and IMOs, and I work with them directly.
Call us at (888) 288-1712 and ask to speak with Scott. Whether you want to refer a few agents or set up a program for 50 or 100, we can figure out together whether it’s a good fit.
More Resources
About Our Lead Program
- Common Questions About Our Annuity Leads: pricing, territories, billing, refunds and how the program works.
- How We Scrub Our Leads: what our team checks before a lead ever reaches you, and why more than half never do.
- Working Our Annuity Leads: the opening script, the overnight package and the follow-up process our best clients use.
- Testimonials From Our Clients: audio testimonials from agents and advisors who use our leads.
- Free Training Video: how top producers work high-quality annuity leads.
- About Us: who we are and how we’ve run the business since 2010.
Articles
- Why Insurance Agents Should Think Twice Before Joining an FMO Lead Program: what to ask before you switch contracts for a lead or appointment program.
- Why Good Annuity Leads Look Bad: the five signs that fool agents into giving up on good prospects too soon.
- Why Some Agents Make Money With Annuity Leads and Others Don’t: what our most successful clients do differently.
- The 12 Biggest Mistakes Agents Make When Buying Annuity Leads: what to avoid before you spend a dollar.
- Will Annuity Leads Work in My Area? Rural vs. Big City Markets: how your market changes lead flow, case size and close rates.
- What I’ve Learned Spending Eight Figures Advertising Annuities: 16 years of lessons from the advertising side.
- Founder Interview: The Story Behind TheAnnuityLeads.com: how the company started and why it works the way it does.
- My Clients Were My Greatest Teachers: what 3,000 financial professionals taught me about business, people and myself.
Scott Brooks, MBA, CFP®, is the founder of TheAnnuityLeads.com, which has created leads for insurance agents and financial advisors since 2010.
