Reanna Pereyra sells auto, home and business policies as well as sell life insurance in Kearney, Nebraska, but she didn’t intend on becoming an insurance agent. For two years she studied graphic design but didn’t graduate from the University of Nebraska at Kearney after realizing that she just didn’t like college. She waitressed while she was a student, and when she decided to quit school she got a job as a customer service representative for an independent insurance agency. She then became a producer for American Family insurance and finally opened up her own Farmers agency.
“I chose Farmers because it’s a captive agency,” she explains. “I had interviews with many captive agencies, because if you meet certain goals, you get a bonus on top of commission. I knew the first couple of years would be hard, so this meant a lot to me.”
Pereyra started her agency from scratch. She wasn’t very experienced with internet leads though. The big agency where she started out was well established and sold policies from walk-ins while maintaining an extensive book of business. With American Family, she used internet leads but had no training so she didn’t have much success.
“At Farmers we got extensive training on how to be successful with internet leads,” she says. “We were taught that it would take a while before we started seeing profits from our investment.”
Today, with the help of her dedicated account manager, Tom Rasmussen, Pereyra is getting ahead with shared internet leads.
“I like to use SmartFinancial over other lead sources because they share leads with fewer agents,” Pereyra explains. “I have an easy time getting a hold of most leads via text message versus phone or email. Younger people don’t pick up a phone if they don’t recognize the number but a text shows you’re not a robot.”
As business has gained momentum, Pereyra has hired one CSR and a few producers. When the agency gets the lead, the staff tries different strategies to see which one works.
“I have tried calling instantly, but it’s hard to get them on the phone again to give them the quote because they won’t answer the phone on the followup,” Pereyra explains. “Now, instead of calling right away, we work up the quote first before calling. This method has worked best for us.”.
Pereyra has also learned a few workarounds to give people a quote. If the lead doesn’t answer the phone, she doesn’t leave a voicemail. Instead she does what’s called “a double tap,” which means she hangs up and calls back right away. Only then does she leave a message, if they don’t answer.
“If they do pick up and are irritated, I say I forgot to leave voicemail,” she says. “If I can’t get a hold of them, I send a text letting them know they have a voicemail and email from me. If they don’t respond that day, I text the minimum requirement quote the next day.”
Never give up, and try different strategies with different people is the recipe for success for Reanna Pereyra.
Here Are 4 More Golden Tips from Reanna Pereyra of Farmers
1. Don’t count on a quick return on investment. I’ve spent more on internet leads than the profit I’ve made, not counting the bonus I got for meeting sales goals. Over time I’ll be in the black from renewals on the new policies I’m now writing from SmartFinancial leads. We were taught in training that this is to be expected for the first year, but that 80% of policies you sell will renew.
2. Tap your resources! I do my own marketing in addition to buying leads. For instance, I have a friend who owns a restaurant. I do a raffle there for a $30 gift card to eat at her restaurant. I do booths at trade events. My warm market is pretty good too.
3. Utilize text messages. If you have a phone system that doesn’t text, you will be screwed. Texting is a huge deal. American Family wouldn’t let you text. If I couldn’t text now I’d have lost 40% of my sales. People even text me their credit card and social security numbers!
4. Always try a different approach if your first time around didn’t work. Sometimes I get hung up on but I’ll text the lead and start up a conversation. Sometimes, they apologize and I’ll give them a quote. One time I had a producer call a lead, and the lead’s boyfriend got angry and said “Don’t call my girlfriend.” So I called from my number, and because I was a girl I could talk to her. One guy hung up after saying, “Take me off the list” in a text. I replied, “I’m not a robot, I’m a real person.” We went back and forth but then he ended up buying insurance from me.
