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You’re getting leads but your conversion rate is very low, and few of the prospects seem to want your products. It must be the fault of the sales leads you purchased, right?

But wait a minute.

Yes, the lead quality may be low. However, there may be another reason for your low lead-conversion rates (and low sales volume): you may be using the wrong approach.

Before you waste any more qualified insurance leads, take this 4-step gut check and see if an improved approach can help you convert more of your insurance leads into clients.

Step 1: Handling the first phone call

Do you run through a list of question to further qualify new prospects? Or do you just read off the rates and terms from the plan you think best fits them?

Those are both decent approaches for your first phone call with a new prospect. But the best approach is to become their shopping guide, instead of a salesperson just trying to get them to buy something.

You can do this by taking the time to walk them through a proposal so they can see how different plans and rates compare – side by side.

How is this possible? Before you make your call, email them a detailed proposal with multiple plans.

Not only does this give them some genuine facts to review. This email actually warms them up for your call.

If they’re near a computer, you can actually use your quote engine to compare plans with them online. Don’t have a multi-carrier quote engine? Then it’s time to check the calendar, notice that it’s 2009 and get one. Top insurance producers rely on quote engines to slash their quoting time by up to 96%, doing in seconds what used to take them half an hour or more.

And if you have an email autoresponder, your lead management system can send out that email as soon as the lead hits your inbox.

Remember that to get the most productive sales calls on the first try, you need to simultaneously get the most information from your prospect and give them all the information they need.

You have to have all the necessary information ready to take the prospect as far as they want to go on that first call. Rattling off rates and plan details over the phone either confuses prospects or starts their minds wandering.

The bottom line is that you need to have your proposal handy, so you’ll be free to make your presentation as engaging as possible.

Step 2: Make it easy for prospects to take the next step

Do you end your first conversations by telling prospects to call you if they’re interested or asking if you can mail them plan information?

Again, those are popular and acceptable approaches. But you can do better.

Make sure your prospects know what the next step is and how to take it.

Raise your sales pitch to the next level by telling your insurance prospects that they can complete the application you just sent them. Or if they need more information, direct them to your website or send them exactly what they need.

If you’ve done your job, you’ll have an interested prospect. But you need to point them in the right direction for the next step.

When they hang up, your prospect should know exactly how to take action.

Step 3: What actions do you take after your first call to a long-term lead?

Although you should approach most sales lead calls with the mindset of trying to close them right away, it’s a basic fact that most of your insurance leads may not be ready.

So what do you do after such a call?

Most agents will send them additional plan and carrier information, and then call the prospect a few days later – if they have time.

That’s a good place to start. But this approach tends to fail the practicality test.

If you’ve got a full pipeline of new insurance leads coming in on a regular basis, you’ll have less time each month to devote to following up on your long-term prospects. That’s why many agents unfortunately let these otherwise qualified insurance leads fall through the cracks.

Top producers, however, avoid this problem by automating their lead nurturing systems. With an email autoresponder, for example, you can create a drip marketing campaign that will automatically send prospects a steady stream of marketing messages.

This serves two purposes:

1. You lead more of your leads to a quicker buying decision.
2. When they do decide, your contact information will be close at hand.

No matter how busy you are, your automated lead nurturing system keeps you in continuous contact with all your unclosed insurance leads. It also lets you keep your focus on the leads that need the most attention.Plus, an automated system helps minimize the risk of calling your lead too soon and seeming desperate.

Step 4: What’s your lead attitude?

I don’t mean what’s your attitude toward your prospects. Instead, I mean what is your attitude toward leads, in general?

Do you think that the more data your insurance leads provide you, the better their quality? Do you figure that a certain number of leads will automatically convert into submitted applications?

The simple fact of the matter is a quality insurance lead is a consumer who expressed interest in buying insurance. That’s it.

Regardless of your lead provider, you shouldn’t expect anything more than a conversation (at best) with someone who was at the most interested enough in insurance to request information.

That’s not to demean or undercut insurance lead providers, some of whom are actually very good.

But that is the reality of online consumers today. And you’ll get much better results by if you approach each lead as an opportunity to educate your prospect – not as a take-for-granted sales opportunity.

You’re there to provide them information, not sound like you’re squeezing a sale out of them.

The bottom line is that having the right attitude towards purchased leads saves you frustration and helps you direct your sales pitch in the right direction.