I am a newly licensed life insurance agent. What can I do cheaply to generate leads in my area?

Laurabell, Here's how I got started in in the insurance business. I started by going to monthly Chamber of Commerce "After Hours" Mixers in my town. Most Chambers have them all year long. And, you don't usually have to join to attend the mixers. The mixers are an ideal time to talk about your business to people who EXPECT to hear about other businesses, that's why they go. Here in the Phoenix Metro area there must be 20 different Chambers and that's 20 opportunities in any month to get names. If you get 2 good names per mixer, and go to 4 mixers each month, that's 8 leads per month--in a year you'll have almost 100 prospects. And the Mixers are a lot of fun. The cost of admission to most mixers (For non-members) is usually $15 to $25. Many waive the fee if you ask. Some never even ask for it. Use Disability Income as your talking point, ie: What do you do? I sell money!! If that's not clever enough, make up something. Best people to talk to at these mixers? CPA's, Attorney's, and Small Business Owners. Good Luck, Grampy

Go to a net working lunch, check Craig's list on the web. I have gone to speed networking lunches I have meet lots of different professionals they all seem to help each other. Who knows you might meet someone who will open some doors. Good luck,

Craigslist is free, put a sign on your car, put up flyers in coffee shops and laundry mats, go into a business and tell them who you are grab a business card and call them in two weeks. I am justing starting out as well and these ideas have helped launch my young career.

Every appointment that you go on, make it your primary goal to get 4 referrals. The second goal is to close the sale. Slowly build up advertising. Online get in the Life Insurance Directory - http://www.insuremylife.org Start going to your local chamber of commerce meetings.

As one person mentioned previously, networking is very important, as is starting with family and friends. But since you noted that you don't know many people that isn't going to work so well for you. Over time the insurance field can be a good bet but don't fool yourself, not being negative, but it can take years to start really making a living. Why? Well, in order to sell insurance you have to know a lot of people, and people referring people to you, and those people referring people to you. The most important thing for you to do is meet people, every single day. You are going to have to find every avenue you can to meet as many people as you can. Rich people, poor people, business people, everyone and anyone, and tell each and every one of them what you do and give them a card. Unless you have a fancy office in a conspicuous location you can't sit around and wait for the phone to ring, and advertising with flyers to try to sell insurance won't work all to well. There are insurance agents on every corner so there is plenty of competition. But that doesn't mean you can't be successful. You need to set concrete goals for yourself, write them down and stick to them. For example you could say, okay, I am going to meet and speak to at least 10 people today. It doesn't matter if you just go to the mall and walk around introducing yourself, whatever it takes to meet people and telling your story. Eventually you will get a bite. Its a numbers game, and if it takes meeting 50 new people to get an appointment, well, then you know that to get 5 good appt's each week you will need to see about 250 people that week, shake their hands and tell your story 250 times. Attend luncheons, parties, chamber of commerce, look for networking groups that meet for lunch or breakfast in your community, anything and everything. At this point you need all the exposure you can get. Remember, the big fish are much, much more difficult to find and to land. You are going to have to start at the bottom with the minnows and work your way up. Set your goals, be realistic and stick with it, day in and day out, believe in yourself and your product, and study, know more about insurance than anyone you know, be an expert, the person that other people can call for advice. Potential clients will expect you to know the answers or know how to quickly find the answers. Enough said, best of luck with your new career.

Dear Lil Punkin' The cheapest way to generate leads is to socially network in person, meeting people in groups, associations, and social events, shaking their hands, asking about their business or family and then reassuring them that you offer New York Life insurance, or that your work can benefit their employees, their retiring relatives or friends, and of course someone as smart as they are may have something in place, but NYL has wonder riders, offers dividends, and may be a better choice for the long run.... customize, be quick, happy and hot. GO Leads has a service for 9.95 per month that I use in Oshkosh and Appleton zip codes... it gives you every business owner with a telephone number.... please dont tell everyone..... I have called a couple of thousand small business owners in Oshkosh since last summer. Sales Genie is free in house and gives you homes and businesses filtered by demographics.... If you do not have it yet here, where it is free to Cindi's team, you can call Tammy D with zip codes and she can send you a list from sales genie... its free There, two free and one dirt cheap and those are all that I use. I used to purchse leads from NetQuote and QuotesAuction; they do give you a conversation but its expensive, produces alot of people just shopping and runs up your credit card fast. If you have a list of 500 emails of friends and acquaintances, you can try erelationship, but you have to make lists and use it alot to justify the 59. per month fee. Well, Lil punkin', rock on. Live long and prosper. Bury me deep.... professionally of course.

There are some good discussions at www.insurance-forums.net about how to get started.

Well, advertising isn't cheap but that would generate leads. You could start with simple ads in local journals, that doesn't cost much.

buy a list of addresses from the post office for a direct mailer. This will be sure to get your name into everyone's household, cheaply and efficiently. You might even get a phone call.. I would include a marketing pitch, like a 10% off their first premium if they respond by a certain date and mention the ad.