The Challenge

This South-East based protection firm specialises in life insurance, critical illness cover, and income protection. The firm has three advisers who focus exclusively on protection products — they don't do mortgages, pensions, or investments. This specialism is their strength, but it also means they can't rely on mortgage cross-selling as a lead source the way many protection advisers do.

Before working with us, the firm was buying shared life insurance leads from two different providers at £8-£12 per lead. Volume was high — around 100 leads per month — but conversion was painfully low. Their contact rate was around 35% (shared leads meant consumers were bombarded with calls from multiple firms), and their overall conversion from lead to completed policy was just 4%. After factoring in the time their advisers spent chasing unresponsive leads, the economics barely worked.

The firm's managing director was close to abandoning purchased leads entirely. He believed the leads themselves were low quality, but was open to testing a different approach before giving up on the channel altogether.

The Approach

We proposed a fundamentally different model: fewer leads, higher quality, exclusive delivery. Instead of 100 shared leads per month at £10, we recommended 40 exclusive, SMS-verified life insurance leads per month at £22-£28 each. The total monthly spend would be similar, but the lead experience would be completely different — each consumer would receive a call from one firm only, and every phone number would be verified before delivery.

The firm was initially sceptical about the lower volume. Their concern was that 40 leads wouldn't be enough to keep three advisers busy. We suggested a 4-week trial at this volume to test conversion rates before making volume decisions.

Week 1 — Immediate difference: The first batch of 10 leads arrived throughout the week via real-time CRM delivery. The firm's managing director personally handled these leads to benchmark quality. Of the 10 leads, he reached 8 on the first or second attempt — a contact rate of 80% compared to the 35% they'd experienced with shared leads. Of those 8 conversations, 3 progressed to a formal quote, and 2 resulted in completed applications within 10 days.

The immediate feedback: 'These are actual people who actually remember filling in a form. That's genuinely not what we were used to.'

Weeks 2-4 — Building the system: Encouraged by the initial results, the firm implemented a structured follow-up process across all three advisers. The process was specific and measurable:

  • Lead arrives in CRM. Automated SMS sent immediately: 'Hi [Name], thanks for your enquiry about life insurance. I'm [Adviser name] and I'll be calling you shortly.'
  • Phone call within 3 minutes of lead arrival. If no answer, leave voicemail and send personalised SMS
  • Second call 90 minutes later if no contact made
  • Third call next morning at 9:15am (before most people start their work day)
  • Email on day 2 with a brief explanation of the quote process and what to expect
  • Fourth call attempt on day 3 (different time of day from previous attempts)
  • SMS on day 5: 'Hi [Name], I've been trying to reach you about the life insurance quote you requested. Would you prefer me to call at a specific time?'
  • Final call on day 7, then move to monthly email nurture

The firm also made a critical change to their initial call approach. Previously, they'd open with a product pitch — explaining different types of cover and asking for health details immediately. The new approach focused on understanding the consumer's motivation first: 'Can I ask what prompted you to look into life insurance right now?' This question typically revealed whether the consumer had a mortgage, a new baby, or a health concern — information that shaped the rest of the conversation and made the recommendation feel personalised rather than scripted.

The Results

After three months on the new approach, the firm's metrics had stabilised at levels they described as transformative:

  • 40 leads per month (10 per week), exclusively life insurance and critical illness
  • 82% contact rate — up from 35% with their previous shared leads. The combination of SMS verification, exclusivity, and fast response was the driver
  • 18% lead-to-completed-policy conversion rate — up from 4% previously. This meant approximately 7 completed policies per month from 40 leads
  • Average lead cost: £25
  • Monthly lead spend: approximately £1,000
  • Average commission per policy: £480 (mix of life insurance and critical illness cover)
  • Monthly revenue from leads: approximately £3,360
  • Return on lead spend: 3.8x (before operating costs)

Critically, the three advisers were spending far less time chasing dead ends. With shared leads, each adviser was making 25-30 wasted call attempts per week to reach unresponsive or already-spoken-to consumers. With exclusive, verified leads, the ratio of productive conversations to total attempts improved dramatically — which improved adviser morale as well as commercial outcomes.

The Follow-Up Process That Made the Difference

The firm's managing director was candid about what changed. The leads were better quality — verified, exclusive, and genuine. But the biggest improvement came from their own process changes:

Speed: Their average response time dropped from 2-3 hours (checking emails between meetings) to under 3 minutes (real-time CRM alerts). This alone roughly doubled their contact rate.

Persistence: The structured 7-day cadence meant every lead received at least 5-6 contact attempts across multiple channels. Previously, leads got one or two calls before being written off.

Conversation approach: Leading with 'What prompted you to look into this?' instead of a product pitch transformed the quality of initial conversations. Consumers felt heard rather than sold to, and were far more willing to share the personal details needed to produce an accurate quote.

Nurture: The monthly email nurture for unconverted leads generated an additional 2-3 policies per quarter from consumers who weren't ready during the initial contact but came back weeks or months later.

Scaling Decision

After the initial three-month trial, the firm increased their volume to 60 leads per month — 15 per week, split across life insurance and income protection categories. The conversion rate held at 16-18% at the higher volume, which they attributed to maintaining the same response time and follow-up discipline.

They chose not to scale beyond 60 per month, not because of cost concerns, but because three advisers handling 60 high-quality leads per month — alongside their existing clients and renewals — was the right volume for their team size. Quality of service to each consumer mattered more than maximising throughput.

Key Learnings

Fewer, better leads outperform more, cheaper leads. The firm's total lead spend barely changed, but their results improved by a factor of 4x. Exclusivity and verification were the quality factors that mattered most.

Process is the multiplier. The same leads, without the structured follow-up process, would have converted at 10-12% rather than 18%. The process — speed, persistence, conversation quality, and nurture — added 6-8 percentage points of conversion.

Protection leads require a different approach. Unlike mortgage leads, where the consumer has a clear and immediate need, protection consumers often need help understanding why they need cover. The initial conversation needs to uncover motivation rather than launch into product details.

Adviser morale matters. When advisers spend half their day chasing leads that never answer, they lose enthusiasm for the channel. When most calls result in a genuine conversation, advisers engage properly and convert better. The quality of leads directly affects the quality of the sales effort.