If you don't pick up the phone to prospects, it could cost you new business. Then again, if you do, you must consider the rules in terms of licensing (who may make the call), the National Do Not Call Registry, calling hours and consent for texts and recorded messages. A remote assistant, usually based in South Africa or the Philippines, is one way to outsource the calling, and a call center is another.
Key Takeaways
- Outsourcing can cut staff, space and equipment costs, and it pays off most when the calls follow a script and a steady schedule.
- Soliciting insurance is licensed work, so an unlicensed caller may be limited to booking appointments, and every product conversation goes to a licensed agent.
- Federal rules govern outbound sales calls: the National Do Not Call Registry, calling hours and consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls.
- Check the caller's training, scripts and call monitoring before you sign.
- Measure calls made, appointments booked and appointments kept.
Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains
Outsourcing moves the cost of calling from salaries, desks and training to a fee or a single remote salary. With us, you pay a one-time recruitment fee of $1,997 and then the assistant's salary directly each month, and what hiring a virtual insurance assistant costs covers the rest. Call centers often price by the hour or by the appointment, so ask for the total, including setup fees and minimums.
Access to Specialized Expertise
A team that makes calls all day gets practice that a busy agent never will. A good caller handles voicemail, keeps to a script and logs every call, and how virtual insurance assistants help with lead generation covers the follow-up after the call. The table lists what to ask a provider for.
| Capability | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Lead Qualification | A short set of questions, with qualified prospects passed to a licensed agent |
| CRM Entry | Every call and outcome is logged in your CRM the same day |
| Language Support | Callers who speak your market's language, tested on a live call |
| Call Tracking | Weekly counts of calls made, conversations held and appointments booked |
Ask what the caller is taught about objections, calling hours and the Registry, and about the line between booking a meeting and selling a policy.
Scalability and Flexibility
Lead volume rises and falls through the year, with a rush around renewal season or after a marketing campaign. A provider or a part-time assistant can add calling hours for busy weeks and drop them afterward. How insurance agencies can scale with virtual assistants covers adding people one at a time.
With a call center, ask about minimum commitments and notice periods. With a direct hire, you train one person and agree the hours.
Quality Assurance and Compliance
Soliciting insurance is licensed work. The NAIC's Producer Licensing Model Act defines soliciting as attempting to sell insurance or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company, and it exempts, among others, agency staff whose work is administrative or clerical and who earn no commission on policies sold. States draw the line in different places: Pennsylvania's insurance department lists scheduling appointments for producers as unlicensed work and initiating sales over the telephone as licensed work. Ask your own department where the line sits.
Two federal agencies set the calling rules, and neither treats insurance like every other product. The FCC has said that the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not exempt insurance companies wholesale from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the FTC says its Telemarketing Sales Rule covers the business of insurance to the extent that state law does not regulate it. Both bar telemarketing calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry unless an exemption applies, such as an established business relationship (18 months after a purchase, three months after an inquiry, according to the FTC) or written permission. Calls may not start before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the called person's time zone. The Registry covers personal numbers, so most calls that solicit sales from a business fall outside it.
The FCC's rules require the called party's prior express written consent for a telemarketing call that uses an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice to reach a cell phone. If a vendor keeps your do-not-call list, the business on whose behalf the call is made is liable for any failure to honor a request. The FTC lists civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation, and states can add stricter rules.
Maintaining Brand Reputation
A caller is the first voice a prospect hears from your agency. Three controls protect it:
- Script: Write the opening, the questions and the handoff yourself, and have the caller say plainly who is calling and for which agency.
- Monitoring: Listen to a sample of calls every month and compare them with the script.
- Complaints: Give prospects a way to ask not to be called again, and honor the request the same day.
Potential Drawbacks and Risks
Outsourced calling has real downsides. A caller who does not know your agency sounds scripted. Prospects notice. Poor audio makes a call harder to follow, so test any caller on a live practice call before you commit.
An aggressive provider can damage your name faster than it produces leads, because prospects blame the agency whose name is on the call. Breaking the calling rules is the larger risk.
Evaluating the Outsourcing Decision
Before you decide, settle three points on paper:
- Licensing: Name the licensed agent who takes every conversation the caller passes on.
- Compliance: List the rules that apply to your calls and the person who checks them each month.
- Fit: Decide whether a script and a schedule describe the calls you make. If every call needs judgment, keep it in-house.
Run a short trial before you sign anything long: one caller, one script, one list and a few weeks of results. If the appointments kept cover the cost, extend it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Ensure Smooth Integration Between Outsourced and In-House Teams?
Agree three things up front: how the caller passes a prospect to an agent, how the agent reports back and when you review the numbers together. A shared calendar and a weekly call keep both teams on the same page.
What Metrics Should I Track to Measure the Success of Outsourced Cold Calling?
Start with four counts: calls made, conversations held, appointments booked and appointments kept. Divide what you pay by the appointments kept to get a cost per appointment, and compare it with the in-house figure.
How Can I Maintain Control Over the Outsourced Cold Calling Process?
Keep the script, the call list and the calendar in your own hands. Approve every script, see every appointment as it is booked and listen to a sample of calls each month.
How Do I Handle Customer Complaints or Dissatisfaction With the Outsourced Service?
Answer quickly and fix the cause. If someone says they were called against their wishes, add the number to your do-not-call list at once and apologize in writing, then listen to the call and correct the script or the caller.
What Steps Should I Take to Transition Back to an In-House Cold Calling Team if Needed?
Start the handover before the contract ends. Move call lists, scripts, recordings and results into your own files and run both teams side by side briefly. Check that anyone who will solicit prospects holds the right license.
Final Thought
Outsourced calling is worth it when the calls follow a script, a licensed agent takes every product conversation and the numbers show kept appointments at a cost you accept. If any of the three is missing, keep the calling in-house until it is not.