Hey everybody, welcome back to the All Aboard newsletter.
Today, we're tackling an issue that's quietly costing agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars: Flagging spam.
Agencies all over the country are investing in leads and asking their teams to make outbound calls, but they’re not getting anyone on the phone. Frustration follows, people start to give up, and maybe even blame the leads.
Sounds like a nightmare, right?
When your outbound calls get tagged as spam, it's like trying to sell ice to an eskimo. No matter how great your pitch is, prospects aren't even giving you a chance.
They see that spam label and immediately choose to ignore you.
But here's the kicker: Many agency owners have no idea why this is happening. They're watching their team dial away, all the while they’re not getting anyone on the phone.
In this edition of All Aboard, we'll dive into the staggering cost of spam flagging, share best practices to avoid the flagging spam, and give you a game plan to get back on track if you're already in spam hell.
How to Avoid Spam (Proactively!)
If the embedded link doesn’t work, you can access the video here: Click Me (LINK)
For the best experience and most information, I highly suggest you click the video!
The Cost of Spam
When your outbound calls are flagged as spam, it renders your outbound dialing efforts completely ineffective.
Imagine this:
Your caller/salesperson makes 80 calls a day (which is low, but let's use it as an example). If they're only getting 2 people on the phone, you might think that's fine. But it's not. Because they should be getting at least 6-8 people on the phone.
Typically, we see an 8-12% answer rate (8-12 people picking up out of 100 calls) when a phone number is healthy. If you're under 5%, its probably a safe bet that you’re flagging spam and prospects are just straight up ignoring you.
And you might think - Whats a couple of pickups costing me?
Spoiler alert…A lot.
For an average insurance agent, it could mean $50,000 to $200,000 in missed annual revenue. For larger agencies spending big on internet leads and making thousands of daily calls, we're talking $600,000 to $700,000 in lost revenue per year.
If you want to see what its costing you - check out the calculator below. Its locked, but you should be able to click “File → Make a Copy” and then you can edit.
Causes of Spam
At Peachy Insurance, we don't flag spam often. But when we do flag, we’re usually able to fix it in less than a day.
There is an exception though - Occasionally, we’ll have one person re-flag quickly and when that happens its a tell-tale sign that something is off somewhere.
Because here’s the deal → If you have great dialing practices and you’re overcoming objections on the front end, you’re probably not going to flag.
But if you dialing habits are poor and you can’t have a long conversation to save your life, you' might be in trouble.
So, instead of fixing SPAM, we should try to avoid it in the first place.
Here are some key ways to avoid the spam label in a proactive way:
Be mindful of what you're calling (avoid old, recycled leads)
Ensure DNC compliance (scrub against the DNC list to avoid complaints)
Confirm your leads have proper consent (aka they’re expecting your call).
Check new phone numbers to ensure they're not pre-flagged as spam
And lets say you do alllllll of this right - you can still flag spam because of bad dialing habits.
Here are a few bad habits I see that gets agents in spam hell:
Using the same number for everything (prospecting, customers, aged leads)
This one is straightforward. One number, one purpose. Don’t use the same number you use for prospecting that you do to call your renewals. The phone carriers love consistency!Rotating phone numbers too frequently
This one is a bit controversial - Some people swear by rotating numbers, but our partners at the carrier-level says this actually hurts you. Generally speaking phone numbers are registered to a business, and if they see the same business calling one person with 8 different numbers, they flag it. We do not rotate numbers at Peachy Insurance.Too many calls to the same number.
I’ve talked about this a lot - Don’t blow people up. Don’t call them 10x in a one day (it could be against the law), and don’t double tap people. Its a rude way to call and its getting you flagged.Besides, our data shows that about 90% of the juice is pulled from the lead by the 8th call.
Calling during off-hours
Just because you can legally call at 830pm at night, doesn’t mean you should. This is one the reasons people get marked as “junk” or spam by consumers.
High abandoned call rates (hanging up before voicemail or many quick hang-ups)
We’ll see this occasionally with new people. They’ll let the phone ring 3-4 times, then give up. The issue? Well, for one thats behavior largely associated with predictive dialers (aka dialers that call 8-10 numbers at once.) Second, sometimes it can ring 3-4x on your end before it rings even once on the prospects end. Duration of calls matters and this just shortens the calls.
Note - I go in a lot more depth on the video and talk through these habits a lot more.
This week’s edition of All Aboard is brought to you by:
The Insurance Growth Conference
Sponsored by Insurance Sales Lab
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Good Habits!
So if you want to stay spam-free - ensure your team is integrating these habits:
Keep call volumes consistent day-to-day
Leave thoughtful voicemails (but not on every single call)
Monitor answer rates (aim for 8-12%)
Prioritize lead contact speed
Maintain script discipline (identify yourself clearly)
Its all about showing the phone carrier that you’re a person who is calling for both a legitimate reason and that you’re someone the consumer wants to hear from.
Here is the reality: Even though many people will say “I didn’t request anything online” we know that is often not true.
Its an easy excuse to get you to go away and if you fall for it, you’re going to have a ton of short duration calls, flag spam, and not sell shit.
So get it together!
Keep your dials consistent in the sense you don’t dial 80x on Monday, 400x on Tuesday, and 150x on Wednesday.
Leave voicemails, if only for the reason that it makes your calls longer. But here’s the kicker, everyone stopped leaving voicemails a few years ago, so nobody does it now. And that means it works!
And get to your leads quickly - If you’re not getting to your leads in less than 2minutes of the lead coming in, someone is and they’re blocking you. That keeps your conversations short and prevents you from closing.
Last, if you’re not already doing it, consider using branded caller-id for your outbound calls. Some people’s phone system allows them to do this, but in other cases you’ll need to pay for it.
For instance, your carrier might show “Farmers” or “Allstate” but I actually think that hurts you. We brand ourselves as “Peachy Insurance” and not only do we feel its worth 2-3% in quote rate, but we notice people calling us back on our Google number meaning they googled us to check us out before giving us a shot.
So, if you’re flagging spam or want branded caller ID - Next Call Club can help.
We have several options, and are happy to walk through them.
If you’re curious about what the ROI on branded caller ID is, you can use a 2nd calculator here:
In Closing
Spam is simply too devastating to ignore.
If you don’t believe me - look at the two calculators I listed above. For my agency alone, the profit on branding is around $10,000 (higher quote rate = more items from same spend) and the impact of spam would cost me about 280 items and $70k of revenue per month.
So don’t ignore it - Whether you need help from us or you solve it on your own, make sure you have a plan!
Its not only about fixing it, but avoiding spam in the first place!
Until next week
Cheers!
Three ways I can help you:
1.) If you need leads, calls, spam remediation, or data analytics - We’d love the opportunity to show how Next Call Club can help you grow faster and more profitably than before. We’re ready for the TCPA changes and can help you be ready too!
2.) Looking to scale in 2026? Maybe you’re shifting your strategic direction. Want a person you can work through plans with? Lets talk about 1:1 Consulting for you and your agency!
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As always - Thank you for the support! I’m looking forward to bringing you insights, ideas, and actionable strategies multiple times per month! If you enjoyed this newsletter or it gave you value, please consider sharing it with a friend!
