IUL.org
Case Study

From Waiting Weeks Between Opportunities, to Instant ROI

How one agent went against convention in our IUL Education System, scaled to multi-seven figures of overrides with a 6-person team and IUL.org leads by just increasing his email open rate

Industry
IUL
Agency Size
6 Agents
Leads Ordered
300/wk/agent
Period
2023 to Present
17.7%
Starting Email Open Rate
53.9%
Open Rate After Optimization
28.3%
Close Rate on Engaged Leads
135K+
Total Leads Ordered

"It doesn't feel like chasing people anymore. It's the most fun I've ever had selling IUL."

Agency Owner | IUL.org customer since 2023

The Challenge with Patience

When this agent started with IUL.org in 2023, he followed the system exactly as designed. Order leads, let the IUL Education email sequence run weekly, and wait for prospects to engage before picking up the phone. The results, when they came, were remarkable.

"It was the easiest sale I had ever made. They already knew who I was, they had seen the emails, and they understood the basics of IUL. It didn't feel like a cold call at all." Agency Owner | First close using the IUL.org system

His first ready prospect took a full month to engage. The second took another two weeks. Quality was exceptional, but the pace felt impossible to scale. He was closing 28.3% of every prospect who engaged through the education system. The problem was not quality. The problem was throughput.

82% Were Never Seeing the Emails

Rather than abandoning the system, he ran the numbers. What he found reframed the entire problem.

17.7%
Email open rate at the start
82%
Leads with no email engagement
28.3%
Close rate on engaged prospects

Three out of four leads were not opening the IUL Education emails. Not because they were uninterested, but because emails were landing in spam, going to secondary addresses, or getting lost in a busy inbox.

The education system was working perfectly for the 17.7% who received it. The other 82% had never been given the chance.

Call to Activate, Not to Sell

The insight was simple: the phone call's purpose was not to close a sale. It was to get prospects reading the education. One warm call to make sure the emails were landing. Nothing more.

His Exact Opening "Hey, I've been sending you some emails about retirement planning. I just wanted to make sure you're actually getting them. Could you check real quick?"

Most prospects pulled up their inbox on the phone. Some emails were in spam, some had used a secondary address, some had seen the emails but not opened them. In each case, the call put a real person behind the name in the inbox.

  • Called the 82% who had not opened any emails to confirm delivery and introduce himself
  • Texted the same group asking if they received his newsletter
  • Set up a texting automation in the CRM to run this outreach systematically
  • Never pitched IUL on the initial contact. Waited for replies to education emails before closing

The Numbers After Optimization

Open rates climbed from 17.7% to over 35% from calling alone. After adding the texting automation through the CRM, open rates reached 53.9% and held consistently. Of the leads who engaged with the education, he was closing 28.3%. Even the inbox confirmation calls generated sales through what he calls happenstance. Those incidental closes alone typically covered the cost of the lead order.

"Doing it this way I have better results than $80 direct call-in leads. And my team does too." Agency Owner | IUL.org customer since 2023

How the Agency Runs Today

The method has been standardized across his 6-person agency. Every agent follows the same process on every lead order.

Step 1
300 IUL Leads are ordered per agent and delivered to the CRM every week
Step 2
IUL Education emails begin going out on the Tuesday sequence
Step 3
Agents call and text the full list to confirm email delivery and introduce themselves
Step 4
CRM tracks engagement as education runs
Step 5
When a prospect replies to an education email, the agent calls to close
Step 6
Commissions are reinvested into new lead orders

What This Means for Your Business

01

The system works. Don't bypass it.

The education sequence drives the quality close. Calling to sell before it runs removes the advantage.

02

Call to deliver, not to pitch.

The purpose of the first call is to ensure the prospect is actually in the education funnel.

03

Automate the follow-through.

A texting automation in the CRM handling inbox confirmation frees agents to focus on the close.

"It doesn't feel like chasing people anymore. It's the most fun I've ever had selling IUL."

Agency Owner | IUL.org customer since 2023

Results reflect one agent's experience and are not guaranteed. Close rates vary based on market, follow-up consistency, and individual sales skill. This case study is based on a first-person account provided to IUL.org.