National General
Driving Growth Through a Scalable Digital Sales Funnel
Driving Growth Through a Scalable Digital Sales Funnel
How The49 reimagined the sales process for a crucial B2B service, creating a brand-new digital sales channel that grew into an 8x ROAS profit driver
The challenge
Small business health plans have traditionally been sold through agents who control client relationships and take a substantial cut of the profits. This left National General without direct access to their customers, limiting both control and profitability.
The approach
We proposed a fully digital lead generation and customer acquisition channel. Though initially sceptical about the effectiveness of bypassing agents, National General agreed to trial the new approach.
The execution
We launched a multi-channel campaign, supported by automations that streamlined the sales process, enabling reps to focus on closing deals. A data-driven, test-and-learn strategy helped optimise performance across search, social, affiliate networks, podcasts, and more.
The impact
Starting from scratch, the direct-to-employer (DTE) channel rapidly scaled to generate over $5 million in annual revenue. The initial uncertainty of "Is this even possible?"—has now transformed into, "How big can we scale this?".
The future
With better margins, shorter sales cycles, and improved client relations, we continue to expand this sales channel, identifying new areas for growth and pushing the limits of what’s possible. National General now has a more cost-effective and scalable solution than ever before with this product line.