Final Expense Customer Service 2022

[Todd King]

If you don't mind my sayin, this sounds like it has to lead to a blitz battle. Let's see who backs out 1st.

I don't see it that way at all. Looks like it is just an offer that will never come to fruition, that's all.

 

[noah]

When I was working FE DM leads, I doorknocked all of them because that’s how I was trained. Later I tried setting appointments, but found I was much less effective that way. I seemed to have a disarming presence in person that didn’t come through as well on the phone. I was also covering a pretty wide area, so knocking the leads in route order seemed to cut down on my windshield time. But I knew lots of agents that set appointments and were more effective that way. Point is, neither way is wrong. Whatever works best for you is what you should do.

This debate has gone on since I first joined the forums several years ago. Honestly, I don’t know why it needs to be debated at all!. Why can’t we just share what works for us without putting the other guy down that maybe does it a little differently?

(Ironically, since COVID I’ve written a ton of apps over the phone. I would have been in the “FE telesales doesn’t work” camp before that. Apparently my phone skills have improved!)

When you were a debit dawg did you set appointments?

If not,how come ?

How about prospecting ?

Did they want you to call people or door knock ?

Thanks

 

[LostDollar]

Very difficult to recruit,train new agents to door knock.

Who has the stones to do that?

Caveat, not an agent.

My experience is very limited and very very old and not in the insurance industry. I don't know in what ways today's US culture has changed the door-knocking environment. However, I think there may be more to a person becoming a successful doorknocker than being shown techniques for approach at the door and presentation at the door or in the house.

I think some people could make it after technique demonstration.

I think some people would need some additional followup, encouragement and support.

I think some people will not make it regardless of the amount of demonstration and support they receive.

 

[LostDollar]

Sounds good to me.

Pickups at Home Depot, grocery stores, Best Buy, etc. are the best thing COVID ever did.

Everything else I can get from Amazon.

Why would I want to go into a store anyway? Waste of time. I can buy everything I want online and someone either drops it at my doorstep or puts it in my car.

Yeah, a lot of truth to that. I have ordered little expensive items from Amazon and gotten it the same day. I hate going into Walmart. I can sit in my living room and order a trunk full of stuff, pull up, play on the forum for a few, and some kid loads my stuff into my trunk. I drop a few dollars on them and I am off.

Covid also made video and zoom normal.

postings on the Nextdoor site tell me that Porch Piracy of Amazon packages is rampant in my community.

 

[goillini52]

Caveat, not an agent.

My experience is very limited and very very old and not in the insurance industry. I don't know in what ways today's US culture has changed the door-knocking environment. However, I think there may be more to a person becoming a successful doorknocker than being shown techniques for approach at the door and presentation at the door or in the house.

I think some people could make it after technique demonstration.

I think some people would need some additional followup, encouragement and support.

I think some people will not make it regardless of the amount of demonstration and support they receive.

LD, you sold books didn't you? Were you a Bible salesman?

 

[rousemark]

When you were a debit dawg did you set appointments?

If not,how come ?

How about prospecting ?

Did they want you to call people or door knock ?

Thanks

Can;t speak for shonceman but when I started on tge debit, we were tught to knock on cold doors. This was the early 70s and there were more women that didn;t work outside the home. If the husband was at work, we would set an appointment for later when he would be home. If it were an older couple where both were at home, we would try to get in the door for a presentaion right then. Must have worked OK.. Made the trip to Hawaii in 73 and Spain in 74.. 73 required $214 weekly premium increse. Doesn't sound like much but that is a little over $80K annual premium in todays money. Plus, that was over and above lapses out of your book even if soemone else wrote the business years ago so most agents that made the trip wrote weel over $100K. Not bad considering we wrote a lot $2.00 - $5.00 per week policies. We even sold an AD&D policy for 10 cents per week premium. We were the orgibnal FE agebnts.

 

[goillini52]

If it were an older couple where both were at home, we would try to get in the door for a presentaion right then.

This is why I started concentrating on the senior market.

 

[rousemark]

Can;t speak for shonceman but when I started on tge debit, we were tught to knock on cold doors. This was the early 70s and there were more women that didn;t work outside the home. If the husband was at work, we would set an appointment for later when he would be home. If it were an older couple where both were at home, we would try to get in the door for a presentaion right then. Must have worked OK.. Made the trip to Hawaii in 73 and Spain in 74.. 73 required $214 weekly premium increse. Doesn't sound like much but that is a little over $80K annual premium in todays money. Plus, that was over and above lapses out of your book even if soemone else wrote the business years ago so most agents that made the trip wrote weel over $100K. Not bad considering we wrote a lot $2.00 - $5.00 per week policies. We even sold an AD&D policy for 10 cents per week premium. We were the orgibnal FE agebnts.

As far as prospecting, in addition to canvassing, we worked our book. Wrote addional business on the insured's plus the fact we were in the homes at least once per month or possibly every oher week (some agents collected weekly) we knew what was going on with their family and friends. We knew when the kids and grandkids got married, when the baies were born, when the job changes and promotions took place, etc. In some ways I miss it even today.

 

[rousemark]

This is why I started concentrating on the senior market.

Yeah.. Me too.. Got tired of working evenings. Was told, "Old folks are at home during the day time." ..... ..... Was true back then but not so much any more... my wife is on the go more now that ever before... Trips to the graocery store, getting her nails done, hair done, church activities, not to mention medical apoointments.

 

[shonceman]

When you were a debit dawg did you set appointments?

If not,how come ?

How about prospecting ?

Did they want you to call people or door knock ?

Thanks

Home Service products are designed to be sold and serviced F2F. We used to do a lot of door to door canvassing. But we were also taught how to uncover needs for additional coverage, and how to obtain referrals. In the days where somebody was usually home, we wrote as we went. But that began to change early on in my career when more households began relying on 2 incomes. No point in going by at a time when nobody’s home. So we learned how to set appointments, too.

There’s also a pretty big difference between city and rural debits. City people are always running somewhere. They’re not as open to inviting someone in who just knocked on the door without an appointment, especially since COVID. But on the debit, I don’t try to set appointments for a specific time. I try to determine the best day and time of day to catch them home. So, for example, if Thursday is their off day, and they’re usually home after they get through running errands, I’ll set the appointment for Thursday afternoon after 3 (or whatever time they say they’ll be back).

A couple of the companies I worked for also had products that were designed for a more middle class clientele. So I used to subscribe to a service that sent me a list of new homeowners each month. I would call those and set appointments for mortgage protection. I usually scheduled those for a couple of evenings each week.

I prefer F2F and doorknocking, but I’ll do whatever it takes. I do more over the phone nowadays than I ever have in my career.