Let's Talk About Hand-Delivering Policies

[PaperHanger]

The priority would be on higher ALP
Call first, and call again on the way...no door knockers please lol!!
In addition to better persistancy, it is probably a great time to get referrals.
I haven't done it, but i should. kudos for doing it right.

 

[captain94]

I use to deliver every one of my policies now I give a follow up call when I know they received it. If they want to cancel I go back out if not I'm good to go saves a lot of time

 

[TDFnCali]

This post just proves, like most facets of doing FE....there's no 1 "good" way! Everything has pros & cons, and time is $$. So Readen, like others have said its best to see how much time its taking away from you knocking on more doors earning more business. If you have a small area, then maybe its doable, if u have a wide driving area, then the business you're gaining or saving is offset by the new business you're not getting!!

There's no "1 size fits all", just figure out whats best for YOUR biz!

 

[PaperHanger]

^^^ this is why i'm thinking Referrals are the big payoff...if direct mail leads cost you $30-80 depending on return %, then a referral is got to be worth $100 each....go with the mindset of getting 3-5 when you deliver, that way you're sure it's time well spent.

 

[nfl72]

I actually don't get all that excited about referrals. too many of them are a waste of time. I close a higher percentage of my leads than I do referrals and my leads cost me about $15 a piece.

 

[PaperHanger]

I've never been aggressive with refferals, but some folks that have say their close rate is very high. But it's important for the reffering client to CALL the refferal first, tell them you're a great life insurance agent, and you set them up with a great life insurance policy.

With that, if the refferal makes an appt with you, he already knows he's going to purchase life insurance.

If they won't set an appointment or tell you over the phone that they don't want to buy life insurance, then simply trash it....you just don't go out there.

The guy's I've heard do this, say they close 90% of the presentations (the people who set appts knowing they'll buy a policy).

They say don't work these like a regular lead. Always have the reffering client CALL them first. Always make an appointment. If they NI on the phone, trash it.
But if the refferal hears "Life Insurance; Life Insurance; Life Insurance" and he STILL makes an appointment with you...dude, that's a done deal.

 

[Mark]

I recommend hand Delivering the policies.

 

[Stephen]

I have done both, and I don't have much extra to add that everyone else hasn't covered. I know that is does suck having a really busy week lined up, in addition to a stack of policies that need to be delivered.

 

[supersupps]

Great thread? this thread is for kids.. silly stuff..

 

[GMDM100k]

A few years ago I had a very brash RD who made a last minute decision requiring that all of his agents hand deliver their policies.

The idea seemed very logical.... and it worked well for me. The problem that we had was most agents didn't have time to deliver the policies. Especially our top producers. If you write 30 apps a month and each time you deliver the policies it takes 30 mins (probably longer) that's an extra 15 hours a month you will have to spend. Nearly 3 hours a week you would have to spend reviewing policies.

Now if you write 5 apps a month it wouldn't be a problem.

If I look at my group as a whole we insure a little over 150 house holds every month. If my agents hand delivered every policy that would be a total of 75 hours of field time my agency would loose every month. That's three full days and at about 5k a day ( average ALP per day as a whole) that's 15k I would loose in production. From a manager view point increased persistency would not be worth 15k a month in production.

Years ago when my RD did this we actually saw a decrease in production and persistency..

The agents were taking too long to deliver their policies which made the clients nervous ( thinking they were not actually covered) .. that caused more policies to cancel in the first month. Coincidentally the agents weren't spending as much time writing new biz and more time servicing and reinstating policies. Which caused production to decrease.

Needless to say we didn't have to deliver our policies for very long.. also our RD didn't last very long either....

It could be a great system if you could stay on top of it and keep the review time as short as possible.