Oh I heard about it lol...
Why Don't You Cold Call?
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
-
- Tags
- key man life
I never got the fear thing. Whats the worst thing that could happen? No? It was the boredom and monotonous script that was a bigger drain.
- 1,459
I still battle Reardon's response to this day. I was also taught to be polite, respectful, and not to bother people. I think that will be a battle for me until my last day in sales. Too bad there is not a switch to turn it off. It almost put me out of business in the beginning.
I have never done much cold calling on the telephone but I have cold called door to door (which I prefer) and have trained agents to do it. I have seen a couple turn pasty white, break out into a sweat and get physically ill at the thought of cold calling.
Some agents (not the extreme cases) were able to overcome their fear enough to do it until they developed another way to prospect but most weren't and didn't last very long in the business.
- 7,066
In my experience fear or reluctance of any kind of prospecting usually spells doom for any agent regardless of the product they are selling.
I worked and spent several hours recently with an agent trying to train him to prospect. He called me last week saying he just couldn't bring himself to do it and has gone with an insurance agency and assigned his commissions. I asked him what his commission was and he said 50%, this is for Med Supps. But, he didn't know what 50% was, in other words he had no idea how much he would be paid.
It is probably 50% of street which could be 9% or 10%. I told him to get out of insurance. That he will starve long before he begins making any money. He didn't believe me. They blew a ton of smoke up his ass. I feel sorry for him.
- 2,455
Did he buy YIO or was this someone you contracted only?
LOL, yep, I know that look. The only thing you can do is hope they don't stop breathing. Some recover, some don't.
It's only fair to warn new agents what they're in for. I try to motivate them by pointing out that, if they mix in cold calling with other marketing strategies, hopefully they won't have to cold call forever. The goal is to reach a point where the other marketing strategies and referrals from your new clients are enough.
If the agent is still breathing, that is.
.
- 14,809
I've also never really understood the "fear of being told no" yet choosing to get into sales.
It's a bit like saying you have a fear food but want to be a chef and hope one day to overcome it.
I know plenty of agents who hated working internet leads just for the fear of being told no. Just the mention of cold-calling would put them in a coma.
I know very few "nice" people who have made it in this business. Let me explain that so it's not taken out of context. There are people who have a lot of knowledge and are nice...too nice. They don't want to bother anyone.
I'll bother a lot of people if it means I can truly help out the few who need and appreciate the help. The people you bothered forget about it in 2 seconds. When I cold-called businesses I was a forgotten memory before the door even shut.
It's a bit like saying you have a fear food but want to be a chef and hope one day to overcome it.
I know plenty of agents who hated working internet leads just for the fear of being told no. Just the mention of cold-calling would put them in a coma.
I know very few "nice" people who have made it in this business. Let me explain that so it's not taken out of context. There are people who have a lot of knowledge and are nice...too nice. They don't want to bother anyone.
I'll bother a lot of people if it means I can truly help out the few who need and appreciate the help. The people you bothered forget about it in 2 seconds. When I cold-called businesses I was a forgotten memory before the door even shut.
- 153
I used to run a P&C shop about 6 years ago. 80% of my business was referrals. I will share with you what I did. We took on carriers from A to F mostly catering to less then perfect and younger drivers. Wrote a ton with Unitrin and Victoria back then. I would go to all the american gamily, statefarms, allstates etc all the more preferred carriers and ask for referrals. Anytime they had a borrower that did not fit there mold they sent them to us. In return I would always send thank you cards with small gift or gift card I knew they liked. I always was in touch with them and it worked amazing! This was in AZ I was writing 10-15 policies per week on average. Just food for thought.
