Best FMO or IMO or What is Best for New Agent

[sheilas62]

Hi,
I am sort of new to the Insurance Industry. I have primarily been in Advertising Sales for the past 20 years and the last 7 years of it has been as an as Independent Contractor. I have approximately 2 years experience in various insurance sales jobs from my past but quite a few years ago. I want to make a career change and go into full time Independent Insurance Agent selling Senior Products such as Medicare Supplements, Medicare Advantage, Final Expense and as time goes by adding other supplemental insurance products. I have an active Life & Health License in Tennessee where I live & Louisiana (where my family's from). I'm a pretty quick learner but when I'm first getting started I need a good bit of hands on training, support and advise in getting myself set up and ready to start a successful career as an Independent Insurance Agent. I also want to go with a company that I can be vested either immediately or with not much waiting period to be 100% vested. I am pretty confused about what is the best option for me to get started. Would finding a local independent broker be the best to be able to do field training and have local help if I can find one or would going with an FMO or IMO be the best option. And since I have researched and found there are 100's of FMO's & IMO's if going with an FMO or IMO what are the best ones for a new agent that can give me the training, support and help I need to have a successful career. Thank you for your help.

Sheila

 

[PaulieD]

Hi Sheila,

I'm new and just getting started myself. I also came from a substantial advertising sales background myself. I lurked here for a short while and then went with EFES, Ben Boman and under one of his Regional Managers (cyberspidey here on the forum)

They offer great training, fixed lead cost DM program and one on one training and lots more.
I just got back from the St. Louis Blitz/Seminar where I met some of the top producers and actually got to ride with them one on one. There was also a day and a half of in house training.

Do your research, investigate them all....it is an important decision. I almost went with a different IMO but changed to EFES because their folks seemed to respond to me the most and actually called me to help me with any question.

I am not a recruiter and have no plans to do so. I have still not sold my first FE policy but will be shortly.

Welcome and Good Luck

 

[jdeasy]

Hi,
I am sort of new to the Insurance Industry. I have primarily been in Advertising Sales for the past 20 years and the last 7 years of it has been as an as Independent Contractor. I have approximately 2 years experience in various insurance sales jobs from my past but quite a few years ago. I want to make a career change and go into full time Independent Insurance Agent selling Senior Products such as Medicare Supplements, Medicare Advantage, Final Expense and as time goes by adding other supplemental insurance products. I have an active Life & Health License in Tennessee where I live & Louisiana (where my family's from). I'm a pretty quick learner but when I'm first getting started I need a good bit of hands on training, support and advise in getting myself set up and ready to start a successful career as an Independent Insurance Agent. I also want to go with a company that I can be vested either immediately or with not much waiting period to be 100% vested. I am pretty confused about what is the best option for me to get started. Would finding a local independent broker be the best to be able to do field training and have local help if I can find one or would going with an FMO or IMO be the best option. And since I have researched and found there are 100's of FMO's & IMO's if going with an FMO or IMO what are the best ones for a new agent that can give me the training, support and help I need to have a successful career. Thank you for your help.

Sheila

You are going to need to narrow your field to start.

If you are looking to start in FE I would go to www.fexcontracing.com and just read before a making a decision.

You might find that FE is not for you?

If you decide to follow the FE path then you can't do better than the regular IMO's on this forum. You can without question do worse.

 

[sheilas62]

jdeasy, I want to start out selling Medicare Supplements, then learn to cross sell Final Expense. At a later point I would like to be able to sell Medicare Advantage & possibly Hospital Indemnity Plans. But for now, I'm most interested in getting started with Medicare Supplements. Thank you for your response. Any suggestions for who I can sign up with to get good training for selling Medicare Supplements and would an FMO, an IMO or a MGA or a GA be the best option. I am pretty much new to the industry with a little insurance sales background. In 2008 I sold some Medicare Advantage plans too. Thanks again for any help, suggestions or guidance.

Sheila

 

[Cybrspidey]

I want to start out selling Medicare Supplements, then learn to cross sell Final Expense. At a later point I would like to be able to sell Medicare Advantage & possibly Hospital Indemnity Plans. But for now, I'm most interested in getting started with Medicare Supplements. Thank you for your response. Any suggestions for who I can sign up with to get good training for selling Medicare Supplements and would an FMO, an IMO or a MGA or a GA be the best option. I am pretty much new to the industry with a little insurance sales background. In 2008 I sold some Medicare Advantage plans too. Thanks again for any help, suggestions or guidance.

Sheila

Sheila, welcome to the forums and more importantly, for making the decision to get into the insurance arena. It is a ton of fun and you get to really help a lot of folks.

I would be more than happy to speak with you about opportunities, pluses and minuses to different paths you can take and hopefully help you along the wonderful journey you are about to partake of.

Feel free to give me a call: 985-629-1493 or shoot me an email: [email protected] with your phone number and I'll get right back to you.

Tommy

 

[sheilas62]

Hi Cybrspidey (Tommy)
Thanks for getting back with me. Looks like you are in Louisiana?? I recognize the 985 area code since I am originally from Kentwood, LA. Where are you located if you don't mind me asking? I wasn't sure if it is okay to call you this time of the evening so that's why I wrote back on here. BTW, I also have a Louisiana Life & Health Insurance License and eventually want to be able to sell in that market when I get up and running and some experience behind me. I want to be able to stay for extended periods in the future with my family and work while I'm there. Anyway, can you message me back on here and let me know when is a good time to call you please? And also, are you just into FE or do you also have MS? Thank you and will talk to you soon.

Sheila

 

[jdeasy]

jdeasy, I want to start out selling Medicare Supplements, then learn to cross sell Final Expense. At a later point I would like to be able to sell Medicare Advantage & possibly Hospital Indemnity Plans. But for now, I'm most interested in getting started with Medicare Supplements. Thank you for your response. Any suggestions for who I can sign up with to get good training for selling Medicare Supplements and would an FMO, an IMO or a MGA or a GA be the best option. I am pretty much new to the industry with a little insurance sales background. In 2008 I sold some Medicare Advantage plans too. Thanks again for any help, suggestions or guidance.

Sheila

For focusing on med sups the path is not so clear as FE. Not saying it's not a great choice. Just that there's not so many med sup focused IMO's that teach you to prospect and sell med sups.

If Frank Statsny were still alive I would have an instant answer for you.

I would check with Daytona Guy here at the forums and also SAI.

Beware of signing up to sell mud sups under someone that doesn't sell med sups for a living. If they do med sups part time then avoid them like the plague.

FEX has med sups available and I'm very partial to FEX but FEX is not the right IMO for you to learn to lead with med sups.

An up front release is very, very important in the med sup field. It's important in FE but there's enough FE companies that you can get by with a couple for a while if you couldn't get released. It's not that way with sups. There's only a handful of competitive companies in any given area. Sometimes you will have fingers left on the hand.

A mentor for med sups would be ideal but there's just not many of them.

Check with Greensky, Rick, here as well. He knows the med sup business inside out and he will help.

I foolishly got started in Medicare 11 years ago with a guy that didn't know what he was doing. But being new to it I thought he did and he presented himself as an expert. It wasn't until a year or more in that I realized I wasn't being trained right. And I had messed up many people. That is actually how I found this forum in the first place. I was researching things that my trainer had taught me. I found Frank Statsny and Rick and learned that my suspicions were correct. Fortunately I was able to go back to people I had inadvertently wronged and was able to correct the things I had told them.

That was pre MIPPA luckily. Some of those things would be permanent today and not fixable.

Good luck with your journey.

 

[hlb96]

I am also in Louisiana and in Tangipahoa Parish (small world lol). I can help you get Local MAPD contracts with Peoples Health and Blue Cross in Louisiana. The Agency I work with are FMO's for those 2.

PM me if you are interested or have any questions.

 

[sheilas62]

For focusing on med sups the path is not so clear as FE. Not saying it's not a great choice. Just that there's not so many med sup focused IMO's that teach you to prospect and sell med sups.

If Frank Statsny were still alive I would have an instant answer for you.

I would check with Daytona Guy here at the forums and also SAI.

Beware of signing up to sell mud sups under someone that doesn't sell med sups for a living. If they do med sups part time then avoid them like the plague.

FEX has med sups available and I'm very partial to FEX but FEX is not the right IMO for you to learn to lead with med sups.

An up front release is very, very important in the med sup field. It's important in FE but there's enough FE companies that you can get by with a couple for a while if you couldn't get released. It's not that way with sups. There's only a handful of competitive companies in any given area. Sometimes you will have fingers left on the hand.

A mentor for med sups would be ideal but there's just not many of them.

Check with Greensky, Rick, here as well. He knows the med sup business inside out and he will help.

I foolishly got started in Medicare 11 years ago with a guy that didn't know what he was doing. But being new to it I thought he did and he presented himself as an expert. It wasn't until a year or more in that I realized I wasn't being trained right. And I had messed up many people. That is actually how I found this forum in the first place. I was researching things that my trainer had taught me. I found Frank Statsny and Rick and learned that my suspicions were correct. Fortunately I was able to go back to people I had inadvertently wronged and was able to correct the things I had told them.

That was pre MIPPA luckily. Some of those things would be permanent today and not fixable.

Good luck with your journey.

Hi JDEASY,
Thanks for your great help and advise. After doing lots of research about selling MS my concern is can I make enough upfront money selling MS & cross-selling FE. Recently, I'm now considering first getting started in FE, then after I get up and going and a little established, get trained up and certified to sell MS & MA. I live in Tennessee near Chattanooga and I have found a couple great agency options for me locally to possibly get started under, one is Dave Duford (Reardon on here) who could train me, get me leads and teach me to set up Senior Seminars for FE which I really like but he only sells FE but said he could hook me up with an agency that does MS & MA that offers training and leads. The other option is a local GMA that sells it all, but he wants me to get signed up with all FE carriers and MS & MA carriers right off the bat, start out with FE and as soon as I can take the AHIP in July wants me to sell everything and he also is strong in Senior Seminars and could train me in doing that but primarily for MA. Also, he primarily believes in TM leads for FE which I'm not to keen on as feeling that is the most successful option plus with me getting over a dozen invitations from carriers to sign up under him (which I have not done yet), I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed at trying to start it all at the same time. Do you sell FE & MS & MA or just FE? Both are offering fair commissions with immediate release and a plan for my commissions to increase after so much production which should be easily achievable. I have some upfront money to get started for a couple months but need some income coming in within 6 weeks or no more than 2 months. I have talked to tons of IMO's and some FMO's which were some great choices but I felt that since Dave and this other GMA are within 30 miles from me, that having a local agency for local field training would be invaluable to me since I am a new agent getting started (though I have sold some insurance over the years including a debit account for about a year and some others). I have primarily been in Advertising Sales and was a manager for about 3.5 years in that and have worked by commission only as an Independent contractor since about 2010 with my home as my office (except when I was a manager, I had a salary). Anyway, sorry for this long post. Any advise you can give me is greatly appreciated. I appreciate your input before.

 

[Newby]

Hi JDEASY,
Thanks for your great help and advise. After doing lots of research about selling MS my concern is can I make enough upfront money selling MS & cross-selling FE. Recently, I'm now considering first getting started in FE, then after I get up and going and a little established, get trained up and certified to sell MS & MA. I live in Tennessee near Chattanooga and I have found a couple great agency options for me locally to possibly get started under, one is Dave Duford (Reardon on here) who could train me, get me leads and teach me to set up Senior Seminars for FE which I really like but he only sells FE but said he could hook me up with an agency that does MS & MA that offers training and leads. The other option is a local GMA that sells it all, but he wants me to get signed up with all FE carriers and MS & MA carriers right off the bat, start out with FE and as soon as I can take the AHIP in July wants me to sell everything and he also is strong in Senior Seminars and could train me in doing that but primarily for MA. Also, he primarily believes in TM leads for FE which I'm not to keen on as feeling that is the most successful option plus with me getting over a dozen invitations from carriers to sign up under him (which I have not done yet), I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed at trying to start it all at the same time. Do you sell FE & MS & MA or just FE? Both are offering fair commissions with immediate release and a plan for my commissions to increase after so much production which should be easily achievable. I have some upfront money to get started for a couple months but need some income coming in within 6 weeks or no more than 2 months. I have talked to tons of IMO's and some FMO's which were some great choices but I felt that since Dave and this other GMA are within 30 miles from me, that having a local agency for local field training would be invaluable to me since I am a new agent getting started (though I have sold some insurance over the years including a debit account for about a year and some others). I have primarily been in Advertising Sales and was a manager for about 3.5 years in that and have worked by commission only as an Independent contractor since about 2010 with my home as my office (except when I was a manager, I had a salary). Anyway, sorry for this long post. Any advise you can give me is greatly appreciated. I appreciate your input before.

I'm not JD but to me it appears obvious that:
1. You need cash flow quickly in the beginning
2. You need to pick ONE product to sell, not two. You can add the 2nd later after you are doing well.
3. You are right in Dave Duford's hometown.

It's obvious from the outside looking in what you best chance of success is. I would sign up to sell FE under Duford. Delete every marketer email you get. Focus 100% on what Duford tells you to do. And don't get sidetracked with ANY outside info (forum, spammers, marketer calls, etc.)

You are in information overload mode. That's why you are having trouble deciding what choices to make.