Go Yankees. I'm hoping for a 27th title. Just because I live near Philadelphia doesn't stop me from despising, in no particular order, the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles, Sixers, Soul, Villanova, LaSalle, St Joes, etc etc.
------------------------------------
I am proud to have voted for Ron Paul.
Tom great posts.... I have about 20 yrs of sales experience, but new to insurance sales. I thought buying leads was the answer. I did not do a very good job with leads, I was competing with experienced agents. SO........
Back to the basics. A prospecting system of dropping off brochures at local business, 3-4 hrs per morning, and 3-4 hrs of phone calls in the afternoon to make appointments.
I imagine my next 4 months will be more profitable than the previous 8.
There is no easy way, but a consistent effort, which should brings results.
Don't stop there. There are many other ways to see more buyers. Consider dropping off a flyer...something that jumps out at them, rather than a glossy, smooth brochure. They get these every week. Use CPS and expand your marketing plan and product list.
This is very helpful but each agent should be unique in their own ways. There is should be a little x factor with the strategy that an agent is using. Door to door is very effective though but just be sure that you are ready for possible scenes that may be encountered.
Here is the thing. You will never know unless you jump in the ring and start swinging. You aren't going to know how to handle every case. You aren't going to know what is best for every client. People will throw you curveballs and you will be perplexed from time to time. IT WILL HAPPEN. Even people that have been in the business for ten years see something new or odd every once in a while that they don't know how to deal with.
As a wise man once said, "It's not how many times you get knocked down that matters...it's how many times you get back up".
Walked into 27 businesses today. Set four appointments for next week. Have 11 owners to call back and follow up with. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Cold calling works
Buying leads works
Generating your own leads works
Pursuing referrals works
I could go on but basically, why not do it all? Why neglect one or the other? If this is your business, why not pursue every avenue to generate business and income?
My school of thought goes like this. Find a way to get yourself face to face with the people that have needs and have money.
When I go out cold walking I am doing just that. On a good day I can get in front of at least 10 decision makers/business owners and sometimes more.
If I can get appointments with just 10% of the people that I see every day I can get 2-3 appointments every day.
If I can get 2-3 appointments every day I can MDRT every year.
Anything can work, but finding out what works the best for you and doing it and doing it and doing it until you are the best at it is a little different.
You can be a jack of all trades or a master of one. If I am the cold walking master (which I'm not yet, but I'm working on it) I am not going to try other avenues until this one peters out.
Originally Posted by robliano
This is how I see it:
Cold calling works
Buying leads works
Generating your own leads works
Pursuing referrals works
I could go on but basically, why not do it all? Why neglect one or the other? If this is your business, why not pursue every avenue to generate business and income?
Tom, do you call on mostly retail in strip malls or do you call on business parks. IS your entry Life or Health Sales.
I just drop off a brochure and get a name of person. Up north, most business owners will not come out and see a sales person without an appointment. I do ask, but 99 pct time I only get a name to call back.
Great Posts! This is the easiest business in the world that we make way too difficult sometimes. Hard work can never be replaced. I think Albert Gray summed it up well:
Successful people are successful because they form the habits of doing those things that failures don't like to do.”
Great Posts! This is the easiest business in the world that we make way too difficult sometimes. Hard work can never be replaced. I think Albert Gray summed it up well:
“Successful people are successful because they form the habits of doing those things that failures don't like to do.”
===============
Absolutely, well done bunkerjunker.
There are a million different methods for marketing insurance (or pretty much anything else, for that matter), but none of them will work unless you actually follow through and DO them.
If I had to narrow success in this business down to two things, they'd be self discipline & the ability to create and nurture relationships.
If you don't stay disciplined, you'll find yourself making excuses for not cold-calling, following up on old appointments or joining a volunteer organization. You'll be able to tell me what was on Oprah this afternoon, if you know what I mean. Do some research - read a few marketing/sales books, read their reviews on Amazon, and choose a system that is most comfortable for you. Then commit to it 100%. A good system is all you need if you follow through.And only you will know, at the end of the day, if you really put out the effort. If you didn't, you'll only have to look in the mirror to know why you're not successful.
Creating & nurturing relationships takes work, too. Do you have positive relationships with accountants, attorneys, payroll specialists, business owners, financial planners, civic leaders, non-profit leaders, religious leaders, business leaders? You'll find them by joining Rotary or Sertoma or any number of volunteer organizations. Become active in the group, be a leader, and the movers & shakers will gravitate towards you. Don't just join and ask for business, that will push people away faster than anything. You have to become a local mover & shaker yourself.
Mix in cold calling, cold walking and buying/running leads, and that's a pretty full day. Add in the fact that you also spent an hour helping your community reading to kids at a local school, collecting coats for the underpriviledged or delivering meals to elderly shut-ins, and suddenly things may look a little different.
The longer I'm in this business, the clearer it becomes: The heavyweights commit to their work and follow through on all levels; the lightweights do not.
My two cents, worth every penny.
...
------------------------------------
"Hey waitress! Bring us a bottle of tequila and call the cops!"
Most people fail in this business because they are procrastinators. They don't want to get their hands dirty and then they fail miserably. To all of you new agents this is what you should do.
Read about the five ways approach. Learn it inside and out. Then go to at least 100 businesses every week and USE IT! Don't worry about knowing what you are talking about in the beginning. Just learn how to get the appointment. You can always take a seasoned agent with you on the appointment.
Go door knocking in your own neighborhood. This is great Saturday activity. Start around 11:00am and do it straight through until 5:00pm. Go right up to the door and knock on it. When someone answers this is what you do/say:
Hi, my name is Tom and I own ___________ Insurance Agency here in town. Do you currently have a life insurance agent? (wait for them to answer and it doesn't matter if they say yes or no) I would like to apply for the job. (let them say their response) I am taking time to today to meet all of my neighbors, but I want to make an appointment to sit down with you and (if they give you the "I already have life insurance" spiel) give you a free review of your current coverage (if they have no life insurance agent) or show you how you can protect the people you care about with the right type of insurance. This next part is important...get out your notepad and look at it. Then tell them days and times you have available. I am available Tuesday at 6:00pm, Wednesday at 7:00pm or Friday at 5:30pm. Which appointment would you like? Don't let them hem and haw about it and decide for themselves. Then get out your card and write their appointment date and time on it and give it to them. Shake their hand, tell them you will see them soon and LEAVE.
I am telling you. There is no replacement for beating the pavement and getting in front of people. Using this method you will be meeting literally hundreds of new people every week. If you meet 200 people per week and only 1% of them buy something you are writing two apps per week. If you are averaging $500 per app you are now in the $52K per year club. This is if you SUCK and can only get a 1% response. Imagine what 2% could bring? That would make you MDRT in your very first year.
Its not about reinventing the wheel. Its about doing the work. Do the work, make the money, pay yourself what you are worth.
Don't let some craptastic sales manager preach to you about friends and family. ITS B.S.! You show me a guy that builds his book selling friends and family and I will show you a guy who's friends and family don't invite him over anymore and a guy that will be out of business in a year.
Also, don't waste your money on leads. You will starve if they are your primary source of clients. They are a great supplement if you are already successful and have the cash to dole out for them, but other than that they are a waste of time.
Spend the time that you are not prospecting businesses and homes to meet attorneys and accountants. You should ask your friends and family who they use as their attorney and accountants and then drop their name to get your foot in the door. These people are a gold mine of referrals IF they trust you.
But, in the beginning its all about getting in front of people. If you spend at least four days a week prospecting by "cold walking" you will have more people to see than you can shake a stick at.
Do it and prosper!!!
This is coming from a guy that just got a rude awakening in the business. I am now following this advice and I submitted 11 apps last week. This week looks like it will probably be about half of that, but even if you are only doing 5-6 apps a week you are making loot.
5 apps per week for $50 per month life policies = about $600 commission each or $3000 per week in total. Its simple math. BELIEVE IN THIS!
If time is our most valuable asset and logic says that the more customers we present to, the more we can sell; than it's reasonable to think that if I use internet leads and you cold call and walk around, I can outsell you every day, and earn more money to justify the lead cost, hands down. And I eliminate gas and additional maintenance costs on my vehicle while not being deterred by weather conditions.
If some say there's competition in net leads, that's usually because you don't know how to present, qualify, handle an "objection" or close, so why would you be able to do that when cold calling?
Also, why not just cold call the business, why even go there? You'll still get attention due to the numbers of who you can reach and it'll expand your market to the entire state, not only where you could reach by car.
Originally Posted by bunkerjunker
Successful people are successful because they form the habits of doing those things that failures don't like to do.”
If time is our most valuable asset and logic says that the more customers we present to, the more we can sell; than it's reasonable to think that if I use internet leads and you cold call and walk around, I can outsell you every day, and earn more money to justify the lead cost, hands down.
In the short run maybe, in the long run, most likely not. I guarantee you won't right close the same average premium per sale using net leads (plus cross sell as many products). Also, your long run earnings are more a function of a large clientele (not customers) in life insurance, I doubt the internet price shoppers will fit this category as a rule. Five years out, I would suspect TomFromtheShade's earnings will be at least double that of the typical life insurance lead junkie, if not more.
Also, why not just cold call the business, why even go there? You'll still get attention due to the numbers of who you can reach and it'll expand your market to the entire state, not only where you could reach by car.
Rob, how much cold calling for life insurance have you done? How about B2B?
Re: Blueprint for Success for New Agents
How do you get free leads? Thanks, Mike
Linear Mode
