Insurance Agent Forum

[somarco]

John, I am not paranoid. It's not paranoia when they really are threatening you.

[OHInsAGNT]

Originally Posted by deleatme

Frank - Can you tell me what products you market to seniors and do you rent/purchase lists that have been scrubbed for the DNC reg?

Bluemarlin - Could you tell me what markets you are in and the products you sell?

Thanks to both of you for responding. With the downturn in the economy I am looking at doing something different and believe I would be good in the insurance field IF I could telemarket.

You need to check your own lists against the DNC list. Start an account at telemarketing.donotcall.gov. You can do a batch search against a large file, download lists for a vlookup comparison or enter numbers a few at a time. DO NOT TRUST it has been scrubbed. Plus, you are required to re-verify every 30 days. It is free for your first 5 area codes.

If you want to cold call, which I do, I'd advise going B2B. Commercial lines or employee benefits. Commissions aren't that large in individual insurance. You need marketing to bring in more volume for that. Although, some people hear seem successful at it, particularly in FE and Senior Markets.

[al3]

I don't understand why you don't want to meet the clients. That to me is one of the really fun parts of the business. While I write a fair amount of life and some health in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, I much prefer to write local people so I can visit with them.

I think it's harder for a client to create a trusting relationship with you on the phone than in person.

Take today. The client would have done the app on the computer and we could exchange emails and voice. But I really wanted to meet the family... and Saturday afternoon was the only time they could do it. Fine.

I made the sale, but more importantly I made a friend. We found we had a lot of common interests and the four of us plan to get together for dinner soon. I also found out that the wife was a past president of chamber, a past president of rotary, and is on the board of several charities as well as Mercy Hospital.

In short, she knows a lot of the people I know... and a lot of people I want to get to know. None of this would have happened over the phone as opposed to sitting around the table with my laptop, her coffee, and the Atlanta, Arizona game on in the background which both the husband and myself were checking on while discussing their case.

Product knowledge is important, but so is good in-person sales and social skills. You can't develop those from a book or by reading this board. If you want to learn how to swim, you have to get in the water!

[AgentOrange]

Does Anyone Successfully Telemarket Insurance From Cold Call to Close

Hell yeah !!!

This is a numbers game. In my efforts I dont see too much difference in lead sources with the exception of certain carrier developed leads. Some days take 10 hours of calling others take 4, its called working leads because it's work !

Real Estate is Location, Location, Location ... Insurance is Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

[healthagent]

I hear this often and disagree. If it was a numbers game the success rate would be 98%.

Doing the wrong thing over and over doesn't result in sales.

[deleatme]

Al3 - In the 80's I was an outside sales rep for a top 3 wholesale electronics firm in the local Seattle to Portland areas. So my large accounts(80% of my business) were companies like Boeing & Microsoft in Seattle and Intel in Portland. The company decided to try TM's both as an adjunct to the local outside sales reps and by themselves. I liked the idea and moved to L.A. where the corporate office was and became a TM. This allowed me to market to a much larger base of Fortune 500 companies. By the time everything was said and done I ended up keeping my local big boys and also getting, through my own TM efforts, companies like TRW, DEC, Dell, etc. So yes, there may be less of a face to face contact but I believe I was able to increase my income, influence and contacts through TM. I'm not an insurance agent yet, but it sounds like the same scenario is being played out here. If you call someone and they aren't ready to buy today it sounds like the agents here are also putting them in their tickle files and calling them on a regular basis without being pains in the *ss about it. When I did it in electronics I ended up making some lifetime friends that I eventually actually got to meet. For me it enlarged my world of contacts and I still took business away from the local rep's. Even though I wasn't the lowest priced I was just a phone call away when the local rep couldn't physically cover as much ground and be there when he was needed. But it didn't take anything away from the outside rep's either. What we discovered was there was room for both types(outside rep's and inside TM's). It ended up being a win-win situation for everyone. The clients that wanted face to face interaction stayed with the outside reps and the clients that liked doing business over the phone got what they wanted.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ohinsagnt - thanks for the info.

[tryan326]

I tried it for a few months with mild success. But it was too time consuming.

[TRK3031962]

If you are looking to do term over the phone in multiple states with a proven system I can set you up with that. If you are looking for Med Supps and FE that can be done over the phone I can help with that also. Just give me a call if you want to explore the possibilities.

[Beach Broker]

Originally Posted by deleatme

I have telemarketed exclusively in other industries from the initial cold call to wrapping up the sale and closing. Does anyone do that in the insurance industry? If so, how difficult is it to take care of things life medical exams, etc. over the phone? Thanks for any info.

John

John,

I used to cold call, but quickly got burnt out. Every Sunday night I’d feel the sickness. The pit in my stomach -- the gnawing feeling of showing up at work every morning without any leads. I felt the pain, fear and anxiety of making the cold calls each day. The pressure of not providing for my family like a man should. It sucked, I'll tell you that much.


My story probably isn’t much different from yours. I started that fateful May 1st day on the job with a phone book and telephone.
No computer, no client list, not even any training about insurance.


I started making the cold calls, setting up appointments, and generally getting kicked around like a stray dog with mange and disease. This is the position you're in when you cold call, it's the position of a beggar.


Not to be negative, but I truly hate cold calling and I hope I've made my point on that. Something that changed my life is when I started positioning myself differently with direct marketing. I used direct mail letters and refined the process to where I was getting 3-4 leads calling me everyday. The mailings got to the point where they were more than ten times paying for themselves.


Bottom line is that if you are positioned as a beggar, calling and chasing them down, you’ll get treated just like that. Shunned, disrespected, and as a result you'll probably make money, even decent money, but it's not the funnest way (wasn't for me anyway).


Now contrast that with being positioned as the expert, and they are calling you seeking advice. You’re treated like a respected, trusted adviser, plus you make TONS more money. Your whole world changes when they call you instead of you chasing them.


For what it's worth,


Beach

[djs]

I hear this often and disagree. If it was a numbers game the success rate would be 98%.

Doing the wrong thing over and over doesn't result in sales.

Still a numbers game. You have to do the right thing over and over again, you'll do very well. If you do the wrong thing (assuming not terribly wrong) over and over and over and over again, you'll eventually get a sale.

People fail because they don't run the numbers, they give up or don't make the necessary adjustments.

The difference between mediocre and good is what your numbers are.

Looking at 2 possible scenarios....
Agent A makes a 100 dials, 10 contacts, 2 appointments, 1 sale.
Agent B makes a 100 dials, 10 contacts, 4 appointments, 2 sales.

Who will be successful? Doesn't really matter, it's the person making enough dials to put food on their table, not necessarily the person who is closing 2% rather than 1%. If agent B only makes 25 dials a day, he is going hungry. If agent A is making 400, he'll do okay.

People fail because it's a lot of work to make those calls. Heck, I hire it done.

I also do direct mail campaigns, I know from experience I get about a 1% response rate. I know if I want to write 50 homes, with a 75% close ratio on responses, I need to send out about 7000 letters a month. I then need to know if it's profitable to do this.... since my cost will be $3500, will I make enough to cover this? I have to know the numbers.

It is very much a numbers game.

Dan

[warnerins]

Dan,
Great post.......This (I believe) is exactly how it works.

The variable, is knowing which numbers to track and which numbers are a waist of time. Also, understanding which of these are percentages that you have some control over and how to motivate those to a positive response.

I personally believe that you can control every aspect of a tracked action. But, the only way to be completely acurate is to understand where and how the numbers where created.

So, how is this done? I have always used two rules of thumb.

1. You have to give the numbers enough time to be acurate.

Track an action for a week and then again for another. If the results are the same - these may be your magic numbers. If the results are different, then you are not done. You have to continue until they fall into some sort of pattern. Once this happens (no matter how long it takes) you can decide where to go from there. Personally I would give any activity at least 30 days to fall into its natural rhythm.

2. consistent activity is the key

(time of day, language, approach, type of market, lead source, amount of activity, etc...). This can not be adjusted during the initial stages of your project and changing anything will be detrimental to acurate tracking. We have all heard that with any data base if you put crap in you will get crap out. Changing your activity is the worst thing that you can possibly do to mess up your data.


After your initial data, the sky is the limit. You adjust your approach based on what number ratio needs to improve. While always keeping the two rules of thumb in play. It can be almost like a game.

Winner takes home all the chips!!!

[ins.dave]

Originally Posted by al3

I don't understand why you don't want to meet the clients. That to me is one of the really fun parts of the business. While I write a fair amount of life and some health in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, I much prefer to write local people so I can visit with them.

I think it's harder for a client to create a trusting relationship with you on the phone than in person.

Take today. The client would have done the app on the computer and we could exchange emails and voice. But I really wanted to meet the family... and Saturday afternoon was the only time they could do it. Fine.

I made the sale, but more importantly I made a friend. We found we had a lot of common interests and the four of us plan to get together for dinner soon. I also found out that the wife was a past president of chamber, a past president of rotary, and is on the board of several charities as well as Mercy Hospital.

In short, she knows a lot of the people I know... and a lot of people I want to get to know. None of this would have happened over the phone as opposed to sitting around the table with my laptop, her coffee, and the Atlanta, Arizona game on in the background which both the husband and myself were checking on while discussing their case.

Product knowledge is important, but so is good in-person sales and social skills. You can't develop those from a book or by reading this board. If you want to learn how to swim, you have to get in the water!

Perhaps on your next visit you can discuss the evil health insurance CEO's over Crème brûlée?
God what a Putz.

[Ken Westphal]

Originally Posted by ins.dave

Perhaps on your next visit you can discuss the evil health insurance CEO's over Crème brûlée?
God what a Putz.

I realize that Al on occasion goes over the top a bit and struggles with some conspiracy theory tendencies, but your message seems out of line.

Al made some great points on face to face versus phone sales, and I think for newer agents it was very beneficial.

Maybe have another coffee or something...

[briko3]

Agree w/Ken

[milosrq]

Allot of good info here.

Can anyone make suggestions of what to include/not inlcude in Cold Calling scripts? I know people can be very protective of their call scripts and I'm just looking for some advice.

I've worked with allot of Net leads and already Telemarketed leads, But I'm looking into getting business lists etc to start cold calling.

I'm also looking into calling seniors directly for Medicare Sups.

Any advice on the transition and what to further expect or not expect that isn't already included ain this post would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Again, I dont expect you to share your scripts (unless you really want to

Thanks guys,
(\/)ilo

[healthagent]

"allot" isn't a word. It's "a lot."

[arnguy]

Maybe he means "allot" as in an "allotment."

[milosrq]

I meant a lot.... Geesh...

[padthaiforlunch]

Originally Posted by milosrq

I meant a lot.... Geesh...

I think you meant "jeesh."

[bill3173]

Originally Posted by padthaiforlunch

I think you meant "jeesh."

Don't you think it's a little unfair to show us your legs in your avatar?