Final Expense Newbie

[mcoll]

Hello everyone,
I'd like to apologize in advance for my ignorance on a lot of this stuff, but I'd really appreciate some feedback. I owned my own P&C insurance agency a few years ago and was very successful, I sold it to be a stay at home mom (husband has a great career). Now that my little guy is a little older, I like to get back into insurance sales, but I'd like to be able to do it from home.

My father in law is just getting started (hasn't received leads yet) with the Final Expense Telesales (or Roberts Marketing Grp) and he's really excited about it. I started doing some research on the web and this site, and learned about similar companies, such as Equita.

I was wondering if you could give me some feedback as far as:
-What other companies besides these provide leads, and how do they differ in contract and price?
-I know from my father in law that final expense telesales (or roberts marketing group) requires you to buy a certain amount of leads each month, do all the groups do this?
-How difficult is it to get appts. from all the life companies? (I have my licenses of course, but I was an exclusive agent and didn't need to get appt with multiple carriers).
-Has anyone worked with these companies or ones similar, and what was your experience?


Again, I really appreciate the feedback!

Michelle

 

[VaDwayne]

Hello everyone,
I'd like to apologize in advance for my ignorance on a lot of this stuff, but I'd really appreciate some feedback. I owned my own P&C insurance agency a few years ago and was very successful, I sold it to be a stay at home mom (husband has a great career). Now that my little guy is a little older, I like to get back into insurance sales, but I'd like to be able to do it from home.

My father in law is just getting started (hasn't received leads yet) with the Final Expense Telesales (or Roberts Marketing Grp) and he's really excited about it. I started doing some research on the web and this site, and learned about similar companies, such as Equita.

I was wondering if you could give me some feedback as far as:
-What other companies besides these provide leads, and how do they differ in contract and price?
-I know from my father in law that final expense telesales (or roberts marketing group) requires you to buy a certain amount of leads each month, do all the groups do this?
-How difficult is it to get appts. from all the life companies? (I have my licenses of course, but I was an exclusive agent and didn't need to get appt with multiple carriers).
-Has anyone worked with these companies or ones similar, and what was your experience?


Again, I really appreciate the feedback!

Michelle

Welcome, you need to use the search function for information on on the different agencies. There is not very much, that is good, said about them from the agents that has worked through them.

You can get much better contracts by doing it on your own and developing your own leads. I learned quickly from post on this forum that the leads are less than desirable and the agents usually have to end up paying for them after they have tried and not succeeded. They are left with huge credit card debt and no money to pay it back.

You can create your own leads, do your own mailers, make your own calls, and make much more per contract. If you want to sell final expense, you should also cross-sell with Medicare supplements.

I would be glad to talk to you and your dad about my experiences, and hopefully help you not make the same costly mistakes I made when starting out.

You can email me at [email protected]. Or you can give me a call at 540-241-1702.

Dwayne Armstrong

 

[HawkeyeJ]

Hello everyone,
I'd like to apologize in advance for my ignorance on a lot of this stuff, but I'd really appreciate some feedback. I owned my own P&C insurance agency a few years ago and was very successful, I sold it to be a stay at home mom (husband has a great career). Now that my little guy is a little older, I like to get back into insurance sales, but I'd like to be able to do it from home.

My father in law is just getting started (hasn't received leads yet) with the Final Expense Telesales (or Roberts Marketing Grp) and he's really excited about it. I started doing some research on the web and this site, and learned about similar companies, such as Equita.



Michelle

No problem Michelle. I also did a bunch of research on this front. Final Expense Telesales...they expect you to spend at least $900/mos on leads to be successful as it's all about volume. When I did a search and read through all the threads, some guy posted that you should be willing to spend at least 1-2K per WEEK if you want to make 150K/Yr. Another poster calculated it all out, and came up with 150K-96K(8K/mos X 12 for lead expenses), and came up with a net of like 45K after all other expenses were figured in. This poster then asked if this 150K was before or after expenses and there has been no responses answering the question. Also, there is a $250/mos. fee for their contact management system. (upon further research, it allows you to manage/prioritize your contacts and make notes on them) It's also definitely Multi-Level Marketing, MLM, which I quickly became familiar with.
A little long, but that's how I roll...hope this helps!

 

[mcoll]

Thanks, both of you, for the advice so far. So a couple more questions:

-Are there any other companies besides the 2 mentioned above that are big players in that arena? Do we call them "captive" situations, although the agents sell for multiple carriers (in P&C I was exclusive- and that was just 1 company)?
-The other main questions I have are: finalexpensetelesales .com requires you to purchase a certain amount of leads per month, which I'm not particularly excited about, but on the other hand they give you access to all their "B" leads, which are older leads. I found in the P&C world it seemed there were many "b" leads I was successful with because other agents didn't work them as well (being willing to call often, late, saturdays, etc).
-Does Equita, or any other captive situation, offer "free" access to such a database?

Thanks!

 

[jody108]

Final Expense is a good way route to go ...

You can use much of your P&C knowledge to benefit you ...

It's not a whole lot different.

I would recommend setting your sites higher ... but FE is a great door into the business. You get paid really good while you learn the tricks of the trade.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Hi Michelle, Call Mike 229-226-3111. Tell him Greg sent you his way. We sell FE over the phone 100% using a digital recorder. Never have to see the proposed insured, never have to crank up the car, never have to mail the app for a signature (and hope they mail it back to us), never do a 3 way call w/ underwriting. The digital recording handles all of that.

Everyone works at least 20 leads/week, some agents prefer working 30-50 leads/week. The leads are fresh and exclusive (not sold to multiple agents at same time). Leads are $20 apiece with ave. closing rate of 20-25%.

If you are in NC, Ala., La., Tenn., or Va. I can help you directly. Everyone is required to attend a mandatory 3 day training class so as to learn how to do this properly. Without the training you are almost guaranteed to fail. Greg 252-292-3350.

PS: Chargebacks NEVER deducted from advance commissions, they are paid back from the unadvanced portion of your comm. Advance comm. dependent ONLY on production submitted and the 1st draft clears. Helps an agent to continue to make $$$ if they are having a month of high chargeabacks. Yes, this is captive because of the expense to train agents and the expense to generate massive amounts of leads (never have to worry about a week where you only get 5 leads). And yes agents must work at least 20 leads/week, otherwise the agent is not doing this full-time and being committed to this opportunity. Part-timers almost always are no-timers.

Some people bash selling FE on the phone (usually they have never tried it themselves). Just as some agents fail in the field, some agents fail selling over the phone. If Health agents or Geico can sell over the phone so can you selling FE.

My 1st 7 years spent selling FE face 2 face in the field, last 3 3/4 yrs. selling FE over the phone. Closing % on the phone about 10% less than in the field, persistency roughly the same for both methods of selling. Using the phone you can find the "yesses" and the "no's" so much quicker than in the field because you are eliminating wasted time driving from point A to point B, etc. (And don't have to worry about "no shows" for the appointment). Over all you will make more PROFIT selling over the phone. I know as I've done both for a reasonable amount of time.

 

[jody108]

has anyone ever made money selling FE over the phone ... besides marketers?

I've never heard of an agent that was actually making money ...

Any agents out there?

Not marketers, please ... just agents. I really want to know.

I get calls often from agents who have tried it and say it's not working ...

Just curious.

 

[theinsuranceman]

has anyone ever made money selling FE over the phone ... besides marketers?

I've never heard of an agent that was actually making money ...

Any agents out there?

Not marketers, please ... just agents. I really want to know.

I get calls often from agents who have tried it and say it's not working ...

Just curious.

Hi Jody see above post. A lot of agents fail in the field and on the phone. Agents who are successful in the field will be successful using the phone.

 

[IndyAgentIDTMY]

has anyone ever made money selling FE over the phone ... besides marketers?

I've never heard of an agent that was actually making money ...

Any agents out there?

Not marketers, please ... just agents. I really want to know.

I get calls often from agents who have tried it and say it's not working ...

Just curious.

I agree, Jody! I have seen our own production reports for agents under us who tried to sell FE over the phone. I know that I've said this many times, but bottom line is that the persistency selling FE over the phone is no where near that of an agent selling belly to belly.

Of the dozens of agents I have talked to who have tried to sell FE over the phone, all of them lost their tails spending thousands on leads and lasted less than 90 days. These same guys are now or have been selling successfully, so its not a matter of sales skills or lack thereof.

mcoll - I agree 100% with VaDwayne above....he is dead on regarding the way SUCCESSFUL and PROFITABLE Agents are selling FE.

Feel free to message or email me if I can assist you in any way, Michelle.

 

[jody108]

Yeah, it makes sense ... I've just not met an agent that was doing it over the phone successfully; however, I've met many agents doing it successfully face to face.

Well, anyway, it must work because you wouldn't be making money if agents didn't make money ...

Unless you work for free??

Sorry for my skepticism ... I more curious than anything.

Jody