My 1st Month at EFES/Equita Final Expense

[jacobtn]

you are missing the boat for sure, i can tell in the way you are describing your appointments. when they tell you they have life insurance, you need to be able to find out what kind of coverage (UL or whole)? what carrier, are they graded or modified policies? do they cancel at 80? many do. I sell more replacements than non-replacements. You are leaving a lot of case on the table because you don't know what to do.

When I called last year they offered I believe 90% contract and leads were around $23. I'm sure you can get them for around $16 but I doubt it if you were new.

I would love to sell more FE. I just really suck at it.

For instance, I work closely with 3 other guys that average about 1.5 FE policies a week. Most of our sales are focused on Med Supps and MAPD's so their main goal isn't FE but it definitely helps their sales out.

Guess what I write? About 1.5 every 2 months....lol.

I know it's something I'm doing wrong. I ask them if they have life insurance and usually if they do, they say they are fine and don't need anymore. Or, if they don't have any they don't believe in owning it. I just know I am missing the boat and need to get better at it

 

[Chazm]

you are missing the boat for sure, i can tell in the way you are describing your appointments. when they tell you they have life insurance, you need to be able to find out what kind of coverage (UL or whole)? what carrier, are they graded or modified policies? do they cancel at 80? many do. I sell more replacements than non-replacements. You are leaving a lot of case on the table because you don't know what to do.

Yeah I think my problem is when I ask what they have they usually all just say, WL and its paid up or very cheap and I just leave it at that.

My appts are mainly for Medicare but I've got to do better on getting back on the subject of FE when I take care of their medicare. Like you said, find out exactly what it is and with what company

 

[WinoBlues]

X2

I just knocked out a couple calls to beneficiaries from a Bene change I did for a client yesterday. First one did not answer.

Second one mentioned she had Insurance. I said Great! who with? Farmers? Awesome. Good company for auto insurance. Well as long as you have their Whole Life and not one of their old non guaranteed Universal Life plans.......$128 per month ...$75,000.....Kids on it.....New Granddaughter.....do you get an annual report......................Loan....................Second opinion.......... No problem, since you are Mr Daniels beneficiary I will do it as a courtesy.......... Yes, Monday is good for me too.

The two Forester policies I did this morning are replacing imploding ULs from Protective. They have known their agent for over 20 years. He is retiring. I also X-Dated their MedSup. And I have all the information on the Beneficiaries.

My point is, if they have insurance already that is a positive. They already have it budgeted. That is your starting point. Start collecting information. X-date them. Even if you do not get them today you can call them later. I guarantee you someone is selling your medsup clients. Maybe someone on this forum.

 

[lleaoclark]

Do you make appointments with your leads or cold door knock with them? I have been doing mailers and gotten an okay but not great response (.9 to 1.3%). But when I started out trying to make appointments I was having a lot of trouble. The lead cards are the standard FE ones from Main Street Power Mail and ARM that are sort of misleading. A lot of people think they are just going to get something in the mail.

The problem is that if you spend average $400 for 1,000 (I spend between $365 and $422), even at the highest return %, the cost is $30.77 (or AT BEST $28). That means that each of these leads is SO important. It seems so easy for them to just say "I didn't know someone was going to come see me. I just thought you were mailing some information. I don't want to be bothered." Sometimes I can change their mind, but sometimes I can't. I finally started just cold knocking and I even got to talk to some of the people who had refused the appointment over the phone.

There are some problems with this too though. I spend TONS of time and gas driving everywhere and then people aren't home or they are busy and I have to come back a different day. Plus, it's on average about 110 degrees in Phoenix right now. It's so miserable and I am already getting so burned out this way.

So I'm thinking about going back to trying to set appointments. My biggest problem is getting the chance to make my presentation. If I can actually sit down with someone, I do great. People love me and I sell a lot. But just getting the appointment or the chance to talk to people is so tough...even when I have a lead card!

Any advice on cold door knocking or setting appointments?

(About Equita, I thought about going that way, but became convinced that I could do better independent. The training and product help is more important and more difficult than I expected on my own. If I was doing it again, I don't know if I would do it the same way. I might give Equita more consideration)

 

[jdeasy]

Do you make appointments with your leads or cold door knock with them? I have been doing mailers and gotten an okay but not great response (.9 to 1.3%). But when I started out trying to make appointments I was having a lot of trouble. The lead cards are the standard FE ones from Main Street Power Mail and ARM that are sort of misleading. A lot of people think they are just going to get something in the mail.

The problem is that if you spend average $400 for 1,000 (I spend between $365 and $422), even at the highest return %, the cost is $30.77 (or AT BEST $28). That means that each of these leads is SO important. It seems so easy for them to just say "I didn't know someone was going to come see me. I just thought you were mailing some information. I don't want to be bothered." Sometimes I can change their mind, but sometimes I can't. I finally started just cold knocking and I even got to talk to some of the people who had refused the appointment over the phone.

There are some problems with this too though. I spend TONS of time and gas driving everywhere and then people aren't home or they are busy and I have to come back a different day. Plus, it's on average about 110 degrees in Phoenix right now. It's so miserable and I am already getting so burned out this way.

So I'm thinking about going back to trying to set appointments. My biggest problem is getting the chance to make my presentation. If I can actually sit down with someone, I do great. People love me and I sell a lot. But just getting the appointment or the chance to talk to people is so tough...even when I have a lead card!

Any advice on cold door knocking or setting appointments?

(About Equita, I thought about going that way, but became convinced that I could do better independent. The training and product help is more important and more difficult than I expected on my own. If I was doing it again, I don't know if I would do it the same way. I might give Equita more consideration)

I set my appointments as I hate doorknocking. I will doorknock as a last resort if I can't find a phone number for the respondent anywhere. Also I only doorknock after i have made my weekly goal. Then it's just gravy if someone buys.

I also keep the lead card now when someone won't set an appointment with me by phone. I doorknock those at some future date when I'm back in that area and have some free time after my goal is met. I've had pretty success with those. They never even remember that they wouldn't talk to you before.

The response rate you cited is why I don't think it's better to do it on your own vs going with EFES or some other companmy that can provide leads on a consistant basis. You are independent with EFES. They just partner with you on the leads. I get 15 leads every Sat. in the same county. There is no way you can get that by doing your own mailers.

Most of the top agents with EFES set appointments. However, there are many with EFES that doorknock exclusively. There is one that doorknocks to set appointments. He doesn't go in the first time. he just drops by and, if they are home, sets an appointment for later that week. Doesn't seem very efficient to me, but he did $200,000 ap in 2010 and is over $100,000 this year.

There are a lot of ways to skin the FE cat. Setting appointments is my way.

 

[TwiLight]

Yeah I think my problem is when I ask what they have they usually all just say, WL and its paid up or very cheap and I just leave it at that.

My appts are mainly for Medicare but I've got to do better on getting back on the subject of FE when I take care of their medicare. Like you said, find out exactly what it is and with what company

Chazm, One easy way to cross sell is to offer a free service called Dignity Planning. It is an end of life planning program that will allow you to discuss their plans comfortably and allow you to fact find and gather necessary info for your presentation.

Go to my website and click on the Dignity Planning Video to learn more and feel free to PM me to discuss how you can make it an easy transition to the FE sale. Your sales will increase with this method.

 

[jdeasy]

Chazm, One easy way to cross sell is to offer a free service called Dignity Planning. It is an end of life planning program that will allow you to discuss their plans comfortably and allow you to fact find and gather necessary info for your presentation.

Go to my website and click on the Dignity Planning Video to learn more and feel free to PM me to discuss how you can make it an easy transition to the FE sale. Your sales will increase with this method.

And then Dignity planning will try and steal your client. No thanks on that great deal.

 

[0b1kanobee]

The response rate you cited is why I don't think it's better to do it on your own vs going with EFES or some other companmy that can provide leads on a consistant basis. You are independent with EFES. They just partner with you on the leads. I get 15 leads every Sat. in the same county. There is no way you can get that by doing your own mailers.

If this is true, why is it true? I don't understand. If they are sending out mailers like everyone else then what are they doing to get you your leads?

 

[lleaoclark]

I set my appointments as I hate doorknocking. I will doorknock as a last resort if I can't find a phone number for the respondent anywhere. Also I only doorknock after i have made my weekly goal. Then it's just gravy if someone buys.

I also keep the lead card now when someone won't set an appointment with me by phone. I doorknock those at some future date when I'm back in that area and have some free time after my goal is met. I've had pretty success with those. They never even remember that they wouldn't talk to you before.

The response rate you cited is why I don't think it's better to do it on your own vs going with EFES or some other companmy that can provide leads on a consistant basis. You are independent with EFES. They just partner with you on the leads. I get 15 leads every Sat. in the same county. There is no way you can get that by doing your own mailers.

Most of the top agents with EFES set appointments. However, there are many with EFES that doorknock exclusively. There is one that doorknocks to set appointments. He doesn't go in the first time. he just drops by and, if they are home, sets an appointment for later that week. Doesn't seem very efficient to me, but he did $200,000 ap in 2010 and is over $100,000 this year.

There are a lot of ways to skin the FE cat. Setting appointments is my way.

When I decided to make the change I was only getting 1 or 2 appointment for every 7 or 8 lead cards, so I felt like I had no choice. I can't afford to just sit on a lead and wait, although since each batch of mailer goes to the same area usually, I guess I could follow up by knocking those that won't set appointments. The door knocking has worked okay, but I know I can't keep doing it (especially in this heat) this way because I'm already getting really burned out.

I was selling about 1 policy per day with 1,000-1,500 mailers sent out per week. But last Wednesday to Friday I didn't sell anything. Friday was the worst. I had 12 leads to go knock and only got to sit down with 2 people out of 12 (and wouldn't you know 1 of them didn't have air conditioning!). I didn't sell either, though it looks like one might work out. I probably drove 100 miles total in 110 degrees with the most lead cards I ever had for one day and NOTHING! I know that is the way sales is sometimes, but that is really discouraging.

I don't know if it's my phone approach or what that was a problem before, but I'm going to start the appointment calls again. That's why I said the training is so important I think. I think it might be worth 10 or 15% to have those resources.
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I do have 3 APPOINTMENTS today from all my knocking, so hopefully something will come of it!

 

[jdeasy]

If this is true, why is it true? I don't understand. If they are sending out mailers like everyone else then what are they doing to get you your leads?

Have you ever done FE mailers yourself?

It costs anywhere from $370 to $420/1000 to send your own. In my area you will average about .07% response. That puts you lead costs over $50 each.

A company that has their own mailhouse can do it for less than $300/1000. Still, in my area that's about $40 per lead.

EFES, and other lead companies, are subsidizing the lead costs. Especially mine. Across the country the returns are not so bad as they are here. EFES being a national company can absorb some of those costs elsewhere so they don't take such a hit here. That's one reason that I always do training calls and other things they ask me to do even though I don't recruit and have no dog in the training fight.

The other thing is that when doing your own mailers the returns do not come back all on the same day and all in the same area unless you only mailed one area. It's very difficult to set a schedule like I run, 6 appointments in a day in an area, if you don't have enough leads in that area to let you do that.

Most of my contracts with EFES are in the 100% range. Some a little higher, some a little lower. Could I get 120-130% contracts elsewhere with my production? Absolutely I could. I've been offered them. Is it worth it to gain 20% on contracts and then pay $40 per lead more than I pay now? To me it isn't. That's not even considering the extra work of doing my own and then not having them returned on a schedule.

To get 15 leads per week, as I do now, from my own mailers I would have to consistantly send out over 2000 pieces per week. That's over $40,000 per year in mailings. Last year I spent less than $9000 on leads with EFES. Gonna be about the same this year.

Some of my lead drops here only return .04%. If that happened to me while doing my own mailings I would be behind the 8 ball for a couple of weeks. When it happens with EFES I still get my 15 leads on Sat. because do such a volume of mail.

EFES is the perfect system for a fulltime FE agent. For a person to dabble in FE, doing their own mailers would be a good idea.