Insurance Agent Forum

[GreenSky]

Newby mentioned he was successful selling final expense in a seminar setting. I never thought of this myself and would like to know if anyone can give me some advice.

Newby? Beuller?

Rick

[Newby]

Originally Posted by GreenSky

Newby mentioned he was successful selling final expense in a seminar setting. I never thought of this myself and would like to know if anyone can give me some advice.

Newby? Beuller?

Rick

All seminar selling is similar. Mail invitations. Have a reply card or phone number to RSVP. Free dinner. Seminar held in a restaurant (in a private room.) Short sweet and entertaining presentation (preferably with Powerpoint.) Door prize drawing ($50 gas card to 1-attendee.) No selling at the seminar BUT much appointment setting. Short questionaire (Did you enjoy the seminar? What would you like further information about? etc.) Free gift that I will deliver personally to each and every one of you (I used a family tree/family history book) Run the leads. Make sales. Get names of their friends to invite to your next free dinner seminar.

I think one important thing I do is; I do not sell pay-for-life policies to people who can afford better. Many seniors want to single-pay their final expense insurance. People who have money don't like the concept of endless payments. They don't like debt. Make sure you offer a limited payment option and a single-pay option as well as the pay for life option.

[somarco]

Newby -

What is your cost per attendee?

Folks I know in the seminar business spend $5000 - $7000 per seminar to fill 50 or so seats. They are selling high ticket portfolio or estate planning so the bucks are there but few have that kind of capital to throw around and wait 2 - 3 months for the payoff.

Mail out to 1000 is around $700, possibly more. Figure 2% return (if that). You might fill 10 seats. How many of those are tire kickers for the free meal & gas card?

Seems you need to have at least 20 - 30 butts, so $700 x 3 = $2100. Throw in another $500 - $1000 for the meal, gifts, miscellaneous, now you are close to $3000.

How far off am I?

30 butts = 15 appointments = 7 - 8 sales.

Only missing component (assuming I am close on the numbers so far) is the average commission per sale.

Entertain me with some numbers.

Thx!

[Newby]

Originally Posted by somarco

Newby -

What is your cost per attendee?

Folks I know in the seminar business spend $5000 - $7000 per seminar to fill 50 or so seats. They are selling high ticket portfolio or estate planning so the bucks are there but few have that kind of capital to throw around and wait 2 - 3 months for the payoff.

Mail out to 1000 is around $700, possibly more. Figure 2% return (if that). You might fill 10 seats. How many of those are tire kickers for the free meal & gas card?

Seems you need to have at least 20 - 30 butts, so $700 x 3 = $2100. Throw in another $500 - $1000 for the meal, gifts, miscellaneous, now you are close to $3000.

How far off am I?

30 butts = 15 appointments = 7 - 8 sales.

Only missing component (assuming I am close on the numbers so far) is the average commission per sale.

Entertain me with some numbers.

Thx!

My expenses for mailing are much less because I mail to a house list not a cold list. If I mail 500 invitations $500 X .37 = $185 for postage. I also spend about that much for the actual invitation (mine looks similar to a wedding invitation) but you couldn't afford to add that expense if you are mailing thousands to a bought list. Most high volume seminar invitations are postcards which have lower cost and lower postage per piece.

My most successful seminar I only mailed 300 invites and had 26 people attend. It was in July which is a great month for seminars. I mailed the same invitation in September to 500 people and only had two-replies. I had to cancel that one.

Meals will cost from $10 to $20 per plate and most restaurants won't charge for the room if you committ to at least 20 plates. Add a $50 door prize. I added $10 per appointment for an additional gift that I delivered when following up.

Don't prequalify plate-lickers. Many of my sales came from couples who thought they were just there to plate-lick. They learned new information at the seminar which is the whole idea. If people try to come to a 2nd seminar that didn't buy at the first is where you want to draw the line. I haven't had that problem but have heard it is common from other people.

You will get a better return on your dollar if you do multiple seminars for each mailing. Choices of Tuesday evening, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday evening. (Never do Wednesday evening because you are competing with church.) Evening seminars usually do best but offer a daytime also for maximum results.

I promise you, I am a shy person. I do not like to speak in front of groups. But I make myself do it because it is effective. It is not hard if you know your material inside and out.

Good luck with it!

[midwestbroker]

I love to do semiars.

I will make a flier with 3 times/ locations on it. Like Newby said, the more choices, the better.

Locations that have worked well for me are Golden Corrals, Hometown Buffets, etc. That way you have some control over the cost.

Also, try teaming up with other agents / people. I know of an agent who has an estate laywer at his to talk about wills and trusts at his seminars.

[Newby]

Originally Posted by midwestbroker

I love to do semiars.

I will make a flier with 3 times/ locations on it. Like Newby said, the more choices, the better.

Locations that have worked well for me are Golden Corrals, Hometown Buffets, etc. That way you have some control over the cost.

Also, try teaming up with other agents / people. I know of an agent who has an estate laywer at his to talk about wills and trusts at his seminars.

Yes, it adds to the crowd but remember to limit each speaker's time to 10 to 15 minutes MAX. I had an attorney at one that I put on one time and he got up there and told everything he knew from birth until he drove in the parking lot that day. I watched the audience nod off and go to sleep before my eyes.

The goal at seminars is to allow the crowd to meet you, size you up, and determine if you are someone they want to help with their insurance/financial planning etc. You want to introduce a couple of concepts that they may not be aware of.

Attorneys, bankers, CPAs etc do not naturally have any marketing skills at all. Attorneys that do estate planning are some of the LEAST interesting people you will ever meet in your life. They often think they have to impress people with volume rather than substance.

If you determine that one of your guest speakers is going to bore them to death, you want to go first. Otherwise you want to go last.

[DanBran]

Thanks for all the great info on seminars I am just getting into FE and this sounds like a great tool.

[xrac]

If you are going to do seminars I highly recommend trhis book: "Seminars-the Emotional Dynamic" by Frank Maselli. I think it is the Bible on Seminars.