Colonial Life Vs Aflac

[holdenc85]

Yeah I buy DM (direct mail) which probably equates to about $10-15 a lead and they are good but you have to be used to calling these people. Cold calling for a few months will get you warmed up.
But beware, cold calling BLOWS! I would never ever do it again. Just for reference I used to track all my cold calls and it went something like out of 100 calls you'll get 10 people answered. Out of those 10 I would set an apt with one.
That was 8 years ago and now there are more agents and it's probably tougher.

MAPD (Medicare Advantage with Prescription Drugs)

Yes, cold-calling sucks I know- I started off in inside sales, so it's definitely a numbers game, but I don't see any other way to source leads besides farming, e.g. visiting pharmacies, networking with brokers in other lines and so on..
speaking of direct mail, what is a reasonable goal for conversion/closing %?

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[Chazm]

Guess it depends on the market. I only market for Med Supps

 

[glgamerica]

I've been a worksite agent for 22 years.

Worksite is great because you can see alot of people at one time vs the one at a time approach of individual sales (which I did for 5 years).

If I only had a choice between Colonial and AFLAC, I'd go with the one that was least penetrated in the market. In my area, AFLAC is well penetrated in the market. Since it would be hard to sell a company AFLAC when they have an AFLAC agent already, it makes more sense to go with the one with less market share.

If you want to get your start in worksite, a good way to start is to be an enroller. Enrolling can help you see the in's and out's of worksite first hand.

When I first was introduced to worksite, I sold a few cases and then wasn't sure what to do. What I decided to do was to help the guy who helped me on those first few cases, enroll his cases. It was lean for a while but eventually, I was his lead enroller and had plenty of enrollment work. After a few years of enrolling for him, I started using my free time to build my own book of business until I couldn't enroll his stuff anymore because I was too busy enrolling my own cases.

Getting started in enrolling can be challenging. The problem with enrolling is that you have to align yourself up with someone who needs enrollers. Many times enrollment companies over promise and under deliver the amount of work they can send your way. And alot of it is in the fourth quarter of the year. You have to be willing to travel, leave at the drop of a hat and maybe even kind of starve when you first get started.

What you should do really depends on the how much money you need now vs how much you'd be willing to sacrifice to get started. In my case, I was willing to starve until I figured it out (once I left individual sales where I had begun to starve again at lol).

I know a lot of people talk up New York Life and Mass Mutual for their training. I got my start at a big mutual and I don't really think the training was that great. I was part of one of the best sales units in one of the best agencies in the country. Even still, I saw so many people come and go that after 5 years, I was a veteran. You quickly learn they aren't training people what they need to know which is to prospect. You have to learn that on your own.

I'm not sure how they do it now, but the real benefit of those companies back when I started was not that they trained well (which is a myth in my opinion) but that they financed some commission for you to help provide you income while you got things up and running.

If I were to start today from scratch, I'd set myself up to sell three lines of life insurance. Those are individual (term and whole life), group life insurance (and disability) and worksite life. Then i would start finding people to enroll for and enroll whatever I could.

When I wasn't enrolling, I'd be prospecting in the individual market because it's a quicker sale while at the same time, prospecting to groups for group insurance and worksite life.

The key then is to figure out how to prospect. While there are many people here who buy leads, I'm not of fan of that personally. I think it adds unnecessary overhead to a business that's great because of it's low overhead. You can get licensed, appointed, get your E&O, a phone, a car and solid product knowledge to go to appointments and you are in business.

I'd start by building a pool of about 3000 local individual prospects and scope out my entire state for group and worksite prospects. Once I've built that, I'd start the tough process of calling that database until I started landing individual sales to get some cash flow on top of my enrolling going until I could get cash flow from employer groups through group insurance and worksite. Eventually you can make enough off of worksite where you really wouldn't need to do the individual stuff or enrolling unless you wanted to.

Hope that helps.

 

[holdenc85]

I have an interview with Mass Mutual today- got a call from them as I was walking into the building to take the exam...

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Ok, so great- today I interviewed with Mass Mutual, which seems to be the most solid of any shop I 've talked with yet.It would seem like a good place to start for a new agent vs choosing an independent shop with no brand recognition( their website is not even up yet) even though the broker has 25 years experience. At any rate, someone please let me know if I need to start a new thread as this topic has nothing to do with Aflac or Colonial.

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I've been a worksite agent for 22 years.

Worksite is great because you can see alot of people at one time vs the one at a time approach of individual sales (which I did for 5 years).

If I only had a choice between Colonial and AFLAC, I'd go with the one that was least penetrated in the market. In my area, AFLAC is well penetrated in the market. Since it would be hard to sell a company AFLAC when they have an AFLAC agent already, it makes more sense to go with the one with less market share.

If you want to get your start in worksite, a good way to start is to be an enroller. Enrolling can help you see the in's and out's of worksite first hand.

When I first was introduced to worksite, I sold a few cases and then wasn't sure what to do. What I decided to do was to help the guy who helped me on those first few cases, enroll his cases. It was lean for a while but eventually, I was his lead enroller and had plenty of enrollment work. After a few years of enrolling for him, I started using my free time to build my own book of business until I couldn't enroll his stuff anymore because I was too busy enrolling my own cases.

Getting started in enrolling can be challenging. The problem with enrolling is that you have to align yourself up with someone who needs enrollers. Many times enrollment companies over promise and under deliver the amount of work they can send your way. And alot of it is in the fourth quarter of the year. You have to be willing to travel, leave at the drop of a hat and maybe even kind of starve when you first get started.

What you should do really depends on the how much money you need now vs how much you'd be willing to sacrifice to get started. In my case, I was willing to starve until I figured it out (once I left individual sales where I had begun to starve again at lol).

I know a lot of people talk up New York Life and Mass Mutual for their training. I got my start at a big mutual and I don't really think the training was that great. I was part of one of the best sales units in one of the best agencies in the country. Even still, I saw so many people come and go that after 5 years, I was a veteran. You quickly learn they aren't training people what they need to know which is to prospect. You have to learn that on your own.

I'm not sure how they do it now, but the real benefit of those companies back when I started was not that they trained well (which is a myth in my opinion) but that they financed some commission for you to help provide you income while you got things up and running.

If I were to start today from scratch, I'd set myself up to sell three lines of life insurance. Those are individual (term and whole life), group life insurance (and disability) and worksite life. Then i would start finding people to enroll for and enroll whatever I could.

When I wasn't enrolling, I'd be prospecting in the individual market because it's a quicker sale while at the same time, prospecting to groups for group insurance and worksite life.

The key then is to figure out how to prospect. While there are many people here who buy leads, I'm not of fan of that personally. I think it adds unnecessary overhead to a business that's great because of it's low overhead. You can get licensed, appointed, get your E&O, a phone, a car and solid product knowledge to go to appointments and you are in business.

I'd start by building a pool of about 3000 local individual prospects and scope out my entire state for group and worksite prospects. Once I've built that, I'd start the tough process of calling that database until I started landing individual sales to get some cash flow on top of my enrolling going until I could get cash flow from employer groups through group insurance and worksite. Eventually you can make enough off of worksite where you really wouldn't need to do the individual stuff or enrolling unless you wanted to.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Michael- it does help. When visiting with Mass Mutual today in the Palm Beach Gardens office, the prospecting plan(s) discussed were very similar to what you described as "building a pool", and they do offer "agent financing" as well.

In sum, MM would seem like a better choice vs starting with an independent shop with no brand recognition even though the commissions offered would be higher. This particular shop sells Medicare to get in the door, where I would be calling the turning 65 list to get appointments. let me know what you think.

 

[SuperWoman]

Michael-

Thank you for that write up. I'm newly indie and found it very helpful. Very kind of you to spend so much time to share your experience and knowledge.


Holden - I am former NYL. If you want to know of my journey - which will be similar with MM - read my former posts. I like MM and they have good products. I wish you much success. I am from SoFla (Miami) and know PBG Gardens. Lots of seniors, good for Medicare!

 

[holdenc85]

Michael-

Thank you for that write up. I'm newly indie and found it very helpful. Very kind of you to spend so much time to share your experience and knowledge.


Holden - I am former NYL. If you want to know of my journey - which will be similar with MM - read my former posts. I like MM and they have good products. I wish you much success. I am from SoFla (Miami) and know PBG Gardens. Lots of seniors, good for Medicare!

Thanks Superwoman,I don't think MM offers Medicare but I will read your posts

 

[Oldgranny]

I am a few weeks for getting my license, and have met / talked with people from Ny Life, Symmetry Financial, Equis Financial, as well as some independent shops.

What I gathered from both Colonial and Aflac was that it was more likely I would get in front of more people presenting supplemental insurance albeit at a lower price tag than I would trying to get appointments "at someone's kitchen table". I would also not have to spend $$ on leads as I would be cold-calling(on the phone) businesses.

If you were a new agent, would you consider work for one of these companies selling supplemental insurance, or would you bite the bullet, spends $1000/mo on leads and sell to life insurance to individuals/families ?

Colonial and Aflac LOVE to get new agents, BEWARE they will work you to death for free. As I recall from the late 90's they required me (Colonial) to use their laptop (security reasons) which was a lease that eventually you ended up buying at some ridiculous price.

Most of the business they write is with Blue Collar (or did when I worked for them) which had a very high turn over rate which only equaled charge backs. My Manager was $20,000 in the hold on charge backs with them and before I found this out he was forcing me to take advanced commission instead of as earned because he got paid on my business how I got paid and he wanted to pay off his debt fast. They don't care about you and hope you leave shortly after you produce because then the renewal business falls back to the manager (both Aflac and Colonial).

Avoid them if you want to build a real ins. business.

 

[Northeast Agent]

Would someone please explain the difference between group and worksite benefits, as referred to in this thread? Thanks.

 

[tikibarrister]

NY Life or MAssmutual do not require you to buy leads. They teach you how to build a referal business./QUOTE]

Does the teaching go beyond “how to use the contacts app on your phone”? “Referral business” is sometimes a code phrase for “sell to all your relatives”

 

[glgamerica]

Would someone please explain the difference between group and worksite benefits, as referred to in this thread? Thanks.

Group benefits are issued under group contracts between the employer and the insurance company. Examples of group contracts are:

1. Basic group life insurance
2. Supplemental group life insurance
3. Group accident plan
4. Group critical illness

Group insurance is controlled by one master contract where each participant may or may not get a certificate of coverage. Employees sometimes never see the group contract and really never know the provisions.

Worksite benefits are individual contracts between the employee and the insurance company. The best example of a worksite contracts is:

1. Individual whole life insurance
2. Individual accident plan

Each participant actually receives a policy and owns their coverage.

While it's a subtle distinction, the lines are becoming blurred because insurance companies are increasingly offering benefits under a "group chassis". They are doing that because it's easier (and faster I think) to file and get group contracts approved with the states department of insurance for approval.

Often employees don't really know there's a difference since both group and worksite premiums are paid via payroll deduction and both may often have some sort of portability built in.

Personally, given a choice, I'd rather offer true worksite products with individual contracts because I feel it's better for the employees to have their insurance agreements directly with the insurance company and own their policies.