An Old Clash Song We All Know

It's been reeling around my head like a drunken sailor as of late.

Here is my issue and I need advice.

I currently work as a captive agent for a call center. I have worked in call centers in one form or another since 18. It's pretty much all I've ever known.

I've been selling Life/Health for about 3 years now and average about 30 - 35 sales a month (basically selling just 1 GI product). I try to supplement my income by doing some outside sales but have not made much of a dent there.

Here's my issue. My IMO recently started a CRM/Dialer program which would allow me to do telesales. I'm currently licensed everywhere but HI and those will not expire for another 2 years.

I'm appointed with MOO, LBL, GW, Foresters, North American, UHL, Trans and Colombian (the last two I've never written a policy with). I'm appointed with a few more but they don't do telesales I believe. Any more appointments that I should have if I do telesales?

For a variety of reasons I'm considering leaving my current (hourly pay + bonus) job for the world of a wild and free Insurance agent doing telesales on my own.

So advice? Warnings? Pitfalls to avoid?

(How many of you guessed "Should I stay or should I go?" :D)
 
It's been reeling around my head like a drunken sailor as of late.

Here is my issue and I need advice.

I currently work as a captive agent for a call center. I have worked in call centers in one form or another since 18. It's pretty much all I've ever known.

I've been selling Life/Health for about 3 years now and average about 30 - 35 sales a month (basically selling just 1 GI product). I try to supplement my income by doing some outside sales but have not made much of a dent there.

Here's my issue. My IMO recently started a CRM/Dialer program which would allow me to do telesales. I'm currently licensed everywhere but HI and those will not expire for another 2 years.

I'm appointed with MOO, LBL, GW, Foresters, North American, UHL, Trans and Colombian (the last two I've never written a policy with). I'm appointed with a few more but they don't do telesales I believe. Any more appointments that I should have if I do telesales?

For a variety of reasons I'm considering leaving my current (hourly pay + bonus) job for the world of a wild and free Insurance agent doing telesales on my own.

So advice? Warnings? Pitfalls to avoid?

(How many of you guessed "Should I stay or should I go?" :D)

You pretty much have all your ducks in a row.

If you can indeed sell over the phone, the only set back could be marketing.

How will you be marketing yourself (internet, TV, DM)?
 
You pretty much have all your ducks in a row.

If you can indeed sell over the phone, the only set back could be marketing.

How will you be marketing yourself (internet, TV, DM)?

That's the issue!!!

I was thinking that I could just buy leads then improve my website, etc over time for even more leads. The only issue there is would I make enough money back to pay for more leads? I know my retention rate is about 77% now, but I also don't have to worry about charge backs.

The wee little bit of Facebook advertising I've done has not paid off for me yet.
 
That's the issue with every type of insurance sales. Contacts/Leads and more importantly, qualified prospects. With what you are doing now, you basically just focus on the sales end. Obviously you are good at that, otherwise you wouldn't have had the job as long as you have.

My only advice would be to know exactly how you are going to get people to talk to. That is the hardest part of this business, imo.
 
That's the issue!!!

I was thinking that I could just buy leads then improve my website, etc over time for even more leads. The only issue there is would I make enough money back to pay for more leads? I know my retention rate is about 77% now, but I also don't have to worry about charge backs.

The wee little bit of Facebook advertising I've done has not paid off for me yet.

What type of lead are you currently using?

How many of those leads does it take for you to convert into a sale?
 
What type of lead are you currently using?

How many of those leads does it take for you to convert into a sale?

Bare in mind that I am talking about my employer and not my own leads here. That is an important distinction.

1) I would say about 90% of our leads are generated via various websites that the company creates and produces. They also tend to do alot of advertising on Facebook.

2) The second part of this question is hard for me to answer. I figure that I would need between 40 to 50 leads per week to actually make a go at it and be successful. As we all know...this is a #'s game.
 
Bare in mind that I am talking about my employer and not my own leads here. That is an important distinction.

1) I would say about 90% of our leads are generated via various websites that the company creates and produces. They also tend to do alot of advertising on Facebook.

2) The second part of this question is hard for me to answer. I figure that I would need between 40 to 50 leads per week to actually make a go at it and be successful. As we all know...this is a #'s game.

Inbound internet leads will cost you roughly $30 each.

$30 X 50 = $1500 per week

Conservatively:

At a 10% closing ratio you will make 5 sales.

5 sales X 700 AP = $3500

$3500 X 110% X 70% placement X 70% persistencey = $1887 (After chargebacks)

So you would make $387 per week

I would not recommend purchasing internet leads where you will be competing against other agents and call centers, I recommend only buying inbound leads.

And since the margins are so tight, you could easily lose money any given week or month. However, your numbers may be better than what I've outlined.

Its tough to do telesales totally independent. Is it possible? Yes, and there are a couple people Ive heard of doing it successfully.
 
Inbound internet leads will cost you roughly $30 each.

$30 X 50 = $1500 per week

Conservatively:

At a 10% closing ratio you will make 5 sales.

5 sales X 700 AP = $3500

$3500 X 110% X 70% placement X 70% persistencey = $1887 (After chargebacks)

So you would make $387 per week

I would not recommend purchasing internet leads where you will be competing against other agents and call centers, I recommend only buying inbound leads.

And since the margins are so tight, you could easily lose money any given week or month. However, your numbers may be better than what I've outlined.

Its tough to do telesales totally independent. Is it possible? Yes, and there are a couple people Ive heard of doing it successfully.


That's the issue in a nutshell. :yes: My current AP is closer to $830 and I do about 7 sales a week (and I'm at a job I don't give a damn about) but it's still tight margins.
 
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That's the issue in a nutshell. :yes: My current AP is closer to $830 and I do about 7 sales a week (and I'm at a job I don't give a damn about) but it's still tight margins.

If you dont mind me asking. How much is the call center paying someone like you to sell FE over the phone and closing almost 6k in premium a week?
 
Is 10% an expected close ratio for exclusive internet leads? I remember one thread where the ratio was much higher given an exclusive lead to a prospect that has a computer.

When I thought they were legal, I bought 10,000 minutes of robo calls and had 12 people who said to call them back. None of them had computers but of those 12, 6 would meet but were scattered across TN so it wasn't possible to go see them. Cost on the calls was ~$200 which could easily be recouped. This was a 1st run at the call so it obviously wasn't ironed out.

This was a few years ago and I wasn't in a position where I needed the income to pay the bills. I also found that the guy that owns the domain "medicare.com" happens to be in TN.

Re the OP, I wouldn't be working for an hourly if banging on the phone all day was something that I could sit and do. It isn't so I have to do other stuff.
 

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