A Few Prospecting Questions and Obtaining New Clients with Series 7/66/ Life and Health License

[asu47]

Hello everyone. I have recently made my decision to go from AXA to MassMutual with some advice from this forum and some others, so thanks for that! I am still new to the industry to the point I haven't submitted business yet.

Anyways, I read through the stickied post in this section that DHK posted. called "guidance for new agents"

At AXA they wanted me to get the Series 7, 66, and Life and Health license, which I did. This gives me a huge upper hand at MM considering most new agents only have insurance license. I foresee lots of joint work in my near future .

Anyways, to get off the ground I want eat breath and sleep prospecting. I decided I want to go after business owners since I can relate. I have been a small business owner for 4 years, my dad for 40+ years, and basically its in my blood.

How do I necessarily go about getting in touch with these owners? I am in Scottsdale Arizona where there are A LOT of small business owners. Finding the business should be the easy part. How do I go about getting ahold of the decision maker? Cold calling? Walking in and introducing myself?

Once I get the business owner, how should I go about saying what I am trying to do for him/her? I don't want to come off as just trying to sell insurance or investments, I want to come off as someone who can review their current policies and hopefully build a holistic plan for them, and from there they can decide if they want to move forward.

My biggest question is how do I get them to talk to me initially? Once I get the initial contact what should I be saying?

My other methods will be trade shows and networking events. I want to have a solid marketing wheel and not have to rely on one such source.

Also I do not mind buying leads either, and would be open to hearing the average price to gain a client. IE: for every 10 leads you buy statistically speaking 1 will sign?

 

[DHK]

This is gonna be a good post. I should charge you a few hundred dollars for this.

You sound like I did when I first got started at MassMutual.

You said you have experience as a business owner? What would YOU want to hear from an agent if they were to cold-call you, knowing what you now know?


Most agencies will teach you to say something along the lines of "I'd like to stop by to show you the kind of work I do." The problem with this, is that they don't know what you do and they don't care unless you can pique their curiosity.


If you're going to work with business owners... you should ELIMINATE the words 'comprehensive' and 'holistic' from your vocabulary. That won't happen up front. With business owners, you can BUILD it over time, but don't even think about trying to do it up front.

With business owners, time is a precious commodity. If you talk about 'comprehensive' and 'holistic'... appointments like that take about an hour or more. Business owners won't take the time with you... unless they see a need.

So don't even try.

With business owners, you build a plan with one strategy and one product at a time. Because that's all the time they'll give you.

I don't know which state you're in, but let's assume you're outside of California. MassMutual offers both personal disability and business overhead expense policies. I would use DI and BOE as your 'lead-in' to talk to business owners. (MassMutual doesn't sell BOE in California.)

This was the scripting I used at Combined Insurance when I was there:

My approach would be: "Hello _____? This is DHK with Assurity Life here in (city). Do you have a quick minute to talk?

"Great! The reason I'm calling (stopping by) is... You know how health insurance pays doctors and hospitals when you get sick or hurt and can't work? Well, our policies pay YOU and help you pay YOUR bills. (pause)"

"I just need 10 minutes to stop by and show you how it works... and then you can judge it for yourself."

The question often comes up: "Is this AFLAC?"

"No, it's not AFLAC. One big difference between us and AFLAC is that AFLAC has minimum employee participation requirements just to buy one policy. We don't do that. We don't do payroll deduction or have minimum employee participation. We work one-on-one, one-by-one. We can offer it to your employees too... but that's your and their decision to make."

(I would adjust this to include MassMutual's 'multi-policy' program for employers, but it's completely optional if they want to extend this coverage to their employees or key executives.)

Now, all you do is stop by and show the business owner how a non-tax deductible personal DI policy would work... along with a tax-deductible BOE policy to cover business expenses... if anything were to happen to them.

If they buy, you'll at least have made the presentation to sell TWO policies, and not just one. Premiums should be quite nice and the policies will help keep the doors open and not liquidate any business reserves.

Then, once you have a CLIENT... I'd go back and use VSA's Business Priority Planning Review. This is a sample of that review for business owners:
http://vsa.fsonline.com/vsap/pdfs/ff-24-ST.pdf

NOW you can be more 'comprehensive'. If they have completed a paramed for the DI, ask MassMutual how long those results are good for - typically up to 6 months, maybe longer.

You can subscribe to VSA for $23.95/month after a 30-day free trial.
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You may find more ideas here:
http://www.insurance-forums.net/for...-business-business-life-insurance-t68447.html

and here:
http://www.insurance-forums.net/for...d-calling-without-gimmicky-script-t11435.html

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Here's a Business Overhead Expense Plan in action:
http://finsecurity.com/finsecurity/pdfs/compliance/2b3-05.pdf

What can happen if disability strikes:
http://finsecurity.com/finsecurity/pdfs/compliance/2a3-01.pdf

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There are other threads on here that talk about "the 5 ways out of business". My problem was that business owners didn't understand it and began to think I was a "business broker" wanting to sell their business.

Keep it simple and keep it to one product/strategy at a time. Keep your appointments short and you'll do okay.

BTW, with that script above, asking to stop by for 10-15 minutes... I got 1 out of 4 business owners to let me stop by. Not bad, but just realize that they'll think their business needs are more important than spending time with you if things are busy. So keep that in mind.

 

[asu47]

DHK, thanks you again so much for your advice.

I live in Arizona, so were neighbors!

Do you have a preferred way to ask for the business owner when you get a hold of an employee or gate keeper? Especially when they hesitate and give resistance.

 

[DHK]

Use a nice, big, long list (sorted by street) and ask for them by name. Most people are helpful over the phone.

Either the owner is in the office or they're not.

If they're not available, don't push. Just ask when would be the best time to reach them... or ask for their voicemail and leave a message. Don't expect a call back. Just call them back in a couple of days.

In fact, don't leave your number either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4VamwrwL3s

If you do a "walk and talk"... just ask to introduce yourself and see if there's a better time to get together for 10 minutes to show the work you do.

But if you EXPECT resistance... you'll get it. Don't fight it. That's life.

Just call the next number on the list.

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Here's a great workshop on marketing to business owners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NTw369Eo1A

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The other thing to do... is always treat the 'gatekeeper' as though they are the owner and the person you want to sell.

Never demean or mistreat them... because you'll never get back in to sell that owner. You never know if that person is their spouse or their child... or not.

Just tell them the reason you want to meet with the owner and that you would just like 10 minutes to meet and then they can decide if it's a fit for them or not.

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The biggest key is to work with a profile of a prospect that can be seen on a regular and favorable basis.

Marketing to business owners can take TIME. Do you have it?

http://www.insurance-forums.net/for...cussions/target-market-occupation-t72319.html

Here's one poster's experience in calling business owners:

here is the deal with these guys: like I said the ones with money are super busy.
1st phone call: today
multiple other phone calls until about......

1st meeting: 2-3months later
2nd meeting: 1-2 weeks later
3rd meeting: 1-2 weeks later(application)
paramed.....underwri ting....
approved and paid: 1-2 months later

once I set an appointment within a week, but that is rare.

If it were me starting out... if I wasn't getting business right away, I'd completely shift profiles to a more accessible market.

Homeowners

Homeowners are families and retirees. Both have needs that can be solved with your products and they are everywhere.

Your job is to be profitable TODAY. And it's quite possible that it might not happen if you are focusing exclusively on business owners in the beginning.

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When I first got started at MassMutual, I showed my prospecting plan to the sales managers and my GA. All I got was "that looks good" and "LEAP will help you do this better" (spending $2,500 + a lot of time to learn it).

I wish someone would've helped me readjust my expectations of the realities of working the business market. I simply didn't know... and either the managers didn't know, or they didn't care enough to help me to realize that business are great long-term, but not for immediate cases.

 

[asu47]

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[asu74]

I agree, homeowners would be a great source for me.

In your post in another thread you mentioned the ReferenceUSA database... I can only get this at a library, and not an electronic format online? This has businesses and their respective owners and what street its on?

Where do you find a list of homeowners? A quick google search specifically for arizona led me to a company called Marketron AZ who it appears I can buy a list of new homeowners.

Do you have a recommended method to get a list of homeowners new and old? I love being a homeowner and have had plenty of good salesmen and terrible ones. I think I can really relate to this too.

I also have some really good connections like landscapers, AC guys, etc who do quality work cheap and fast. I would of bought anything off the guy who referred me to my now AC guy who saved me $700.

 

[Dweezil]

The other thing to do... is always treat the 'gatekeeper' as though they are the owner and the person you want to sell.

Never demean or mistreat them... because you'll never get back in to sell that owner. You never know if that person is their spouse or their child... or not.

Having been a gatekeeper at one time I can tell you that if I wasn't impressed or you treated me the wrong way your information went straight to the circular file under the counter. That's what you would get for wasting my time.

 

[ShawnSIM]

But if you EXPECT resistance... you'll get it. Don't fight it. That's life.

This is great advice for anyone in any market. DHK is on the ball again!