Mass Mutual for a New 2-15 Florida Agent

[holdenc85]

I just got my Florida 2-15 license today, and have been talking with various outfits:

Symmetry Financial
Equis Financial
Amerilife
Colonial Life
Primerica
Aflac
NY Life
Mass Mutual

Mass Mutual seems like the most solid( so far) for a new agent to get training vs starting out in an independent shop with little or no brand recognition despite offering better commissions.

My main concern is sourcing leads as my natural market is not big, and I wouldn't want to start there anyway as my experience tells me mixing friends/ family with business is not a good idea. besides networking/ farming, I would have to cold-call, which I am not afraid as I have been in inside sales.

Feedback from anyone who is familiar with the MM model would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DHK]

Talk to your hiring GA regarding "Blue Chip Prospects" and ask them how much it will COST you. There are different lists and databases available, but there is a cost to the agent.

Here's the other thing: Your agency probably won't have a culture of people making cold-calls during the day. You'll be in a bullpen making calls yourself... or cold-walking businesses/homes.

I would not expect anyone to really be able to help you to craft a cold-call approach.

However, a few things that YOU should figure out:
1) What is your ideal client profile: Are they married or single? Children or no? Homeowners or renters? Income range? Where do they live?
2) What problems does your ideal client profile have?
3) How will your products help your ideal client solve their problems?
4) Will your company or agency have tools to help you convey the solution in a simple-to-understand way so the prospect can make a clear buying decision?

Once you know what problems you can help your ideal client profile to solve, you can now craft your prospecting message:



Bob Ritter’s Blog #86: The #1 Reason Advisors Are NOT Getting Paid What They’re Worth

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Also, if you haven't read this yet, I'd read this too. And yes, I was at MassMutual for about 15 months about 8 years ago.

http://www.insurance-forums.net/for...nsurance/guidance-new-life-agents-t29999.html

 

[ltcadviser]

I just got my Florida 2-15 license today, and have been talking with various outfits:

Symmetry Financial
Equis Financial
Amerilife
Colonial Life
Primerica
Aflac
NY Life
Mass Mutual

Mass Mutual seems like the most solid( so far) for a new agent to get training vs starting out in an independent shop with little or no brand recognition despite offering better commissions.

My main concern is sourcing leads as my natural market is not big, and I wouldn't want to start there anyway as my experience tells me mixing friends/ family with business is not a good idea. besides networking/ farming, I would have to cold-call, which I am not afraid as I have been in inside sales.

Feedback from anyone who is familiar with the MM model would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

One nice aspect about Mass Mutual in Florida is its current pricing for traditional long term care insurance in your state. Mass Mutual has the lowest premiums by far; and MM has had 17 years of stable rates to boot. If I was with Mass Mutual in Florida I would target 50-70 year olds for long term care insurance knowing that no agent can come close to my pricing and financial ratings. This pole position will only last until Mass Mutual decides to move to gender based pricing. For the time being in Florida however you will be shooting fish in a barrel. Hopefully you could get a year or two of very easy sales and be able to build your client book.

 

[holdenc85]

One nice aspect about Mass Mutual in Florida is its current pricing for traditional long term care insurance in your state. Mass Mutual has the lowest premiums by far; and MM has had 17 years of stable rates to boot. If I was with Mass Mutual in Florida I would target 50-70 year olds for long term care insurance knowing that no agent can come close to my pricing and financial ratings. This pole position will only last until Mass Mutual decides to move to gender based pricing. For the time being in Florida however you will be shooting fish in a barrel. Hopefully you could get a year or two of very easy sales and be able to build your client book.

Thanks for your feedback.Along with LTC, what would be a good product mix to offer coming out of the gate? Life, Disability and LTC?

 

[holdenc85]

Thanks DHK- the Guidance for New Life Agents post was great; I think I learned more from that than any other article/post I've read so far!

 

[pcbinsurance]

How's it going so far? Did you go with Mass Mutual?

Excellent Company by the way, as you surely know.

Good luck, keep us informed of your progress.

 

[holdenc85]

Hi PCB,

It's going ok. Iam looking into selling Medicare Supps/Advantage( with a different company) to cross-sell Life, Annuites and Long Term Care throgh MM to the T65 segment. Mymanager isn't crazy about the idea, but they donyt pay a salary either. Let me know what you think?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Mass has a good training imo, they won't teach you to cold call, but they have a nice elevator pitch manual. They also give you access to the complete Sandler Sales training library. If you're captive, they will give

If you join Mass, you need to prospect business owners, period. Their product isn't for the masses imo. Or I would go to every networking event you can i.e. Network After Work.

You're better off doing a project 200, reaching out to everyone to let them know what you do now, and that you would appreciate any referrals if someone mentioned "life insurance" etc.

Then you need to stay in contact with EVERYONE and drip on them (send out cards works). While that's going on, get a data list and start knocking businesses for DI, BOE, or Key-man policies. Mass has some great literature you can use.

Also read "Prospecting Made Easy", you can finish it in one day. Everyone needs life insurance, everyone goes through a change every 7 years that makes them look for it again or consider it, you just need to be the top of mind guy so that when they're ready, you can help them.

 

[DHK]

Mass has a good training imo, they won't teach you to cold call, but they have a nice elevator pitch manual. They also give you access to the complete Sandler Sales training library. If you're captive, they will give

If you join Mass, you need to prospect business owners, period. Their product isn't for the masses imo. Or I would go to every networking event you can i.e. Network After Work.

You're better off doing a project 200, reaching out to everyone to let them know what you do now, and that you would appreciate any referrals if someone mentioned "life insurance" etc.

Then you need to stay in contact with EVERYONE and drip on them (send out cards works). While that's going on, get a data list and start knocking businesses for DI, BOE, or Key-man policies. Mass has some great literature you can use.

Also read "Prospecting Made Easy", you can finish it in one day. Everyone needs life insurance, everyone goes through a change every 7 years that makes them look for it again or consider it, you just need to be the top of mind guy so that when they're ready, you can help them.

Your assertions are contradictory. I can guarantee you that Van Mueller is NOT going ONLY after business owners. He works with everyone and does about 1,000 pieces of business before June of every year (at least that's what he says).



Mass's products are not for people who have questionable health status. Strict underwriting standards are the norm here for their life insurance products. The younger they are, the generally better fit they are for MassMutual's whole life. And last I checked, Mass doesn't have a non-lapse GUL or similar product for life insurance, but I'm sure that MMLIAI would (Mass's brokerage division through Ash brokerage).

But if you don't sell enough of the "house product", you may have problems with the agency management.

holdenc85, I'm certain that if you know how to pivot your conversations with the T65 market, that you'll get the cross-selling opportunities you are looking for. It may not be for MassMutual WL (unless you are converting assets from taxable to tax-free and putting those assets into life insurance - study up on their 10-pay life and work with a specialist - this is NOT for the newby), but perhaps some annuities and long-term care. You'll probably also want to get your Series 6/63 so you can offer variable annuities with living benefits (the only annuities they allow you to sell with living benefits).

This presentation is an excellent primer on using a limited-pay WL product to increase the efficiency of retirement income:
The MDRT Store. Increasing the Efficiency of Retirement Income

Man, I sure wish I had this when I was at Mass. They primarily taught the LEAP system (6 appointments) and only how to leverage death benefits in retirement through your other assets so you'd sell the base WL premiums.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Your assertions are contradictory. I can guarantee you that Van Mueller is NOT going ONLY after business owners. He works with everyone and does about 1,000 pieces of business before June of every year (at least that's what he says).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHeSkRoTC8c&t

Mass's products are not for people who have questionable health status. Strict underwriting standards are the norm here for their life insurance products. The younger they are, the generally better fit they are for MassMutual's whole life. And last I checked, Mass doesn't have a non-lapse GUL or similar product for life insurance, but I'm sure that MMLIAI would (Mass's brokerage division through Ash brokerage).

But if you don't sell enough of the "house product", you may have problems with the agency management.

holdenc85, I'm certain that if you know how to pivot your conversations with the T65 market, that you'll get the cross-selling opportunities you are looking for. It may not be for MassMutual WL (unless you are converting assets from taxable to tax-free and putting those assets into life insurance - study up on their 10-pay life and work with a specialist - this is NOT for the newby), but perhaps some annuities and long-term care. You'll probably also want to get your Series 6/63 so you can offer variable annuities with living benefits (the only annuities they allow you to sell with living benefits).

This presentation is an excellent primer on using a limited-pay WL product to increase the efficiency of retirement income:
The MDRT Store. Increasing the Efficiency of Retirement Income

Man, I sure wish I had this when I was at Mass. They primarily taught the LEAP system (6 appointments) and only how to leverage death benefits in retirement through your other assets so you'd sell the base WL premiums.

You can try to pitch Mass to non-business owners, just be prepared to answer a hundred times why Mass' term is more expensive than every other carrier out there. It's usually white collar workers (which I said already), and small business owners that can understand why the price difference is warranted.