The result of taking my share of hard knocks, expensive lessons, and some sleepless nights wondering how the heck I was going to pay the bills. As I grow the life/securities side of my business, I feel like a rookie again going outside of my comfort zone.
Ah, hi like ah I'm John with, you know, ah Maryland ah health plans.
That's going to have them on the edge of their chair.
Shalom boychik. What? You don't recognize my voice? It's Al from Gonnif Insurance ? What am I... chopped liver you don't remember? What kinda schmuck are you anyway?
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Hey a you on the phone. Yeah, this is Alphonso and I'm a talking to you goomba. I gotta this policy here and I'm gonna make you an offa you can't a refuse. Either your brains or your a signature is a gonna be on it. So, you gotta problem with that? I meet you in a the garage at a eight. You comeah alone, capeech?
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Hey my man. This is Ala-wanda commin' at you, you dig? I got this plan fa you, get down (N word) I'm not jivin' you. Obama o' mamma it's got soul... and you betta get yo mama and yo black ass ova heh and sigh it. You cool?
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Hisssssp.... hissp. Oh... yeah like hello man. My name is... um... Al... I think. Yeah, like I got some really cool insurance stuff here, man, and like why don't you bring the old lady over to my pad and after you put your paw-prints on the parchments, we can do some really hisssp, hisssp, good sheet I scored. Yeah man, far out.
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I say old boy, I don't suppose you have last night's cricket scores? You know of course that Buffy at the club told me to ring you up. It seems he said that you don't have any life insurance. Well I told him, look here old chap, that just can't possibly be true. I mean he's a grand nephew of the Duke of Toddingham. So who in the Queens name do you have for insurance old fellow?
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Hello.. thiz iz Adolph from ze insuranze companee. You vill buy zis insurance and there vill be no back-talk. You vill zign and you vill like it.
Al "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?" - Woody Allen
One thing when cold calling corporate customers like benefit managers and human resources managers vs. individuals, write down every name of every person you ever speak to there. People come and go often. You may have had two or three 30 second conversations with the current benefit manager, but once they leave their post and a replacement comes in, as far as the new person is concerned, you were basically best friends with the old person, and of course your sales process was much more advanced than it really was. "What, Mary did not share with you all that we had done before she left?" It's amazing she did not mention it.
Shalom boychik. What? You don't recognize my voice? It's Al from Gonnif Insurance ? What am I... chopped liver you don't remember? What kinda schmuck are you anyway?
=======
Hey a you on the phone. Yeah, this is Alphonso and I'm a talking to you goomba. I gotta this policy here and I'm gonna make you an offa you can't a refuse. Either your brains or your a signature is a gonna be on it. So, you gotta problem with that? I meet you in a the garage at a eight. You comeah alone, capeech?
========
Hey my man. This is Ala-wanda commin' at you, you dig? I got this plan fa you, get down (N word) I'm not jivin' you. Obama o' mamma it's got soul... and you betta get yo mama and yo black ass ova heh and sigh it. You cool?
======
Hisssssp.... hissp. Oh... yeah like hello man. My name is... um... Al... I think. Yeah, like I got some really cool insurance stuff here, man, and like why don't you bring the old lady over to my pad and after you put your paw-prints on the parchments, we can do some really hisssp, hisssp, good sheet I scored. Yeah man, far out.
======
I say old boy, I don't suppose you have last night's cricket scores? You know of course that Buffy at the club told me to ring you up. It seems he said that you don't have any life insurance. Well I told him, look here old chap, that just can't possibly be true. I mean he's a grand nephew of the Duke of Toddingham. So who in the Queens name do you have for insurance old fellow?
======
Hello.. thiz iz Adolph from ze insuranze companee. You vill buy zis insurance and there vill be no back-talk. You vill zign and you vill like it.
Al "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?" - Woody Allen
That is too funny! Who knows, it might actually work.
Wouldn't you love to do that for a day just to see how people react? That would definitely be worth taping. You could probably do a stand-up routine around it.
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Originally Posted by [B
VacantHomeIns
Originally Posted by [B
;171613] "What, Mary did not share with you all that we had done before she left?" It's amazing she did not mention it.
[/b]
There aren't enough O's in the word "smooth" to describe that.
Last edited by Frank Stastny : 07-11-2009 at 06:53 PM.
Reason: Posts merged
I have some old by Bill Bishop: "Bill Bishop's Gold Calling System of Teleprospecting". I think he is no longer active or maybe not alive since I can not find anything from him since 2004. If you get a chance to snag these they are an excellent resource on this subject.
The phone can be tough but it can make or break you in the insurance biz. I havent been doing it all that long but I can see the writing on the wall. If you suck on the phone and you never get better on the phone you are probably doomed. Sometime the hardest thing do to is pick up that phone and dial that first number of the day. But there is hope for all of you that think the phone is impossible. It is a learned skill and it is unnatural and way out of most peoples comfort zones. But I have been hammering the phones for the past three months and I can easily book 6-8 appointments a day. I also do a decent amount of door knocking. I will never forget my first day on the phone. It was horrible but I stuck to it and I am much smoother and sound alot more confident and I am ready for their objections. There really are only a few objections you need to know. Overcome these and you will get better on the phone. Controll the conversation at all times once they get control you probably wont be able to get it back. Lots of good info in this thread. I have been lurking here for a while and thought I would chime in.
The phone can be tough but it can make or break you in the insurance biz. I havent been doing it all that long but I can see the writing on the wall. If you suck on the phone and you never get better on the phone you are probably doomed. Sometime the hardest thing do to is pick up that phone and dial that first number of the day. But there is hope for all of you that think the phone is impossible. It is a learned skill and it is unnatural and way out of most peoples comfort zones. But I have been hammering the phones for the past three months and I can easily book 6-8 appointments a day. I also do a decent amount of door knocking. I will never forget my first day on the phone. It was horrible but I stuck to it and I am much smoother and sound alot more confident and I am ready for their objections. There really are only a few objections you need to know. Overcome these and you will get better on the phone. Controll the conversation at all times once they get control you probably wont be able to get it back. Lots of good info in this thread. I have been lurking here for a while and thought I would chime in.
I sell life, Med Supplements, LTC, and Annuities. Everyone thinks that setting 6-8 appointments is good but I dial about 200 people to set those 6-8 appointments. I have put all of my time learning the phone. I had alot of sales experience selling industrial machinery before I decided to go into the insurance world. I bet my first month on the phone I set only about 20-22 appointments. Now I can set about 48-52 appointments in a month. But I need to work on my closing skills now. I can only close about 12 of those 48 per month which isnt bad but I would like to do more. So I gotta get better at the closing now.
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Chris,
I tried to reply to your PM but I cannot reply to it until I have 20 posts. But to answer your question is that I control the conversation. Do not ask...tell! Learn to be smooth with your script and sound like you are an expert or a professional. Remember you are the expert! Act like it! THey will pick up on your lack of smoothness and lack of confidence. So if you arent confident fake it until you are! Do not ask a yes or no question. If you give them a chance to say no they will say no. Keep them talking! No pauses, be engaging and RELAX! Whats the worst that happens? They hang up? Oh well! Get over it and keep dialing!!!! You need to have your own script. What I learned is that it will take some time to tweek your own script. I keep score of all of my calls to see if a particular script is working better than another. What works for one Agent might not work for you. Keep at it and you will get better. If you are a captive agent find out who is the top agent and see if you can over here him on the phone and listen! I did that alot and I took alot from it.
Last edited by pvellenga : 07-12-2009 at 12:32 AM.
Reason: Posts merged
Thanks for the reply! When you say that you call 200 people per day? Is that 200 contacts that you actually talk to, or are those dials? Also, who are you calling? Is it a targeted list? I really need to get better at the phone thing, so I'm just trying to learn from people who are already there.
I should make that a little clearer. It is 200 dials not contacts. I probably contact anywhere from 30-40 of those dials sometimes a little more it depends if folks feel like picking up the phone. I also get a few responders to mailings that I call when I get them. I always to the responders first. Dont mess with the cold calling until you get the responders done first. But I dont have responders all the time and I am lucky if I have 3-4 of them. So I do use direct mail also. But like I said I can set 6 appointments from just the cold calling. The best advice I can give you Chris is that you need to keep getting smoother with your delivery. Dont try to sell them on the phone, sell them in the home. Dont try to justify your call. Just set that appointment. Trust me it gets alot easier if you stick to it. I am on the phones about 20 hours per week and the rest I am in the field. And remember when you get into that home get those referals. THe more of those you can get the less cold calling you will neek to do. Even better if you can get into a home and get your client to call the referals for you! I try this everytime and it works very very well. Its easy to set an appointment when your clients helps set it for you! I havent been doing the insurance business very long but I have been extremely dedicated to learning. I read and study every single night when I get home from the field. Remember successful people are willing to do the things that unsuccessful people wont.
I sell life, Med Supplements, LTC, and Annuities. Everyone thinks that setting 6-8 appointments is good but I dial about 200 people to set those 6-8 appointments. I have put all of my time learning the phone. I had alot of sales experience selling industrial machinery before I decided to go into the insurance world. I bet my first month on the phone I set only about 20-22 appointments. Now I can set about 48-52 appointments in a month. But I need to work on my closing skills now. I can only close about 12 of those 48 per month which isnt bad but I would like to do more. So I gotta get better at the closing now.
I don't believe that it is your closing skills that need more work. If you are only closing 1/4 of the people you talk to I would work a little more on what I say when I make the initial phone call to set the appointment.
My approach on the phone is very relaxed and conversational and gently leads them into giving me the information I need without giving them an opportunity to voice an objection. I first need to determine if it is in both my and my prospects best interest for me to set an appointment. (Doing so is not rocket science, it is pretty simple, basic and easy.)
When I set a date and time they know how much the policy is going to cost and I know whether or not they qualify. I get all this information over the phone. When I knock on the door it, more often than not, it is to get the app signed and pick up a check.
I close over 90% of the appointments I set. Now, I don't set nearly as many appointments each month as you do. When I'm not involved in the other enterprises I have going on my goal is to maybe 25 to 30 appointments per month. Even that is on the high side.
I use to go right for the appointment when I first started selling. I figured that running lots of appointments was the way to make sales. I was confident that if I got in the door I could sell them something. Maybe I could have if I had had the "something" they wanted or were qualified to purchase it.
After running tons of appointments, driving many miles, and hours of windshield time I began to re-evaluate how I was handling my phone calls. Many months later, after spending a lot of time and making tons of mistakes I finally came up with the wording that not only works for me but also for the agents I have trained.
I don't try to make X number of phone calls per day or week. I don't keep track of the number of calls I make because it really isn't important to me. We don't get paid for making phone calls.
My goal is to make quality phone calls. If I can make four to six quality phone calls per day that will enable me to sell a lot of Med Supps.
I use to go right for the appointment when I first started selling. I figured that running lots of appointments was the way to make sales. I was confident that if I got in the door I could sell them something. Maybe I could have if I had had the "something" they wanted or were qualified to purchase it.
After running tons of appointments, driving many miles, and hours of windshield time I began to re-evaluate how I was handling my phone calls. Many months later, after spending a lot of time and making tons of mistakes I finally came up with the wording that not only works for me but also for the agents I have trained.
How true. So many of these idiot sales managers think it's a matter of only getting appointments - never training someone how to qualify. It's lead to the "it's a numbers game" fallacy - which has lead to the 92% agent failure rate.
I don't try to make X number of phone calls per day or week. I don't keep track of the number of calls I make because it really isn't important to me. We don't get paid for making phone calls.
Maybe when you've got a mature book of business, but for someone newer it is absolutely critical.
If you don't, there's no way to test, measure and adjust your marketing plan to continually improve it for optimum efficiency and profit!
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[COLOR=blue]Don't steal - the government hates competition.[/COLOR]
Maybe when you've got a mature book of business, but for someone newer it is absolutely critical.
If you don't, there's no way to test, measure and adjust your marketing plan to continually improve it for optimum efficiency and profit!
Paul,
Please read my posts more carefully. It has nothing to do with having a "mature book of business".
I have stated many times before that I have spent, actually years, developing a "marketing plan" that works extremely well for both experienced agents as well as the one's who just got their license.
The number of calls per day or week have nothing to do with it nor does it matter how many are made. You said it extremely well in your first paragraph.
[COLOR=Navy]"How true. So many of these idiot sales managers think it's a matter of only getting appointments - never training someone how to qualify. It's lead to the "it's a numbers game" fallacy - which has lead to the 92% agent failure rate."[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Black]I have tried every "marketing plan" that one can think of in the last sixteen years. I know what works and what does not work. Not just for me, for anyone who is working the senior market.[/COLOR] If it only worked for me I would not even attempt to try to train other agents.
There may be those who believe because I'm not charging $1,500 for the training that it is not worth it or I don't know what I'm doing. If they believe that, I really don't care. I don't blow smoke, I help them get results in a way that will work for them regardless of who they are.
I am offering to help agents get started selling Med Supps because I know there is nothing else out there nor no one else with the years of having tried literally everything who is willing spend time with them.
You have spent six months doing research and are apparently writing a book on how to sell Med Supps. I'm sure it has valuable information in it.
I have spend sixteen years selling Med Supps and developing a "marketing plan" that works, for everyone who will follow it. No, I'm not writing a book, I'm not charging money for it and, NO, it is not a ploy to sell YIO.
I have agents throughout the US and in twelve foreign countries using YIO. The amount of work and time I put into developing it and the hours spent on the phone with an agent is worth a whole lot more than a couple of hundred dollars.
My initial statement in the Free Training thread said, I will train agents who are using YIO to sell Med Supps for free. YIO is an intrigal part of how I sell Med Supps. I have spent hours training agents who are not using it and it proved to be a huge waste of my time. Time is a precious commodity to me. If I am going to give it away I want to know the information I share will be used wisely.
Maybe I need to write a book and sell it rather than giving the information away.
THat is some valuable insight to me. I can book appoinments like crazy but my sell thru rate isnt all that good and I am sure it is because of what you have just said. I will set an appointment for anyone that will listen to me. I dont have to much qualifying info but I do have a sheet that I made with questions on it that I ask after they agree to a day and time to meet. I then go thru this sheet with the prospect. It ask if there is a spouse, date of birth from them and their spouse, any health issues they have had over the last three years, if they are on medicaid or any other state welfare and then at the bottom after I have a little of this information I rate the prospect from 1 to 10 and then I file it with the others I set for the day. I am very new to selling insurance and I am open to listening to the other grizzled vets out there. The lines I sell the most are Med Supps and Life. A good chunk of the life I sell are graded policies. I can see that there are fundamental differences on this board and I guess I am going to have to wade through all that and see what works for me. Frank I am interested in any advice you have for selling Med Supps over the phone. I am also wanting to increase my LTC sales. These seem the hardest for me to sell. Supps and Life are the easiest and then next would be the Annuities. GREAT INFO GUYS!
Last edited by pvellenga : 07-12-2009 at 03:05 PM.
Paul, Please read my posts more carefully. It has nothing to do with having a "mature book of business".
Frank, my reading comprehension is fine, thank you. Why so testy? Somebody pee in your cornflakes this morning?
I have stated many times before that I have spent, actually years, developing a "marketing plan" that works extremely well for both experienced agents as well as the one's who just got their license.
So far it's consisted of (from what I've read) buying a list of people 67-78 with incomes $12,000 per year and above and cold calling them on the phone. Yes, that's a "marketing plan" - but a pretty one dimensional one. Based on my tests if someone does this and only this - they'll starve.
In addition, your marketing plan can't tell us how many people we'll actually talk to for the number of times we dial. We end up literally flying blind.
Mine can.
We made 2,000 dials to age 67-77, income at least $15,000 per year. Averaged 50 dials per hour, approximately 40 hours of calling. Calls made at different times between 8AM and 8PM, Monday thru Friday. A very good sized sample, here in four counties in and around Tampa Bay. Not selling anything, more of a "survey" approach to determine whether they are on Medicare, and what MedSupp or MA plan they currently have.
Out of every 100 dials, someone will answer the phone an average of 9 times. That means 91% of the effort is wasted!
In addition to the phone, it's essential for someone to have other marketing methods; direct mail, a web presence, centers of influence, speaking dates, seminars and the like.
The number of calls per day or week have nothing to do with it nor does it matter how many are made.
This statement is just plain ludicrous. Is it really what you mean? If you dial 50 numbers you won't end up talking to more people than if you dial 10?
[COLOR=black]
I have tried every "marketing plan" that one can think of in the last sixteen years. I know what works and what does not work. Not just for me, for anyone who is working the senior market.
[/COLOR]
So you, and only you, knows what works? For everyone? Frank, you don't seem to respect it, but I have just as much experience and background in insurance as you. Maybe more. Every personal line is the same - the challenge I'm sure you'll agree is getting a steady flow of new prospects.
Not all marketing plans are created equal. If people are mailing those tired, old "please provide me with information on changes to Medicare" mailers, I agree the results will be less than stellar.
I believe you tell people not to work the T65 market (nor MA or PDP). I don't think it can be ignored - it's the first chance to grab a new client - which is a lot easier than trying to break an existing relationship.
I've developed a mailer that's currently getting a 4% response to T65s here in the Tampa Bay area. That's not too shabby!
I am offering to help agents get started selling Med Supps because I know there is nothing else out there nor no one else with the years of having tried literally everything who is willing spend time with them.
I'm not sure anyone has tried everything. In addition, there are new things coming along everyday!
You have spent six months doing research and are apparently writing a book on how to sell Med Supps. I'm sure it has valuable information in it.
You bet it does. Not just Med Supps, but MA and PDP too, as well as final expense, LTCi and annuities.
In the future, because of the cost and difficulty in acquiring new clients, it will be even more important to do more per client.
Will cost less than YIO too!
I'm not charging money for it and, NO, it is not a ploy to sell YIO.
Did someone say that it was?
My initial statement in the Free Training thread said, I will train agents who are using YIO to sell Med Supps for free.
Can it really be considered free if you have to buy YIO to get it? Somehow that doesn't add up...
Maybe I need to write a book and sell it rather than giving the information away.
Maybe you should. But if you have to buy YIO, are you really giving away information for free?
I can book appoinments like crazy but my sell thru rate isnt all that good and I am sure it is because of what you have just said. I will set an appointment for anyone that will listen to me.
When I first started I did the same thing. My only "qualifying" question on the phone was, "Can you fog a mirror". lol.
Originally Posted by pvellenga
I dont have to much qualifying info but I do have a sheet that I made with questions on it that I ask after they agree to a day and time to meet.
Again, I use to do the same thing. I now do it before I set an appointment. I learned that if I do it after I set the appointment then I have to tell them I'm not interested if they don't qualify. Too much wasted time for me.
My phone approach is designed to get that out of the way early in the conversation. There is no sense in me spending a long time on the phone with them if they can't buy the insurance. This gives me more time to find the next qualified buyer.
Originally Posted by pvellenga
I rate the prospect from 1 to 10 and then I file it with the others I set for the day.
I don't rate my prospects, the way I do it there really isn't any need to rate them, it really wouldn't help me.
I do things totally different than other agents. I have a very smooth approach and the best of all closes. Since I don't call it a "Marketing Plan" I guess it does not appear to have any value. (No Paul, I'm really not busting your ass, honest.)
Maybe I need to call it something that sounds "important and impressive". How do you think this would "grab" agents? [COLOR=Navy]"Frank's 8 F's to Success"[/COLOR][COLOR=Navy]
"Frank's Fantastic Functions For Future Financial Fame and Fortune." [/COLOR]
[COLOR=Black]LTCi insurance is going to be hard regardless of where you are trying to sell it. Concentrate on Med Supp sales. FE, Annuities and LTCi will come. Mostly it will come as a result of Med Supp appointments and sales.
Establish trust with your new Med Supp clients. Once they know and trust you they will be a lot more receptive to talking to you about the other insurance you can offer them.
I know, that is how I sold all of the FE and LTCi I have ever sold. Every sale came originally from a Med Supp appointment.
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Concentrate on Med Supp sales. FE, Annuities and LTCi will come. Mostly it will come as a result of Med Supp appointments and sales.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Establish trust with your new Med Supp clients. Once they know and trust you they will be a lot more receptive to talking to you about the other insurance you can offer them.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]I know, that is how I sold all of the FE and LTCi I have ever sold. Every sale came originally from a Med Supp appointment.[/COLOR]
Some very sage advice right there.
Going in on a "demand" type product is playing smart.
I don't believe that it is your closing skills that need more work. If you are only closing 1/4 of the people you talk to I would work a little more on what I say when I make the initial phone call to set the appointment.
My approach on the phone is very relaxed and conversational and gently leads them into giving me the information I need without giving them an opportunity to voice an objection. I first need to determine if it is in both my and my prospects best interest for me to set an appointment. (Doing so is not rocket science, it is pretty simple, basic and easy.)
When I set a date and time they know how much the policy is going to cost and I know whether or not they qualify. I get all this information over the phone. When I knock on the door it, more often than not, it is to get the app signed and pick up a check.
I close over 90% of the appointments I set. Now, I don't set nearly as many appointments each month as you do. When I'm not involved in the other enterprises I have going on my goal is to maybe 25 to 30 appointments per month. Even that is on the high side.
I use to go right for the appointment when I first started selling. I figured that running lots of appointments was the way to make sales. I was confident that if I got in the door I could sell them something. Maybe I could have if I had had the "something" they wanted or were qualified to purchase it.
After running tons of appointments, driving many miles, and hours of windshield time I began to re-evaluate how I was handling my phone calls. Many months later, after spending a lot of time and making tons of mistakes I finally came up with the wording that not only works for me but also for the agents I have trained.
I don't try to make X number of phone calls per day or week. I don't keep track of the number of calls I make because it really isn't important to me. We don't get paid for making phone calls.
My goal is to make quality phone calls. If I can make four to six quality phone calls per day that will enable me to sell a lot of Med Supps.
Frank, you are not just setting appointments. Your are setting appointments with qualified prospects. This is how Bill Bishop in his tapes defined it. At a minimum do they need what we sell, can they afford it, and are they the decision maker. If we are doing the appointment setting it is much easier to qualify. If someone else sets the appointment it is harder.
Re: I Hate The Phone
Linear Mode
