Anyone Have Staff Cold Call for Commercial During They Day?

SueNami

Expert
50
Just wondering if anyone's had a CSR or staff member cold call for commercial during the day.

If so, was it x-dates or to set appointments?

How did it go? Any tips?
 
What kind of businesses are you trying to work with?
Are you trying to do GL? Workers Comp?

I did it for myself in the past, focused on restaurants and others in the office did it for different industries.
It was as much of a cold call as it could be, I'd use yelp, yellow pages etc so just the name of the restaurant and a phone, definitely not a quick process but surprisingly those were some of my best clients.
I'd start with their GL for the restaurant, then workers comp and oh by the way...who do you have your home, auto, life with?
First call I made was just to speak to the manager and find out the name of the owner and a time when they usually come in.
I used to call in the afternoons after lunch time for the most part, 3 maybe 4, and in the morning after breakfast.
You don't want to get a manager or a business owner for a restaurant at their busiest time, I guess it goes the same for any business but you want to do it during a time that will give you the best time of being listened to.
 
I found the initial post offensive. How would a staff person who isn't a trained and licensed agent have any success speaking to a business owner? I used to own a moving company and I can assure you I didn't field calls from clerks or staff.

Now if someone who was polished and had something of real benefit to offer, be it insurance or any other walk of life, much better chance of bending my ear.

Sue, you have similar threads throughout the forum and when you didn't get an initial response it should have sent a signal. Most of your posts are simply gimme gimme gimme...why don't you write a thread or post detailing what you do and some of the success and failures you have experienced?

It comes across like you want somebody in here to waive a magic wand...if you are a licensed agent you know that cold calling is essential unless you have so many inbound leads you don't know what to do with them all.

If you hire a professional and there is a network out there called AA-ISP which stands for the Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Even if you don't have a lic agent making those cold calls, you should take the time and hire a professional that you can shape and mold but don't have to teach phone sales. Example would be...the clerk isn't getting past the gate keeper but an inside sales professional will already know how to go about handling these people.

You gotta give to get, when I arrived here(forums) I knew my path was to share everything I know about being a cold call cowboy and I have several threads dedicated to the topic. I encourage you to not be offended by this post and take the time to read thru some of them. I gave to the forums and continue to do so, not because I want something directly in return but I want to help expand peoples horizons and encourage them to think outside the box.

Also, the Original Post isn't focused. It reads like "Should I just have a staff member make cold calls and feed me/others leads?" Are you really going to base that decision on some faceless internet posters? I'm including myself with this group.

Specifically what is it you truly want? I'm a psychologist as well and I believe your energy on this would be better spent aiming higher. It's not that folks aim too high and miss, they aim too low and hit! Same light, you can get lucky and land a decent lead or two from time to time even by accident but that doesn't make it a great business model.

And I do wish you the best of luck!
 
I do agree, a big part of being a successful agent is just simply going for it; don't be afraid of rejection, the more we try the more we'll also obtain an opportunity to prove ourselves.. A successful agent has to be fearless when it comes to "failure", be relatable and likeable, but most importantly in my eyes a great agent genuinely cares about protecting an individual's (our client specifically) physical and financial well being... We strive to be passionate, driven to succeed, while also doing the right thing for our clients. One of our agency's Guiding Principles actually directly addresses that, "Do the right things,for the right reasons", don't be in it to just skate by and make our commission; which is a real disservice to the industry, our clients, and our profession in general.

Do our own work and do it well, know our product and service, and provide it as best we are able.. We do have our staff licensed personally, and while they are technically legally allowed to discuss insurance and policy coverage etc, I don't feel that is the best course of action.. I/ we feel it best for the prospective agent to make the initial contact with our potential client, begin to establish our relationship, and nurture that relationship while providing each client with our professional services to the best of our ability. We try to know our insured risk as best we can, and we even go as far as being available to our clients on our cell phone at any time, in order to put them at ease while also strengthening our relationship
 
If your csr has some enthusiasm, a gift for gabbing, and you can provide a targeted list of prospects with some good talking points I see no reason why not.

It is not necessarily the ideal scenario to have a dedicated csr wearing both a sales and service hat, but if you happen to see potential in one, cold-calling is a great place to have them try it out and perhaps make the transition.

I started in the industry as an intern cold-calling for the owners to set appointments as we all ready had the x-dates. So perhaps a csr, who should know what they're talking about (I sure didn't at the time), very well could be an excellent cold caller, assuming they have the right traits. You don't want to throw Bertha, your jaded 63 year old service hag behind the phone of course..that'd be bad
 
I found the initial post offensive. How would a staff person who isn't a trained and licensed agent have any success speaking to a business owner? I used to own a moving company and I can assure you I didn't field calls from clerks or staff.

Now if someone who was polished and had something of real benefit to offer, be it insurance or any other walk of life, much better chance of bending my ear.

Sue, you have similar threads throughout the forum and when you didn't get an initial response it should have sent a signal. Most of your posts are simply gimme gimme gimme...why don't you write a thread or post detailing what you do and some of the success and failures you have experienced?

It comes across like you want somebody in here to waive a magic wand...if you are a licensed agent you know that cold calling is essential unless you have so many inbound leads you don't know what to do with them all.

If you hire a professional and there is a network out there called AA-ISP which stands for the Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Even if you don't have a lic agent making those cold calls, you should take the time and hire a professional that you can shape and mold but don't have to teach phone sales. Example would be...the clerk isn't getting past the gate keeper but an inside sales professional will already know how to go about handling these people.

You gotta give to get, when I arrived here(forums) I knew my path was to share everything I know about being a cold call cowboy and I have several threads dedicated to the topic. I encourage you to not be offended by this post and take the time to read thru some of them. I gave to the forums and continue to do so, not because I want something directly in return but I want to help expand peoples horizons and encourage them to think outside the box.

Also, the Original Post isn't focused. It reads like "Should I just have a staff member make cold calls and feed me/others leads?" Are you really going to base that decision on some faceless internet posters? I'm including myself with this group.

Specifically what is it you truly want? I'm a psychologist as well and I believe your energy on this would be better spent aiming higher. It's not that folks aim too high and miss, they aim too low and hit! Same light, you can get lucky and land a decent lead or two from time to time even by accident but that doesn't make it a great business model.

And I do wish you the best of luck!

I'm not sure where to start my reply to this Rick. I guess the best place is to indicate that I did not intend to offend anyone with my question.

You have many valid points within your reply- in fact the only invalid thing I could find is the attitude driving it. I can't really speak to why you have researched my prior posts and then cast a net of judgement over them (and me?)...

Yes my posts mostly ask questions of other people. Specifically what people are doing that works. And yes--- I do persist a bit too far in the direction that I want to work. That is a challenge and I have been learning to let go when something is not ideal.

There is a ton of experience on this board. And when I don't see a topic addressing what I'm wondering about, I ask the question. And likewise- IF I see a post I can ADD value to (not repeat another answer already there), I do it. Could I do it more? Sure. I suppose the succinct questions and the no fluff is part of my personality and a demand of my schedule. I simply don't have alot of time to browse the forums.

I certainly don't expect a magic wand, or to be handed leads.

This question actually evolved because I have a csr available to me that is VERY experienced in commercial. (your assumption of untrained and unlicensed was wrong, btw) BUT she is a CSR. Not sales minded. Now- could I coach her into making successful x-date/appointment calls that otherwise wouldn't be made ??(due to time constraints) (I do not focus on commercial at all) - absolutely. When I asked my small network of agents that I interact with, They never tried it.

SO I hopped on here to ask. Isn't that what this forum is for?

It wasn't to get others permission to do it- it was to see if anyone already had a successful model they were relying on. Why try to re-create the wheel?

Anyway- I think i've given enough energy to a reply probably better left unsaid. ... but I don't always go down the right road...

Thank you for the good luck wishes. Same to you.

And I'll leave you with this- try more conversation and less assumptions next time. You might just find out that there's more than you could imagine to a situation.

----------

What kind of businesses are you trying to work with?
Are you trying to do GL? Workers Comp?

I did it for myself in the past, focused on restaurants and others in the office did it for different industries.
It was as much of a cold call as it could be, I'd use yelp, yellow pages etc so just the name of the restaurant and a phone, definitely not a quick process but surprisingly those were some of my best clients.
I'd start with their GL for the restaurant, then workers comp and oh by the way...who do you have your home, auto, life with?
First call I made was just to speak to the manager and find out the name of the owner and a time when they usually come in.
I used to call in the afternoons after lunch time for the most part, 3 maybe 4, and in the morning after breakfast.
You don't want to get a manager or a business owner for a restaurant at their busiest time, I guess it goes the same for any business but you want to do it during a time that will give you the best time of being listened to.

This is all really good advice, thank you! I have a great market for contractors, garages and farms. I'd probably go with garages and contractors just because I'm fairly familiar with those.

I'm actually thinking of a way to offer a package of information/services/checklists etc to the business to add value as a reason to introduce myself. Then hit them up for the insurance quote. I haven't done anything as this has lagged behind other priorities going on, but the csr is willing to do it she said. But the way I'm starting to think this might shape up, I might just drop in with a nice packet of useful tools for them...

----------

If your csr has some enthusiasm, a gift for gabbing, and you can provide a targeted list of prospects with some good talking points I see no reason why not.

It is not necessarily the ideal scenario to have a dedicated csr wearing both a sales and service hat, but if you happen to see potential in one, cold-calling is a great place to have them try it out and perhaps make the transition.

I started in the industry as an intern cold-calling for the owners to set appointments as we all ready had the x-dates. So perhaps a csr, who should know what they're talking about (I sure didn't at the time), very well could be an excellent cold caller, assuming they have the right traits. You don't want to throw Bertha, your jaded 63 year old service hag behind the phone of course..that'd be bad


LOL. there seems to be quite a few of those old jaded CSR's around! She is not one, thank god! lol.

Thanks for the encouragement... what you described as what you did as an intern is really what I was thinking.

I'll have to see how this shapes up. It might be months before I even get to implement anything but the couple helpful comments are encouraging, regardless of which way I go.
 
Just wondering if anyone's had a CSR or staff member cold call for commercial during the day.

If so, was it x-dates or to set appointments?

How did it go? Any tips?

Hello Members,
We provide telemarketers for hire at $15-$20 per hour, All our reps are experienced with following verticals.

Personal Lines: Home Owners, Auto & Renters
Commercial: General Liability, Workers Comp & Commercial Trucking

We utilise predictive dialling system & provide dialling stats for your calling list as per your requirement. We would just need a filtered calling list from agent & we can take care of cold calling.

We have different monthly programs setup as per requirement.

Hire Sales / Telemarketing representative ($15 - $20 Hourly, Min 25 hrs per week excluding weekends)
Pay per call ($0.30 - $0.75 as per total live calls answered by rep i.e. avg 250-300 calls every 8 hrs shift) *connects depend on the quality of records in the calling list.

For an instance our average range of calls each rep in 8 hours of dialling is 1500 - 2000 records, as per our predictive dialling system this includes Answering machines, Caller busy, No answer or disconnected numbers. our dialling system automatically filters unwanted calls so that our sales rep could talk to more people & generate more prospects for our clients.

All the leads are shared on google sheet.

Please feel free to contact me for any further query.

Best Regards,
 
Sue Nami, I'm sure most know this is a play on words and of course the Asian equivalent of what we refer to as hurricanes except I believe they spin clockwise instead of counter...

I enjoyed your response Sue, you took it on the chin with dignity and grace, and hard to argue with someone who agrees mostly.

The fact is not a lot of folks seem to have true concrete answers especially on Commercial/Business Insurance. I am going to be doing a lot of trial and error myself in the coming weeks and will have a lot to share, good luck.
 
Just wondering if anyone's had a CSR or staff member cold call for commercial during the day.

If so, was it x-dates or to set appointments?

How did it go? Any tips?

Hi,
Cold call helps you to reach prospects, however effective methodology & real-time calling list analysis is required to make it realistic. Insurance agents are required to approach prospects within 24 hrs to keep your relationship warm enough for better results.
New technologies have evolved to help professional telemarketers & clients understand the outcome of time & efforts involved in the process.
Cold calling with right technology is best process to build up your sales pipeline, & very effective to develop long term business.
 

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