Success with Cold Calls?

[jmrsjmrs]

Has anyone had success with cold calling for LTC appointments? I am a fairly new captive agent. My company is poor as far as providing avenues for leads. Cold calls are their main emphasis. They use a CMS approved "Medicare review" script (which I think is very lame) as a back door for all the life and health lines we carry.

If anyone has a successful phone script for LTC, would you please share (PM is OK).

My family is getting tired of mac and cheese! Any and all suggestions for LTC lead generation are appreciated.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Has anyone had success with cold calling for LTC appointments? I am a fairly new captive agent. My company is poor as far as providing avenues for leads. Cold calls are their main emphasis.

Of course it's lame. Just more of the not-too-bright sales management of most insurance companies/agencies.

They do it because it's cheap, doesn't cost 'em much. VERY shortsighted.

LTC is a tough sale. THE toughest, I believe. I would line up speaking engagements and seminars at senior centers, the library, etc. -- anywhere where you can get a group of seniors together.

Do an informative, non-salesy LTC presentation.

 

[ABC]

I agree LTC is a tough sale.

I just sold two policies for the 1st quarter of this year. The cycle took around 4 months from start to finish.

They were already clients so it was just finding them best coverage for the money.

I agree with the seminar sales of it. I think its almost like you need to specialize in just that field to really hit some numbers.

I will say the commission paid on them can really be fat when the clients are in there 50's and are looking to protect their wealth. The 2 policies I sold I made in the high 4 figures on it.

 

[jmrsjmrs]

I will say the commission paid on them can really be fat when the clients are in there 50's and are looking to protect their wealth. The 2 policies I sold I made in the high 4 figures on it.

I congratulate you on that. Nice when it happens, isn't it?

I have a seminar coming up later this month. We'll see how that goes.

Does anyone make calls for LTC?

 

[Frank Stastny]

...They use a CMS approved "Medicare review" script (which I think is very lame) as a back door for all the life and health lines we carry.

The first thing I would do is deep six any kind of provided script. Using someone else's words is not going to enable you to be successful.

Extreme product knowledge and a conversational tone when speaking to prospects will make you successful. Inject your personality and use your own words. Being successful on the phone is a lot of trial and error. It took me months of trying different things before everything began falling in place.

What I use on the phone represents who I am. I am very successful on the phone but I can almost guarantee if you tried to use it wouldn't work at all for you.

Put things in your own language, pick words that are not negative or confrontational and just have a conversation with them.

LTCi is a lot more difficult to sell than Med Supps. I use to write a lot of LCTi but the initial contact was always about their Medicare Supplement insurance.

CMS does not have rules and regs regarding contacting people about Med Supps. CMS was established to make insurance agents miserable and to do everything they can to prevent agents from really helping their prospects. Please note that I am really holding back on this one.

Are you "captive" with an insurance company or with an agency. There is a huge difference.

 

[J.R.]

Has anyone had success with cold calling for LTC appointments? I am a fairly new captive agent. My company is poor as far as providing avenues for leads. Cold calls are their main emphasis. They use a CMS approved "Medicare review" script (which I think is very lame) as a back door for all the life and health lines we carry.

If anyone has a successful phone script for LTC, would you please share (PM is OK).

My family is getting tired of mac and cheese! Any and all suggestions for LTC lead generation are appreciated.

1) Don't negate the importance of mac and cheese. Add some tuna or crab meat and you've hit a home run.

2) Follow Frank's advice and search for telemarketing on the forum for scripts and ideas.

3) Practice, revise, take action....repeat as needed with a minimum of 500 contacts for each script to ascertain the results.

4) Don't make the mistake that I and others have made by letting the well go dry.......keep the engine running with leads and hit your weekly and daily numbers....

5) Take breaks as needed...

6) Cross sell!!!!!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If you're broke you don't eat Mac and Cheese. It's all about

 

[wrkin4christ]

IF you need some Ramen Noodles My kids live on them i can ship you some....ROFL

 

[jmrsjmrs]

You guys make me laugh, and as we all know, it's good for our health. Maybe it can even counteract the food additives in the Ramen and Mac & Cheese!

The biggie for me is "keeping the pipeline full." Mine is looking more like a cocktail straw. I am not getting the quality of appointments I need with cold calls. I think the approach my agency teaches is useless, especially with gas costing $4 + per gallon. Who wants to drive all over the place seeing people without any clue if they qualify or need anything I am selling

I just can't seem to get into a groove with cold calls. I feel that if I could just open the conversation and get it going, I'd be OK. I agree that the conversation must reflect my own style and personality. I probably wasn't clear enough. I'm looking more for an initial approach...a couple lines to get things going. Once I can get into it, the pain abates.

As far as the Med Supp to start, gladly would I go there. I have some very competitively priced products, and a nearly guaranteed issue product. How do I do this? I have company supplied lists of seniors. Call APPROACH? I probably sound clueless...so I'll admit to it straight away.
How do I begin the conversation to find out if they have a supp or med adv? I need some ideas to get me started. My manager looks at me like I am from Pluto because I think the company script as an approach is junk. (He never cold calls himself.)

 

[Reuben]

The biggie for me is "keeping the pipeline full." Mine is looking more like a cocktail straw. I am not getting the quality of appointments I need with cold calls. I think the approach my agency teaches is useless, especially with gas costing $4 + per gallon. Who wants to drive all over the place seeing people without any clue if they qualify or need anything I am selling

Are you leaving the office, hanging up the phone without pre-qualifying your client? Surely your script is flexable enough for you to ask a few pre-qualifying questions.

As far as the Med Supp to start, gladly would I go there. I have some very competitively priced products, and a nearly guaranteed issue product. How do I do this? I have company supplied lists of seniors. Call APPROACH? I probably sound clueless...so I'll admit to it straight away.
How do I begin the conversation to find out if they have a supp or med adv? I need some ideas to get me started. My manager looks at me like I am from Pluto because I think the company script as an approach is junk. (He never cold calls himself.)

How do you begin the conversation to find out what they have? Just ask the question! I don't mean to be too tactless, but sometimes we can get wraped up in "the system" that we forget that often times, all it takes is just a simple question.

Ideas?

Why are you calling Mr/Mrs Punter? What do you want to do for them (As opposed to "To Them".)? Are your rates really that competitive? How do you know? Are you looking to save them $$ or get them better benefits for same price?

These questions I think need to be asked/answered before you pick up the phone and take up their time.

They won't really know you from Adam, so you need to get the preperation done before you call/or visit them..

If you've got the "be-all-and end-all" of products, then you need to tell them. Let them know that you have some probable solutions to their concerns.

Odds are however that they won't have any concerns, so you need to find the emotive button to push to let them know that there could be a long term problem, but that you might have something that would reduce/remove that potential worry.

Again, Ask the Question! They just might superise you with an answer that you're looking for.