Take the Hits, Earn the Money

[Full Throttle]

Link: How to sell like Babe Ruth | LifeHealthPro

The author changed the title on the website from the print version, I like the print edition title better (listed in the post title above). Here is a TOT producer selling DI via cold calls in Chicago on a mostly individual basis and killing it. A couple quotes I like from the print edition:

"One of the greatest myths in the industry is cold calling is ineffective and doesn't work. I find it to be extremely productive."

"Unless you work in a mint, you cannot make money. You have to earn money. The problem in the industry - I think a bigger problem today than it was years ago, is people want to look for a shortcut; they want a magic pill, they want a silver bullet. You've got to pay your dues. You've got to take the hits and earn your way. The more you're willing to take the hits, the more likely you are to be successful. There's not any shortcut."

"I decided if I was willing to suffer every day and take more rejection and make more phone calls than anyone else, that ultimately I could build some renewals," he says. "In the willlingness to give way to suffering, I got good and no longer wanted to get out of the disability business."

 

[njinsuranceguy]

Great article Full! And very true. I've been told from the first day in this business that cold calling doesn't work. That was from people that won't do it anymore. It does work and works better than any method I tried. The key is to don't stop. Keep doing it and the results will pour in!

 

[Rearden]

Awesome article -- thanks for sharing.

 

[VolAgent]

Sadly, the article is flawed.

It is about how a guy cold called 30 years ago and built a client base that generates referrals. Also, he has a firm, but there is no mention of if he has new agents or if he has them cold call.

If it was about how he continues to cold call for business or how he has successfully trained new agents to cold call and develop referral bases, that would be one thing. Instead, it is about how a guy cold called in a different era and now works referrals.

 

[TheCaspian]

True, but it seems like many agents around here do well with cold calling as a primary form of marketing

 

[VolAgent]

True, but it seems like many agents around here do well with cold calling as a primary forum of marketing

I never said cold calling doesn't work. I do say that it is extremely difficult and most agents can't take the constant rejection.

My problem is not with the article saying cold calling works. My problem is with the article giving as proof an agent who did it 30 years ago and doesn't now.

Now, if they wrote an article about a manager who teaches agents to cold call and has a track record or recent success, that would be a valuable article.

 

[rousemark]

I never said cold calling doesn't work. I do say that it is extremely difficult and most agents can't take the constant rejection.

My problem is not with the article saying cold calling works. My problem is with the article giving as proof an agent who did it 30 years ago and doesn't now.

Now, if they wrote an article about a manager who teaches agents to cold call and has a track record or recent success, that would be a valuable article.

I took it to be an example of making yourself do what you do not like to do (cold calling) in order to reach the point that you do not have to do it any more. Cold calling still works but I agree that it is not the same as it was when I started. The real problem is that people fail and leave the business either because they either won't make themselves to it until they are able to build a referral base or they cannot not foresee a time they will not have to do it any longer.

There are people who relish the challenge of cold calling but they are few in number... I wish I were one of them..

 

[xrac]

Great article Full! And very true. I've been told from the first day in this business that cold calling doesn't work. That was from people that won't do it anymore. It does work and works better than any method I tried. The key is to don't stop. Keep doing it and the results will pour in!

It won't work if you won't do it. Good one Full!

 

[TheCaspian]

My problem is not with the article saying cold calling works. My problem is with the article giving as proof an agent who did it 30 years ago and doesn't now.

Now, if they wrote an article about a manager who teaches agents to cold call and has a track record or recent success, that would be a valuable article.

I agree completely with this

 

[Full Throttle]

Sadly, the article is flawed.

It is about how a guy cold called 30 years ago and built a client base that generates referrals. Also, he has a firm, but there is no mention of if he has new agents or if he has them cold call.

If it was about how he continues to cold call for business or how he has successfully trained new agents to cold call and develop referral bases, that would be one thing. Instead, it is about how a guy cold called in a different era and now works referrals.

There was a full profile article with him on the cover of LIS magazine in 2007 that I saved, just pulled it out of the file drawer. Here are a few of the highlights:

-In a typical week he hold 30 to 50 appointments. At least 15 with new prospects. Six to ten appointments a day spaced an hour apart. That is an insane number. Typical outstanding case count in underwriting is 90 at any given time.

-Current prospecting efforts are combination of cold calls, direct mail, and incoming leads from association endorcements. He has one full time guy making his calls and booking appointments.

Cold calls are still part of his lead generation as a TOT producer. In fact, part of his goal in the article in 2007 was to ask for more referrals.