Cold Call B2B Life Insurance

Many have said to leave a flyer behind if you don't get to speak to the owner. I've been diligently leaving flyers behind for three months now. I must have left behind for owners about one thousand flyers, and have yet to get a call.

Flyers get thrown away. Waste of time and money. The only way to effectively use a flyer is to hand it directly to the owner/manager AFTER you have had a brief conversation to determine if there is some interest or not.

Why are you proposing thad's leads for this thread? To my knowledge Thad only does FE and Med Supps...

FE is life insurance by another name.

Frankly, I don't know what lines of coverage he solicits. Just saw the Medicare thread a few weeks ago. Maybe he wants to expand to something other than $5,000 policies.

What I learned at Combined Insurance, was that most people are interested in policies that pay THEM... a policy that will benefit them personally. And they instinctively know that if their health fails for an extended period of time... their business, reputation, and cash flow can suffer greatly. Of course, this impacts the kinds of businesses where the owner is constantly there, and can't ever seem to get away from the business.

This is great advice.

Most people (including owners and managers) are tuned in to station WIIFM.
 
I try to walk in more than 30, because 30 is not enough. I only have one scheduled appointment this week...........

That is why you should take the advice I gave you weeks ago and switch to making 100 phone calls per day....

You are wasting gas and wasting time.
 
That is why you should take the advice I gave you weeks ago and switch to making 100 phone calls per day....

You are wasting gas and wasting time.

I've been trying to do that. While driving and while stopped at red lights I dial for dollars. And I make calls in the morning too. But doesn't look like I'm spreading the usage of my time right, the ball is always up in the air every morning
 
I've been trying to do that. While driving and while stopped at red lights I dial for dollars. And I make calls in the morning too. But doesn't look like I'm spreading the usage of my time right, the ball is always up in the air every morning


You need to treat the phone calls as your primary prospecting method. Give it a try one week.

Sitting in your car does not put you in the right mindset to properly phone prospect. Sit down at a desk with a list of names and concentrate on just that one thing. Concentrating on traffic does not allow you to concentrate on prospecting. You are treating it as a secondary "throw away" form of prospecting by not concentrating on just it.

If you ball is up in the air every morning, sit down with a list of 1000 names and dont stop calling until you have set 2 appointments. That should be your daily routine, nothing else.

By the time it takes you to go to 3 businesses, I can call 20.
Ive spent zero dollars doing it... and my success rate for speaking to the owners will be much higher. (because its very easy to get someone on the phone vs. getting them to walk up front and speak to you personally)


I started my career prospecting the way you are currently. I was doing it because my "mentors" told me to. I quickly learned that all I was doing was driving to the business, getting the guys card, and being forced to call back the next day. So I cut out the wasting gas/time, and went straight to calling them. I wouldnt be in business today if I had kept doing it my mentors way. I took the advice of other successful agents.

Out of curiosity, is your mentor walking into 30 businesses per day? Im guessing not....
 
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Its tough out there in the business market. It is one of those nuts that so many have tried to crack and end up breaking their bank.

There is an article on here about key man insurance being the key to the business market. It sounds like one of the guys in the article opens with it while the other doesn't. Maybe try that.

But no one is going to call you back on your flyer so just put that out of your mind. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
 
IMO, I can't make cold-calls while the car is in motion or at red lights. It's either the office, home, or while the car is parked.

Here's what I did at Combined Insurance. First, I used the ReferenceUSA database from a local library. If your library doesn't offer it, find one that does, and get a library card.

Now, find business listings based on street name and address. This will help you group your calls in a geographic area. Just know the bigger streets in your area that has lots of businesses. Call only those listings that have a name. It's a lot easier to ask for a person by name than to simply ask "is the owner in".

Call them up with the script I posted earlier.

Way back when I did this, out of 60 dials... 15-20 were wrong or disconnected numbers. The majority of the time, the person I was asking for wasn't in. However, when I did get to the person, 1 out of 4 agreed to let me stop by for 15 minutes to show them the kind of work I did.

It took me about an hour to do 60 dials... and I'd set anywhere from 1 to 4 "stops".

Now this part is key: If they hesitate to want to set an appointment, I try to put them at ease. I say something to the affect of "I know your business needs come first. If you're busy and it's not a good time, at least we can shake hands and I can stop by another time. Would it be okay if I penciled you in for 9am on Tuesday?"

Now build upon that with the remaining calls for that street. Talk to others... and say "I'm going to be visiting with x at 9am on Tuesday... could I stop by your office at 11am? If you're busy, I understand. At least we can shake hands and I can stop by another time."

This gives you a "social proof" that others are also meeting with you, so it must be important and in demand.


If you get stood up... take the opportunity to leverage that business name & owner/manager to the other businesses around. "I just got out of a meeting with X next door, so I thought I'd stop by and introduce myself."

In essence, you kind of don't care that you got stood up. You are going to leverage that appointment, name, and business into other introductions.

You'll notice that these are not "hard set appointments for an hour of time". All I'm looking for is permission to stop by at a given time. I want them to say 'yes' to me for something.


Now, if they've only got a few minutes... (remember that you are perceived as a salesman, so lower their perception of pain for agreeing to meet with you in the first place) keep your promise and give them the reason why most people are interested in this product and how it works. Show them a single product or a concept. If you're presenting Critical Illness (as I suggest), be prepared to quote the MOST EXPENSIVE policy... so they know the maximum they could expect to spend. I think it helps people to know what the maximum cost could be. Then negotiate with them to find an affordable solution.


When they buy and you deliver the policy... then it is a good time to use the VSA Priority Planning Review for a few minutes. Simply say "I do a lot more than just X insurance. Let me show you more of the work I do..." Then pull out the Priority Planning Review and ask them to complete it so they can understand more of what you do... even if they're not looking for more services at the current moment.
 
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Thank you.

BTW, to add to the post... sometimes someone will ask you if you do "X" policy or insurance. Those can be fun... but it can also lead to someone who won't qualify too.

I remember one attorney I called and she said "You know what I really want?" I was expecting her to say "for you to get off the phone and never call me again". But she said "I'm really looking for health insurance for me and my adult son. Can you help me with that?" I said I could... knowing that I work with a good health insurance agent that I can refer her to.

There was another guy who asked "Do you do disability insurance?" I said yes. But when I got there, found out that he was scheduled for some surgery in a couple of months, so that was a no-go.

So don't get too excited if they ask you for a specific policy. It just makes you wonder what they heard from the doctor recently.
 
Great info DHK

Is there a reason not to do this anymore since you don't work this market?
I know some people on here have said CI is a pain to get to pay the benefits. Is that why?
 
The reasons to NOT do this... is if it changes your focus and direction. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

However, if the focus and direction you're on isn't working... then this would probably be a great way to get your feet wet, get a few clients, and make some cash.


As far as CI paying benefits... be sure to read the policy and definitions. Some CI will pay 10% upon diagnosis and the remaining balance if you live past a certain time, like 14 days or something. So read up on it, explain the definitions, and be clear in how you explain everything.

The biggest risks to a business owner are the big ones: heart attack, stroke, cancer. I would focus on those three, because if one isn't managing their stress well, you can incur those on your own. Everything else the CI policy covers... is just 'extra'.

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Now for CI RIDERS on a life policy... that can be a different story. Definitely read up on that.

Since there are so few in California that are approved, I don't focus on that. But I have heard how some carriers may 'fudge' or try to get out of paying a claim because it isn't specific enough on the life policy rider.
 
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