Help with Selling Life Insurance...

[davidg]

I bought a 1,000 piece final expense lead drop from Main St. Power Mail and only received 8 leads. That works out to over 50.00 PER LEAD. The horrible kicker is NONE of the 8 leads I got knew what they were sending in for; NONE OF THEM! I am so despondant right now because of this. I saved money to do this drop and will get NOTHING from my 410.00 investment. I was so excited when I finally took the plunge to buy them and this response is bordering on devastation for me. They say it takes money to make money and I went ahead and did it and THIS is what I get. MSPM will do nothing to reimburse as they say it's not their fault, and I agree to a point, but every house I go to and then show them the card in their own handwriting that they signed and ask them what they had in mind when they sent it in say "I don't know. I thought you were gonna send me somethin'". When I explain that the "final expense program" the card refers to pertains to life insurance they immediately shut down and say they aren't interested. Why is it we have to trick people into responding to a final expense mailer?

I have to admit that this is totally demoralizing. I was told by my manager that i need to make an investment in myself, and I did. He was the one that suggested this would get me off to a good start. "Primo leads" he told me. The only interest I have gotten is from one lady I called on the phone (after numerous stop bye's and not catching her home), and I literally had to beg her just to "allow me" to drop off some information. She finally reluctantly agreed to allow me to "send her something" in the mail. That's it! 410.00 dollars later and I get to "send" something in the mail. This is such a joke. Seriously, how does anybody sell final expense?

I need help PLEASE!!!

Thanks,

Dave Garvin.

 

[Mark]

What did your mailing piece have on it?

 

[Bob_The_Insurance_Guy]

That "investing in yourself" stuff is hogwash. It's just a way to have you part with your money. The people telling you this don't know what they are talking about.

Invest in your creativity in getting in front of these people. Find out:

• where they congregate
• what their priorities are
• what they know of your product

This can easily be found out with a simple FREE visit to the library. There are reference materials, books, and actual live people for you to gain information from. Look in the Criss Cross Directory, and find apartment complexes or subdivisions that have your target market in them, and call with a survey (fact finder, not a sales call).

Find out where they meet, and offer to be a speaker.

See if a shopping mall or transit station will allow you to hand out flyers (again information), and hand them out to those who you think are in your target market.

These are just a few off-the-cuff ideas. Invest in yourself, by thinking how to get in front of these people in bunches to talk to them.

If you don't know where they live, befriend a Real Estate agent, who can give you some ideas of communities that are primarily your target market's age.

 

[Full Throttle]

Does your company do only final expense, or can you target any type of life insurance client you desire (young or old)? Does your company offer advances on commission (I assume so)? Can you stick it out financially for at least 3 months with very little income coming in?

 

[jerry176]

Get an approved flyer, and walk into 15 to 30 business per day.
If possible make a brief sales call to generate interest or a sale.

or atleast

Get a name & number of the decision maker and call back and make an appointment.

Do this and you will make sales.

Then you can do some FE on the side.

 

[BNTRS]

Why is it we have to trick people into responding to a final expense mailer?

Because most people are worthless. They like to complain about their situation, but never do anything about, because complaining is so much more fun.

There's a reason so many americans are in financial ruin, it has nothing to do with bad luck. When it comes to competition, I tell people I compete with Sony, Ski Doo, and the Cable company much more than I do with other insurance and financial companies.

 

[JoeInsGuy]

OP-- Bob has some good ideas on how to expand your targeted marketing, most of which will take time to develop.

Also, Mark Rosenthal (markingriffin, Is his username, I think) does a great job on Target Marketing, go to his website and check out his FREE resources. Targeted Marketing is about finding multiple sources of prosects that fit your niche.

It seems like you need training in objection handling. Every direct mailer lead says they never filled anything out, it doesn't matter what vendor you use. You can expect .01-.02% response rate. So yes, 8 out of 1000 mailers is a little low. But maybe your next order (if you decide another order) you will get .05%. You have to understand that the leads you get from a direct mailer are simply an opportunity to speak to someone. They are not a slam dunk close (as you have seen first hand).

You really have to uncover the need with the prospect. If you approach the propect with an emotional need. (ie. funeral expense, the emotional need there is that their family doesn't have to go into debt to bury them, etc). And help them find out a solution to their problem, you will get a sale.

From what I see, you are approaching them with the fact that they "mailed in a card requesting more information", This simply just doesn't work. Write out a phone script that catches their attention and THEN book the appointment.

And remember, no lead is a dead lead until the lead dies!!!!! Keep working those leads, especially once you get the training to work them.

Feel free to PM me if you need more information.

Joe

 

[VolAgent]

It seems like you need training in objection handling. Every direct mailer lead says they never filled anything out, it doesn't matter what vendor you use. You can expect .01-.02% response rate. So yes, 8 out of 1000 mailers is a little low. But maybe your next order (if you decide another order) you will get .05%. You have to understand that the leads you get from a direct mailer are simply an opportunity to speak to someone. They are not a slam dunk close (as you have seen first hand).

Might want to watch your decimal points.

.01% is one response per 10,000. 8 of 1,000 is 0.8%.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I bought a 1,000 piece final expense lead drop from Main St. Power Mail and only received 8 leads. That works out to over 50.00 PER LEAD. The horrible kicker is NONE of the 8 leads I got knew what they were sending in for; NONE OF THEM! I am so despondant right now because of this. I saved money to do this drop and will get NOTHING from my 410.00 investment. I was so excited when I finally took the plunge to buy them and this response is bordering on devastation for me. They say it takes money to make money and I went ahead and did it and THIS is what I get. MSPM will do nothing to reimburse as they say it's not their fault, and I agree to a point, but every house I go to and then show them the card in their own handwriting that they signed and ask them what they had in mind when they sent it in say "I don't know. I thought you were gonna send me somethin'". When I explain that the "final expense program" the card refers to pertains to life insurance they immediately shut down and say they aren't interested. Why is it we have to trick people into responding to a final expense mailer?

I have to admit that this is totally demoralizing. I was told by my manager that i need to make an investment in myself, and I did. He was the one that suggested this would get me off to a good start. "Primo leads" he told me. The only interest I have gotten is from one lady I called on the phone (after numerous stop bye's and not catching her home), and I literally had to beg her just to "allow me" to drop off some information. She finally reluctantly agreed to allow me to "send her something" in the mail. That's it! 410.00 dollars later and I get to "send" something in the mail. This is such a joke. Seriously, how does anybody sell final expense?

I need help PLEASE!!!

Thanks,

Dave Garvin.

Life's tuition can be very expensive.

What it comes down to is that they were serving cool-aid and no one told you not to drink it no matter how thirsty you may be.

I have worked tons of direct mail leads in the past and your experience parallels mine and most other agents. For what it is worth, almost all of us have been there, done that and have several of those t-shirts.

I also attempted to knock on doors showing them the card. They would admit it was their signature, then say they didn't fill it out and slam the door in my face.

That is when I learned that if I was going to be successful doing this that I was going to have to learn to prospect and generate my own leads. What you received wasn't a lead.

It was a name and address of someone who was curious the day they filled out the card. As soon as they mailed it they totally forgot about it. They were not even remotely serious about buying insurance.

I learned how to use the phone, bought a list and started calling. It has turned out to be the simplest, most cost effective way for me to acquire new clients. Yes, it is a lot of work.

This job should be called "prospecting for insurance". Probably close to 80% of my time is spent prospecting with only 20% constituting the "fun" part of writing apps and getting paid.

 

[jdeasy]

I'm going to echo what others have said, you need training bad.

You need training on how to work a lead. You need training on talking to people.

You have to learn to have a conversation with people and identify what they need and, more importantly, want.

The FE business can most definately be worked successfully with mailer leads, in fact, it can't be worked successfully without leads. That is, if your primary business is FE.

If you are not with an FMO that provides quality training and, obviously, you are not, then get with one that does.

If you continue on the same path, you will get the same results.