I see one big problem with their pre-set appointments. Once you get one, you have paid for it. Apparently unless the prospect dies, you can't get a replacement.
REPLACEMENT POLICY
You understand and agree TELEMARKETING 21will not replace the following appointments: [COLOR=#000000]Agent call ahead and lead changes their mind.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads that miss the appointment or is not at home at the scheduled time.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Pre-screened leads have a current insurance plan in place. (T21’s Appointment Setter’s pre-screen each lead; however we [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]cannot guar[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]antee if the information provided by the lead is accurate.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads changed their mind at the door.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads advise you they were under the impression that you were coming from the Medicare office or Social Security office, [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]etc. (This is not [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]a major concern; however our elderly client hears the word “Medicare” often during the phone presentation.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]If a "bad" appointment with a detailed description has been forwarded to T21’s Quality Control for review after 24 hours of the [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]agent running [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]the appointment. [/COLOR]
Rick
------------------------------------ ILIAA
Training, Community, Support, and Success Independent Life Insurance Agents Assn rick@iliaa.org
I see one big problem with their pre-set appointments. Once you get one, you have paid for it. Apparently unless the prospect dies, you can't get a replacement.
REPLACEMENT POLICY
You understand and agree TELEMARKETING 21will not replace the following appointments: [COLOR=#000000]Agent call ahead and lead changes their mind.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads that miss the appointment or is not at home at the scheduled time.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Pre-screened leads have a current insurance plan in place. (T21’s Appointment Setter’s pre-screen each lead; however we [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]cannot guar[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]antee if the information provided by the lead is accurate.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads changed their mind at the door.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]Leads advise you they were under the impression that you were coming from the Medicare office or Social Security office, [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]etc. (This is not [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]a major concern; however our elderly client hears the word “Medicare” often during the phone presentation.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]If a "bad" appointment with a detailed description has been forwarded to T21’s Quality Control for review after 24 hours of the [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]agent running [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]the appointment. [/COLOR]
Rick
I have a secret, little known system currently available to only a select group of financially successful agents that will guarantee that every lead will result in an appointment. This is the basic entry level system.
The only thing the basic system does not guarantee is that a sale will result from the appointment. However, if the advanced system is utilized over 75%% of appointments will result in a signed application.
If anyone is interested in learning more please indicate your level of interest, basic or advanced, by posting in this thread. Also state your approximate monthly budget for procuring leads.
------------------------------------
Medicare Supplement Sales Training and Coaching.
"The Perfect Contact Management Program (CMP) for the Insurance Professional" www.YourInsuranceOffice.com
877.633.0808
I have a secret, little known system currently available to only a select group of financially successful agents that will guarantee that every lead will result in an appointment. This is the basic entry level system.
The only thing the basic system does not guarantee is that a sale will result from the appointment. However, if the advanced system is utilized over 75%% of appointments will result in a signed application.
If anyone is interested in learning more please indicate your level of interest, basic or advanced, by posting in this thread. Also state your approximate monthly budget for procuring leads.
I am highly interested of couse. Obviously, since I started the thread. I am not involved yet in leads for med supp but but lets say $1000 a month on leads.
I'm about to start selling Medicare Supplement leads directly to agents ($4.50 per exclusive lead, PM me if interested) and have been very curious about the market. I've been selling them to other companies who resell them to agents and get less than half the price I get for a pre-65 health lead.
I don't see Medigap leads sold by a lot of other lead generation companies and haven't been able to figure out why. Are they inherently lower quality when compared to leads for auto, life or pre-65 health?
I don't work this market (as an agent) currently but in the mid-nineties did well in this market. Also I know that a lot of agents use Medigap leads to sell larger commission products like LTC and Annuities.
I'd love some feedback about the problems with these leads, especially those problems that are worse with Medigap leads when compared to leads for other lines of insurance.
Winter
I used Telemarketing 21 for 1 week of pre-sets. They were terrible - didn't know I was coming, thought I was from medicare or state worker, were told it had nothing to do with insurance, didn't qualify, etc. Complete waste of money. You would get a warmer response going door to door.
Winter
I used Telemarketing 21 for 1 week of pre-sets. They were terrible - didn't know I was coming, thought I was from medicare or state worker, were told it had nothing to do with insurance, didn't qualify, etc. Complete waste of money. You would get a warmer response going door to door.
I'm about to start selling Medicare Supplement leads directly to agents ($4.50 per exclusive lead, PM me if interested) and have been very curious about the market. I've been selling them to other companies who resell them to agents and get less than half the price I get for a pre-65 health lead.
I don't see Medigap leads sold by a lot of other lead generation companies and haven't been able to figure out why. Are they inherently lower quality when compared to leads for auto, life or pre-65 health?
I don't work this market (as an agent) currently but in the mid-nineties did well in this market. Also I know that a lot of agents use Medigap leads to sell larger commission products like LTC and Annuities.
I'd love some feedback about the problems with these leads, especially those problems that are worse with Medigap leads when compared to leads for other lines of insurance.
As far as using medigap leads to sell LTC or annuities you might want to be aware of various state laws to see what is kosher and what is not. In the State of Maine you cannot discuss any other product, other than med supp, unless you advised them on the phone first before the appointment that you were going to do that and they gave permission. Obviously the bulk of compliance responsibility falls to the agent here but it is a watch-out for lead companies nevertheless.
I'm about to start selling Medicare Supplement leads directly to agents ($4.50 per exclusive lead, PM me if interested) and have been very curious about the market. I've been selling them to other companies who resell them to agents and get less than half the price I get for a pre-65 health lead.
I don't see Medigap leads sold by a lot of other lead generation companies and haven't been able to figure out why. Are they inherently lower quality when compared to leads for auto, life or pre-65 health?
I don't work this market (as an agent) currently but in the mid-nineties did well in this market. Also I know that a lot of agents use Medigap leads to sell larger commission products like LTC and Annuities.
I'd love some feedback about the problems with these leads, especially those problems that are worse with Medigap leads when compared to leads for other lines of insurance.
Working the senior market is totally different than selling health insurance to those under 65. Everyone knows that. However, I'm not convinced that agents really know why it is different. It's the why that directly relates to my post above. I will address that in another post.
A lot of senior agents work hard, but a lot of them don't know how to work smart. I know, you don't think I know what I'm talking about. You all work "smart" right? That statement probably just pissed a bunch of you off. If the shoe fits...
Something "clicks" in the mind of people when they turn 65. All of a sudden they are on the dreaded "fixed income". They also seem to believe that everything should be either free or at a greatly discounted price. (They are always looking for something literally $2.00 cheaper.)
Every time they see a direct mail piece or a website that says they can "save money" on their Med Supp insurance they fill out the card or form, however, they promptly forget they have done so. They have "nothing" to do all day so they become professional form filler-outers.
I have worked thousands of direct mail leads and I do not remember one person who told me they remembered filling out the card. I have shown them the card they filled out and signed when I was standing at the door. The guy said, "yep that's my signature, nope, I didn't fill out the card or sign it and send it in" and shut the door in my face.
I have also worked thousands of internet leads. If I get to them the same day, most remember filling out the form on the website, they ask a lot of questions and then do not return my e-mail or answer the phone. (Ya got to love caller ID.)
Agents spend thousands of dollars each year, some each month, paying for these "leads". One guy told me he spends $820 per week, another told me his budget for leads is $3,000 per month. That is insane! There is no nice way to put it. $820 per week is $42,640 per year! Most agents don't even make that much a year. Know what he said he did with his "leads" when he "finishes" with them? He throws them in the trash! That is even more insane!
Med Supp policies increase in cost, some every year, some every two or three years. Regardless of how often they increase, they all are going to increase. Every time a senior gets a letter telling them their premium is going up they are "ripe for the picking". Show them a plan that will save them $2.00 per month and most of them are reaching for their pen asking where to sign.
Every person over 65 who has a Med Supp policy is a qualified buyer. Maybe not today, but in the next 24 months that person is going to be receptive to listening to anyone who can save them a couple of bucks on their Med Supp premium. Does it make sense to throw that "lead" away because the person said "not interested" on the first, second or third call? Not NO but HELL NO!
Agents throw them away because the get "cold". Everyone knows that a "hot" lead is the only one that is worth a damn. Wrong again! Unless that person is dead the "lead" from that person is just as "hot" two years from now as it was the day the agent received it. Maybe even "hotter". Any agent, working the senior market, who believes that a newly acquired "lead" is a "hot" lead and the one they got three or 12 months ago is a "cold" lead is living in la la land with their head up their butt. It is simply a mind set and their mind is set in the wrong place.
Assuming that I know what I'm talking about (I've only been doing this for 14 years) does it make sense to spend $42,640 per year buying "leads" for the senior market and then throw away all the leads that weren't sold in the first two or three phone calls? Again, not NO but double HELL NO.
That agent is paying through the butt for nothing more than a name, address and phone number from a professional card/form filler-outer. I asked him to send me everything he was throwing away. I will get licensed in his state and make a lot of money over the next two years from his "throw-aways". He declined my offer. Instead of throwing them away he is now probably throwing them in a box. LOL They will do him no good if they are not organized and available at the click of a button.
So Al, those are only some of the reasons that I place very little value in anything that is called a "lead" for Med Supp policies. It took me a long time to realize that a Med Supp "lead" was nothing more than a name, address and phone number from someone who was a professional card filler-outer.
I have not purchased a "lead" for many, many years, I have not even purchased a list for at least two or three years. I have my Prospects database filled with qualified buyers. They are all ready to buy, it is up to me to know when the timing is right to give them a call and stop by and pick up the check. How do I know that, I take copious notes on the first contact and every "lead" is extremely well organized and available by the click of a button. That's called working smart.
If the company they have their Med Supp policy with when I first called them has a rate increase I can print a list of everyone I have talked to that has their insurance with that company. If they pay annually I know when that payment is due and I can print a list of everyone who will be receiving their statement for their next annual payment the month before they receive it.
Working the senior market is not about "leads" it is all about being organized and working smart. Agents using 4x6 index cards or have some "elaborate filing system" are fooling themselves if they think they are "working smart".
PS Al, the vast majority of senior agents are not going to believe anything of what I have said. They are still going to spend thousands of dollars each year on "leads".
You will make a fortune by selling Med Supp leads for $4.50 per lead. That is more than reasonable. Even $6.50 would not be too much to charge. I know senior market agents, they will buy all you can generate at $6.50 per lead, throw them away and come back for more. I have received a "lead" from the same person each time a mailing was sent out to their area. I know because I track them all. They will pay for a "lead" from that person over and over again because it is a "hot" lead.
I also am thinking of selling Med Supp "leads". That is where the real money is in working the senior market.
I have a secret, little known system currently available to only a select group of financially successful agents that will guarantee that every lead will result in an appointment. This is the basic entry level system.
The only thing the basic system does not guarantee is that a sale will result from the appointment. However, if the advanced system is utilized over 75%% of appointments will result in a signed application.
If anyone is interested in learning more please indicate your level of interest, basic or advanced, by posting in this thread. Also state your approximate monthly budget for procuring leads.
I have received several PM's and e-mails from senior agents wanting to know the "secret" to working the senior market. I am seriously thinking of marketing it. Any agent who uses this "system" will see a dramatic increase in their income. And, guess what? I'm going to give it to all senior agents on this board for FREE!
The "system" consists of six (6) very important steps that each agent must follow if they want to excel in senior Med Supp sales. [COLOR=red]WARNING:[/COLOR]Those agents who are afraid of "work" or who are just plain lazy should not read any further. All it will do is just piss you off.
1. Keep every "lead", name, referral you get. Never, I repeat, NEVER throw away the name, address and phone number of a senior. They are all potentially qualified buyers. Who would have thought that senior agents would have a product they can sell to Medicaid people?
2. Don't buy "leads" buy lists. Senior market "leads" are just a name, address and phone number. (See post above.) Seniors are
Obsessive card/form filler-outers.
3. Do your own telemarketing. Who knows the senior market better than you do? Seniors like to talk to the person they will be doing business with on the first phone call. The decision to switch their Med Supp policy is an emotional decision for most seniors. I guarantee, in the vast majority of cases, it is not an intelligent, well informed decision. If it was most of them would not buy a Plan F.
If done properly, most seniors can be "sold" on the first call. If not then they can be "sold" a year or two later when they get the notice that their premium is going up.
4. On the first call try to engage them in conversation. Yea, I know, it's a lot of work and it takes time. Agents who are making calls, saying "I'm going to be in your area on Wed, can I stop by and drop off information" are wasting way too much time and money. That is NOT AN APPOINTMENT. Agents should only make an appointment with a senior who qualifies and is really interested in changing companies. Forget those turning 65, for the most part they are a waste of time and money. Contact those who are between 67 and 77.
When working the senior market it is not about how many calls the agent makes per hour, it is about how many people can you get to talk to you and give you information.
The most important information is the name of the company they currently have their insurance with. If you can get that before the call ends you have just made a "sale". Maybe not this month but probably in the next 12 months.
It doesn't matter what plan they have, most will have Plan F and that is a good thing. I make my money from agents who sell Plan F. You don't need to know how much they are paying, if you are really a senior market agent you will know what other companies are charging. If you don't know then you should not be in senior market sales.
5. Take copious notes during the phone call. Record anything that they have told you, like the name of their dog or a hobby they have so you can mention it during your next call. Seniors love to be "remembered". Example: The second call made a year later. "Hi Mrs. Smith, this is Frank Stastny, we talked several months ago about your Med Supp policy. By the way, how is your dog Spot doing?" You now have their undivided attention at this point.
6. For those who have gotten this far, both of you, break down and purchase a computer program that will enable you to have all this information at your finger tips. Every time a company has a rate increase print a list of everyone you have talked to over the past several years who told you they had their insurance with that company. Those are almost guaranteed sales. Record every piece of information that senior tells you. Know when they are due to make their next annual payment. Record if they may be interested in final expense insurance or LTCi in the future. Record every thing and any thing you can glean from that initial conversation.
No, I'm not "spamming" for YIO. Personally I don't care which system you use, what is more important is that you use your computer as a tool to make money, not just to post here, surf the web and send e-mail to your mother and friends.
How much sense does it make to spend as much as $42,000 per year on leads and then not have those people available at the click of a button 12, 18 or 24 months from now when they are "ready to buy"?
Any agent who is not investing in a good computer program to track prospects and recycling their senior market "leads" is working really dumb. I don't care how good you think your "system" is, it is about 20 years behind the times. Index cards and elaborate filing systems went out of vogue a long time ago. All they do is make you think you are well organized.
If you are using Excel and or Outlook to "track your leads" you are only kidding yourself and wasting a lot of time you could be spending increasing your income.
Hey, you guys asked. It boils down to doing your own telemarketing, using the tools available today and doing that dirty, dreaded four letter word called "WORK".
If you didn't want to know the answer then you should not have asked.
I have received several PM's and e-mails from senior agents wanting to know the "secret" to working the senior market. I am seriously thinking of marketing it. Any agent who uses this "system" will see a dramatic increase in their income. And, guess what? I'm going to give it to all senior agents on this board for FREE!
Frank,
You had me pay you $1,500 in advance for your "system". Will you be sending me a refund now that it's free?
[COLOR=royalblue]BRAVO![COLOR=#000000] (applause) to Frank, who posted a lengthy and well-reasoned discourse on the senior market. I concur.[/COLOR][/COLOR]
Those are expensive leads at $28/pop. I had a friend who bought in to something similar this past Feb'07. She traveled overnight and had those costs, lead costs, time of course, and within a month or so some of them dis-enrolled from the MA network she was selling, even tho commission was above avg...eventually she lost money.
The senior mkt is over-canvassed, in my opinion, with the advent of the MA plans. I just talked with a lady yesterday, special needs, whom I had tele-phoned last month. While waiting for my supplies to come in, and then delaying another couple weeks, she had been called by someone else and signed up with them for the same plan. HAHA....however, I said try that one out for a few months, and if you don't like it, i have another and she was INTERESTED! See, there is no loyalty. Very few will stick with you ..perhaps because this is a big metro area, or the bombardment of ads.
Re: those mail-back leads. I too got tired of people(not all) saying at the door they didn't send out for information. So my rebuttal was: with great astonishment, shock on my face, I would gasp and say, "you mean, this is not your signature"? NO< IT"S NOT> me...ok, glad you told me. I will take this to the Postmaster at the local Post Office.....and let him investigate this.
It is a Federal law not to tamper with the US mail for fraudulent purposes!
All of a sudden, in a weak voice, you hear "well maybe my ______filled it out, or even me and can't remember" No, please, it's ok.
If you want leads, your best ones are the ones you generate yourself. The others have a sale in there too, and maybe you have to try it all to convince yourself You need to see the bottom line, economically. I too, am getting interested in selling lead systems to agents. Matter of fact, this educational/lead generation is the big bucks and runs across many self-employed careers...Real Estate, mtgs, credit repair...etc.
HAHA....however, I said try that one out for a few months, and if you don't like it, i have another and she was INTERESTED! See, there is no loyalty. Very few will stick with you...
Thanks for the kind words, Doc. Now that makes two of us. LOL
The one thing I left out of my two "short" posts, is how to keep seniors once you "get them".
That too is very simple and logical. Stay in contact with them. My seniors receive at least three written communications per year by, another dirty word, "snail-mail". It is fast and easy if an agent is using their computer as a tool, not as a "toy".
I still have senoirs "on the books" I sold in 1993 when I first started. I can easily live off of my renewal checks, that is the only reason I can afford to "piss away" so much time "playing" here.
Re: those mail-back leads. I too got tired of people(not all) saying at the door they didn't send out for information. So my rebuttal was: with great astonishment, shock on my face, I would gasp and say, "you mean, this is not your signature"? NO< IT"S NOT> me...ok, glad you told me. I will take this to the Postmaster at the local Post Office.....and let him investigate this.
It is a Federal law not to tamper with the US mail for fraudulent purposes!
All of a sudden, in a weak voice, you hear "well maybe my ______filled it out, or even me and can't remember" No, please, it's ok.
That is priceless! I don't care what they say about you, you really are smarter than a circus horse.
I'm almost temped to go door to door again just so I can use that.
We need to team up and do seminars. If we promote them correctly senior agents will be standing in line waiting to give us thousands of dollars. That would beat the hell out of hearing, "I didn't send it in" or "I'm on a fixed income you know".
I agree that seniors like to be contacted frequently. And as they're aging they forget too, and we must keep that in mind. I have high retention also, I have clients i sold during the '80's...of course, now they are in their high 80's, and dying off. I lost a lot of business last 2 yrs/
However, I have lost some because of this MA business. And one couple in particular, I talked with that wife frequently, so when a Humana agent snuck in and sold them, I was really p o''d......that's when i took this MA business seriously. and I don't think it's a fluke....i think this will hang around for several years and the appeal to people is the low premium. Never mind that they now have all the liability.. it's like they don't care because they figure they will always stay healthy.....so don't fight the wave, learn to surf.
I have received several PM's and e-mails from senior agents wanting to know the "secret" to working the senior market. I am seriously thinking of marketing it. Any agent who uses this "system" will see a dramatic increase in their income. And, guess what? I'm going to give it to all senior agents on this board for FREE!
The "system" consists of six (6) very important steps that each agent must follow if they want to excel in senior Med Supp sales. [COLOR=red]WARNING:[/COLOR]Those agents who are afraid of "work" or who are just plain lazy should not read any further. All it will do is just piss you off.
1. Keep every "lead", name, referral you get. Never, I repeat, NEVER throw away the name, address and phone number of a senior. They are all potentially qualified buyers. Who would have thought that senior agents would have a product they can sell to Medicaid people?
2. Don't buy "leads" buy lists. Senior market "leads" are just a name, address and phone number. (See post above.) Seniors are
Obsessive card/form filler-outers.
3. Do your own telemarketing. Who knows the senior market better than you do? Seniors like to talk to the person they will be doing business with on the first phone call. The decision to switch their Med Supp policy is an emotional decision for most seniors. I guarantee, in the vast majority of cases, it is not an intelligent, well informed decision. If it was most of them would not buy a Plan F.
If done properly, most seniors can be "sold" on the first call. If not then they can be "sold" a year or two later when they get the notice that their premium is going up.
4. On the first call try to engage them in conversation. Yea, I know, it's a lot of work and it takes time. Agents who are making calls, saying "I'm going to be in your area on Wed, can I stop by and drop off information" are wasting way too much time and money. That is NOT AN APPOINTMENT. Agents should only make an appointment with a senior who qualifies and is really interested in changing companies. Forget those turning 65, for the most part they are a waste of time and money. Contact those who are between 67 and 77.
When working the senior market it is not about how many calls the agent makes per hour, it is about how many people can you get to talk to you and give you information.
The most important information is the name of the company they currently have their insurance with. If you can get that before the call ends you have just made a "sale". Maybe not this month but probably in the next 12 months.
It doesn't matter what plan they have, most will have Plan F and that is a good thing. I make my money from agents who sell Plan F. You don't need to know how much they are paying, if you are really a senior market agent you will know what other companies are charging. If you don't know then you should not be in senior market sales.
5. Take copious notes during the phone call. Record anything that they have told you, like the name of their dog or a hobby they have so you can mention it during your next call. Seniors love to be "remembered". Example: The second call made a year later. "Hi Mrs. Smith, this is Frank Stastny, we talked several months ago about your Med Supp policy. By the way, how is your dog Spot doing?" You now have their undivided attention at this point.
6. For those who have gotten this far, both of you, break down and purchase a computer program that will enable you to have all this information at your finger tips. Every time a company has a rate increase print a list of everyone you have talked to over the past several years who told you they had their insurance with that company. Those are almost guaranteed sales. Record every piece of information that senior tells you. Know when they are due to make their next annual payment. Record if they may be interested in final expense insurance or LTCi in the future. Record every thing and any thing you can glean from that initial conversation.
No, I'm not "spamming" for YIO. Personally I don't care which system you use, what is more important is that you use your computer as a tool to make money, not just to post here, surf the web and send e-mail to your mother and friends.
How much sense does it make to spend as much as $42,000 per year on leads and then not have those people available at the click of a button 12, 18 or 24 months from now when they are "ready to buy"?
Any agent who is not investing in a good computer program to track prospects and recycling their senior market "leads" is working really dumb. I don't care how good you think your "system" is, it is about 20 years behind the times. Index cards and elaborate filing systems went out of vogue a long time ago. All they do is make you think you are well organized.
If you are using Excel and or Outlook to "track your leads" you are only kidding yourself and wasting a lot of time you could be spending increasing your income.
Hey, you guys asked. It boils down to doing your own telemarketing, using the tools available today and doing that dirty, dreaded four letter word called "WORK".
If you didn't want to know the answer then you should not have asked.
Frank,
I can personally vouch that your exact same steps work for life insurance/funeral preplanning. With a small difference in step #2 I have done the exact same thing for 11-years and been very successful with it. The difference in step #2 is: I mail surveys. I get a large response from them and follow-up and add them to my database. They are not all "hot leads." It will be 2 or 3 years before I sell many of the survey respondants but it is a great source of people to add to your active database. I pay about $2,900 to mail 6500 surveys twice per year. I'll get about a 2% return (sometimes less)
The whole key is to be low-key, low-pressure, talk to a lot of people and take detailed notes, never forget a good prospect, and never call a disqualified prospect a 2nd time.
People will buy from you within their own time frame if they:
1. Have met you
2. they like you
3. they remember you when they are ready to buy.
Agents spend thousands of dollars each year, some each month, paying for these "leads". One guy told me he spends $820 per week, another told me his budget for leads is $3,000 per month. That is insane! There is no nice way to put it. $820 per week is $42,640 per year! Most agents don't even make that much a year.
Don't you think that the agent who spends $42,640 per year is making a deep six figure income?
Isn't his or her income more relevant than what an average agent makes?
There are a lot of agents who take pride in the great skills they have acquired over the years and the fact that they can do a superior job with a minimum of tools and advertising expense.
I have a lot of respect for agents who can do this job with nothing but their brains, their personality, a strong work ethic, a good suit, a few applications, a pen and a yellow pad.
However, there is more than one way to be successful in this business.
There are a lot of ways to fail as well. I'm sure that buying Internet leads is one way to fail for a lot of agents. In fact, the only reason I built my websites was that I couldn't find a decent lead generation company back in 2003. I wound up learning how to generate my own leads. Without any classes or mentoring, I taught myself three programming languages, web design, and search engine marketing. This was not the lazy person's way out. This was work.
I'm not currently in the senior market as an agent because the apps need to be witnessed and I'd have to leave my office to write the application. This is not proof of laziness. If I go on an appointment, I won't be available to answer my office phone and properly serve my clients. Nor will I be able to call my Internet visitors before they click on another website.
Direct mail is also a prospecting approach that I've seen work. When I worked for Mutual of Omaha, our GM brought our agency from being one of the five worst in the country to being one of the three best in the country. During that time all the heavy hitters in the office spent hundreds of dollars each month on direct mail.
You can use any method poorly and blame failure on the method. If you telephone prospect without a smile in your voice, or walk and talk with B.O., you just might fail. I think that many agents send out letters without cracking the first book on direct mail or advertise in newspapers without a clue about print advertising. Sometimes it is the method. But it is not always the method; sometimes it is the failure to research how to use that method well.
Frank's post is excellent. I only have one question and one (long/overstated per usual... just to piss-off Rick ) observation.
Question: with the do-not-call list, who can you call? Can you buy lists of people who are NOT on it?
Comment: Drop the word senior from your vocabulary. I'm a few months from 60. While my 82 year old mother (who can kick YOUR butt!) does not mind it, I can tell you that anyone in my generation who ever smoked dope, dropped acid, wore bells, protested "the war," and who can remember the exact place they were when they heard the news about the death of JFK, RFK, and MLK... really hate to be called 'seniors.'
Twelve years ago I did a lot of research for my book The Silver Pen: Starting a Profitable Writing Business From a Lifetime of Experience -- A Guide For Older People which sold quite well (surprised me too!) and still sells a few dozen a year. Back then I tried to coin the term "Post employed" or PEs as a replacement for 'senior citizen.' It never caught on. So I don't know what verbiage to use... but I do know that if you are trying to sell ME something, when I hear you refer to me as a "senior" anything, you are out on your butt. And I think I speak for a huge number of boomers out there. Your mental image of 'senior citizen' may be benign, but ours is not... and it's ours that counts (when you are marketing to us.)
The other thing that I took from Frank's excellent post is that he implies that you can/should talk down to us. If you said...
By the way, how is your dog Spot doing?"
... I'd know in a second that you were trying to hustle me.... because I know YOU KNOW that you don't give a rat's a-- about my dog. Most young (30s, 40s) salespeople I meet have this idea that because I have some gray in my hair... I must have some fog in my head.
Believe it or not most of us 'boomers' have college degrees, perhaps more than one, and most of us went to school when they actually TAUGHT and didn't baby-sit (or hand out diplomas.)
I know it is easy to follow the 'lead' of the mainstream media who always refer to anyone over 60 as a "senior." They also don't know what they don't know.
Let me give you an example of how easy it is to 'employ' stereotype thinking. Read this because I will teach you something here... if you are smart enough to learn it.
When I was in my early 20s the civil rights movement was HUGE. I didn't grow up with many blacks in my neighborhood and I went to a basically segregated university (de facto, not de jure) University of Virginia. When I would go to the CORE or the NAACP meetings... or just to a party where I would meet a black person I immediately would talk about "the movement," Gov. Wallace (may he rot in hell along with Gov. Faubus and Bull Conners), or something else having to do with civil rights.
One day I ran into a fellow black student and I (instinctively) said "Mike, did you read the article by Eldridge Cleaver in the Washington Post yesterday?"
He said "Al, how come every time you see me all you talk to me about is civil rights? How come you never talk about the weather? You know we black folks, we got weather too!"
Talk about learning a life lesson in a New York minute!
Don't find out the name of my dog. Find out what I read. Learn that I get the Wall Street Journal each morning, along with the Sacramento Bee and the Sunday NYT. Learn that I read The New Yorker, Smithsonian, Newsweek, ComputerWorld, and Broker World.
Try to realize that I'm probably just as smart if not smarter than you are, and that I don't mind being 'sold' but I do mind being patronized.
Oh, and OF COURSE I remember filling out the card or the website form, but I don't want YOU to know because I don't know you, I probably don't like you (right off the bat) and your call is disturbing me, and I have other things to do than talk to you right now. To me you are a $%&#ing PITA... because if the 'best' opener you can come up with is "I got a card you signed and I'd like to bring by some material" than I know you are an idiot.
If instead if you say "Mr. Canton, my name is Frank and I'm the owner-broker at Big Rip Insurance. I'm an expert in health coverage for people in your age bracket. Do you have a minute to talk?" Well, yeah, I usually have time for experts.
I'll decide if you are one or not by asking you "What qualifies you to consider yourself an expert?" and if you don't have a good answer you get the "Hey Frank, sorry but I have to give my cat a bath" answer and I hang up.
And NO, you are not an expert because you have a CLU or CFP or Ph.D... it's because you can talk intelligently with me about the issue of healthcare. "Well Mr. Canton, I do my best to keep up on all the issues surrounding our 'broken' system and the various methods people are proposing to 'fix' it. Do follow that issue?"
"Frank, I do. What do you think about Arnold's proposal?" If you can't discuss this with me, why would I consider you an 'expert.'
If you have half a brain you will engage me and try to find out what I'm interested in and not try to weasel an appointment. You need to remember that I'm way smarter than you are (what could you possibly know at 35 years old?) and that I'm going to do business with someone I like and whom I feel is competent.
I could go on and on and on... but if I do I'll get beaten up for again posting in 1700 words what I could post in 17. "Don't talk down to me. I'm smarter, better read, better educated, and more experienced than you are." (And even if I'm not, I THINK I am, and that's the ONLY thing that counts in a sales situation.)
Med supp leads
[COLOR=#000000]Agent call ahead and lead changes their mind.[/COLOR]
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