If doing group don't ask for the owner! Ask for the person or office that handles HR. Now they usually don't have secretaries, its usually the senior employee or a wife of the owner. If they ask what it is about, tell them its about them. When they go "huh?", you say its about them and that high price insurance or lack thereof. Play with them, make them laugh and your one step closer to getting them to let you through or not but hell might as well have some fun with your no's sometimes it pays off sometimes it doesn't.
Oh oh, now you're after some of my hidden treasures. Yes, unlimited small business listings that you can customize anyway you want for $9.95 per month. I can spend a day calling all the beauty salons in Michigan and the next day calling all the mortgage brokers in Virginia. You'll have to call me to get that info - won't post it on the board. Don't need the competition.
Years ago we used to use "Go Leads". Initially they were very good, but then it seems the database got really bad. Have they cleaned up their database, John? If so, I may consider using them again.
They've proven themselves to be very good for me. Very few disconnected numbers and for $9.95 per month for unlimited country-wide leads who cares. When you buy a lead list of "X" amount of names for "X" price then it's a big deal which leads are good and bad. But when I can call a few million people it's a non-issue.
For me there's no downside to the single user account. It's software you download and you can download 5,000 leads at a time. You cannot export the leads for that price - can only view the leads. But for telemarketing it's actually perfect.
------------------------------------ Health Insurance Agents: Training, Support, Discounts, E&O for $440 www.ihiaa.com
Lol. You could post anything you can regarding cold calling and no one's actually gonna do it. If you had 1,000 read the message they'd think "that's great!" and 999 will never actually act on it.
Same with B to B. I got a few emails blasting me about touting B to B. Their theory was everyone would start doing it and areas would get flooded. Yeah.....right.
Listen, agents can't make this business work with buying leads or handling leads where people actually call them. You think anyone's gonna sit at home and cold call during the day? Maybe .01% will. Trust me - we're quite safe.
95% of all agents in this business want business to fall into their lap or they're done. The other agents are already cold calling. It ain't no secret for them.
I just looked at the goleads web site. It looks pretty good. They must get there information from info USA. If so, a guy can get a lot for his 9.95 a month. Info USA makes over 1 million phone calls a month to verify and update there lists.
Great info! Let's follow that up with all of your marketing should start in your own town then spread out as needed. I used to write in different states - probably just because I could. But what I saw was far less referrals when I wrote out of state.
No pitch can replace "I'm a local independent agent." I still ask people if they prefer to meet with me and a small percentage says yes. Case in point is a meeting I have next week with husband and wife team who just started their own business. The wife says she doesn't do business over the phone. It's most likely a $4,000+ premium which is $1,000 commish. It's also a 5 minute drive.
Good post. I've been using Info USA at the library and from my house logging into the library off and on for several years now. I even have some people who come to me for information on demographics for sales territories they want to go into. There always amazed when I can get the info for them. You should see the look on there face when I tell them it's all free at the library.
There are some libraries who don't have the service though. I went to one about 10 miles from my house so a freind of mine could access it and there town library didn't have it.
Your post should help a lot of people. Good job Somarco!
If you don't mind me asking, what SIC codes or industries do you use. I did a search and businesses that began with numbers and letters took up the first 7 pages. I tailored the search to my county and up to 20 employees. I know some industries are eager to buy and will stick more than others.
The best way to find what your looking for is to identify one company in the industry that you want to do business with. Then pull up that company by name on the Referance USA from the library. Once that is up, click on "details".
Detailed information will give you everything you need to know to do a more refined search. I've found SIC codes are not as specific as the NAICS codes are. Write down the SIC and NAIC numbers for that industry in case you need both and go back to the parameters for the search and enter them.
If you don't want to get to overloaded, use the city, state and NAICS code as well as under 20 employees. You'll get everything you need to begin. As you play with the system, you'll become much better with it.
Wait a minute! I've been the one touting ReferenceUSA, and SOMARCO gets the credit? You bunch of woims!
It really doesn't matter.
I'm just glad we can spread the word on developing our own leads, not paying for them, and getting a better response rate. When you develop your own leads, the prospect doesn't have 10 other reps calling for the same thing.
They are a bit more relaxed, and less defensive. More open to your call. The need may not be immediate, but at least you have the beginnings of a relationship, and aren't just another telemarketing call.
In my efforts to go to a completely paperless society, I have both my CRM (FreeCRM.com) up, along with either ReferenceUSA, or acinet.org/acinet, and plug names into scripts and call away.
I have still yet to be persuaded to buy any leads from anybody.
We're at the point when we explain why almost all new agents fail - not enough money to do effective marketing and to scared to do some form of cold calling.
We're at the point when we explain why almost all new agents fail - not enough money to do effective marketing and to scared to do some form of cold calling.
I am a new agent and I can honestly say that I do have some fear before cold calling and going B2B. Because I am new, I am not afraid to ask what industries to target. For instance, you guys said not to prospect chains and target businesses with 20 or less employees. There are alot of chains in TX and when I researched on ReferenceUSA the list is overwhelming. I am sure the veterans know of which industries are prime to start targeting. I am just trying to hit the ground running and take the most beneficial path. My fear isn't as big as my drive to succeed; however if I don't have a good road map the ride is futile.
No need to concern yourself about what the others are saying on this forum. There already experienced agents so they may not remember what it was like starting out. I'm fairly new to this as well so I can relate to you on it.
I've used the Referance USA on many things but never insurance so I can't recomend any specific industries however, Industries don't matter. The size of the company is what matters most. If I were you, I'd hit any business that has under 10 employees and just cold call by walking in on them.
Some helpful hints are to stay out of high traffic areas like very developed and busy cities. There cold called all day long and many times a day. I'm in Chicagoland and they can get pretty mean. When I used to walk in on businesses I found staying very small and in a rural area got a better response.
Most companies go out of business in the first year so even with your well defined list, you won't find close to half of them. On those you do, you need an opening line that is fast, to the point and non offensive along with a flyer to leave behind. You can say something like this, Anybody want a free quote on inexpensive life insurance? If someone says yes, your in for a few minutes to get information. If they say no, your on to the next one in only a couple of seconds.
On a flyer, have some information in a bullet format that is easy to read and right to the point.
LOWEST COST LIFE INSURANCE IN CHICAGO
NO MEDICAL EXAMS UP TO 250,000
RATES GURANTEED NOT TO INCREASE
Give an example: Age, Sex, Non Smoker. 50,000 for 10 years 12.00 a month.
Then leave your name & number.
The flyer information came from another person on this forum. I'll tell you who he is if you send me a private email, in case you'd like to speak with him.
staying very small and in a rural area got a better response
True for a lot of reasons.
As you said, hi traffic areas get a lot of D2D peddlers. Work the outlying areas where people are generally more friendly and don't have as many interruptions from cold calls.
I have a friend in the bank card business. He works 3 days a week, gets up early in the AM and drives about an hour out of town. Spends all day calling on shops in small towns. Writes 3 - 4 deals a day. Makes more money in 3 days than most of his competitors do in 6.
Thanks guys for your advice! That makes sense to me. I live in a metropolitan city as well, but there are some rural cities I know I can hit.
I hope I never get to a point where I am pessimistic about all new agents. It's true that you can give advice and some people won't use it, but there are some that will (me!). Let's not forget that everyone has had someone help them at some point along the way.
staying very small and in a rural area got a better response
True for a lot of reasons.
As you said, hi traffic areas get a lot of D2D peddlers. Work the outlying areas where people are generally more friendly and don't have as many interruptions from cold calls.
I have a friend in the bank card business. He works 3 days a week, gets up early in the AM and drives about an hour out of town. Spends all day calling on shops in small towns. Writes 3 - 4 deals a day. Makes more money in 3 days than most of his competitors do in 6.
The problem I perceive with rural B2B, and the reason I have not done a lot of walkin' and talkin', is sheer numbers. I live in a rural area and assuming a 5% response, in order to get 1 lead I would have to walk into 20 businesses. This would take about 2 hours. Assuming I could close 1 out of 5:
1 deal = 5 leads
5 leads = 100 business
100 businesses = 10 hours B2B
...and a lot of gas.
Again, this is only my perception, which has been enough to keep me away from B2B in my area.
I can accomplish a lot more cold calling on the phone.
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