Insurance Agent Forum

[MHart]

I have been doing a lot of thinking about marketing of late and I am going back to what I like to do and what I feel mentally works for me. I have never been much of a cold call, telemarketing guy. The way I generate business is by doing seminars, referrals, buying internet leads. I have done very little cold calling and whether I use a dialer, manually dial calls I just don't like doing it. So I was wondering if I am alone here or others feel the same way?

Now my question is how many of you target niche markets? In the past I have done seminars for real estate agents. Speaking of that I just landed a big one for July in my local area for association of realtors where I can have anywhere from 5 to 90 show up. So for an hour of my time I can pick up a lot of leads. What I have done with these is I mail out a flyer to office managers of real estate offices and then follow up with a call asking if they received my flyer and then tell them what I do which is roughly save my clients on average at least 30 percent or more a month on their health insurance premiums and I would like to share this information with their agents.

Places where I send these flyers are: century 21, remax, and so forth. I am getting usually 1 seminar for every 10 flyers I mail. I will be sending stuff out to local small independent agents soon. I am not sure if it is me or not but I feel like I can call these people without a problem because I sent them a flyer in the mail before calling. I just think I need to get over cold calling but at this moment I just don't enjoy it so I will be trying to book a lot of seminars here in the future. I have started with real estate agents. I will do chiropractors, dentists, lawyers next. I like to do seminars makes you feel like an expert on the situation.

What I will be doing to supplement my marketing is walking and talking going business to business and looking to buy internet leads in other states. I want to take advantage of the time zone.

I would like to here what you all think on my fears of cold calling why I don't like it and maybe how I can overcome it?

I also just ordered postcards from Vista print which I may incorporate into my walk and talk because it has stuff about Health Savings Accounts. I want people to know me as the HSA expert in my area. I really concentrate on these plans because I feel for the most part they are the best plan for almost every situation.

This is a post I just made on my blog thought I would put it here to see if I can get more feedback.

[TXINSURANCE]

All good ideas. I might skip the attorney niche. LOL.

It sounds like you have a good system why do you need to cold call? You agree it is not enjoyable so why do it? Maybe pay someone to set appointments? Just a thought.

Good post though and our biggest niche is real estate as well, great people and great leads.

[JRoot]

Marc,

No one likes cold calling, yet it yields results time after time. I put myself in the mindframe that business owners need to talk to me. They don't know it, but I have something valuable for them. Calling with a purpose and not worrying about the end result will get better results. Well, that's how I get through it.

I read somewhere that the one common denominator of success of every successful person lies in the fact that they formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do. I completely agree.

[salpro22]

I have been doing a lot of thinking about marketing of late and I am going back to what I like to do and what I feel mentally works for me. I have never been much of a cold call, telemarketing guy. The way I generate business is by doing seminars, referrals, buying internet leads. I have done very little cold calling and whether I use a dialer, manually dial calls I just don't like doing it. So I was wondering if I am alone here or others feel the same way?

Everyday I cold call it takes some time to warm up. Generally speaking I'm good to go once I've spoken with 10 or so people..

Now my question is how many of you target niche markets? In the past I have done seminars for real estate agents. Speaking of that I just landed a big one for July in my local area for association of realtors where I can have anywhere from 5 to 90 show up. So for an hour of my time I can pick up a lot of leads. What I have done with these is I mail out a flyer to office managers of real estate offices and then follow up with a call asking if they received my flyer and then tell them what I do which is roughly save my clients on average at least 30 percent or more a month on their health insurance premiums and I would like to share this information with their agents.

Congrats on the speaking engagement. If everything was working the way it was to be expected you wouldn't be bringing up cold calling. As such, you need to increase your marketing expenses and TRACK everything across multiple marketing mediums. This may entail targeting other occupations, accountants, lawyers, physicians. Essentially, you need to position yourself to maximize your efforts.

I'm sure the 30% or more line works for you because I used to use that myself, but it also gets old. Personally, I teach small business owners how to increase their bottom line by "owning" (thanks Bob) their insurance plan so they can put more money into growing their business and I'm very adamant and have the conviction in how I come across. Some may view that as a cheesy elevator pitch, but I could care less because it works for me and I'm comfortable with my approaches. Talking about insurance is boooooring. Helping a small business owner visualize what their going to do with the extra money IS VERY REWARDING!!! Paul has mentioned it on the forum, I have mentioned it on the forum and one lady on the forum said she bought the book but didn't read it. Go out and purchase any of Seth Godin, Frank Rumbauskas and Jay Conrad Levinson material.

For non small business owners I save them money on their insurance

I am not sure if it is me or not but I feel like I can call these people without a problem because I sent them a flyer in the mail before calling. I just think I need to get over cold calling but at this moment I just don't enjoy it so I will be trying to book a lot of seminars here in the future.

You need to either get over cold calling by purchasing the book that Sam and I have both highly endorsed about overcoming sales call reluctance. Buy the book, take the test if needed and heed the advice you're given. It WORKS!!! Also pick up a copy of "The Personality Code."

Take Joe's advice and outsource OR incorporate some of things I mentioned above and position yourself, SO YOU WON'T HAVE TO COLD CALL IN 2-5 YEARS!!! Until then, suck it up and go with the flow. If you win the lottery, call me and then we can work on a different strategy. I'm thinking Vegas.

What I will be doing to supplement my marketing is walking and talking going business to business and looking to buy internet leads in other states. I want to take advantage of the time zone.

Sounds very familar The question is, what are you doing now to properly position yourself in the other states so you won't have to work as hard to establish your credibility and knowledge. We've talked about this before. The power of Google is amazing!

I also just ordered postcards from Vista print which I may incorporate into my walk and talk because it has stuff about Health Savings Accounts. I want people to know me as the HSA expert in my area. I really concentrate on these plans because I feel for the most part they are the best plan for almost every situation.

Great approach. Works for HSA 4 America!

[healthagent]

I view cold calling like working out. I don't look forward to it and constantly try to come up with excuses....especially hard when I don't need to lose weight but need to maintain.

However, although I don't look forward to it once I get my ass in the car and head to the gym my mind shifts a bit - once I'm actually working out I'm fine and I love the results.

I sure there's other ways to lose/maintain weight without working out that are "easier" but none that are as effective.

Right now I'm not telemarketing - I'm using Leadpod however it's costing me (including leads) around $900 a week. A lot of agents don't have $900 a week to spend on marketing and trust me - without Leadpod I would ditch every shared lead source I have. I'm not into hunting these people down. Hate it.

If I really needed to make money and maximize a small budget I'd be using the dialer 3 hours a day - making cold calls and it is what it is.

[JS17]

Couldn't agree more about reading the Seth Godin, Frank Rumbauskas and Jay Conrad Levinson material. Pick up T Harv Ekers book as well. Also about HSA being the best for just about any situation.

[Colorado Newbie]

Since so many of you are talking about cold calling could you poosibly give a bit more detail as to how you make your call? Things such as how you decide to call each number and what is your shpiel? Is cold calling more for small group or do you try for individual as well?

THANKS!

[Delta76]

Calling with a purpose and not worrying about the end result will get better results. Well, that's how I get through it.

That's how I do it also. I just concentrate on hitting the number I set for myself that day and not worrying about the results. I know that if I make X number of calls, things always work out. When I'm on the phone, I'm not going to convince anyone to do anything they don't want to do, I completely detach myself from the "needing the sale" mindset, and just talk conversationally with people and look out for their best interest. If I can't help them, I won't waste their time or mine.

Think of it like working out, you know that if you run 3 miles each day, you will loose weight. After each session, you don't go weigh yourself and quit if you didn't drop another 5 pounds. You know, like making the calls, that CONSISTENT activity can't help but work.

Since so many of you are talking about cold calling could you poosibly give a bit more detail as to how you make your call? Things such as how you decide to call each number and what is your shpiel? Is cold calling more for small group or do you try for individual as well?

Do a search, you will find out the answers to your questions quickly. Yes, telemarketing works for both group and individual health.