Insurance Agent Forum

[Alsky]

I was watching this program the other day shortly after the fantastic emergency landing in the Hudson made by the pilot of the plane that was in trouble.

They also referred as an example about the nightclub fire in RI a few years ago.

The study was pretty amazing... in an emergency situation, 10% of the people panic... 80% of the people Freeze... and only 10% of the people react accordingly, take a leadership role and save lives...

[WIN]

Amen John!

[Markingriffin]

Truth be told about half of the agents are trying nothing at all and wondering why they can't make a living selling insurance. Everything that they think about trying, they come up with 50 reasons why not to do it. There is not one idea that I can come up with, that I can't think of 1 reason not to try it or do it. It is very easy to attack any lead company or any idea and come up with a million reason why something won't work.

You have the agents that try cold calling for an hour and give up. You have the agents that put out 100 door hangers and get no results and quit and trash the other 9900 door hangers. You have agents that buy a couple leads and then give up. Some agents are afraid to try anything.

I think you need to do a little bit of everything. I've never been afraid to try any idea or system. If it works, it works, and if it don't then I won't try it again for a while. Some of the most stupidest ideas have made me the most money. I do things all the time that agents tell me that would never work, and when I do them and make a lot of money, I want to laugh at the agent that does not do it.

You could talk about the 151a new law that will take affect in 2010 and say why do that market. You could say that Obama is going to stop Health Insurance. You could come up with a million reasons to be afraid of something. But if you do, you will never make it in this business. Some agents just want a reason why they are sitting home on the sofa all day long and not making any sales.

This is a large garden. The trick is to keep planting as many different kind of seeds as you can. Some things will not grow. You have to test the seeds out and see what will grow. I could sit here and say I'm not going to plant anything because this soil does not look right. Maybe the other farmer told me that nothing will come up in this soil. Truth might be the other farmer didn't know what they were doing.

I find it funny that 90 percent of most post are talking about what does not work, and only 10 percent talk about what does work. A lot of ideas, systems or company that you think don't work, really do work. But you will never know unless you try it. I've never been afraid of failure or to try something. That is why I'm successful.

Just my 2 cents.

[DJAdam]

Originally Posted by GreenSky

... marrying into money works best.Rick

And divorcing for money trumps them all...

[Alsky]

...may need some of that "stimulus money" after that..

[healthagent]

I get the calls all day "I don't know if I should pursue health insurance now with Obama in office." My reply? "I think you're right - better sit this one out."

One of my first bosses when I was in training to be a manager told me "never hire anyone if they say "I'll try to do my best" during an interview.

Successful people don't try - they do.

[arnguy]

Originally Posted by DJAdam

And divorcing for money trumps them all...

I tried that but got into a custody battle. I wanted to give her back to her parents, but they refused to take her back!

[healthagent]

Back early on in my sales career we went BtoB selling an array of products - company was Wholesale Warehousing - then changed to DS Max.

I was in LA as a co-owner and the "infamous" Danny Rowe made an appearance - VP and legitimate millionaire from getting into the biz as an auto mechanic.

He showed up at the end of a meeting when a newbie was ripped into the managers since he had been out all day and not sold a single item. It was the territory, item, pricing, etc...everything sucked.

Danny made him a deal - $1,000 bet. The bet was that the guy goes right back out with Danny by his side, back to the exact same territory, has to stick to the scripted pitch and if he sells anything he gets $1,000.

They came back - guy sold a piece of merch in the first 10 minutes. Danny gave him $1,000 then fired him.

[djs]

I agree that you shouldn't be afraid to try different marketing schemes, but the one thing I've found out is you want some form of control over that marketing scheme, or it's doomed for failure.

I was told direct mail was terrible, I do pretty decent with it, but I learned how to focus it correctly. I was told telemarketing was a waste of time in my area, but I learned how to harness a targeted market to telemarket to (and hired someone to do it). I was told internet leads all suck, but I learned a way to get the leads that worked well for me.

I have yet to figure out a way to get 'press 1' leads to work for me. I'm sure somebody has luck with them, but I don't get any of these for insurance sales, so I assume they aren't that successful in this business. I get them for car warranties, mortgages, power washing my driveway, whatever, but not for selling me insurance. It's either a hole that I could fill by doing it, or something that doesn't work.

I tried it. I invested a few hundred dollars, but my own machine, made thousands of calls, nothing... okay, I had a few press 1. Not one sale from it. Started looking into why, never did figure it out. Now, realize at this point, continuing only cost me the cost of 2 phone lines, and I was making a 100 calls an hour (50 per phone line), and I still stopped it. Absolutely no ROI on it.

Oh yeah, turns out most carriers don't allow it either. Not sure they would do anything, but they all seem to have some fine print about it not being an acceptable marketing practice. I foiund that out after the fact, and most didn't seem to care about it, to the extent one of the ones that I later found out didn't permit it is the one that gave me the script to use on it.

Sorry, when I find something that bombs, I won't tell others to go for it. I agree that you shouldn't rule things out just 'because', but if people with more money and resources than me can't make it work, I'm not sure it's something I want to pursue.

Dan

[healthagent]

These boards and advice can be greatly beneficial but watch where your info coming from.

You can post "has anyone used XYZ leads" and get a "yes, they they are horrible, avoid them" reply.

But what does that mean? It's not quantified.

[emptyeternity]

Dan are you qualified *raises a skeptical eyebrow LOL

[djs]

Originally Posted by healthagent

These boards and advice can be greatly beneficial but watch where your info coming from.

You can post "has anyone used XYZ leads" and get a "yes, they they are horrible, avoid them" reply.

But what does that mean? It's not quantified.

Can you quantify this for me please?

Actually, I agree. People are quick to point out the negatives of something. On the boards though, you have to be as careful about something that seems to be quantified.

XYZ leads are great, I bought 10, contacted 6, sold 3 with another 2 probably going to happen....

Is pretty meaningless. 10 leads isn't a realistic sample. No $$$ are mentioned, could lose money at even a 50% closing ratio, and did it really happen?

Problem is, few people post long term results and even fewer are quantified the same way. For instance:

XYZ leads are great, I spent $100 and made $700 in commission, with more probably going to happen....

Isn't exactly the full story. Spent $100 on what? Only on lead cost? Or did this include the cost to pay a producer (or your time) to work the lead? Very few people on this board factor in any form of labor cost into their ROI's, which amazes me. This is why someone like TX ROI's always are lower than most, he hires it done. He also knows his numbers.

The more quanitified the better.

To quantify:
I made over 50,000 'press 1' calls. All were scrubbed against the do not call list. Selling health insurance. The numbers called were basically the phone book in my area minus the do not call numbers. The area was the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I did not track the number of people who 'pressed 1' for things like 'Don't ever call me again', but out of 50,000+ calls, I had about 10 conversations with people, made one appointment, sold nothing.

I could do it again, but won't. I did do this years ago, I do assume I could do it better today, I've learned alot (including to lead with P&C rather than health). I still don't see a path to profitability.

The other non-quantified thing is I felt like a slimey sales guy, always wanting to go take a shower for using this sales method. That might have been part of my problem, I didn't like the method, but was told I could do wonders with it.

Dan

[Frank Stastny]

Originally Posted by GreenSky

I haven't found a source that doesn't work for some people. Press 1 transfers do work, direct mail does work, internet leads work, telemarketing works, marrying into money works best.

Rick

So does stopping people on the street and saying, "Hi, my name if Frank. You don't want to buy any insurance from me do you?"

One time I sold Med Supp insurance standing in the front of an OATS bus like a tour guide would. At the end of the ride I had made four sales. Not something I would want to build a career on.

Although anything one does will eventually result in a sale or two that doesn't mean that everything is worth spending time and money doing.

However, Rick is right, marrying money or being born into it is so much more preferable.

[SportsNut]

Originally Posted by djs

The other non-quantified thing is I felt like a slimey sales guy, always wanting to go take a shower for using this sales method. That might have been part of my problem, I didn't like the method, but was told I could do wonders with it.

Uh, part of the problem... How about 110% of the problem.

The old adage, "if you think you can.... or you think you can't.... you are right either way"

You thought you couldn't or wouldn't... and consequently you didn't.

Your earlier post... ppl told you this wouldn't work, and you made it work, etc... you have told ppl here that broadcast mkting doesn't work, and that is WRONG, straight up. It just didn't work for you Dan, and you identified exactly why that was... You should be careful and not polute the fertile minds of those that dont know any better by saying that something WILL NOT WORK.

[GreenSky]

Originally Posted by Frank Stastny

So does stopping people on the street and saying, "Hi, my name if Frank. You don't want to buy any insurance from me do you?"

One time I sold Med Supp insurance standing in the front of an OATS bus like a tour guide would. At the end of the ride I had made four sales. Not something I would want to build a career on.

Although anything one does will eventually result in a sale or two that doesn't mean that everything is worth spending time and money doing.

However, Rick is right, marrying money or being born into it is so much more preferable.

Frank, it's not your delivery, it's your breath.

Rick

[Alsky]

My biggest problem with the dial 1 solution has always been that the legal waters were muddy at best... my professional opinion only, but if it works for you and you are willing to drift into those muddy waters... knock yourself out.

Many variables come into play as well such as, call the courthouse by accident, or a business gets all their lines bottled up by your campaign, bad news for you.

But even with this, the people using dial 1 successfully figure the odds of someone actually complaining to the FTC is remote. Odds are getting better now though since you can complain using online forms now on the gov website...

Also want to point out that many providers of dial 1 broadcasts, including my company, can broadcast 100,000 calls per hour versus the 2 line 100 calls per hour.

DJS is right, at least according to my clients who are using dial 1 effectively, most of whom are non insurance related compaines and services.

But of course, this does not mean you will not be successful... I always have believed that a good salesperson will never go hungary no matter what the economic climate or what position they find themselves in. Given the opportunity, the cream always rises to the top.

Good selling in whatever method you find to be working for you... I wish you all the best.

[TXINSURANCE]

I can put this debate to rest real easy.

Ask ANY dialing provider to accept full liability for any laws broken and pay any penalties as a result of THEIR dialing.

See how many companies you can find.

I will give you a clue - ZERO.

[healthagent]

You are also liable if their list is not DNC complaint. A lot of vendors will claim they are registered and comply with the DNC rules but they don't - they simply buy a list - typically one of those "entire country for $69.95" lists that isn't remotely complaint.

Some will claim they scrub the list - if they don't you're still the one on the hook.

Most lists are scams. I've used list before where the vendor claimed they are updated quarterly - yet I call places, as for the business and get "they've been out of business for 5 years" or "he died three years ago."

[emptyeternity]

Im gonna not do it, that is gonna put my question to rest, end of story. great convo guys, really appreciate the input. Take a bow!!

[stormtracker]

Agents are forbidden from owning mirrors. Whereas, carriers may utilize smoke and mirrors...