Cold Calling Medicare Supplements: Realistic Hourly Rate in FYC?

TheGodEmperor

New Member
8
If I lock myself in a room and cold call 8-10 hours a day, selling Medicare supplements, what kind of hourly is it reasonable for me to expect in first year commission? (I'm new, so, take that into account and assume average phone skills and a willingness to learn, follow-up and put in the time.)

I'm looking for a simple way to get a lot of experience as fast as possible while still being imperfect in execution. I assume the phone might be a good way to do that.

I would love it if I could "pay" myself $10/hr in FYC for every hour I'm on the phone, but I'm not sure if that's reasonable. I've read that skilled agents should expect to add $30k/commissions every year, but these skilled agents are likely using more than the phone alone. $10/hr * 10 hrs * 22 days= $2200 *12 months = $26,400 just from the phone? Even close to achievable assuming cold-calling is the sole means through which I generate business?
 
If I lock myself in a room and cold call 8-10 hours a day, selling Medicare supplements, what kind of hourly is it reasonable for me to expect in first year commission? (I'm new, so, take that into account and assume average phone skills and a willingness to learn, follow-up and put in the time.)

I'm looking for a simple way to get a lot of experience as fast as possible while still being imperfect in execution. I assume the phone might be a good way to do that.

I would love it if I could "pay" myself $10/hr in FYC for every hour I'm on the phone, but I'm not sure if that's reasonable. I've read that skilled agents should expect to add $30k/commissions every year, but these skilled agents are likely using more than the phone alone. $10/hr * 10 hrs * 22 days= $2200 *12 months = $26,400 just from the phone? Even close to achievable assuming cold-calling is the sole means through which I generate business?

8-10 hours a day on the phone, multiple days in a row? I would get rid of shoe laces and anything else you could possibly harm yourself with...
 
Good Luck!

There are not enough hours in the day for cold calling to effective enough to be your sole method of marketing.

You better be mixing in some live transfer leads, exclusive internet leads, or at least some aged leads.

Plus everyone you talk to has summer on their mind right now and aren't thinking about Medicare, except the T-65's and many of those are still working.

All I'm doing right now is grinding and feeding the pipe for OE!

If you're going to do it, you better get started now. For me, it took about 90 days to get a decent pipe built. That's right in time for OE if you get started today!

As far as comp... Quit think about $10 per hour and think about writing an app a day. Even if you fall short that's the goal you should have in mind.
 
Activity does not breed success. But the right kind of activity will achieve the results you expect.

Cold calling is one of the toughest things an agent can do. People are more willing to hang up on you, politely or otherwise, than they will to slam a door in your face.

Many have caller ID now and that is the equivalent of peeking through the window to see who is at the door.

Most of us don't like our life interrupted by anything unexpected, and that includes a pushy sales person.

If cold calling is the only way you have to generate prospects, go for it. Funding a lead generation (direct mail, buying "leads", etc) is preferable if you have the budget.

At least one person on this forum supplemented his income by delivering pizza.

Some agents prefer phone selling while others only sell F2F. If you are good at asking the right questions, listening, and suggesting solutions, you can make it regardless of the way you market yourself.

Set activity goals vs production goals. Much easier to validate activity and monitor the results than it is to have sales as your primary measure.

In your case if 20 calls an hour isn't producing the results you want make more calls per hour or spend more hours on the phone. If you are measuring success with how much (or how little) you make on a per hour basis you will most likely become frustrated and quit before you know if this business is for you or not.

Can you make it with cold calling by phone alone? It has been done before. For many of us that is the way we started in the business. We had a phone book, a rotary dial phone and a script.

Good luck.
 
If I lock myself in a room and cold call 8-10 hours a day, selling Medicare supplements, what kind of hourly is it reasonable for me to expect in first year commission? (I'm new, so, take that into account and assume average phone skills and a willingness to learn, follow-up and put in the time.)

I'm looking for a simple way to get a lot of experience as fast as possible while still being imperfect in execution. I assume the phone might be a good way to do that.

I would love it if I could "pay" myself $10/hr in FYC for every hour I'm on the phone, but I'm not sure if that's reasonable. I've read that skilled agents should expect to add $30k/commissions every year, but these skilled agents are likely using more than the phone alone. $10/hr * 10 hrs * 22 days= $2200 *12 months = $26,400 just from the phone? Even close to achievable assuming cold-calling is the sole means through which I generate business?

If you call 8 hours a day 7 days week for 4.3 weeks and generate at least 1 qualified lead every 1.5 hours, I will personally write you a check for $2410. If you can actually do that and not have a heart attack or stroke I will make sure you double that first year.
 
If you call 8 hours a day 7 days week for 4.3 weeks and generate at least 1 qualified lead every 1.5 hours, I will personally write you a check for $2410. If you can actually do that and not have a heart attack or stroke I will make sure you double that first year.

I think I have the stamina for that many calls. ("Think" being the keyword.) But the question is, is it worth it? Based on comments, sounds like a no.

I found a year-old thread where a person had the exact same plan and more people thought it was viable. Instead of referencing an hourly rate, the guy was planning to land three clients a week...
 
I think I have the stamina for that many calls. ("Think" being the keyword.)

No way. Not 8-10 hours a day. Four hours a day, maybe. Six if you really had to push it, but even at that, it's just a grind and odds are it's only a matter of time til you burn out.

But the question is, is it worth it? Based on comments, sounds like a no.

To a large degree, that depends on you. First, realize that as awesome as this forum is, it's still just a bunch of people talking on the internet and even if everything people are posting is true based off their experiences, this is a big country with a lot of people in it and the fact of the matter is, what works well for someone can be a disaster for others.

So what is "worth it"? I'm guessing it's some version of can you earn the income you'd like based off that activity. Half of american households earn around $55k/year or less. Consider that a lot of those can be two income homes and it *shouldn't* be too hard to make at least $30k-$40k/year cold calling for med supps. There are agents on here that make that in two months and others might make less than that a year, but the industry average is a little shy of $50k/year. I'm guessing cold calling isn't worth it to you for $10k/year, it would be worth it for $100k/year, and the truth is you'll probably be somewhere in the middle.

So why do you want it to be worth it? Don't want a boss? Like residuals? Want to help people? Whatever it is, I'm guessing the bulk of it has to do with the income or some iteration of that.

Are there more efficient ways to get leads? Certainly in terms of a time investment, but everything else just comes at a different cost. Countless agents have spent untold fortunes on internet leads with unpredictable quality, a nice thing about cold calling is that it actually lets you be in control of your lead generation and as you're getting better on the phone you're able to improve the output.

Hope that helps!
 
If I lock myself in a room and cold call 8-10 hours a day, selling Medicare supplements, what kind of hourly is it reasonable for me to expect in first year commission? (I'm new, so, take that into account and assume average phone skills and a willingness to learn, follow-up and put in the time.)

I'm looking for a simple way to get a lot of experience as fast as possible while still being imperfect in execution. I assume the phone might be a good way to do that.

I would love it if I could "pay" myself $10/hr in FYC for every hour I'm on the phone, but I'm not sure if that's reasonable. I've read that skilled agents should expect to add $30k/commissions every year, but these skilled agents are likely using more than the phone alone. $10/hr * 10 hrs * 22 days= $2200 *12 months = $26,400 just from the phone? Even close to achievable assuming cold-calling is the sole means through which I generate business?


I think you should go for it. Ill even give you a rotary phone to get started.
 
You may be able to meet and exceed your goals with that much cold calling. However, SAI's first response to you was dead on.

The likelihood you could even do 8-10 hours of cold calling in one day, much less multiple days in a row is extremely low. Especially if you are actually working and not just pretending.

That is a lot of dial tones, answering machines, angry people, etc. If you actually cold called that much, you'd generate some leads just from sheer activity. However, I would hate to be the person on the other end of the line in hour 4, much less hour 8 or 10. Unless you are just inhuman, you would be the most angry, jaded person I could imagine.
 
No way. Not 8-10 hours a day. Four hours a day, maybe. Six if you really had to push it, but even at that, it's just a grind and odds are it's only a matter of time til you burn out.



To a large degree, that depends on you. First, realize that as awesome as this forum is, it's still just a bunch of people talking on the internet and even if everything people are posting is true based off their experiences, this is a big country with a lot of people in it and the fact of the matter is, what works well for someone can be a disaster for others.

So what is "worth it"? I'm guessing it's some version of can you earn the income you'd like based off that activity. Half of american households earn around $55k/year or less. Consider that a lot of those can be two income homes and it *shouldn't* be too hard to make at least $30k-$40k/year cold calling for med supps. There are agents on here that make that in two months and others might make less than that a year, but the industry average is a little shy of $50k/year. I'm guessing cold calling isn't worth it to you for $10k/year, it would be worth it for $100k/year, and the truth is you'll probably be somewhere in the middle.

So why do you want it to be worth it? Don't want a boss? Like residuals? Want to help people? Whatever it is, I'm guessing the bulk of it has to do with the income or some iteration of that.

Are there more efficient ways to get leads? Certainly in terms of a time investment, but everything else just comes at a different cost. Countless agents have spent untold fortunes on internet leads with unpredictable quality, a nice thing about cold calling is that it actually lets you be in control of your lead generation and as you're getting better on the phone you're able to improve the output.

Hope that helps!

I'll defer to you folks re: cold calling hours. I think I would be able to put in decent hours as I have no kids and the ability to focus (my previous jobs required a lot of sustained mental focus...hopefully some of that carries over).

Since I'm young, have savings, am very frugal, don't have kids or hardly any expenses I don't need to make a ton of money. I was inquiring about the $10/hr because if I was making that I'd cover my monthly expenses 4x over. What appeals to me about Med Supps is not the money this year, but over time.

So you're saying you think $30k in a year is possible from strictly cold-calling? Specifically med Supps? (No MA...which I understand can't be cold-called for anyway.) I thought the average agent on here adds on $30k/yr in renewals and that's with leads, not just cold calling...

----------

I think you should go for it. Ill even give you a rotary phone to get started.

I'll send you my address! :) I assume a dialer is the best way to go. I'd have to pick between a single-line of a four-line dialer as I understand that anything greater than a single-line dialer will mean there's an obvious telemarketer delay.
 
Back
Top