Insurance Agent Forum

[hbkmat]

I am looking to expand my marketing here in CA. I am interested in calling business owners like it has been mentioned here time and time again. This would allow me to shift away from crap shoot internet leads. After reading through all of these forums I have a couple of questions. I know some of you lke John call small business owners of 1-9 people to see about getting them insurance. What is the ratio of small group quotes vs individual apps? The reason I ask is because I dont have experience in the small goup area. Would it be worth it to telemerket and learn on the way while I close the individuals along the way or should I learn all about group health first before I decide to telemarket. Also I dont understand what the benefits are to using benefitmall type companies vs just quoting with the insurance companies directly, would someone mind sharing why it is so hard to just quote directly with the insurance companies?

[salpro22]

Originally Posted by hbkmat

I am looking to expand my marketing here in CA. I am interested in calling business owners like it has been mentioned here time and time again. This would allow me to shift away from crap shoot internet leads. After reading through all of these forums I have a couple of questions. I know some of you lke John call small business owners of 1-9 people to see about getting them insurance. What is the ratio of small group quotes vs individual apps? The reason I ask is because I dont have experience in the small goup area. Would it be worth it to telemerket and learn on the way while I close the individuals along the way or should I learn all about group health first before I decide to telemarket. Also I dont understand what the benefits are to using benefitmall type companies vs just quoting with the insurance companies directly, would someone mind sharing why it is so hard to just quote directly with the insurance companies?

Small group is a PITA, but can be lucrative after a LONG TIME of building up business. You would be wise to focus on individual rigtht now and learn small group in your market as you go. I currently use internet leads and telemarketed leads right now and couldn't be happier. Hit a minimum of 10-15 leads a day and you will do great!

Personally, I don't quote group insurance unless I'm working with a client where putting together a small group would be beneficial. Small group is a different animal so you really want to make sure you use an organization that knows it's market. Find a mentor in your area willing to take you one. I have not talked with anybody from benefit mall, although I hear good things about them...

[hbkmat]

Sal thanks a lot for the reply. Was wondering how you go about telemarketing??? I have not read anything from people calling individuals, or do you still call small business owners and get them on individual policy??? Any insight on what you are doing exactly would be appreciated(like how many people in the business, do you use salespro or some other info list and about how many people to call in an hour and about how many leads you get). I just want to give myself the best odds of doing good in this business. Thanks again

[salpro22]

Sal thanks a lot for the reply. Was wondering how you go about telemarketing???

From 9-10 a.m. on most mornings I call internet leads to warm myself up and give me a chance to drink my coffee. I then hit the phone until I meet my daily goal and take hourly breaks....

I have not read anything from people calling individuals, or do you still call small business owners and get them on individual policy???

Their are only a few people I know of on this board who are calling themselves or have marketers doing their calling. About 85% of my business are small business owners. some are single, while the majority are married w/ kids. So they either get an individual or family plan.

Any insight on what you are doing exactly would be appreciated(like how many people in the business, do you use salespro or some other info list and about how many people to call in an hour and about how many leads you get).

John P., I and others have numerous threads on this subject matter alone, so I'm not going to get into the specifics again. I encourage you to read every post on this forum and expect to make between 45-55 calls an hour and generate 1-3 leads on average. Get 10 leads a day to start and figure out a way to increase that to 20..

I just want to give myself the best odds of doing good in this business. Thanks again....

Study hard at night, telemarket and present during the day and you will do fine.........

[hbkmat]

I guess what confused me by reading all the threads was weather or not people called business owners to write group or individual and family. I swear I have read almost all of the forum except for the non-insurance related stuff. One last question when loking to write ind or fam plans what would be the most # of employees when filtering my list?(4 maybe more???) Thanks I know it was a stretch to ask you to re-phrase it all for me but I swear I will use this info its Gold!(hopefully

[healthagent]

JR is right and there's entire threads on this. In summary, 1 close 1 out of 15 telemarketed leads for individual cases. Someone more aggressive then me would close 1 out of 10.

You can also close almost the same percentage with internet leads but:

1) 90% of my clients are small business owners. With internet leads 90% are not business owners.

2) I don't have to spend mental energy trying to warn people about other agents or products - that gets old real fast.

3) I can take all the time in the world with my leads since no one else is calling. That slow sales process leads to almost zero chargebacks.

4) My average volume per deal is $4,100. With internet leads it was $3,200.

5) I never pay for a bad lead. I have a set of criteria that my marketers follow per my contract as to what qualifies as a lead. That doesn't mean everyone's a buyer obviously.

[somarco]

There are internet leads that are exclusively business owners, so you don't have to limit yourself to telemarketing.

Business owners are a good market and can over the long haul provide you with a steady stream of income.

If you telemarket, you are not calling to pitch group vs. individual. You are simply making an inquiry to see if there is interest. If you frame your pitch properly you will discover a prospect who is receptive to reviewing changes in their coverage. Until you review you have no idea which will work best or if you need to suggest a combination of individual & group.

Telemarketed leads are interruption marketing. The person you called is probably thinking of anything BUT health insurance. You have interrupted their train of thought and whatever they were doing. If you want to be successful you need to capture their attention in 10 - 15 seconds.

Canned phrases like "if I could show you a way to save money . . ." scream rookie. I had not heard that phrase in a long time until someone called last week to pitch me.

I cut them off at the knees.

Doing your own telemarketing is the least expensive method as long as you don't factor in your cost of doing something other than pitching. There is nothing "free" about calling, going door to door or even doing lunch & learn. Anytime you are doing something other than talking about the solution to their problem you are essentially unemployed.

Some of us do quite well with internet leads and have never had much success with telemarketed leads. Internet leads are permission marketing. (For more on interruption & permission marketing, Google Seth Godin). With permission marketing your prospect has already indicated they have an interest in reviewing their insurance needs. What you do from that point depends on how good you are at sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Good luck.

[healthagent]

If you're brand new in the biz I'd go with internet leads to start. Trying to hire and manage your own telemarketers if you're newly independent I think is too daunting. Internet leads work and can get you off the ground quickly.

If you really want a fighting chance against more experienced agents, buy leads within driving distance and go meet your clients. You can graduate to phone sales later.

Be careful with "my leads suck." It's probably not the leads that suck.

[hbkmat]

Ok great I appreciate the clarification on that and all of the responses.

[healthagent]

If you want a line to compete against other reps and you're gonna meet with people just say what experienced UGA agents say:

"Beth, there's lots of things to buy online. Health insurance isn't one one 'em...unless you don't mind giving your routing and checking account number out over the phone. I'd advise against it. What's a better time for us to meet - tomorrow at 2pm or Wednesday at 4?"

And for anyone buying leads - all those people who never call you back? Probably losing at lot of them to experienced Mega agents with lines like that. If you don't think you're losing a ton of business to outfits like that just think that UGA in MD write 1 million a week in volume.

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Sales Wolf could probably write 1mil a week.....thats alot a dough

[healthagent]

SalesWolf learned the secret to all of this - generate exclusive leads. With rare exception I have not seen agents make it in this biz on shared leads. Generating your own leads is no easy task.

I had a broker friend of mine who unfortunately passed away last year in his late 50's due to cancer. Over the course of 18 years he build a huge agency selling nothing but health insurance and his phone just rang constantly. We met often and he told me the key was to build up a local reputation and slowly re-invest in local advertising. He had an ad in every local publication and sponsored every local event.

He told me when I was buying leads that if I wasn't careful than 10 years from now I'd be picking up the phone and calling leads. Well, it's 3 years later and I'm picking up the phone and calling leads.

Now that I have a nice base of renewals I'm switching to a 100% complete community focus with ads, events and sponsorships. I do not want to be here 5 years from calling any lead.

[Delta76]

Hbkmat-

Here is what I would do if in your situation (caveat: I've never tried internet leads and as of now, don't plan on it):

1. Get a list of small business owners with the owners name (reference usa, go leads, ect)

2. Set a daily contact goal for telephoning small businesses, pick a number between 20 and 30. A contact is a business owner or decision maker who has time to talk.

3. Track you numbers each day: Dials, Contacts, Appts Set, Qualified Suspects added to the pileline, sales. This will give you confidence in what your doing. Don't put any weight into your numbers for at least 90 days.

4. Put qualified suspect information on a white note card, get a file box with day and month tabs, and put the prospect in for follow-up at the appropriate time. Consider this box deferred compensation, most won't do anything, but many will.

5. Call and keep the script simple, "John, I'm a health insurance broker and I called hoping to find out what your doing currently?" Then shut up and wait for an answer, notice I didn't say anything about group or individual. Close by asking if they'd be interested in looking at options to reduce their premium.

6. Look at what they have and see if you can do anything better. For individual, you can probably get by on your own. For group, collect a census and plan information, then call in a mentor (find an independent agent in the area you can trust, most will welcome the opportunity) to close the case. Ask alot of questions, after a couple months, you'll probably be ready to fly on your own. Consider the split commissions the cost of gaining an education.

7. As your income grows, consider reinvesting in the business by hiring telemarketers to leverage your time.

8. Keep reading and learning. Your closing ratio will increase as you learn more techiniques, especially in the group market. I talk plan design more than price, my closing ratio went from 1 in 5 in the group market to about 1 in 3. Study and prepare cases before or after the "money hours", typically 8am to 4pm. During that time, see people or fight to see them.

9. Set an appointment with yourself from 8am to 10am each morning, to make calls, don't compromise this and you will be successful.

Hope that helps.

[healthagent]

I also wouldn't hang your hat on any one marketing source. Over just the short period of time from 2004 to now internet leads have gone up on cost and down in quality. What will they be like 5 years from now? Dunno. I'd hate for them to be my sole source of business when they go to $25 a pop for shared leads and the only people who can afford to buy them are call centers, discount card companies and Ehealth.

Same with telemarketed leads - there are only so many small business owners you can call. You just need a combination of three marketing methods.

I am indeed seeing that I've been playing my cards all wrong. 4 years into this and today I'm gonna be picking up the phone and calling leads. If I would have played it correctly today I'd be taking calls all day.

[hbkmat]

Delta great advice and super simple now it is all about making it happen. How important do you guys think a good web-site is for those people who are all about the computer and checking things out first?

[healthagent]

I think a site is a great help not only for legitimacy and running quotes but also for generating leads.

[Bitnis]

I've got two friends who have been selling cars and making a decent living in California for the last 26 years. The only thing they do is local advertising. They've been running the same ad in one paper for as long as I can remember. The ad simply says B&T Auto... They probably run 5 of these small classified ads consistently, and that's it. I believe they've built up a reputation for good service and people know where to find them when looking for a used car.

It works.

[jhenderson99]

Need some advice please....

I started a dialer program this past week. I'm not having the success I've seen here on this board. I get about 60 dials an hour and try to do 2 hour in the AM and 2 in the PM. I'm getting at best 1 lead per hour. I hear some folks are getting 10-15 leads a day???

The obvious I will probably hear is it is probably me. O.k. no problem there. I keep my script simple: Hi this is blah blah calling from blah blah and I was calling to see if we could give you a quote on your health insurance and help lower your cost? Quick, simple.

The second component would be my list. I got one of the 2008 business list disk with the SIC code. At first I was just calling everyone. I got a lot of bad numbers and not interested's. On Sat. I just filtered out and called just the blue collar trades and only called for 1 1/2 hours. I got a better response from this.

Please let me know your advice or suggestion to up my lead qty. Thanks in advance......

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Originally Posted by jhenderson99

I started a dialer program this past week. I'm not having the success I've seen here on this board. I get about 60 dials an hour and try to do 2 hour in the AM and 2 in the PM. I'm getting at best 1 lead per hour. I hear some folks are getting 10-15 leads a day???

In order to make any sort of accurate comparison, we first have to have a definition of what a lead is.

[healthagent]

"....calling to see if we could give you a quote on your health insurance?" I'm surprised you're even getting lead an hour.