Well, I made the change to Insurance Sales last month as a captive with a Senior Company that has a good record for training. I am in my fourth week in the field and it has been a major disappointment. The week of corporate training was fine. They went over the standard presentation for the Medicare Advantage products, received some training in calling and closing.
The field training has been a disaster. I was sent out with an agent who is a first time trainer. I felt the first two weeks were a waste of time. It basically felt like you were in competition with him rather than being shown the ropes. When I asked questions about things like help on the other products that we sell, he was telling me to talk to my field service manager, who is busy training someone else at the moment.
The leads are a bit of an issue. Basically I am calling recycled leads. While I am setting myself up for a good November on MA plans, surviving until then will be tough. It is like Glen Garry Glen Ross...The T65, direct mail, and call in leads are fed to a few of the agents. It is much more seasonal than I expected. Though we have a few other products to sell to non seniors, it is not a very good selection.
I talked to my Office manager about the experience, and was basically blown off. My field Manager is training the new guy, who has been calling in sick, not making any calls, disappearing from the office. In addition to two days at the office cold calling, I am doing several hours a week at home. I am reading books and watching sales training videos. I am making a strong effort, but feel like I am getting no support.
I am contemplating throwing in the towel with this company and looking for an IMO or FMO. I have done fine with my presentations without my trainer. It is nice to not have him butt in. I am able to do the warm up without him interrupting. I have good knowledge of how Medicare Works and am able to explain that to the customers.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent a bit. If something does not change soon, I feel I will have to regroup and start over again. But I feel I have the knowledge and commitment to make an insurance sales career work.
Last edited by Alpedhuez55 : 08-05-2008 at 10:21 PM.
MA is not a good choice. Go get trained by a big captive company. Physicians Mutual if they have an office near you. Mutual of Omaha. The New England. NYL. Don't go around selling MA plans. That's the best advice I can give you. { besides, you are not supposed to be calling leads and soliciting sales in MA, unless those rules changed. Supposed to be preset appointments only. }
You think a bad month is bad, it can drag on for years.
Well I'm sorry to say this but for me and a lot of other agents that I know they all went through the exact same thing. What you are doing by listening to tapes and reading books and working on your own presentation by yourself. The first 2-3 months in the industry are hard for all. The way your feeling is completely normal. What you need to do is get as much information as you can from them and get ready to make the jump of being Indy. What you are going to notice is that not only are you going to have more options but you're going to be more prosperous.
Doesn't sound like you have a very good trainer. What I'm basing this on is that you say "it's nice to not have him butt in". That is a NO NO. If you are on an appointment with someone it should always be understood....NEVER NEVER NEVER inturrupt!! Now, that said, I must back up and say, if you're messing up the presentation so bad that he has to butt in....well, that's a different story!
Doesn't sound like you have a very good trainer. What I'm basing this on is that you say "it's nice to not have him butt in". That is a NO NO. If you are on an appointment with someone it should always be understood....NEVER NEVER NEVER inturrupt!! Now, that said, I must back up and say, if you're messing up the presentation so bad that he has to butt in....well, that's a different story!
He wants to control every situation. It was not as if I was making mistakes. There were a couple of times I looked to him to ask about the plan that the person was on. He had an cheatsheet that highlighted the premiums and copays other MA plans available in the state. I did not. When I asked him if I could copy it, he said no, to wait for my Field Manager to get back. The same hold true for other things, like putting together packets and questions about the other products that we did not receive any training on.
Plus there were a lot of racial comments he made, which made me very uncomfortable around him. I brought things up with the office manager and she just said he was a good trainer (even though it was his first time training in this company) and it was a personality issue that I needed to work out and said I could go out on my own, but not with another trainer.
My visits alone have gone well. I am comfortable with the presentation and can explain what Medicare covers without needing any materials and know our products. I think it is one of the best Sr. Companies out there as far as customer service and value. I just lost faith in my office.
MY guess is Senior Solutions, Penn or Pyramid Life.
It was Sterling Health Plans. I asked a lot of questions going in, but reality does not match the answers they gave me when I signed in. As a corporation, they are great. I think they offer great customer service and value on the MA side. The employee status was a nice added benefit.
Plus the field office is not the best organized. They have hired a lot of new agents in the last month, and were not prepared for that. I drew the short straw as far as field trainers go.
But the commissions are pretty low compared to being an independent. UA is the only company I can offer for other services. The Cancer & Critical Illness are OK, but the Individual Health and life seems so-so. So things are very limited which makes it seem very seasonal.
If I were starting in October, it may be a different situation. But as a new agent starting in the summer, it is tough to survive cold calling and making appointments with people who you cannot sell until November. While they do have a good marketing side with direct mail and leads generated from TV advertising, those leads are funneled to a few Senior Reps.
If I am going to bust my butt and work 60 hours a week, I want the chance for a big return on my time and effort. What I was promised and what the reality is, is like night and day.
.....What I was promised and what the reality is, is like night and day.
Isn't that the truth about almost everyone in this business except some career shops and maybe a few INDY's. No wonder the majority that survive wind up INDY.
Some good advice in here. Out of the box, unless you know you have excellent training, don't go into MA. Dangerous and risky. Not worth losing your license or even getting complaints.
Some good advice in here. Out of the box, unless you know you have excellent training, don't go into MA. Dangerous and risky. Not worth losing your license or even getting complaints.
Well, I went in with pretty extensive knowledge of Health Plans from working Insurance Customer Service for years. The corporate training was great from a compliance/ethics standpoint.
Plus I have a good code of ethics where I would not put someone on a plan that would leave them worse off just for the sake of a commission. I ran into a couple of people who were screwed over by their agent in the last month. I think if you put your clients first and follow the CMS guidelines, you are going to be OK.
Isn't that the truth about almost everyone in this business except some career shops and maybe a few INDY's. No wonder the majority that survive wind up INDY.
I didn't expect it to be a career shop. I thought it was a jumping off point to get started. I basically went with them for the training and promises of some quality leads. I got stuck with a bad trainer and cold calling a recycled list.
They do things with bonuses to help you get by the first year. But the problem is, with the limited product line, it is tough to reach those bonuses during the summer months. But if you are an indy agent and sold the same number of comparable plans at a street level commission, you would end up with probably an extra grand in your pocket that month.
I dont think Sterling is competitive anywhere in the country, not to mention all of the plans they have are PFFSs and have premiums unless its an MA with no drug coverage.
Unlike most on this thread, I would have to say that the MA/Med Sup market is a great place to be in. BUt its hard to make it captive... especially with Sterling....
Selling SNPs is what I do in the "off season" ... and Sterling just doest have those...
Last I heard, the local office here was door knocking selling cancer plans....
I dont think Sterling is competitive anywhere in the country, not to mention all of the plans they have are PFFSs and have premiums unless its an MA with no drug coverage.
Unlike most on this thread, I would have to say that the MA/Med Sup market is a great place to be in. BUt its hard to make it captive... especially with Sterling....
Well, Option 2 is a great product with a built in PDP. When you consider the copays compared to other plans, it is a competitive product and a good value. The Med Sups are not the cheapest, but are competitive. And outside of a couple of Medical groups, the PFFS is not an issue.
But the lack of other products and low commissions make it a tough place to survive. I was hoping it would be a place to learn the ropes for a year or two. But I did learn a lot, I also learned a lot of what not to do.
Last I heard, the local office here was door knocking selling cancer plans....
LOL...
My field trainer talked abut how last year they were going door to door into small businesses trying to sell Critical Illness Plans to uninsured.
Last edited by Alpedhuez55 : 08-12-2008 at 11:24 PM.
My field trainer talked abut how last year they were going door to door into small businesses trying to sell Critical Illness Plans to uninsured.
Some plans require the applicant to have (or at least say they have) major med in place. CI is not a substitute for major med any more than an accident plan.
This is a tough business and some days it doesn't get easier. I have been in the business for a long time and there are days, sometimes strung together, where I just want to walk away.
But I have a strong commitment to doing the right thing for my client without regard to the commission I will earn . . . or not.
A lot of my time (sometimes too much of my time) is spent trying to help people that will never generate a dime for me. It bothers me, but not for long. It is my choice and it does pay dividends.
Some of my best referrals come from folks who didn't buy a thing.
When you put money ahead of the client, you will eventually fail. You fail your client and you fail yourself and family.
My worst year in the business came 9 years ago when a business I had built up collapsed almost overnight. I lost close to $1M in commissions and savings but through it all I never lost sight of my desire to help others first. I looked at a lot of different markets and even walked away from the industry for a few years.
Eventually I had to follow what I knew best and stick it out. My reward is a solid business that yields referrals when I least expect it. I also get calls and emails from folks I had contacted months ago and in some cases, over a year ago.
In the last month I have written about $45k in annualized volume from referrals and "old" leads that had all be been written off. That doesn't happen every month but it just goes to show when you treat people right the blessings eventually flow back to you.
Stay with it, do what is right for your client and the rewards will come.
"That doesn't happen every month but it just goes to show when you treat people right the blessings eventually flow back to you."
Somarco you got that right, doing the right thing with integrity is always going to be blessing waiting for you around the corner or down the street but it is coming.
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Rick
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"Everything we do is just a drop in the bucket. However if we don't do it, it will always be missing." Mother Theresa
I thought about going to Sterling and just writing life and underage stuff.... I don't know if that's smart though, because the bread and butter for them is med supp and MA stuff.... what do you guys think? I am looking for a captive company where I can write life. I'm think Mutual of Omaha maybe.... NYL told me to hit the road in the interview for some reason...
Tough First Month
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