Do this six days a week (take Sunday off) and:
$150 = $1800AP/commish (6 apps) x 50 weeks = $90,000 for protecting 300 lives.
Ok. This gets to the heart of it. An app a day. There is plenty on this board about doing this with health, but the roadmap for life is a little more sketchy. To get an app a day, I would need three appointments that hold. To pitch three people a day, I would need five set appointments to cover flakes and cancellations. To set five appointments a day, I need to contact X (250??).
So. To those writing life, what is X for you?
Is anyone on this board writing five or six apps a week for life?
Let's talk about maximizing the X faxtor.
Now, just pushing $500k 10 yr. term to standard non-nic males we have $400AP. 90% commish is $360x6x50= gets us $90K. (Hmmm. 20yr term nets $190k. Any ethical qualms about selling 20 term?)
So, how do we achieve X, and how much does it cost?
The blast fax is dead.
You could Fuller Brush it and knock on doors.
You could have a telemarker autodial, "If your spouse dies on the way home from work tomorrow, will the loss of income destabilize your family?"
You can whizz away your money on mailers.
Or do like James and drive all over town dropping off info to small business owners. A good idea in itself, but your X factor is limited by the amount of drops you can do in a day.
How do you (or plan to) maximize X?
How do we get X to equal an app a day?
I'm leaning towards seminar selling for life insurance and targeting the 65+ market for single premium second to die whole life with an LTC rider and calling it "Give your assets to your family, not the nursing home."
If you are going to go that way, I would think you need to develope a lead generation system which would include;
Door Hangers
Paper Inserts
DM campaign to new home owners (Limited list, go to courthouse)
Purchase leads or List that is in compliance with DNC
You have another factor to consider when trying to figure out X. That is how qualified to you want X to be before the appointment is set, which of course effects your closing ratio.
Like any other goal, you need to first ask yourself what are you trying to accomplish?
Is it production just for the sake of notching your gun or are you really focused on helping your client.
Writing an app a day is hard, even more so in life. I know some guys who do this and more, but they have a whopping advertising budget. This is something that has been built up over the last 20 yrs or so. They first started out advertising in local papers, then the WSJ and other national publications.
After Al Gore invented the internet they moved there but still kept their paper advertising.
They spend close to $500,000 per year on lead generation and it pays them very well.
I have no idea how anyone can write a life app a day with face to face unless they are in the worksite market. Unless you want to go crazy (or hire the staff) to follow up on para-meds, you need to concentrate on simplified issue plans with small face amounts.
Writing an app a day is absolutely achievable, been doing it week in week out for close to a year. All sales are made face to face, in home. Here's how my average week breaks down.
30 direct mail leads
15 appointments set
10-12 sits
5-6 apps
Writing an app a day is absolutely achievable, been doing it week in week out for close to a year. All sales are made face to face, in home. Here's how my average week breaks down.
30 direct mail leads
15 appointments set
10-12 sits
5-6 apps
It's not easy, but it's achievable.
Based on what you wrote, it sure seems like you just buy 30 leads and you wind up with 15 appointments. Surely there must be more to it than that.
I too am amazed that all you need to purchase is 30 leads. Are these "magic" leads? Give us more info.
Rick
P.S. Not disputing that you do it. Just find it hard to believe it only takes 30 leads.
------------------------------------ ILIAA
Training, Community, Support, and Success Independent Life Insurance Agents Assn rick@iliaa.org
Last edited by GreenSky : 03-02-2008 at 10:07 AM.
Reason: clarification
Just based on experience, but hey.....even getting 50% of your leads to actually pick up the phone is a small miracle - which would mean 15 out of 30 even answering the phone. About 25% would be interested enough to set an appointment or 4.
Based on what you wrote, it sure seems like you just buy 30 leads and you wind up with 15 appointments. Surely there must be more to it than that.
I too am amazed that all you need to purchase is 30 leads. Are these "magic" leads? Give us more info.
Rick
P.S. Not disputing that you do it. Just find it hard to believe it only takes 30 leads.
The leads are far from magic, but they are targeted. One thing to keep in mind is what are you actually getting with fresh, exclusive, direct mail lead? You're getting someone that not only opens junk mail, they read it, then respond to it by mailing it back with very personal information included. There is NO question that there is a need, that's already been established by the reponse. The question is can you lead them through the process of getting what they want.
It's hard work tracking down 30 folks a week on the phone to set appointments with half of them, have most of them show up and then sell half of those. It's merely a strategy that works for those that work it and have average to above average sales skills.
Just based on experience, but hey.....even getting 50% of your leads to actually pick up the phone is a small miracle - which would mean 15 out of 30 even answering the phone. About 25% would be interested enough to set an appointment or 4.
Maybe I'm missing something.
Obviously there are a lot of variables in who you're mailing. I choose to work primarily a blue collar or rural market. About 50% of my leads have a cell phone and/or work phone. That said, it takes a fair number of dials to connect with them as you don't know what hours they work, etc.
I average 5 to 7 life apps per week and have been for 3 years. 75% are done by phone, leads have come from a variety of sources, including 40% from referrals.
The quality of lead does come into play, a lead generated from DM will likely do better then a internet lead. Yet though, I seriously doubt the average agent is going to have a 5 to 1 ratio, meaning out of every five leads purchase you get 1 "Delivery" of a policy, remember there will likely be a 20% fall off of all applications that one may write. Still though, I would agree with the idea of figuring out how much one wants to make in a year an go from there. I do not see the value in peddling low DB and Premium Term since the cost will likely be higher then directing ones efforts towards Businesses and the Self Employed. It absolutely makes no sense to me.
I average 5 to 7 life apps per week and have been for 3 years. 75% are done by phone, leads have come from a variety of sources, including 40% from referrals.
Yes, but how long did it take you to ramp up to that level of production?
Well let's not take anything away from people who simply work hard. It's not only possible but actually easy to write an app a day with either life or health if you're working 8 full hours a day. I don't come to close to working 8 hours a day.
Well let's not take anything away from people who simply work hard. It's not only possible but actually easy to write an app a day with either life or health if you're working 8 full hours a day. I don't come to close to working 8 hours a day.
No it is not easy for an individaul to write an app a day without a serious marketing budget. Plus IMHO for a new agent to do it next to impossible.
Writing an App a Day
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