Advice Needed for Recruiting Life Insurance Professionals

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone,


What is the best way to hire (anywhere from 50-250) life insurance professionals who have been in the industry for a MINIMUM of 3 years?

- Hire an in-house recruiter?
- Hire an independent headhunter?
- Do it yourself?

If someone is looking for 50-250 professionals, one could expect enormous discounts, correct?

Has anyone had experience in this issue? Also, does anyone know how recruiters/headhunters are typically paid? I have been told they are paid 15-25% of the agent’s commission, but if I get enough good guys who are selling $1 million every month, there is no way I’m paying some chump liaison $7.5k-$12.5k per agent, per month… that’s just not happening.

If anyone could offer me some constructive suggestions on this issue, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot everyone. :1smile:


Sincerely,
LifeInsuranceMan
 
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Depends on the type of agent you're looking for.

In about half the states you can select by company appointment. For example, if you want FE agents -- target companies currently "in trouble" for whatever reason like low comp, high rates, lousy lead program (Bankers L&C, UA, Senior Life, etc.), or companies that train well such as Combined. Do this wherever you can.

One recruiting list source I use can separate by market specialty -- senior life, senior health, "traditional" middle-market agents, etc.

You can easily select by how long they've been licensed, 2-3 years is good as you indicate.

Also, if there are more than 3 names at the same address -- drop them all because these are generally multi-line offices (State Farm, Allstate, etc.) or district Life offices such as NML, NYL, etc. -- where the secretary is paid to toss all recruiting mail.

Several licensed agent databases have phones from 30% to perhaps 60% -- and you can call them all because it's a business, even if the agent uses a home phone # and is on DNC.

I know a lady in NC who's really good with phone recruiting. PM me if you want her contact info...or contact info on good sources for lists, phones, and/or e-blasts.

Atlantainsguy
 
Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone,


What is the best way to hire (anywhere from 50-250) life insurance professionals who have been in the industry for a MINIMUM of 3 years?

- Hire an in-house recruiter?
- Hire an independent headhunter?
- Do it yourself?

If someone is looking for 50-250 professionals, one could expect enormous discounts, correct?

Has anyone had experience in this issue? Also, does anyone know how recruiters/headhunters are typically paid? I have been told they are paid 15-25% of the agent’s commission, but if I get enough good guys who are selling $1 million every month, there is no way I’m paying some chump liaison $7.5k-$12.5k per agent, per month… that’s just not happening.

If anyone could offer me some constructive suggestions on this issue, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot everyone. :1smile:


Sincerely,
LifeInsuranceMan

A few thoughts, first, you're going to have to give them a reason to do business with you (meaning the agents). Is it leads? Obscenely high contracts? Excellent training? Some type of a reason to go with you instead of every other agency handing out high contracts. Second thought, if you're going to work with a recruiter because you can't or don't want to do recruiting, you should not consider them a "chump". If they're bringing you agents you otherwise wouldn't get, you should be more concerned with keeping them happy and focus on the amount of "free money" in overrides they'll be bringing you, rather than focusing on how much they'd be making. If a recruiter was able to get you producers that brought $1mill/month in production I think you should be glad they're getting paid well and hopefully are motivated to bring more agents on. If recruiting could be so easily done by "chump liasons", why don't you think folks would pay them $10-$15/hr and then keep the overrides? Just some food for thought. If you want to go the blitzed telemarketing route then send me a PM or e-mail and I can give you an idea of what it'd cost to put that in motion.
 
Hey Atlantainsguy,

Thanks for your response. All information is very much appreciated.

I have tried finding life insurance agents in all different areas and what I’ve had the most trouble with is finding life insurance agents who are independent... (not connected with the all states, progressives, NYLs, etc. of the world).

What would you recommend as the best way to sort out all those big companies? As I had mentioned, I am looking for 50-250 agents nationwide… right now I’m working the PA area.

Let me know when you get a chance. Also, if you don’t mind, I would like to speak with the lady you know in NC who is good with phone recruiting… maybe I’d give her a call… actually, an email might be better than a number, but either would do.

THANKS!!

Sincerely,
LifeInsuranceMan
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Hey MedicarePlanSolutions,

I PM'd you... please get back to me when you get a chance. Thanks. :1cool:
 
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This has already been posted, but will post again to show its importance; You have to be different.

High Contracts
Leads (Even Free)
Support
Training; just to name a few.

The largest thing that people forget about is the cost associated with these things.

What kind of background do you have?

What would make someone want to do business with you?

Good questions to ask especially if you are going to attract the cream of the crop. I hope this helps.
 
LifeInsuranceMan -- here is some information that should help you and others interested in recruiting:

1. My primary list source is Agents Insurance Marketing (AIM) in Fenton, MI. Owned by Don and Jeannie Yerke. 800-822-6424. Don can segregate by the type of license held, indy vs/ captive, length of licensure, number of records at the same address, etc. He just re-did his database and appended phones. They are very accurate, but only 30% of the file has a good phone. Don does not sort by company appointment, because of prior agreements with some large home offices not to target their agents.

2. For company appointments, I use AMC. Call Tom Bielhart at 800-933-9449, ext. 218.

These states have all company appointments available:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Florida
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Carolina
Texas
Wisconsin


These states have some to most, but not all, company appointments available:

Arizona
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Utah
West Virginia

3. E-blast recruiting has been done for years by G. Barry Klein, LifeBlasts.com 818-381-2416. Barry has a variety of "packages" and prices.

Also call Agent Recruiting Network, Ron Jeffries, 206-666-4359. They do national as well as state-by-state e-blasting, plus the have a "Hot Transfer Call Center Platform" if you want that.

4. Elaine Scott in NC has done freelance TM recruiting for 6 years. She is very good. Don't have her e-mail, but call her at 336-328-7577 to see if she can help.

Hope this info helps your recruiting efforts. Sorry it took so long to get this posted, but the dance card has been really full. Take care!

atlantainsguy
 
Thanks a lot guys... All of your input has helped me a lot.

As for now, I will continue to do all the recruiting on my own… but so far so good! However, if we expand faster than I can recruit (which will probably happen sooner than later), I will MOST definitely consider making a few calls and reaching out to some of the names/companies you all have listed.

I did consider your advice insuranceexec… Most of the agents I have spoken with are interested in teaming up because of how different we are. What really struck a cord with them was when I told them a little bit about our incredible marketing capabilities and how we literally set them up with several meetings per week… while some companies offer leads, we offer meetings. I personally haven’t been around long enough to know for sure, but if I had to guess, most companies aren’t doing that for their agents.

Anyway, couple all that with our unique positioning in the industry, our proprietary product line, our story, our reputation, etc. ….for any salesman who knows how to close, it becomes a win-win scenario for them (especially since we mostly deal with high-net worth clients). All they have to do is make the sale.

Alright, well it is back to work, but I want to thank you all again for your feedback, time and consideration.

Sincerely,
LifeInsuranceMan
 
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I've been using Agent Media - Agent Media - Agent Media for over a year with very good results. You can target basically everything including active life producers. Go to that website and download the media guide.

Here's the guy I've been working with:

Daniel Anzanello

Agent Media Corp

1255 Cleveland Street #200

Clearwater, FL 33755

Agent Media - Agent Media

A Division of Summit Business Media

Summit Business Media

800-933-9449 x247

727-446-1166 Fax
 
I've been using Agent Media - Agent Media - Agent Media for over a year with very good results. You can target basically everything including active life producers. Go to that website and download the media guide.

Here's the guy I've been working with:

Daniel Anzanello

Agent Media Corp

1255 Cleveland Street #200

Clearwater, FL 33755

Agent Media - Agent Media

A Division of Summit Business Media

Summit Business Media

800-933-9449 x247

727-446-1166 Fax



Appreciate it, but I'm looking for active life producers who are mostly life... guys who have had this as their main focus for the past 3 years or more.
 
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