Assumption Closing

[goillini52]

I am not sure where the confusion is. If you are working a book of business like Wino, it is completely different. If you are not on a lead program and go see people once or twice a month, that is completely different.

But for an agent buying DM leads each and every week, you can't go out there slinging only $15 or $20 per month policies. I live in Mississippi and have to price drop a lot more than most of you probably have to. But a new agent will find a quick exit if he closes 25% of his DM leads and is writing $15 apps.

If you are running leads, you know what I am talking about when people always say they want 10k. That is the number thrown around most of the time. They only say that because they saw something 6 months ago and for some reason that number is in their head. My job is to find out their reason for sending the card in, and then presenting MY recommendations. They are not forced to buy them!

I also go into houses and talk with people that I can instantly tell are in a financial bind. In those cases, you can show less if you are 100% sure that money is the problem. I just do not think a new agent should be consistently showing less than $50 initially. If money is the problem, then you can drop it down from there after you find out if it is a smoke screen or a true objection.

Flip the conversation around...how many times have you walked into a house and someone say "I am looking for at least a million!" And he is a unemployed single guy living in a camper. He doesn't have any rhyme or reason for saying 1 million, it is just a number he is throwing out.

If 10k is less than $50 per month, that means they are younger. Do you not think it is smart to show someone a policy that will cover their funeral if they live several more years? If $50 per month is less than 10k, (just say it is $4,000 because of their age) then you are showing them how having SOMETHING is better than having nothing...but you also have higher options on the sheet in case they would rather spend more to have the right amount.

I make posts to try to help new agents that are full time in this and running leads each week. Some of you have other ways to get business or are not full time in the business. Of course your situation would be different.

So you're saying that there's more than one way to skin a cat? Meoooow.

 

[WinoBlues]

A lot of good stuff in there Ben.

 

[rousemark]

I am not sure where the confusion is. If you are working a book of business like Wino, it is completely different. If you are not on a lead program and go see people once or twice a month, that is completely different.

But for an agent buying DM leads each and every week, you can't go out there slinging only $15 or $20 per month policies. I live in Mississippi and have to price drop a lot more than most of you probably have to. But a new agent will find a quick exit if he closes 25% of his DM leads and is writing $15 apps.

If you are running leads, you know what I am talking about when people always say they want 10k. That is the number thrown around most of the time. They only say that because they saw something 6 months ago and for some reason that number is in their head. My job is to find out their reason for sending the card in, and then presenting MY recommendations. They are not forced to buy them!

I also go into houses and talk with people that I can instantly tell are in a financial bind. In those cases, you can show less if you are 100% sure that money is the problem. I just do not think a new agent should be consistently showing less than $50 initially. If money is the problem, then you can drop it down from there after you find out if it is a smoke screen or a true objection.

Flip the conversation around...how many times have you walked into a house and someone say "I am looking for at least a million!" And he is a unemployed single guy living in a camper. He doesn't have any rhyme or reason for saying 1 million, it is just a number he is throwing out.

If 10k is less than $50 per month, that means they are younger. Do you not think it is smart to show someone a policy that will cover their funeral if they live several more years? If $50 per month is less than 10k, (just say it is $4,000 because of their age) then you are showing them how having SOMETHING is better than having nothing...but you also have higher options on the sheet in case they would rather spend more to have the right amount.

I make posts to try to help new agents that are full time in this and running leads each week. Some of you have other ways to get business or are not full time in the business. Of course your situation would be different.

When I began, we were taught to get a dollar commitment early into the presentation Usually by saying, "if I can show you the best plan you have ever seen, you be the sole judge, could you afford $500 per month? " That always got a shocked "no".. Then with a smile say, "but you can afford a dollar per month can't you?"..That always got agreement.. Then you said, well somewhere in between those two ridiculous figures is an amount that you can afford to set aside each month.. What do you think that might be?.." We were taught that if you could not get a dollar commitment to get up and leave because you didn't have a prospect..

 

[bboman23]

The dollar commitment way works also and I use it from time to time if I am in a house that my 6th sense starts tingling. After you have done this for a while, you can feel when you are in a house that will probably not buy. Getting that commitment can weed those out.

But for a new agent, I think the more presentations you do, the better you become. No need in packing up and leaving if they can become better each time they finish a presentation and get to overcome some objections.

Also, a new agent is able to give more people an option to buy something by giving them the three options. The more people they can get prices in the hands of, the higher chance they have at making it.

But I am a firm believer that there is way more than one way to do this successfully. But a new agent needs to follow a certain system to make sure they are not leaving the important things out.

 

[DayTimer]

I am not sure where the confusion is... for an agent buying DM leads each and every week, you can't go out there slinging only $15 or $20 per month policies.

No confusion here. Last week was my first week on a DM order. I got 19 leads, off of which I have written 7 apps for an average premium of just under $75/month. I believe I still may have a few apps out of that batch before I put them to rest - I have some appointments on them tomorrow, so we'll see.

I use the three R's to find their why just like you teach, Ben, and also the three D's, just like you teach. While I may have a few parts of my presentation that are my own, I would bet that if you listened to my presentation you would hear within it just about every part of your presentation in there. In other words, I may insert my own story(ies) in the presentation, but I don't skip any of the steps you teach.

My goal is to keep my average premium at a level where the advance from the first app I sell each week pays for my DM order. So far, so good. I hope to keep it there.

 

[WinoBlues]

When I began, we were taught to get a dollar commitment early into the presentation Usually by saying, "if I can show you the best plan you have ever seen, you be the sole judge, could you afford $500 per month? " That always got a shocked "no".. Then with a smile say, "but you can afford a dollar per month can't you?"..That always got agreement.. Then you said, well somewhere in between those two ridiculous figures is an amount that you can afford to set aside each month.. What do you think that might be?.." We were taught that if you could not get a dollar commitment to get up and leave because you didn't have a prospect..

I agree with a lot of what Ben is saying. Especially that it is different for those guys running leads. I do not pay for leads so I do not have that overhead on every call. Some of those guys say they are in and out of the house in 20 minutes. Hell, I have not even finished my first cup of coffee in a house by then. Back when I did F2F primarily.

I really agree with him that agents get scared to ask for the premium and under sell just to get ink on paper. In my early days we had to ask for a check every time. Some companies required two months.

I also may ask for a budget, but expect them to give me some low ball answer so I do not hang to much on that. I am more of a Big Numbers (the Problem) vs Small Numbers (the solution) guy.

Ben, Matt, Dave, Todd, Newby and a bunch of these other guys know much more about running FE leads than I ever knew. Not my thing. Do I write FE? That depends on who you ask. I write SI policies. But not normally to the people you guys describe. If I was going to run FE leads I would be calling all of these guys for advice.

Does any of that mean the stuff I do does not work? Nope! Because it works for me a lot of guys like me. Not all FE is sold while sitting in cat pee.

IMohsoHO

 

[LostDollar]

The way shonceman described is the way I would prefer to buy, and given that, the way I would prefer to learn to sell were i doing this.

 

[LostDollar]

There are a few members that are older than you and Rouse, but none that post often that I know of. You and Rouse are the oldest and the same age, so the 2 of you can be the Head Farts.

What I was trying to say is I appreciate an agent selling to older folks recognizing that some of us are on restricted incomes and the discretionary spending part of that income can only decline over a remaining lifetime period of 10-25 years.

 

[SPUR CITY]

I built my FE career on $30 apps. When I first started final expense it was all about getting as many applications and clients on the books as possible...PERIOD! I knew if I could do that then everything else should take care of itself. I may not even be sitting here talking today if it wasn’t for those small applications. In 2015 when I broke the Final Expense annual premium record, a good portion of my business was on those applications around 30 or $40. I also live in the second largest military town in the nation where several clients have VA benefits so that doesn’t help me much. I have to do small add-ons usually with those clients since the VA covers some of their burial benefits.

In my presentation when I’m showing them the benefits of a whole life policy I say “let’s just say Mr. Jones that your burial plan is $100”. The reason I say that is to put a decent size number in their head so that way when I go show them 3 options at the end of the presentation they have that triple digit figure in their head and now $75 might not seem like such a big number. Also, when I’m quoting my 3 options I always like to quote with the least expensive option 1st as to not scare them off or let them shut down mentally by showing such a large number. Once I show a quote of $30 as the first option it puts their mind at ease knowing that is probably affordable for them and now you have the client in a positive mindset, since sales strategies can be very psychological.

Showing them the inflation chart that I take on each presentation really benefits me on getting higher premiums as well. This especially helps on those people that only want a cremation.

Another trick that helps me land bigger premiums these days is also a lil risky. Certainly not for newer agents to try. But I write down the prices of the 3 options on paper that I believe they are going to need based upon the fact finding I have already completed and then cover them with my hand. I let them know that I cannot change my prices since they are already written down. I then show them the brochure I have detailing all the special benefits of a whole life plan. And I go line by line like this...”this plan will never go up in price, it’s guaranteed for as long as you live, coverage starts instantly on day one & over time it will build cash value. How much would you guess this $10,000 policy WITH ALL THESE BENEFITS would cost you per month Mr. Jones?” The reason I like to go over all the benefits of the plan right before I share prices is for obvious reasons. I want all the benefits fresh in their mind. After doing this hundreds of times I would say about 85%-90% of the time the client will always guess the price to be more expensive than it actually is. So when I lift my hand that was covering the 3 options they are surprised to learn that it is actually less expensive than they thought and then they normally start asking for more face amount & upselling themselves. “Ok, so how much would 20k be”? they would say to me.

Sorry to get off on a tangent

 

[Life Hawk]

Hop

I agree with a lot of what Ben is saying. Especially that it is different for those guys running leads. I do not pay for leads so I do not have that overhead on every call. Some of those guys say they are in and out of the house in 20 minutes. Hell, I have not even finished my first cup of coffee in a house by then. Back when I did F2F primarily.

And that is why so much business is left on the table. D2D taught me to take my time and lean into a presentation... not push through it. Now that I am running some leads, it is even more important question and listen so that I ring every bit of business out of lead I can get.

As the post was to new agents, I would get back to what I think are some of the most important things and agent can learn, mainly how to ask good questions and listen closely. It would seem to me that many of these fellows seem to think a "lead" = a "sell". Not so, as we all know.