Cold Calling Help

crshieh

New Member
5
Hi, I am new to the insurance industry. I passed my state exam very recently, thank you "HomeService" for providing tips and advice for me in an earlier post.

I went through this forum very briefly and could not find a lot of information on cold calling. I was wondering if somebody could give me some pointers.

I understand I will face many rejections because all of a sudden the whole world has every plan out there when I start calling. I am fine by that. I understand it takes a lot of hard work and self motivation for this job. Hang ups before I even finish saying my name are discouraging. But my main concern is facing rude people. People that will lead me on and make me think they are interested. They ask products and talk on and on, and all of a sudden out of no where wham out a DO NOT CALL EVER AGAIN and hang up. Or I'll hear people in the background shouting, "just tell him to shut up already."

Things of those nature, I assume I will overcome eventually with time (at least I really hope so). One of those calls every now and then is "tolerable" for me. But a few in a row starts shattering my confidence. When I call, I feel like I am not as productive and efficient as I can be, as I seem to be spending more time trying to "regroup" myself and build up my confidence level again.

Coule somebody provide me any tips or advice on how to cope with these situations? Or should I just try to shake it off, dail another number and eventually grow out of it as time passes?

I greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot.
 
I am selling Life and Health insurance. Right now, I am still in the beginning stages, so I am just cold calling the lists my manager gives me and setting up appointments.
 
I am selling Life and Health insurance. Right now, I am still in the beginning stages, so I am just cold calling the lists my manager gives me and setting up appointments.

Hummmm, you really need to decide which product is your main product. It is hard to cold call unless you have a specific idea in mind. I'm curious, what company is giving you list to call about life and health? Plus since you mention health what State are you selling in?

Ps, I see you are from Indiana or selling insurance there, health is very State specific and I really don't know much about Indiana but, I'm sure we have some from Indiana.
 
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This may help you. it helped me...

FIRST mail your call list either a life letter or health letter (or flyer) and call 5 days later.

"Hi Mrs Smith, I'm calling to make sure you received the letter I sent you, my name is __________ with ________. Did you receive it? GREAT! I'm just trying to get the word out and to let you know I'm the local __________ agent. I'd like to come by and show you the type of work that I do. Generally are mornings or aternoons better for you?..."

If they answer that they did not get or read the letter, say this-

"Hi Mrs Smith, I'm calling to make sure you received the letter I sent you, my name is __________ with ________. Did you receive it? No? Well, then I am happy I called then. I'm just trying to get the word out and to let you know I'm the local __________ agent. I'd like to come by and show you the type of work that I do. Generally are mornings or aternoons better for you?..."

What helped me is that I have a reason to call. I mailed a letter and want to make sure they received it. For some reason, at least to me, it doesn't feel as cold as a true cold call.

Remember to scrub your list before sending to residential recipients.

Good luck, hope this helps for what it's worth...
 
Mailing before the call is expensive and not really necessary. If you're calling 100 prospects a day you're talking about over $200 per week in additional expenses.

Pick up the phone and start calling. Most people will be nice and yes, a few will ask how you got their number, hang up or tell you to take them off their list.

What you're saying is "I want to be a professional athlete but can't really stand sore muscles after training. Is there any way to train where I'll never be sore?"
 
I went through this forum very briefly and could not find a lot of information on cold calling. I was wondering if somebody could give me some pointers.

I greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot.



Invest a few bucks in the following two books by Frank Rumbauskas, Jr. -
"Never Cold Call Again" and "Cold Calling is a Waste of Time".

You will learn techniques that are much more powerful and effective, not to mention not burning you out.

Good luck!
 
Although no one enjoys telemarketing (which includes me) you have to realize why most people abhor being telemarketed:

1) Long intro scripts that go on for over 30 seconds to a minute before the customer gets a chance to say something.

This just happened to me. I'm on the DNC list but got called by Bank of America since I'm a customer - the telemarketer hit me up on their privacy protection program and her intro was at least a full minute before I got the chance to speak.

When I telemarket for health insurance my intro is 15 seconds. Makes a big difference.

2) Canned boring pitches. Most telemarketers are working from call centers with very strict rules and scripts. When people call for things like credit card offers, mortgages, etc...the client has to approve the script and marketers either cannot deviate at all from the script or can't modify it much.

3) Marketers who won't take no for an answer. This is what really ticks most people off - when it's just come back after come back.

We all know and hate these calls since we feel like a number to these people. There's simply no human element at all - we might as well be getting called by robots.

So although you will be using some type of set script, after the script is read bring in some kind of human touch - as in, talk normal. Talk like you would if you were having a conversation with them.

Do not go back and forth with people. If I call someone and after my pitch they say "I'm not interested" I say "No problem and have a great day." Now, if you want to know why they're not interested and start coming back at them then be prepared for people to get pissed.

If fact, if you simply move on with the people who state they're not interested you should get very few upset prospects.
 
"Hi Mrs Smith, I'm calling to make sure you received the letter I sent you, my name is __________ with ________. Did you receive it? GREAT! I'm just trying to get the word out and to let you know I'm the local __________ agent. I'd like to come by and show you the type of work that I do. Generally are mornings or aternoons better for you?..."

This is NOT personal, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, etc., but I could not let this go by without a couple of observations...

Without a doubt, this is the worst, weakest, most ineffective approach that can be taken!

This is borderline begging. It gives all of the "power" to the prospect, and puts you in a subservient position.

"Come by and show you the work that I do?" Geez, pass the no-doze!

"Morning or afternoon better?" People absolutely HATE this kind of manipulative crap.

In this information age and society in which we live, if you don't come up with some better tactics than this - you're gonna die. It's 2008!
 
Thank you everybody for your advice.

Moonlightandmargaritas, could you be kind enough to share some advice and suggestions?

By the way, it's not that I don't want to get muscle sores from training in becoming a professional athelete. Sometimes those pains are addictive. I'm just looking for a hot shower solution that could make the pain easier in cold calling.
 
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