Cold Calling Sucks - But It Works

Wow! all of these posts are so encouraging! I'm an Aflac agent since October 2015. I have been cold calling forever in this area (Alabama) and have only one account (i got my first month of cold calling) and one that was given to me (it was already penetrated completely) but theres the possibility that this account will grow.
However I've hit an emotional wall at times, and learned from it to keep cold calling. I enjoy this job but all the rejections after a year and a half make me feel unqualified for this job. Aflac sent me a letter of termination but my boss interceded and got a waiver, which sucks since i feel I've gained some confidence. I have until July to make 10000 premium (3 months). Do other companies terminate you like this? they take my two little accounts , the greedy company!

Sounds like your manager did you a disservice. It is time for you to go. Aflac is clearly not for you if you have only manged to open 1 account in 18 months. Insurance sales may not be for you period, hard to say.

Not if you work for yourself.

Everyone will eventually terminate you for lack of production.
 
That's right Cold Calling does suck but the more you do it the better you become and the more natural sounding it the words become because you have internalized it. Once you believe the words, they just flow. But still cold calling sucks when you know don't know the people.
 
I am just starting out and had planned on focusing on either final expense or med supp. Both involve cold calling and the senior market. I know lots of opinions exist on this next question, but as a newbie in the field, I have the flexibility to pursue either med supp or final expense. I am leaning towards med supp only, but was wondering what some grizzled vets in the biz have to say looking back in hindsight , if they were to choose one path NOW, what would it be?
 
My only real comment towards folks who pile in here and try to analyze cold calling...if you don't pick up the phone it will never work. Phones don't dial out themselves for the most part, they don't advertise for you when you aren't looking, it really boils down to how much you can stomach.

You must be able to rip thru 100-200 dials consistently 3 days a week minimum to really get a feel for your abilities. Nothing you read is going to change that.

You will never read a magic formula that suddenly unlocks your will to call. I work in an office of about 10-15 Agents plus CSR...nobody makes cold calls which is why this agency has stopped growing. Everyone just wants to work on whatever book they already have which was mostly accumulated about 10 years ago when phones were ringing off the hook at Insurance Agencies.

Hurricanes in Florida change the playing field down here greatly. You don't want to wish for suffering but a couple of storms which eventually will happen change things a lot. Premiums suddenly go up, people are locked out of even buying insurance now that they suddenly see the danger, phones ring and you suddenly can be very choosy bout who you want to insure.

Oh yeah this was cold calling...just pick up the phone because if you can't you are just wasting time in here.
 
Oh yeah this was cold calling...just pick up the phone because if you can't you are just wasting time in here.

That's why FT doesn't post here anymore, he's realized two major points to when it comes to cold calling:

1. There's no magical ingredient to make you like cold calling, the quicker you realize that the better you can either move on to make the calls or determine another line of work.

2. Time spent on this site debating is a huge money-waster. I saw FT budget out his time spent on here in a previous post of his, and factored it to a year, and it was a pretty big number.

It's a shame too, he's probably 1 of 5 b2b/cold prospecting experts on this forum that I liked reading.
 
That's why FT doesn't post here anymore, he's realized two major points to when it comes to cold calling:

1. There's no magical ingredient to make you like cold calling, the quicker you realize that the better you can either move on to make the calls or determine another line of work.

2. Time spent on this site debating is a huge money-waster. I saw FT budget out his time spent on here in a previous post of his, and factored it to a year, and it was a pretty big number.

It's a shame too, he's probably 1 of 5 b2b/cold prospecting experts on this forum that I liked reading.

Yo JBj, I don't know FT but I saw you post about him in another thread. Can you share anything you learned from him? What were his pillars that he built his B2B around, I really want to specialize in Commercial with personal lines simply being an extension of what I do for SBO.
 
He did dabble in the commercial threads a bit, but aside from going through all his previous posts or going through the entire P&C forum for commercial prospecting I would have to say his number one pillar was: just make the calls...

"Amen" and I'm not churchie but I would agree.

OK, I will try and research all of Full Throttle's stuff on Commercial Prospecting.

And anyone who has not picked up a copy of JBj's book which can be had on Amazon, it's strong, so strong in fact it has me questioning my long term employment at my current agency.

That said, the P&C sticky thread for newbies clearly says it is best to work for someone before going it alone.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top