Come out, come out, wherever you are...

[HoosierLife]

I've talked with 3 NASB agents in the last week. They all talk about using those cards.

Now they may play those parts down (or completely ignore them) when reading the card back.

I know that's what I would do if I was forced to use that type of card.

 

[PA Bill]

I did a ride along with an NASB agent awhile back. He door knocked his leads, i.e. he did not call ahead to make appointments. I cannot remember what the lead cards said, but I do know that I read them and they didn't strike me as bait and switch. At one house the lead respondent was not home. The agent did get into all the other homes we knocked that day, and presented at all but one. The one where he did not present it had quickly become apparent that she had no income and no means to pay even her electric bill, much less an insurance program. He did, however, close at each of the other presentations, and I believe he finished with close to $3000 AP that day, perhaps slightly over that figure. At no time did any of the folks ask about a memorial guide or any other FREE gift. And none was ever discussed. If it was on tha card, it was not a problem for this agent. Maybe it was for your NASB contact - but that would be because of how he or she was presenting at the door to get in to the home.



I do have a feeling that a targeted list, perhaps with a blank lead card in hand, might be a considerably more viable approach to this business for some than what many others would believe. I'm coming at insurance from the car business. But before I started selling cars I had built two businesses - one, a real estate company, which I sold, and the other, a carpet and upholstery cleaning business, which I am selling - primarily through knocking on cold doors. In the first case I was looking for folks who might be ready to list their home for sale sometime in the next 6 months, and in the latter case I was asking to come in to give a free quote for "the most thorough cleaning ever."

I think much of the push back we hear on the forum from those opposed to cold door knocking is due more to their own unacknowledged fear of doing it and not their professed disdain for someone who would do such a thing. Between the two businesses I built, I probably have cold knocked close to 5000 different doors (many of them multiple times as I found my response rate went up each time I made a new pass through a particular neighborhood, so I just kept hitting the same folks again and again, quarter after quarter).

I can't say that everyone was happy to see me, but I was never cursed at or threatened. And even once they know I'd be back, I never had anyone ask to be put on a "do not knock list." Here's the thing I found: People who would never, not ever, let a cold door knocker in their home will suddenly invite you in if what you have is something that they feel, at that time, they need. Knock on enough of those doors, and you are likely to find a number of folks who will feel, at that moment, that getting some life insurance is a good idea at that moment.

And the opposite is also true. Agents who think nothing of knocking in the worst neighborhoods, yet think they'll get electrocuted if they pick up a phone. Let's face it, a lot of fear is irrational. Like parents who are paranoid about their kid being snatched by a stranger (very rare), but think nothing of loading them into the car (very dangerous by comparison).

 

[rousemark]

I've talked with 3 NASB agents in the last week. They all talk about using those cards.

Now they may play those parts down (or completely ignore them) when reading the card back.

I know that's what I would do if I was forced to use that type of card.

Why play it down? Simply give what the card promised and continue with your presentation. I use a "free" cancer prevention booklet when canvassing for cancer plans. It seems to relax the prospect and make them more receive to the approach.

 

[HoosierLife]

Why play it down? Simply give what the card promised and continue with your presentation. I use a "free" cancer prevention booklet when canvassing for cancer plans. It seems to relax the prospect and make them more receive to the approach.

Your bait n switching by using a free cancer prevention book to sell cancer. Theyre giving away a dental card to switch to cancer.

To me that's a big difference. With the dental card lead, you have to create the WHY for the Final Expense sale. With a straight life insurance lead you find out their WHY, you don't have to create one out of thin air.

Does your cancer booklet talk about the % of people that will one day get cancer?

 

[rousemark]

Your bait n switching by using a free cancer prevention book to sell cancer. Theyre giving away a dental card to switch to cancer.

To me that's a big difference. With the dental card lead, you have to create the WHY for the Final Expense sale. With a straight life insurance lead you find out their WHY, you don't have to create one out of thin air.

Does your cancer booklet talk about the % of people that will one day get cancer?

I am not baiting and switching because I have not offered it to them. I am simply providing it as information. Even, if I had sent them a card, promising the booklet and they responded, it would not be baiting and switching as long as I delivered what is promised with no conditions. Now if I tried to sell them INSTEAD of giving them whatever was promised would be baiting and switching. One of the booklets I use does mention the frequency of cancer. The other that I buy from a cancer prevention group does not.

 

[HoosierLife]

I am not baiting and switching because I have not offered it to them. I am simply providing it as information. Even, if I had sent them a card, promising the booklet and they responded, it would not be baiting and switching as long as I delivered what is promised with no conditions. Now if I tried to sell them INSTEAD of giving them whatever was promised would be baiting and switching. One of the booklets I use does mention the frequency of cancer. The other that I buy from a cancer prevention group does not.

I think our definitions differ at this point.

I send out a life insurance card that talks about life insurance for your final expenses. When I get there my goal is to sell them a life insurance policy to take care of their final expenses.

If I get them to send the card in for anything else (bait) and then transition to why I'm really there which is to sell them something else, then I would consider that a bait and switch.

I'm not saying its a bad thing, it just causes more agents to see more dead beats and have to be a better salesman to close sales.

Car dealerships don't advertise the most expensive cars in the paper (if the paper still exists??) they show the lowest price option to get you in the door, with the intention of selling you the higher priced car. That's still a bait and switch in my book.

But offering the poor of the poor something free so you can "switch" to talking about life insurance is not a long term recipe for success for the majority of agents.

The whole concept of "bait and switch" is offering something enticing to the prospect with goal of selling them something completely different when you get there. Doesn't matter if you give them the bait or not, they're still a fish looking for a worm and you give them the hook!!

 

[rousemark]

I think our definitions differ at this point.

I send out a life insurance card that talks about life insurance for your final expenses. When I get there my goal is to sell them a life insurance policy to take care of their final expenses.

If I get them to send the card in for anything else (bait) and then transition to why I'm really there which is to sell them something else, then I would consider that a bait and switch.

I'm not saying its a bad thing, it just causes more agents to see more dead beats and have to be a better salesman to close sales.

Car dealerships don't advertise the most expensive cars in the paper (if the paper still exists??) they show the lowest price option to get you in the door, with the intention of selling you the higher priced car. That's still a bait and switch in my book.

But offering the poor of the poor something free so you can "switch" to talking about life insurance is not a long term recipe for success for the majority of agents.

The whole concept of "bait and switch" is offering something enticing to the prospect with goal of selling them something completely different when you get there. Doesn't matter if you give them the bait or not, they're still a fish looking for a worm and you give them the hook!!

It is only bait and switch if that car dealer does not have or will not sell you the lower price car. For him to offer to show you an upscale model is no different than saying, "Do you want to supersize that.". Most of the " special offer" cards I have seen offer information about life insurance and offer a freebie for responding. As long as you give them the gift, whether they allow you to present or not, you have fulfilled the promise on the card.

 

[VolAgent]

As Louis mentioned, it is only bait and switch if you don't have the "bait" available. You may think of it that way, but legally it only becomes such when the bait isn't available. Also if you do sell the bait model, then you have to make it known when someone asks.

 

[HoosierLife]

It is only bait and switch if that car dealer does not have or will not sell you the lower price car. For him to offer to show you an upscale model is no different than saying, "Do you want to supersize that.". Most of the " special offer" cards I have seen offer information about life insurance and offer a freebie for responding. As long as you give them the gift, whether they allow you to present or not, you have fulfilled the promise on the card.

I agree with you, but we are not selling cars. We are selling life insurance to low income seniors, who for the most part are always sticking out their hands wanting something for free. Something for nothing.

They seem to not read these cards very well and are only focusing on the bold FREE $5 WALMART GIFT CARD. I've talked to agents that can kill it on these cards and I've also talked to agents who just end up giving out a bunch of $5 gift cards. Their salesmanship is obviously lacking.

So whether you want to call it a "freebie card" or use my designation, it still results in the same thing: a large % of failed agents.

 

[VolAgent]

I agree with you, but we are not selling cars. We are selling life insurance to low income seniors, who for the most part are always sticking out their hands wanting something for free. Something for nothing.

They seem to not read these cards very well and are only focusing on the bold FREE $5 WALMART GIFT CARD. I've talked to agents that can kill it on these cards and I've also talked to agents who just end up giving out a bunch of $5 gift cards. Their salesmanship is obviously lacking.

So whether you want to call it a "freebie card" or use my designation, it still results in the same thing: a large % of failed agents.

So it is bait and switch on the agent, not the prospect?

If an IMO is going to run that kind of card, they better make sure their agents know how to work it.