Effectively working from home

[saieddie]

Get a designation, ChFC, CLU, LUTCF, CFP or something and put your resume on brokerhunter.com. When you get an offer from another company, tell your bosses you want a raise or your leaving.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Another problem, the only people in the office that were selling anything were the 3 unit managers and one other agent whose entire family lived in Georgia. I didn't have a network in Georgia to work on, practice with.

One does not need a "network" of relatives to sell insurance. I really don't see that being a very valid reason for not making sales.

The postmarks on them were from a few months before so it was like I was getting the leads that the others couldn't do anything with.

As I said earlier, most of my sales when captive came from "leads" other agents said weren't any good.

No, I didn't try door knocking. I had no training on prospecting.

I did some door knocking and such...

Which is it? Did you or didn't you knock on doors?

plus spent a lot of time collecting premiums on my little book.

That statement is inconsistent with both the kind of insurance you were selling and who you were selling it for. Debit agents are typically the only ones who have a "book of business" where they go out each month and "collect premiums". The insurance they most often sell is small life policies and fire insurance.

But again, I know I didn't get proper training. Oh, and this is where I learned to door knock and cold call.

Very few if any of us have ever received "proper training". In general it does not exist in this business. Most successful agents have learned this business the hard way and are self taught.

Those 8 months with UA & LNL were tough and the scar I have is my fear/anxiety with door knocking/cold calling. But I think I'd prefer to door knock because it's harder for people to say nasty mean things to your face compared to on the phone.

If you are afraid of people "being mean" to you then you have a hurdle that may be too high for you to get over.

My problem is getting in front of qualifed prospects.

Learning to do this is what separates the successful and non-successful agents. It comes with time and a lot of failures.

I don't believe that you are cut out to be an independent agent. You have too many excuses why you haven't been able to make sales.

I see very little initiative on your part, a lot of inconsistencies in your statements and a lot of whining.

I'm really not trying to be "mean" to you, just being honest. I hate to see you waste a lot of time and money when you don't appear to be suited for independent, work from home insurance sales.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Excellent post. I agree!

 

[tentel]

The above statement bothers me a little because I have heard this so many times from agents who worked for me.

You most likely were working direct mail "leads". There is no way anyone can pick through direct mail leads and "pick out the good ones". They are simply a name, address and phone number.

There are no "good or bad" or "hot or cold" direct mail leads, only good and bad agents who are are working them. When I was captive just about all I worked were leads that other agents had returned saying that they were "bad" leads.

Why was going door to door a waste of time. I have been working in the senior market for 15 years and have been very successful when I was going door to door.

The first thing one needs to learn to be successful selling insurance is how to prospect. Knowing "who is in the market for a Med Supp" is insurance 101. The best prospects are those, in my opinion, between the ages of 67 and 78. Almost every one of them is "in the market" for either a Med Supp or an MA plan. Ninety plus percent of the people I sell Med Supps to already have a Med Supp.

You said you "already had the supplements figured out". The senior market is probably the easiest market to work yet you apparently didn't do very well. It doesn't sound to me that it was the leads, you may have not worked them correctly or very hard and gave up too quickly or your expectations were too high. Your presentation may also have needed a lot of work. It doesn't sound like you spent a lot of time trying to sell them. Maybe I'm wrong.

All I sell is Med Supps now, I don't sell the PFFS plans, and I have more than enough to keep me busy.

You are very inexperienced and trying to move into too many different markets. You can't go on an appt and try to sell a Med Supp, have the prospect say no and then try to sell them two or three other products. If you do a Med Supp presentation correctly they will not be willing to listen to a whole new "pitch" of another product.

Pick one area and master it before moving on to others.

I think it is very common and highly practised for managers to selectively distribute leads. They either keep the good leads for themselves or selectively distribute them to their agents based on who they like better. It happens all the time. Many leads are gotten from other methods than direct mail. An agency that markets heavily will get many call-ins, for example. And in a P&C situation, for example, if someone looking to ensure a multi-million dollar new restaurant venture calls in and someone looking to ensure a building that manufactures motherboards for weapons of mass destruction that they sell to the military a manager can certainly decide which is a better lead than another (this is a true scenario, by the way).

Also, I know that you're a fan of the cold-calling, but in areas other than the senior market they don't seem to be too effective any longer. I think that's a proven consensus from many posters on this site. That said, there are many ways to attract new prospects and obtain leads on your own.

Creative marketing techniques and referrals from existing contacts is the way to get it done.

 

[DM77]

So Frank, tell me how I should've done it. Remember, that this experience was my 1st experience in the insurance business and happened 7 years ago.
If you re-read my story, you'll see that I did not door knock when I exclusively sold supps, but did door knock when I was at Liberty National selling life & supp health. I left LNL in January 2002.
Since that time I've been a full-time assistant to 2 investment reps. I've spent the last 6 1/2 years following their lead and now I want to break off on my own. Also, this time has been spent servicing an existing book of roughly 650 households and $80mil AUM. I've been out of sales during this time with the exception of a few cases that fell in my lap for one reason or another.
I'm wanting advice on how to improve and move forward. So far you have only criticized everything and haven't made any suggestions on how to be successful. How would you train a new agent?

 

[HomeService]

I prospect through "door knocking". I ususally drive through neighborhoods and look for people out in the yard or on the porch. I strike up a conversation. Of course, I usually just sell small whole life policies. That's what I'm in to. I get a lot of "no's". But also a few "yes's" here and there. That's sales for 'ya. I'm still kind of the "old school debit agent" mentality.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I think it is very common and highly practised for managers to selectively distribute leads. They either keep the good leads for themselves or selectively distribute them to their agents based on who they like better. It happens all the time.

If you were a manager and really could tell from a direct mail lead which ones are "good" and which ones are "bad" wouldn't you give the "good" ones to your best producers?

Many leads are gotten from other methods than direct mail. An agency that markets heavily will get many call-ins,...

I agree but she said she was only getting direct mail leads for the senior market so that is what I addressed.

Also, I know that you're a fan of the cold-calling, but in areas other than the senior market they don't seem to be too effective any longer.

You may very well be right but she was talking about selling Medicare Supplements so my comments were directed to that product line which is in the senior market.

That said, there are many ways to attract new prospects and obtain leads on your own.

No argument there. I do that all the time as I'm sure you do and all of the other successful agents. She apparently doesn't know how to do that. All she has to do is search this forum to learn some of the basics of how to do that.

Creative marketing techniques and referrals from existing contacts is the way to get it done.

That is good information, we seem to agree on everything, but if she doesn't take the time to learn how to do that it isn't going to help her very much.

She seems to be looking for someone to teach her all of the above and it's sad to say but that isn't going to happen. At least not from my experience. She is going to have to learn that on her own if she wants to be successful.

 

[DM77]

She seems to be looking for someone to teach her all of the above and it's sad to say but that isn't going to happen. At least not from my experience. She is going to have to learn that on her own if she wants to be successful.

This board seemed to be one put together for agents who are looking for support, advice, and maybe a little comraderie among peers. You say I need to learn all of this on my own--basically by trial and error. Well, wouldn't be much simpler to get some tips on what works and what doesn't from seasoned professionals rather than waste a bunch of time and money doing what doesn't work? It's not as if you're in my market area and we're competing against each other. If door knocking is the way to go...well then, what have you found helps people to open up and talk to you and not look at you as a door-to-door salesman? If cold calling works, how do you get past the first sentence without getting hung up on?

I have picked up little nuggets of information on this board on how to make this work. Plus it's been helpful to get me motivated and have the confidence to strike out on my own. Maybe you meant for your comments to just get me mad and realize that I CAN do this or maybe you're just a bully.

 

[Frank Stastny]

So Frank, tell me how I should've done it. Remember, that this experience was my 1st experience in the insurance business and happened 7 years ago.
If you re-read my story, you'll see that I did not door knock when I exclusively sold supps, but did door knock when I was at Liberty National selling life & supp health. I left LNL in January 2002.
Since that time I've been a full-time assistant to 2 investment reps. I've spent the last 6 1/2 years following their lead and now I want to break off on my own. Also, this time has been spent servicing an existing book of roughly 650 households and $80mil AUM. I've been out of sales during this time with the exception of a few cases that fell in my lap for one reason or another.
I'm wanting advice on how to improve and move forward. So far you have only criticized everything and haven't made any suggestions on how to be successful. How would you train a new agent?

You first have to decide on a product you want to sell and then learn everything about it so you are an expert in that line of insurance.

Again I'm confused. If you have spent 6 1/2 years working for investment reps you should know that business backwards and forwards. Why are you not going to continue doing that as an independent agent? Why would you want to move into product lines that you know very little about when you have all that background and knowledge going for you?

If you have not sold insurance for the last seven years you in essence are starting from scratch, especially if you want to get into the senior market.

I haven't criticized you as much as I have given my opinion of the prospects of you being successful as an insurance agent. This job is not for everyone. Based on what you have said I don't think you are ready to become an independent agent working on your own from home.

If you really think you want to pursue selling insurance as a career I would suggest you start by being a captive agent with an insurance company, not an agency. You probably are not going to get very much in the way of formal training but at least you will be working with other agents who's brains you can pick. Maybe one or two of them will take you under their wing and guide you through the basics.

If you still think you want to be an independent agent and work from home good luck. You have a long bumpy road in front of you.

Spend about a week searching this forum. Most of what you need to know to help you get started is here in one form or another.

You are going to have to train yourself. One does that by doing research and then doing more research.

 

[Frank Stastny]

This board seemed to be one put together for agents who are looking for support, advice, and maybe a little comraderie among peers. You say I need to learn all of this on my own--basically by trial and error. Well, wouldn't be much simpler to get some tips on what works and what doesn't from seasoned professionals rather than waste a bunch of time and money doing what doesn't work? It's not as if you're in my market area and we're competing against each other. If door knocking is the way to go...well then, what have you found helps people to open up and talk to you and not look at you as a door-to-door salesman? If cold calling works, how do you get past the first sentence without getting hung up on?

I have picked up little nuggets of information on this board on how to make this work. Plus it's been helpful to get me motivated and have the confidence to strike out on my own. Maybe you meant for your comments to just get me mad and realize that I CAN do this or maybe you're just a bully.

I am neither trying to make you mad or being a bully. I'm pointing out the reasons that I don't think you are ready to become an independent agent working on your own from home.

If you think I'm being a bully then you are going to be crushed the first time you get yelled at by a prospect. That is the point I'm trying to make. You don't sound like you are thick skinned enough for this business.

However, if you prefer to think of me as a bully then so be it. Discount everything I have said and don't read my posts. Or you can begin doing your own research and prove me wrong.

The answers to all your questions have been addressed many times on this forum. As I said in an earlier post, spend about a week searching this forum and then come back and ask specific questions, not questions like "how do I get started".

But, the first thing you need to do is pick a product you want to sell. You can't just list different life, health, and P&C products. Each one is different and requires a different approach. I can't sell Med Supps the way Healthagent sells health insurance.

If you want to sell individual health insurance his association would be an excellent place for you to start.