FE Tele Sales -

[Nolby5]

When you hear about an FE telesales with an invesment in the thousands, and the need for you to buy about 8 non resident licenses, how does this hit some of you?

FinalExpense TeleSales is the group. Never heard of the Roberts Group. I am not selling now as I was in run down trailer courts and public housing the last time I sold FE and they barely had money to pay their utility bill. I have heard this same story from many others.

Thanks to all who read my post and responded to it. I wish I could know all of you and hear your stories of success.

 

[Mark]

Man - hard to believe I used to sound like Greg on every thread . . .

To the OP - you don't need to spend that kind of money UNTIL you have mastered how to ask for the sale and how to close the sale.

In addition - get with a well established MGA that offers multiple contracts, support and resources.

Run from SL, LH and anything requiring you to pay for leads.

Trust me - I know personally. I helped ruin plenty of young agents careers with my hype and bullchit . . .

Tom

Tom, I was just asking about you the other day...

Tele Sales is smoke and mirrors for the most part when it comes to F.E.. and what you do sell will lapse....

I know of a few call centers and super agents that do okay with it... A few agents do great with any method. But..for the most part it is smoke and mirrors.. When it dont work, the person that talked you into the system will blame you,,or say you didnt follow the training enough.

The people that push it on here, have ads on craiglist pushing it and can't get anyone else on here to say how good they are doing with it.

New agents, don't waste your time. If you want to waste your time, get a predictive dialer and a list and have at it.

I remember telling Tom the same thing years ago....Tom was I right?

 

[theinsuranceman]

If persistency on FE tele-sales was as bad as you tout it to be, I would be back in the field selling it face 2 face. I did face 2 face 7 yrs. and tele-sales about 5 yrs. now. I know how they work much better than someone like you who has no experience with doing tele-sales yourself.

I've spoken with FE agents who write for Co.'s with cheap premiums, and doing it face 2 face, and they would have awful persistency, persistency worse than successful agents who use tele-sales.

A lot of agents fail with FE face 2 face and a lot of agents fail with FE tele-sales.

Looks like the AGENT is the one who determines these metrics doesn't it?

If tele-sales was as bad as you state, why are more FE Co.'s starting to utilize tele-sales?

 

[Daytona_Guy]

You should see the video I made of the trailers I've been in, quite hilarious.

As for what works, I encourage you to get out of the trailer parks.
How? Focus on Medicare Supplements as your door opener. You're dealing with a more sophisticated, stable crowd that does not let their insurance lapse because they have to buy cat food to eat, instead.

The Med Supp sale, when done correctly, PROVIDES money in their house that was not there before. Why? Because they usually had a Medicare Supplement before seeing you, and you've saved them money by giving them the very same plan at a lower cost.

Now that you have freed up $50 to $150 per month in a house, you have created the perfect opportunity for the final expense (which will not lapse) sale.

Yes, you can do this over the phone, too. Remember, you're dealing with a more sophisticated crowd now, which means they're likely to be on the internet, too. With a screen sharing program, you can present everything to them right before their eyes, and then handle the enrollment right there on the same screen share. They love the ease of doing so and this generates more referrals. Plus, they don't have to host you in their house.

So, yes, selling final expense over the phone works.
It works best, though, when you already have a relationship built on trust the you have forged by saving them money FIRST. Whenever you do something for someone else FIRST, they are more inclined to listen to you on anything else.

I am not selling now as I was in run down trailer courts and public housing the last time I sold FE and they barely had money to pay their utility bill. I have heard this same story from many others.

Thanks to all who read my post and responded to it. I wish I could know all of you and hear your stories of success.

 

[Mark]

If persistency on FE tele-sales was as bad as you tout it to be, I would be back in the field selling it face 2 face. I did face 2 face 7 yrs. and tele-sales about 5 yrs. now. I know how they work much better than someone like you who has no experience with doing tele-sales yourself.

I've spoken with FE agents who write for Co.'s with cheap premiums, and doing it face 2 face, and they would have awful persistency, persistency worse than successful agents who use tele-sales.

A lot of agents fail with FE face 2 face and a lot of agents fail with FE tele-sales.

Looks like the AGENT is the one who determines these metrics doesn't it?

If tele-sales was as bad as you state, why are more FE Co.'s starting to utilize tele-sales?

So if it is so good, and you have been training so many agent with so much success. Please allow them to come on here and tell the rest of us about it. Which insurance company are you writting with again?

I talk with V.P. of insurance companies everyday. I get reports on thousands of apps company wide. I also talk with all the top I.M.O. often. I can give you the phone numbers or email address from the V.P. of most of the companies out there and allow them to tell you that telesales lapse more often then face to face and allow them to tell you what I'm trying to tell you. I just had a meeting the other day about tele sales with Foresters Life. They really only want Tele-sales from call centers.

I do have agents that do Tele-Sales. A few can do them well. Most end up just have tons of charge backs and lapses.

Again, they can work for some agents. It depends on the agent. But for most new agents, it will not work when talking about Life Insurance.

 

[theinsuranceman]

You should see the video I made of the trailers I've been in, quite hilarious.

As for what works, I encourage you to get out of the trailer parks.
How? Focus on Medicare Supplements as your door opener. You're dealing with a more sophisticated, stable crowd that does not let their insurance lapse because they have to buy cat food to eat, instead.

The Med Supp sale, when done correctly, PROVIDES money in their house that was not there before. Why? Because they usually had a Medicare Supplement before seeing you, and you've saved them money by giving them the very same plan at a lower cost.

Now that you have freed up $50 to $150 per month in a house, you have created the perfect opportunity for the final expense (which will not lapse) sale.

Yes, you can do this over the phone, too. Remember, you're dealing with a more sophisticated crowd now, which means they're likely to be on the internet, too. With a screen sharing program, you can present everything to them right before their eyes, and then handle the enrollment right there on the same screen share. They love the ease of doing so and this generates more referrals. Plus, they don't have to host you in their house.

So, yes, selling final expense over the phone works.
It works best, though, when you already have a relationship built on trust the you have forged by saving them money FIRST. Whenever you do something for someone else FIRST, they are more inclined to listen to you on anything else.

Chris, I noticed in your documentary of FE trailer parks you had visited you said one key thing: You targeted $15K and less for your mailing. That's why you were in those dirt poor areas.

If you had dropped to the $15k -$50k income levels you would never have been in those poor trailer park areas. And the people who responded to your mailings would be more likely to have bank accounts for bank drafts and be more likely to keep their policies. No?

 

[Daytona_Guy]

Golly Gee, I had never thought of that!? Thank you so much for enlightening me about marketing! What I said is that's the typical demographic mailed by the mail house.

$20,000 and below is not too conducive for long term viability for residual income and persistency.

Chris, I noticed in your documentary of FE trailer parks you had visited you said one key thing: You targeted $15K and less for your mailing. That's why you were in those dirt poor areas.

If you had dropped to the $15k -$50k income levels you would never have been in those poor trailer park areas. And the people who responded to your mailings would be more likely to have bank accounts for bank drafts and be more likely to keep their policies. No?

 

[theinsuranceman]

Golly Gee, I had never thought of that!? Thank you so much for enlightening me about marketing! What I said is that's the typical demographic mailed by the mail house.

$20,000 and below is not too conducive for long term viability for residual income and persistency.

Well then....why did you mail to that demographic? I may be wrong, but I assume you mailed to the $15k and less income level because that's where your leads came from.....the dirty, nasty, no $$$, no bank account, no running water type of trailers. Did I miss something?

The typical mail house mails to whatever the agent requests as far as demographics go, because the agent is the customer paying for the drop. The mail house only makes suggestions to the agent, not the final decision.

 

[Daytona_Guy]

FE by phone, itself does not work any longer.
There's a MUCH easier way today. That's the point.

Well then....why did you mail to that demographic? I may be wrong, but I assume you mailed to the $15k and less income level because that's where your leads came from.....the dirty, nasty, no $$$, no bank account, no running water type of trailers. Did I miss something?

The typical mail house mails to whatever the agent requests as far as demographics go, because the agent is the customer paying for the drop. The mail house only makes suggestions to the agent, not the final decision.

 

[theinsuranceman]

FE by phone, itself does not work any longer.
There's a MUCH easier way today. That's the point.

LOL....OK. Why doesn't FE tele-sales work any longer? Why are more FE Co.'s embracing FE tele-sales now than one year ago?

That's like saying selling Med Supps over the phone with a computer type enrollment doesn't work any longer.

Both will become more mainstay as time goes on.