Final Expense Telesales | The Good & The Bad

[Jccwell]

But you got to take in account the way some of these telesales platforms work many agents seem to be able to hit $20-$40 k a month in premium due to a host of things . No windshield time allows a telesales guy to give 2 times the presentations of a day vs am avg face to face agebt . Me personally if I’m working 9-8 I’m in the car a min 3 hrs of total drive time for everything . Also over the past 4 yrs telesales has changed for a few reasons . Tons more carriers have jumped in so many more competitive carriers to sell . I’m shocked everyday how many of our clients are on Facebook and online so much more vol of leads possible .

I poo pooed telesales for yrs but it’s definitely become a viable platform . All the above is good but on saving a nsf a face to face agent has a far far greater chance of saving it . Telesales is much tougher for the avg agent as he can’t gauge many emotions or feelings of a client . Although I don’t sell telesales I’m very open to how it’s exploded on the fe side the past 3 yrs . At some pt I’ll transition to 1/2 telesales .

Right. But the majority of telesales agents are purchasing a ton of leads to hit those numbers. There are some telesales agents who generate their own leads on Facebook for $10 or less per lead. But they’re the exception.

With Face-to-face sales, some agents can produce $20k or more on $2k lead spend. Maybe there are some telesales agents doing that, but I’m betting those are the ones generating their own Facebook leads.

 

[Jccwell]

But you got to take in account the way some of these telesales platforms work many agents seem to be able to hit $20-$40 k a month in premium due to a host of things . No windshield time allows a telesales guy to give 2 times the presentations of a day vs an avg face to face agent.Me personally if I’m working 9-8 I’m in the car a min 3 hrs of total drive time for everything . Also over the past 4 yrs telesales has changed for a few reasons . Tons more carriers have jumped in so many more competitive carriers to sell . I’m shocked everyday how many of our clients are on Facebook and online so much more vol of leads possible .

I poo pooed telesales for yrs but it’s definitely become a viable platform . All the above is good but on saving a nsf a face to face agent has a far far greater chance of saving it . Telesales is much tougher for the avg agent as he can’t gauge many emotions or feelings of a client . Although I don’t sell telesales I’m very open to how it’s exploded on the fe side the past 3 yrs . At some pt I’ll transition to 1/2 telesales .

I had a telesales agent friend in NC who was writing $4k each week consistently. But between lead costs and chargebacks, he was not netting enough to pay his bills. Now, he’s out of the business.

 

[Agentguy5]

That's good. What I'm saying is that persistency and placement for telesales are worse than face-to-face. 90% first-year persistency is what I'd expect from a solid face-to-face agent.

A solid Remote agent is seeing about the same... it's all about what they do AFTER the sale that matters... (as you know)

 

[DonP]

I had a telesales agent friend in NC who was writing $4k each week consistently. But between lead costs and chargebacks, he was not netting enough to pay his bills. Now, he’s out of the business.

And Ive heard the same story’s . I definitely think the avg agent has a much better chance of success face to face in fe . Fe clients overall are much less loyal and lonely thus fill many types of leads out . So that face to face component could be important. I have no doubt overall persistency across the fe telesales space 10-15% lower than face to face . But that lower persistency might be made up with vol . At the end of the day all that matters is what you deposit not gross rev . Never forget the person overriding you makes his money on the gross not net . So wether it costs you $100 or $200 k of total expense and chargebacks to do $300 k premium he makes the same . But you don’t .The appeal to telesales is agents burned out grinding and driving so much

 

[Jccwell]

A solid Remote agent is seeing about the same... it's all about what they do AFTER the sale that matters... (as you know)

Earlier you said 80%...

After the sale, I send a thank you card and answer my phone if they call. That's it. Nothing crazy.

 

[Agentguy5]

This thread is a good example of why hundreds of agents won't come here anymore. You state an apinion based on True Experience and you get punched in the gut. You get drawn back in to deflect the punch and you get slapped in the face... And by people who don't even have personal experience with the subject matter.... I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

 

[jdeasy]

This thread is a good example of why hundreds of agents won't come here anymore. You state an apinion based on True Experience and you get punched in the gut. You get drawn back in to deflect the punch and you get slapped in the face... And by people who don't even have personal experience with the subject matter.... I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

No you didn’t.

You came on with a recruiting pitch and made some claims. When questioned on the claims you changed your story. Twice.

I can understand you not wanting your agents to come here.

What DonP said is correct. The people at the top of the pyramid don’t care what it costs the agent to write the business. They make the same over ride.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Here's my 2 cents: I've been selling FE face 2 face since 1999 and doing FE telesales since 2004. 10 years ago I was sharing info up here that FE telesales worked, but everyone else up here said it was a failed business model, persistency was bad, yada, yada.

Some of the naysayers 10 years ago (who had zero experience with FE telesales at the time) are now promoting FE telesales. Imagine that!

Telesales has evolved quite a bit the last 10 years. Outbound telesales has been dying a slow quiet death the last few years. Closing % on outbound telesales was always slightly lower than face 2 face but could be made up because you could give many more presentations per 40 hour week. In other words, even though your closing % was less, which required more leads, you could overcome that hurdle because you could give many more presentations via telesales. 6 sales with 20 leads doesn't make you as much $$$ as 9 sales with 40 leads...in the same 40 hours. Profit per hour is the true metric.

People are now a little more comfortable doing things over the phone including giving their soc # and bank info over the phone. But because the pick up the phone rate has plummeted telesales has evolved to where inbound telesales is the new kid in town. Inbound calls from prospects started with the overseas call centers, along with the associated DNC risks.

Now inbound calls are being generated by TV commercials, not from some overseas call center. Live transfers from TV commercials that are only about 45 sec old when an agent starts their conversation with the lead are closing about 6-10 out of 20 live TV transfers. I'd also say persistency with live TV transfers is higher that it was with outbound dialing a few years ago.

With people not answeing their phone (caller ID) and now we see more and more people becoming less likely to answer their door (smart door bells) the inbound transfer will be the best way to talk to lots of leads. And the best inbound transfer is a live TV transfer. It's the best FE lead I've ever seen since 1999.

 

[jdeasy]

Here's my 2 cents: I've been selling FE face 2 face since 1999 and doing FE telesales since 2004. 10 years ago I was sharing info up here that FE telesales worked, but everyone else up here said it was a failed business model, persistency was bad, yada, yada.

Some of the naysayers 10 years ago (who had zero experience with FE telesales at the time) are now promoting FE telesales. Imagine that!

Telesales has evolved quite a bit the last 10 years. Outbound telesales has been dying a slow quiet death the last few years. Closing % on outbound telesales was always slightly lower than face 2 face but could be made up because you could give many more presentations per 40 hour week. In other words, even though your closing % was less, which required more leads, you could overcome that hurdle because you could give many more presentations via telesales. 6 sales with 20 leads doesn't make you as much $$$ as 9 sales with 40 leads...in the same 40 hours. Profit per hour is the true metric.

People are now a little more comfortable doing things over the phone including giving their soc # and bank info over the phone. But because the pick up the phone rate has plummeted telesales has evolved to where inbound telesales is the new kid in town. Inbound calls from prospects started with the overseas call centers, along with the associated DNC risks.

Now inbound calls are being generated by TV commercials, not from some overseas call center. Live transfers from TV commercials that are only about 45 sec old when an agent starts their conversation with the lead are closing about 6-10 out of 20 live TV transfers. I'd also say persistency with live TV transfers is higher that it was with outbound dialing a few years ago.

With people not answeing their phone (caller ID) and now we see more and more people becoming less likely to answer their door (smart door bells) the inbound transfer will be the best way to talk to lots of leads. And the best inbound transfer is a live TV transfer. It's the best FE lead I've ever seen since 1999.

Disagree with everything you said.

But pimp on!!

 

[theinsuranceman]

I had a telesales agent friend in NC who was writing $4k each week consistently. But between lead costs and chargebacks, he was not netting enough to pay his bills. Now, he’s out of the business.

Send him my number. Maybe I could help him.