Final Expense Telesales

[theinsuranceman]

I was just about ready to buy into it but then I got forwarded an e-mail last week from a Lincoln Heritage field rep.

He was trying to get a friend of mine who manages a funeral home to sell their Lincoln Heritage Pre-need Insurance.

When my friend had reservations about doing any business with LH because the LH final expense agents are telling families that they will MAKE the funeral homes sell funerals at lower prices...here comes the good part....the LH field rep sent an e-mail saying that they don't hardly sell any of that final expense product anymore. And the only people who buy it are (his words not mine) Mexicans.

Seems like a nice company with a LOT of ethics.

All I know is face to face. I would like to be able to an occasional phone sale though for people that are too far to drive to.

No matter which barrel of apples you look into....there's going to be some bad ones. You say this guy was a field rep (agent?). That's not the Co. making that stmt. but a field rep. making the stmt. Right?

 

[Tom Highway]

One other thing about doing FE exclusively by phone is that it limits a lot of what you can claim as a business expense, especially if you are working in a call center type office rather than a home office.

 

[WinoBlues]

sshafran said:""It would be interesting to see the statistics. Take 10 new agents of varying skills and backgrounds and have them sell FE over the phone.
Then take another batch of 10, same thing, varying skills and backgrounds, but have them sell FE in a more traditional way...............................""



Of my last twenty deals 5 were FE, 6 if you count a Genworth 30K on a 76 yr old.

You can see that I am not a big FE writer. More of a GP.

Three of the six were by phone. 50%. Which holds true for most of my business.

Of the Twenty cases. 9 were F2F, 11 by phone. About 50% The largest premium ($580 PC) and the smallest ($18 PC) were by phone.

Now the tough part. None were from a cold call.
12 were rewrites or conversions, Current clients. 6 were referrals and 2 were from an ophan death claim. Of the 11 by phone I have meet 4 F2F before. Maybe 10 years ago. My persistentcy is pretty good. First year is in the 90-95% range. On the other hand I am sure that I do not do anywhere near the numbers of apps as these guys.

I think that phone sales have an important part in my business. But I think that it would be tough to do it 100% of the time off of cold leads. But then again I have never done cold calling, so I would not know for sure.

My two cents

 

[theinsuranceman]

sshafran said:""It would be interesting to see the statistics. Take 10 new agents of varying skills and backgrounds and have them sell FE over the phone.
Then take another batch of 10, same thing, varying skills and backgrounds, but have them sell FE in a more traditional way...............................""



Of my last twenty deals 5 were FE, 6 if you count a Genworth 30K on a 76 yr old.

You can see that I am not a big FE writer. More of a GP.

Three of the six were by phone. 50%. Which holds true for most of my business.

Of the Twenty cases. 9 were F2F, 11 by phone. About 50% The largest premium ($580 PC) and the smallest ($18 PC) were by phone.

Now the tough part. None were from a cold call.
12 were rewrites or conversions, Current clients. 6 were referrals and 2 were from an ophan death claim. Of the 11 by phone I have meet 4 F2F before. Maybe 10 years ago. My persistentcy is pretty good. First year is in the 90-95% range. On the other hand I am sure that I do not do anywhere near the numbers of apps as these guys.

I think that phone sales have an important part in my business. But I think that it would be tough to do it 100% of the time off of cold leads. But then again I have never done cold calling, so I would not know for sure.

My two cents

I could never do FE tele-sales with cold leads. Every week we work 20-30 HOT, FRESH, EXCLUSIVE leads...either direct mail or TV. The only cold leads I can do would be cold calling face 2 face for FE.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One other thing about doing FE exclusively by phone is that it limits a lot of what you can claim as a business expense, especially if you are working in a call center type office rather than a home office.

You are right, you would miss the 55 cents (or whatever it is now) per mile using your personal car for business usage.

 

[Newby]

No matter which barrel of apples you look into....there's going to be some bad ones. You say this guy was a field rep (agent?). That's not the Co. making that stmt. but a field rep. making the stmt. Right?

Yeah I agree that the whole company can't be as big of goofus as that one. But he is a salaried employee of the company. And he is the only "face" of the company that the potential client funeral home will see.

In one sentance he dismisses an entire country of people like they are not important AND is obviously such an obvious liar that they can't trust a single word that comes out of his mouth (or in this case e-mail.)

That company has always seemed very substandard to me.

 

[WinoBlues]

I have not done the direct mail thing either. Actualy thinking of trying it this year. Not as a main stay. More of a way to build up my book in my home area.
Reading post from you guys has helped alot.
Not to mention also a bit entertaining.

I could never do FE tele-sales with cold leads. Every week we work 20-30 HOT, FRESH, EXCLUSIVE leads...either direct mail or TV. The only cold leads I can do would be cold calling face 2 face for FE.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


You are right, you would miss the 55 cents (or whatever it is now) per mile using your personal car for business usage.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Yeah I agree that the whole company can't be as big of goofus as that one. But he is a salaried employee of the company. And he is the only "face" of the company that the potential client funeral home will see.

In one sentance he dismisses an entire country of people like they are not important AND is obviously such an obvious liar that they can't trust a single word that comes out of his mouth (or in this case e-mail.)

That company has always seemed very substandard to me.

Then that a_ss should be reported to LH. He makes everyone look bad.

 

[magagent]

This could go on forever, anyway you slice it on the phone or face to face a new agent needs 30 fresh leads every week.

 

[Newby]

This could go on forever, anyway you slice it on the phone or face to face a new agent needs 30 fresh leads every week.

Or 5 referals.

 

[Tony T]

I'm in Northern NJ...Never thought FE mailers would get a great response in the urban areas...Figured it leant itself to rural areas...Jerry, please let me know if it works for you...Thanks, Tony