First Option/EFES Phone Sales/Northstar?

[YaWatever]

Greetings--my FE tactics were pretty standard--E64 leads then calling/door knocking. It went really REALLY well for a few years and combined with MA SNPS and Med Supps was going very well

But the last few months that "system" just DIED--so I've decided GOT to make a change after I survive AEP

I got an email from EFES about their "Telesales" group--pretty low contract but ZERO lead costs, NO gas and tires, no crazy people at the door.

I spoke with First Option a year or so ago was was intrigued---but could not find ONE good or bad word about them anywhere. An information vacuum

And then recruited by "Northstar"--and again NO information to be found

Anyone have any "skinny" on any of these? Hey at this point even second hand would be great!

 

[Agentguy5]

But the last few months that "system" just DIED--so I've decided GOT to make a change after I survive AEP

Why don't you just try using a better quality lead? Something that mentions Final Expense Life Insurance will help to weed out some of the dead beats.

or

Expand your territory

 

[sirherbie]

Reading the original post my first thought is you're trying to be a "jack of all trades". I just don't think you can master both fe and med supps. If you had concentrated 90% on med supps and ma you should be writing 100-150 a yr which with 97% or so persistency you should be at $100k of income . Throw in some fe cross sales of $20-$25k a yr and its a good living.I'll say few make it in Fe telesales as the closing ratio is very low and the persistency has to be horrid. These people must be sold face to face. Establishing some type of bond and trust is imperative to keeping it on the books.

 

[gymguy]

Reading the original post my first thought is you're trying to be a "jack of all trades". I just don't think you can master both fe and med supps. If you had concentrated 90% on med supps and ma you should be writing 100-150 a yr which with 97% or so persistency you should be at $100k of income . Throw in some fe cross sales of $20-$25k a yr and its a good living.I'll say few make it in Fe telesales as the closing ratio is very low and the persistency has to be horrid. These people must be sold face to face. Establishing some type of bond and trust is imperative to keeping it on the books.

Why does it have to be horrid?

 

[Agentguy5]

Why does it have to be horrid?

I'm curious, what kind of persistence are you seeing with phone sales?

 

[sirherbie]

Gymguy it doesn't have to be horrible but according to many on here outside you of course it hasn't been good. Would you agree overall it is horrid?I just go by what I read as I've never done it. But what I see daily pounding the pavement I can't imagine the people I deal with buying over the phone or keeping it.

 

[Bcrane0305]

Gymguy it doesn't have to be horrible but according to many on here outside you of course it hasn't been good. Would you agree overall it is horrid?I just go by what I read as I've never done it. But what I see daily pounding the pavement I can't imagine the people I deal with buying over the phone or keeping it.[/ daviso told me direct mail is bad for phone sales. Gotta focus on tv leads throughout country and have good follow system.

 

[gymguy]

Gymguy it doesn't have to be horrible but according to many on here outside you of course it hasn't been good. Would you agree overall it is horrid?I just go by what I read as I've never done it. But what I see daily pounding the pavement I can't imagine the people I deal with buying over the phone or keeping it.

I cant really say overall what people experience out there in regards to telesales persistency. Have I heard people say its bad? Sure I have. I just personally have no way of knowing exactly what others have achieved because I am not them. However, if I was betting, I would bet that most telesales people or groups have bad persistency. In my opinion, it all comes down to how you sell this when doing it over the phone. If you have the mindset to never stop until the deal is done on the first call, you are going to run into serious charge back hell. This of course is my opinion, and I have tested focusing on one call closing everyone, and it did not go well at all.

My point by asking that question was simply to debunk the idea that telelsales persistency HAS to be bad. Plenty of field people have great persistency and the people they sell are for the most part the same type of people I sell. The only difference is the process. If your process is designed in such a way as to not slam people, you wont have business quality issues. Sure doing phone sales you will probably run into more crazies etc, but overall its not like doing this via phone inherently puts you in touch with people who represent massive charge back risk.

The key is to identify when to walk away, and I do that. You can tell on the phone when people are a straight up liability. I walk from those people. I would say however the biggest reason I have amazing quality of business is because of how I sell. As I pointed out in my telesales tips thread, I don't sell to people who aren't genuinely interested in FE. People who are, want it and will keep it if you sell properly.

 

[sirherbie]

Most field guys know Fe is a 1 close call period . If you leave the house without a sale the chances of getting back in are slim to none . Since you rarely 1 close call im wondering how many people to recall back that seemed interest never re answer the phone? Plus I'm assuming you require many more leads than a field person

 

[jdeasy]

Greetings--my FE tactics were pretty standard--E64 leads then calling/door knocking. It went really REALLY well for a few years and combined with MA SNPS and Med Supps was going very well

But the last few months that "system" just DIED--so I've decided GOT to make a change after I survive AEP

I got an email from EFES about their "Telesales" group--pretty low contract but ZERO lead costs, NO gas and tires, no crazy people at the door.

I spoke with First Option a year or so ago was was intrigued---but could not find ONE good or bad word about them anywhere. An information vacuum

And then recruited by "Northstar"--and again NO information to be found

Anyone have any "skinny" on any of these? Hey at this point even second hand would be great!

I have found that the telesales for FE is a failed model for the independent agent working as a sole proprietor.

Doesn't mean there aren't exceptions to the rule. I heard of a couple exceptions. One has posted in this thread, gymguy. I have no idea who he is but I can tell from his prior posts that he is the real deal and knows what he's doing. If I were going to pursue FE telesales I would be all over him to garner info from him.

The rest are pretty much posers. One guy mentioned TD. That's a frickin joke. That's a guy that's never produced in any manner. He used to push DK'ing but the truth was he never sold DK'ing either.

Now he's pushing TV leads for FE phone sales. You think the fact that he sells TV leads has anything to do with that recommendation?

Insuranceman always claimed to be the master at FE phone sales but that was because he was recruiting telesales agents. He did seem to have a handle on telesales. Nothing to the extent of gymguy though.

If you are dead set on giving it a go then give it 100% and don't have a plan B. The people at EFES are top notch. I don't know the first thing about their FE telesales division but I do know the guy that heads it up and he is a straight arrow.

Still, my first order of business would be to have a conversation one on one with gymguy before I made another move.