Getting Started In Final Expense

[Glen Shelton]

So where's this farm you speak of and when do I start?

Sooo Ben is now recruiting Farm hands?

If you are an FE agent drop out, then the Boman Ranch is the place for you!!!!

Good post Benny -

 

[bboman23]

Sooo Ben is now recruiting Farm hands?

If you are an FE agent drop out, then the Boman Ranch is the place for you!!!!

Good post Benny -

Haha not yet! Appreciate it

 

[Ronnie Carter]

Awesome thread, let me chime in too. Thanks Ben for investing the time to type it out for us. I know that takes awhile for a guy from Mississippi (just kidding).

This part was intriguing:

Also I wouldn't recommend apts unless you are getting a lot of leads! You only get 18 DM in one week, you better knock them all if you are wanting to make a decent living.

I've listened to one or two of your phone calls to set appointments. So do you recommend door knocking all your leads? I would actually like that since my least favorite part of this job is making outbound calls.

Thanks again for the great tidbits of information. I've had some uncoachable downlines in the life business in past years -- would be better suited selling shoes. Or "would you like fries with that?"

 

[bboman23]

I love running apts. But with 18 leads you will have a short week. Say you get 50%... that's only 9apts. That's one day of work. But the problem is that agents I've seen do this have a more wasteful week. Example. ...3 appointments Tuesday. 2 Wednesday. 2 Thursday. 2 Friday.

Getting up, getting dressed and driving to your area for 2 apts doesn't put the numbers in your favor and this is a numbers game.

Now if an agent is still willing to knock the other 9 even if they said no on the phone, then that's different. But I find most agents don't do that.

But agents getting 30 plus fresh DM leads. ..... ya they can run apts more effectively.

 

[PA Bill]

Granted, I am biased, as I am a doorknocker. But Ben's advice is spot on for a new agent, especially in regards to phoning. Phoning takes more leads to get the same amount of presentations. The big hitters on here can burn leads phoning in the name of time management. It is a tradeoff they can afford. New guys generally can't afford it, as they have more time than money.

Besides, dk'ing is the traditional method and a fundamental you will need anyway to approach people you can't get on the phone. Get good at the basics before graduating to more advanced techniques. Just my two cents.

p.s.-With the weather turning nice, having your butt on the street will lead to some unexpectedly good things happening. Can you say, "pennies from heaven"?

 

[Bcrane0305]

I don't know why you insist on majoring on the negative. However, your 60/50 figure is way off for an agent that does the job he is supposed to be doing. The $112B in face amount is only a small portion of the total face amount in force. The article is including term of which much of it is converted or has completed the initial term, having served the purpose for which it was bought. It also includes polices that are replaced.. A case of a person wanting to sell a magazine article claiming the sky is falling.

I strongly disagree, lapses, ntos are REAL in this business and you will sink or swim with them by the way you conserve them. 2) Written premium is a fairy tale joke. (Issued, paid) is the REAL deal. hiding negative information from new agents will only lead them to a higher fail rate. 112 billion lapses. That is how everyone makes their money. It's just the way it is...Whole Life Insurance Lapse Rates the more info a new agent has about the pitfalls the better he or she has to succeed. IMHO.

 

[HoosierLife]

I strongly disagree, lapses, ntos are REAL in this business and you will sink or swim with them by the way you conserve them. 2) Written premium is a fairy tale joke. (Issued, paid) is the REAL deal. hiding negative information from new agents will only lead them to a higher fail rate. 112 billion lapses. That is how everyone makes their money. It's just the way it is...Whole Life Insurance Lapse Rates the more info a new agent has about the pitfalls the better he or she has to succeed. IMHO.

How long have you been at this again? And aren't you like 25 or something?

 

[Bcrane0305]

How long have you been at this again? And aren't you like 25 or something?

Just trying to help. I wish I would have known about info like this when I started.. 2 years and something like that.. All the dirt needs to come out for new agents or they will most likely fail and feel misled. One thing I would never do to a new agent is mislead him in any way.. I started out hearing a guy on a securus call and he was exaggerating the demand for this.. He made it sound like everyone who sent the mailer was waiting for us and if we did not make 13 appointments out of 15 leads and atleast 9 sales we were losers. READY TO BUY BABY BOOMERS. He would yell that numerous times into the phone on the sales call and calculate our earnings on a 70 percent contract and 100 percent persistancy (jokes) IF tenacity, hard work, obstacles Ect are covered then it is fair game and a lot of the time it is not. Not saying any imos on here mislead their agents. Just saying being prepared for obstacles and knowing the grind is important if you do not have 50k to invest

 

[rousemark]

I strongly disagree, lapses, ntos are REAL in this business and you will sink or swim with them by the way you conserve them. 2) Written premium is a fairy tale joke. (Issued, paid) is the REAL deal. hiding negative information from new agents will only lead them to a higher fail rate. 112 billion lapses. That is how everyone makes their money. It's just the way it is...Whole Life Insurance Lapse Rates the more info a new agent has about the pitfalls the better he or she has to succeed. IMHO.

After surviving in this business for over 40 years, I think i know what is real.

Fact: the $112 B figure has nothing to do with "written premium"... It involves the face amount of issued and paid policies.. NTO are not counted as lapses

Fact: the bulk of agent compensation is paid in the first year of a policy. The $112B counts lapses in all years, even polices that are 20 or more years old that have little, if any effect on the agent compensation.

Fact: the average agent has nowhere near the lapse ration during the first 24 months. If they did, many companies would terminate them for poor persistency.

Yes, the agent needs to be aware of the pitfalls of poor perssistency but when it comes to agent compensation, the majority of the $112B is much ado about nothing.

 

[Glen Shelton]

Just trying to help. I wish I would have known about info like this when I started.. 2 years and something like that.. All the dirt needs to come out for new agents or they will most likely fail and feel misled. One thing I would never do to a new agent is mislead him in any way.. I started out hearing a guy on a securus call and he was exaggerating the demand for this.. He made it sound like everyone who sent the mailer was waiting for us and if we did not make 13 appointments out of 15 leads and atleast 9 sales we were losers. READY TO BUY BABY BOOMERS. He would yell that numerous times into the phone on the sales call and calculate our earnings on a 70 percent contract and 100 percent persistancy (jokes) IF tenacity, hard work, obstacles Ect are covered then it is fair game and a lot of the time it is not. Not saying any imos on here mislead their agents. Just saying being prepared for obstacles and knowing the grind is important if you do not have 50k to invest

I will say when I first came into this business, the persistency % I think was a bit exaggerated to me. But it's just part of the biz.