Getting Started In Final Expense

[sirherbie]

How do you think Fe co's can insure so many risks? Its very simple as few people keep policies long enough to have a death benefit. As the article says lapses are were the money's at.

 

[HoosierLife]

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

Are you a woman? No offense lol. I asked two simple questions. Reminds me of how women answer.

 

[Laying3]

I know I will probably get bashed for this, but I am going to give a few tips and pointers for the 10s of thousands of agents that read here but don't post. Might help some new posters as well hopefully. For experienced agents, this should be a thing of the past or common sense!

If you want to get in this, the first thing is to realize this is not a job! This is a business and career! It has to be treated that way. If I told you I would hire you tomorrow on a farm 1 mile from your house and I would pay you 1 million per year, I bet you wouldn't tell me you couldn't start because you don't have a car! You would beg, borrow, and steal to get a car, or you would just walk to work! That being said, this job takes money to get started but it doesn't take an unobtainable amount of money.

First things first you will need to get your E&O insurance. I can't stand when agents tell me they only want the companies that does not require E&O. That is like a hamburger with no meat. You have to be able to come up with 100-200 to get E&O insurance started.

You will also need to have money set aside for leads. Amount really depends on your area. Michigan wouldn't take as much as California or Florida. There are exceptions but they are RARE!!! When I started I was broke and there was no way I could afford DM leads. But fortunately before Oct. 2009 Press 1 (RoboDialer) leads were LEGAL! So I could buy them for $2.50 per lead when I started out. Here is the catch though...I had to travel to get them. I bought 50 a week and traveled to Alabama or Tennessee and worked them to death.

I say that because you will either need money to get going or a ridiculous work ethic. You can't say you don't have money for DM leads so you buy TM leads but you don't want to drive more than 20 miles from home and none of your appointments can be more than 10 minutes apart. Might as well look into another line of work!

Agents call me and tell me how they are getting into FE because they were told how great of a career it is and it sounds like exactly what they were looking for! Then they go on to tell me they are broke, can only work 1 day a week, can't drive more than .0029938 miles per day, ect..... Being broke is not always a deal breaker, but you have to be coachable and get someone to put you on a system that will eventually have you on consistent DM leads. Then you have to be willing to actually do the work and do as they say to get you there!

If you can get through all of this and actually get E&O and get contracts submitted, you still have to treat it like a business....
-Keep records for your new writing numbers and login/passwords
-Start studying the presentation, cheat sheets, recordings your up line sends you
-Look over the sample apps your up line sends you (if they offer this)
-Be proactive and call the companies you get numbers for and order supplies
-Write a SAMPLE app on yourself when you get your supplies
-Record yourself doing a presentation on your wife/husband, mom dad someone...and send that to your up line for guidance.
-Take notes after every real presentation you do once you start

I will give an example of an agent that doesn't want to make it...I had someone brand new get some FRESH DM leads in. He wanted to call through and set apts on them (against my advice). He called me complaining about how the leads suck and he got 1 out of 18 into apts. My response was to record what he is saying and send to me. Then when I didn't get a recording from him, I sent him some recordings of me doing apt setting and scripts on apt setting...the trick is, I sent him blank files. Absolutely nothing on them. I called him a day or two later and asked him if the stuff I sent helped? He said, "Not really, I am saying the exact same things you are!"

This job is an ART! Especially apt setting. One or two wrong words, or the right words at the wrong time and your % goes down tremendously. JD makes it look easy but I bet if you PM him and ask he will tell you how bad he sucked at it when he started! You have to learn this business.

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 know this is long and probably a lot of errors but please forgive me because I live in missusuipii!

I didn't take the time to read through this and add more or delete so I know there is probably a lot more to add to this but I hope for the new agent you read this and see what it really takes to make it in this job! I have helped several agents start and the ones that are coachable and willing to do whatever it takes is making a lot of money. The ones that are know it alls and want to dictate how it is done, please save Newby, Brad, Myself, Todd, Twilight, Spur, Doug and others the headache!

Successful people do what unsuccessful people wouldn't!

Just my .02

So right about treating FE as a business and not a job!!!

 

[WholeLife]

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.

Crane, if you have that big of a problem with persistency, maybe you should take a look at your sales practices or your target market. Yes, there is some lost business, but I see less than10% overall. That is expected, and certainly won't break me.

 

[Bcrane0305]

Crane, if you have that big of a problem with persistency, maybe you should take a look at your sales practices or your target market. Yes, there is some lost business, but I see less than10% overall. That is expected, and certainly won't break me.

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That is amazing. You must only work referrals? How many persist awards have you won. You should write a book on where to do business and which leads to work. 10 percent lost including ntos and non placement is amazing. Yeah I gotta get out the hood soon.
Tired of seeing people robbed over sneakers any my hard earned money going to their huge TVs

 

[WholeLife]

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That is amazing. You must only work referrals? How many persist awards have you won. You should write a book on where to do business and which leads to work. 10 percent lost including ntos and non placement is amazing. Yeah I gotta get out the hood soon.
Tired of seeing people robbed over sneakers any my hard earned money going to their huge TVs

I write rural and small towns. You couldn't pay me enough to work the hoods.

 

[daisyq]

Ben, your story is very inspiring, thanks for sharing it. You add so much value to this forum.

Thanks to everyone else that helps us newbys.

 

[1968chevy]

It is nice hearing that the craziness that has happened to me is not unique, and probably not even unusual. I started captive, on a 30% contract with production bonuses. My own gas and hotel, strict door knocking. Went broke then went independent. Heavy hitters like JD and Ben sharing their first experiences, and they were a lot like mine, really hit home. Thanks guys.

 

[wynne]

Great Posts Ben. You are so right on the money with everything you wrote about this business.

So sorry to learn of the loss of your son. God love ya buddy!

 

[bboman23]

Great Posts Ben. You are so right on the money with everything you wrote about this business.

So sorry to learn of the loss of your son. God love ya buddy!

Thanks buddy! Hardest thing I've ever dealt with. His name was Kendall Chase Boman