Hello All!
First off I want to apologize for the length of this message and if you want to TL; DR I certainly don't blame you. I joined this forum back in late 2008 because I was thinking about going into the insurance business. I ended up staying in Medical Sales in Nashville Tennessee because that is what I knew (20+ years). However, I am almost 54 years old and was just recently laid off from my job selling Electronic Medical Record (EMR) products into hospitals. It's a long story but I truly believe that I was discriminated against due to my age and might pursue some recourse later. That being said, I am still pretty sharp and have a BS/MS in Engineering and a MBA in Finance and Marketing so I can pick up information fairly quick.
Now selling and prospecting skills can transfer across industries so I believe I have a good foundation to grow from. I have done my share of cold calling and find that is not very efficient use of my time but sometimes it's necessary. I kept my H/L licenses current in Tennessee so I only need to take some refresher courses to get up to speed.
Here is my dilemma; I am not sure what products I should sell. I know you can't be all things to all people so focusing on certain product lines seems obvious. However, there are so many products out there (LTC, Health, Annuities, WL, Term, FE and others) I am finding it difficult to narrow down what to do. I have started to read the forum more heavily now that I don't have the distraction of a job
. I have started to drill down into the various products to look at what are their good and bad points are so any suggestions would be appreciated. I am just looking for any guidance you experts my have---the good and the bad.
My beautiful bride of almost 23 years is a RN at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville and makes pretty good money. We also have a daughter who will be a sophomore at the University of Alabama this fall. Money is and will be tight in the near future and while I want make money quickly as possible with insurance I also want to finish out my career in this industry so I am looking at everything from the present to a 15-20 year perspective.
My wife thinks that being a captive agent (working for the name-brands like State Farm, All State, Farmers, NYL etc.) has more security and a salary but I have read some of the horror stories about those companies that I am leery of them. Also I don't know if my age will be an issue with them since they seem to burn through the youngsters at an alarming rate. Being independent seems to be more flexible but you may have to really start at the bottom and try to claw and scrape to the top. I realize that being in insurance and sales in general is not for everyone but I do have a track record of being successful. These are just my thoughts and any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.
For the TL; DR crowd, I am 54 had a 20 year successful career in medical sales in Tennessee and what to know where the growth potential is with insurance and whether captive or independent is the way to go given my age and situation.
Thanks
Tennesseehorn
First off I want to apologize for the length of this message and if you want to TL; DR I certainly don't blame you. I joined this forum back in late 2008 because I was thinking about going into the insurance business. I ended up staying in Medical Sales in Nashville Tennessee because that is what I knew (20+ years). However, I am almost 54 years old and was just recently laid off from my job selling Electronic Medical Record (EMR) products into hospitals. It's a long story but I truly believe that I was discriminated against due to my age and might pursue some recourse later. That being said, I am still pretty sharp and have a BS/MS in Engineering and a MBA in Finance and Marketing so I can pick up information fairly quick.
Now selling and prospecting skills can transfer across industries so I believe I have a good foundation to grow from. I have done my share of cold calling and find that is not very efficient use of my time but sometimes it's necessary. I kept my H/L licenses current in Tennessee so I only need to take some refresher courses to get up to speed.
Here is my dilemma; I am not sure what products I should sell. I know you can't be all things to all people so focusing on certain product lines seems obvious. However, there are so many products out there (LTC, Health, Annuities, WL, Term, FE and others) I am finding it difficult to narrow down what to do. I have started to read the forum more heavily now that I don't have the distraction of a job
. I have started to drill down into the various products to look at what are their good and bad points are so any suggestions would be appreciated. I am just looking for any guidance you experts my have---the good and the bad. My beautiful bride of almost 23 years is a RN at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville and makes pretty good money. We also have a daughter who will be a sophomore at the University of Alabama this fall. Money is and will be tight in the near future and while I want make money quickly as possible with insurance I also want to finish out my career in this industry so I am looking at everything from the present to a 15-20 year perspective.
My wife thinks that being a captive agent (working for the name-brands like State Farm, All State, Farmers, NYL etc.) has more security and a salary but I have read some of the horror stories about those companies that I am leery of them. Also I don't know if my age will be an issue with them since they seem to burn through the youngsters at an alarming rate. Being independent seems to be more flexible but you may have to really start at the bottom and try to claw and scrape to the top. I realize that being in insurance and sales in general is not for everyone but I do have a track record of being successful. These are just my thoughts and any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.
For the TL; DR crowd, I am 54 had a 20 year successful career in medical sales in Tennessee and what to know where the growth potential is with insurance and whether captive or independent is the way to go given my age and situation.
Thanks
Tennesseehorn
