How do you measure up? Senior Market Survey

[rousemark]

Wonder how you are doing compared to other agents?

2021 State of the Senior Market Independent Agent Report | New Horizons (newhorizonsmktg.com)

 

[somarco]

Thanks for sharing.

Key takeaways:

• An average senior market agent is a male in his 50s. (I passed that mile marker several years ago, but I am a male)
• Nearly 2 in 5 surveyed agents make over $100,000 per year. (check)
• Agents who make more than $200,000 annually offer six or more products. (Shy of $200k and only offer one product)
• Of agents who make $200,000 or more per year, 80.95% said their #1 lead source is referrals or word-of-mouth. (guesstimate, 60 - 70% referrals)
• 56% of survey respondents have no thought-out succession plan. (I have one but needs updating)
• The single largest challenge agents faced during the pandemic was not seeing clients face-to-face. (not an issue with me - telephonic sales for almost 30 years)
• The most popular CRM among surveyed agents is AgencyBloc followed by MedicareCENTER and Salesforce. (I don't have a CRM)

 

[BibH]

Thanks for sharing.

Key takeaways:

• An average senior market agent is a male in his 50s. (I passed that mile marker several years ago, but I am a male)
• Nearly 2 in 5 surveyed agents make over $100,000 per year. (check)
• Agents who make more than $200,000 annually offer six or more products. (Shy of $200k and only offer one product)
• Of agents who make $200,000 or more per year, 80.95% said their #1 lead source is referrals or word-of-mouth. (guesstimate, 60 - 70% referrals)
• 56% of survey respondents have no thought-out succession plan. (I have one but needs updating)
• The single largest challenge agents faced during the pandemic was not seeing clients face-to-face. (not an issue with me - telephonic sales for almost 30 years)
• The most popular CRM among surveyed agents is AgencyBloc followed by MedicareCENTER and Salesforce. (I don't have a CRM)

No crm ? You keep everything in a folder ? I've been resisting it but I'm looking at zoho . I'm going to get the dialer phone burner which allows you to call with different #'s and you can log in with a cell phone and use . So my caller can use.

 

[rousemark]

No crm ? You keep everything in a folder ? I've been resisting it but I'm looking at zoho . I'm going to get the dialer phone burner which allows you to call with different #'s and you can log in with a cell phone and use . So my caller can use.

Have you looked at Agent Autopilot?

 

[somarco]

Have you looked at Agent Autopilot?

Glanced at it a few months ago. Seemed to have a lot more than I need at this point. I might pull the trigger this time around.

If it works for me, great.

If not, I have tossed $$$ in to the fire before so this won't be the last time.

 

[HoosierLife]

Glanced at it a few months ago. Seemed to have a lot more than I need at this point. I might pull the trigger this time around.

If it works for me, great.

If not, I have tossed $$$ in to the fire before so this won't be the last time.

That's actually good feedback. If I were to ever strip some feature/benefits out to possibly create a lower price tier, what wouldn't you want/need?

 

[BibH]

Josh can this do what phone burner does ? Can the dialer call all over the country and show the area code for the area your calling? How do i know you being an agency you don't steal my client info? What happens if one learns this and you stop selling and upgrading the software as you just started recently ?

 

[somarco]

That's actually good feedback. If I were to ever strip some feature/benefits out to possibly create a lower price tier, what wouldn't you want/need?

Without really studying it, I can't say right off the top. But my situation is different from perhaps most of your clients. I have had an online presence for 20 years and I have automated many things but at the same time include "touch" points . . . kind of like retail sales people.

Not the ones that hang around like vultures, but those who introduce themselves, ask if you have questions, then step away but maintain eye contact to see if you need anything else.

My prospect world is all virtual. Instead of being around physically I use autoresponders and a monthly informative (but not "salesy" electronic newsletter. Different kinds of "light touch" to let folks know I am there to answer questions but never any pressure to buy.

People love to buy but hate to be sold (Jeff Gitomer).

My auto responder is tied to a quote engine. My website, YT channel and social media forums will funnel folks to the quote engine landing page. Once a quote is generated I get an email with their information. It also triggers a series of informative emails built around "Did you know that . . ."

All this is soft selling designed to make them think about how little they really know about Medicare . . . and hopefully lead them to me for answers to questions they never knew they had.

I don't set appointments per se, but rather invite folks to call or email anytime they have questions.

So much of what I do alread IS automated and somewhat integrated but a lot of high (virtual) touch.

Looking at your site again . . .

My "nurturing" emails have been effective so far but could always stand to be tweaked.

I don't need a power dialer because I wait for folks to come to me . . . low hanging fruit.

My CRM is extremely low touch. I use Gmail and Google contacts which integrate seamlessly. I could set up birthday reminders, anniversaries, etc if I wanted but my newsletter serves to keep me in front of clients and prospects. Folks who are 65+ don't really care about being reminded they are getting older . . .

I don't buy leads so lead management is something I don't need.

And I use Google calendar that has reminders for me and can be offered to the public if they want to schedule a meeting, but everything I do is more spontaneous vs planned.

This is probably more than you want and I don't know if this is helpful. Again, my situation is different and I don't need training but I can see how a tool like this can be great for someone looking to automate and help build their business, as long as they see your CRM as an investment, not a cost.

Too often agents ask "how much will this cost me" vs "what is my INVESTMENT and what kind of ROI will I get back?".

 

[HoosierLife]

Josh can this do what phone burner does ? Can the dialer call all over the country and show the area code for the area your calling? How do i know you being an agency you don't steal my client info? What happens if one learns this and you stop selling and upgrading the software as you just started recently ?

Good questions.

You can purchase as many numbers as you want, local or toll free.

I get the reasoning behind wanting multiple local numbers, but for texting, and even calling, using toll free is going to best. Cell phone carriers are cracking down right now.

But a properly formatted email drip in front of the texts/calls will result in the prospect's caller ID showing "Maybe: Bibh" rather than a number anyways.

You can cycle through numbers in our system, but probably not as easily as phone burner. Our system is primarily a marketing and automation tool that also comes with a direct Twilio integration and a Dialer platform, whereas as Phoneburner started off as a Dialer and added other marketing features.

As to your second question, we deal with your data privacy in our terms and conditions:


Our Guarantee to You


You will retain exclusive rights to all leads and client data that you input into Agent Autopilot. We will not sell or otherwise share any data stored in Autopilot. We understand you are giving us your trust as we will be able to see and access your data and we want you to feel 100% secure in the safety of your data.

While we still have the agency, that is being run by managers. I liked selling insurance, I liked building, but I love automation and integrations.

My goal is to be in the OP's article as the most used automation software & CRM for insurance agents.

Im not going anywhere. Plus we already have a growing team to handle product, engineering, marketing, sales, customer success, and operations.

 

[HoosierLife]

Without really studying it, I can't say right off the top. But my situation is different from perhaps most of your clients. I have had an online presence for 20 years and I have automated many things but at the same time include "touch" points . . . kind of like retail sales people.

Not the ones that hang around like vultures, but those who introduce themselves, ask if you have questions, then step away but maintain eye contact to see if you need anything else.

My prospect world is all virtual. Instead of being around physically I use autoresponders and a monthly informative (but not "salesy" electronic newsletter. Different kinds of "light touch" to let folks know I am there to answer questions but never any pressure to buy.

People love to buy but hate to be sold (Jeff Gitomer).

My auto responder is tied to a quote engine. My website, YT channel and social media forums will funnel folks to the quote engine landing page. Once a quote is generated I get an email with their information. It also triggers a series of informative emails built around "Did you know that . . ."

All this is soft selling designed to make them think about how little they really know about Medicare . . . and hopefully lead them to me for answers to questions they never knew they had.

I don't set appointments per se, but rather invite folks to call or email anytime they have questions.

So much of what I do alread IS automated and somewhat integrated but a lot of high (virtual) touch.

Looking at your site again . . .

My "nurturing" emails have been effective so far but could always stand to be tweaked.

I don't need a power dialer because I wait for folks to come to me . . . low hanging fruit.

My CRM is extremely low touch. I use Gmail and Google contacts which integrate seamlessly. I could set up birthday reminders, anniversaries, etc if I wanted but my newsletter serves to keep me in front of clients and prospects. Folks who are 65+ don't really care about being reminded they are getting older . . .

I don't buy leads so lead management is something I don't need.

And I use Google calendar that has reminders for me and can be offered to the public if they want to schedule a meeting, but everything I do is more spontaneous vs planned.

This is probably more than you want and I don't know if this is helpful. Again, my situation is different and I don't need training but I can see how a tool like this can be great for someone looking to automate and help build their business, as long as they see your CRM as an investment, not a cost.

Too often agents ask "how much will this cost me" vs "what is my INVESTMENT and what kind of ROI will I get back?".

Agreed. You built your own tech stack. I did that as well. It was all held together with duct tape, glue, Zapier and webhooks.

Autopilot, in it's pre-built form, is primarily for agents that are working leads. If they're already buying leads every week and have less than 90 day old opt in leads they can drop in, they will receive immediate value as they work the system.

You're right, that it is an investment in their business and the long term campaigns and client retention touches will lead their business in the direction of what you have built.

But, what I've learned is that agents don't have early successes, they will cancel. So rather than primarily pitching this as a long term investment, I've directed the marketing at agents already buying leads.

Quick wins to make their money back and then start to educate them on what they can do with the program in the long run.

Everything you've built out could be replicated inside of Autopilot without needing multiple products, logins, or subscriptions to other services.

But unless you wanted to replace your tech stack with ours, I don't see why you want to throw $$$ in a fire with us.

As I said in another thread, Autopilot is great for agents with no tech skills to use our platform as is. Or with some diligence and our support, they could build out what you have in Autopilot.

That's my goal for agents, but most need the quick wins off the start so they will stick around long enough to see the long term value.