Level Of Interest In Telemarketing Services

[Josh]

I think josh may have put me on ignore....

Are you ready for the personal attention you've been craving?
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Your second option would be more interesting than the first. $35 an hour seems pretty high without results. But then again, on the second option, the agent would probably be better off taking the whole thing into their own hands.

$35/hour is high, but reasonable. Agents pay for marketing without any guarantee of results every day. They do it as direct mail and that's a bit different, but it's the same guarantee.

I don't think it will work Josh. As soon as a telemarketer has a bad day and calls 6-8 hours with no leads that us going to tick an agent off that's paying $35 an hour. Ouch.

I'll give you that most agents are going to be torqued after 6-8 hours with no leads. In the med supp world that would be extremely unlikely, with FE possible, with business health insurance almost impossible. What it does do is let an agent have a guarantee the calls will be made. On most of these per lead outfits the agent has no idea if they're even calling. If an agent got a report breaking down every call that happened, that would be a different story altogether.

To your comment about it not working, it is already working. There are already companies offering this type of service and there are companies charging $38/hour without using a predictive dialer, and agents are paying it.

Telemarketers need to be paid on performance and per hour. There is no other way to do it that I can think of.

As long as there is a good hourly rate and the bonus is just that, a bonus, that's not a bad system. I've had a bunch of telemarketers work for me that were motivated by their desire to do a good job (and probably to also have continued employment).

 

[Aram Fingal]

I'd like to say at this point that Josh allowed me to try this service out a while back and I was happy enough with it. (I was NOT the guy who disputed the charge and whoever did that should be shot) I would rather get a few good solid leads then spend my day chasing down a bunch of crap to find out it's bogus and then spending a bunch of time trying to get the credit for it.

It probably wouldn't be something you could depend on for all of your leads, but then you shouldn't be depending on one source anyway.

The main reason it didn't work for me is that I'm a captive P&C agent so my closing ration (while good for captive) was not good enough to justify the expense. If I was an independent agent, I would probably sign up for this again.

Josh, PM me and I'll give you an address where to send my $25 Starbucks card...

 

[Josh]

I'd like to say at this point that Josh allowed me to try this service out a while back and I was happy enough with it. (I was NOT the guy who disputed the charge and whoever did that should be shot) I would rather get a few good solid leads then spend my day chasing down a bunch of crap to find out it's bogus and then spending a bunch of time trying to get the credit for it.

It probably wouldn't be something you could depend on for all of your leads, but then you shouldn't be depending on one source anyway.

The main reason it didn't work for me is that I'm a captive P&C agent so my closing ration (while good for captive) was not good enough to justify the expense. If I was an independent agent, I would probably sign up for this again.

Josh, PM me and I'll give you an address where to send my $25 Starbucks card...

I'll get that card out tomorrow

 

[Rearden]

The problem with another FE TM company that I and others recently did business with is they start the recording of the conversation mid-conversation.

Yes, the "prospect" does answer the questions in the affirmative, but, after you speak to 80% of the leads and they tell you they aren't the least-bit interested, it makes you wonder what the TM said to convince the lead to agree to the call. (As I'm assuming they are compensated on how many leads they successfully close considering their criteria.

Call it paranoia, but the quality of leads was truly lacking with this particular company.

But I would definitely buy TM leads or pay someone to develop them if it was viable to pick up 20% to 25% of them as clients.

 

[Josh]

But I would definitely buy TM leads or pay someone to develop them if it was viable to pick up 20% to 25% of them as clients.

At what price point?

 

[timamr]

Well, I am broke but whenever I get out of some debt, I plan on using telemarketers--I used them for another business I used to own that had nothing to do with insurance but they were "in-house" and I personally trained them. I can set my own appointments but find it so dang boring. So I am obviously interested in the near future as to what you could offer. Maybe you should talk to this dude also:

TELEMARKETING / SALES / APPOINTMENTS

He is always posting on craigslist for his service of over 17 yrs cold calling. Kinda makes me wonder why he is posting all the time in every major city (Florida) if he is so good, but who knows, he may just need extra clients nowadays. Sound pretty cheap and reasonable, and if I read his ad right, he supplies the list. I have not personally spoken to him but I may one day because his rates seem reasonable.

ps: I don't know the dude from Adam so please do not think I am promoting. Just offering input.

 

[Josh]

I think a buddy of mine tried them without much success. If memory serves the guy is dialing by hand. Even dialing by hand a good telemarketer is worth $15/hour. My guess is he outsources it and he's not actually the one doing the dialing.

 

[djs]

Well Josh, I've said this before and still stand by it. If you do the math, for P&C, $35 an hour will bankrupt the agent. It's pretty simple.

Other areas might have better luck, but in my area, the numbers simply don't work.

I can pay someone $15 an hour on a dialer and then the numbers are far more attractive. And since I can do this, I'm not sure why I'd pay $35 an hour. I'm missing something here.

Now, if you are committed to providing telemarketers with a minimum of 3 years experience, then yes, they are worth more than the $15, maybe $20-$25. Why? Because they should know the difference between a real lead and an enticed lead and indicate it correctly.

I have NEVER figured out why anyone would (or should) pay $35 an hour for a telemarketer in the insurance business. The most I've paid is $25, no guarantees, calling into a specialty niche. Lost my shirt. Telemarketer (who I'll grant you was good) did well.

Dan

 

[Josh]

Well Josh, I've said this before and still stand by it. If you do the math, for P&C, $35 an hour will bankrupt the agent. It's pretty simple.

My only adjustment to that would be is if we're talking strictly personal lines. Commercial is a whole different critter.

Other areas might have better luck, but in my area, the numbers simply don't work.

I can pay someone $15 an hour on a dialer and then the numbers are far more attractive. And since I can do this, I'm not sure why I'd pay $35 an hour. I'm missing something here.

That's the route I would think folks should/would go, but there is a learning curve to hiring and training telemarketers as well as managing them and making adjustments to campaigns. That expertise comes at a cost. It's a turnkey solution and that would be the incentive.

Now, if you are committed to providing telemarketers with a minimum of 3 years experience, then yes, they are worth more than the $15, maybe $20-$25. Why? Because they should know the difference between a real lead and an enticed lead and indicate it correctly.

We may be comparing apples to turnips. You pay a telemarketer directly and things are a lot different than if you're paying someone else to manage the whole thing start to finish. The $15-$25/hour range sounds fair to generous for hiring someone directly, but if you don't want to spend time finding the right telemarketer, training them, figuring out mistakes you're making, and get beat by the learning curve, that's where that extra money comes.

I have NEVER figured out why anyone would (or should) pay $35 an hour for a telemarketer in the insurance business. The most I've paid is $25, no guarantees, calling into a specialty niche. Lost my shirt. Telemarketer (who I'll grant you was good) did well.

To me it's as simple as any other marketing strategy, can it generate good leads that are easy to convert. That's it. If it takes a telemarketer 10 hours to get 5 FE leads which result in $1,000 GWP we're talking more than doubling the investment without having to talk to anyone that hasn't already said yes to a telemarketer. It could realistically also result in 10 hours of dialing and zero leads, but that's the same guarantee that comes along with direct mail, except once you do a direct mail drop you have to then call through those as well.


It seems like the self-managed solution is getting some attention.

 

[hogosuru]

If it takes a telemarketer 10 hours to get 5 FE leads which result in $1,000 GWP we're talking more than doubling the investment without having to talk to anyone that hasn't already said yes to a telemarketer.

$35/hour is a little steep for FE lead gen. Agents are usually willing to pay about $20 per lead, or per hour. You would do best if you charged by the lead and took on the risk. My telemarketers consistently produce 1.5 leads an hour in FE campaigns (2 point lead avg for veteran TMs). At $19-20/each, you are looking at a revenue of at least $30/hr per TM. Wages average $10-15/hr...so, you can see how this produces a win-win situation for both the agent and the TM agency.