Loking for Help & Advice

[captain94]

"As I was making calls I just kept saying to myself there has to be another way to go about this."

No, there isnt. keep dialing.

"Geez, and here I thought you were a Medicare supplement expert there in Jerkwater, Virginia"

He is also a recruiter, United American style...

 

[Josh]

"As I was making calls I just kept saying to myself there has to be another way to go about this."

No, there isnt. keep dialing.

I'd argue there is a better way, but only to say using a predictive dialer rather than dialing by hand. Studies have proven it can help cure the 800lbs phone syndrome by using a headset instead of dialing by hand, but that doesn't change what you're doing.
Here are some free tips (that might only be worth what you paid for them) on how to make cold calling more effective:
-Use a targeted list. If you want people within certain areas and income requirements, buy that list and don't pay more than 3 or 4 cents/record for it. If you don't have a good list broker, call 714-698-5430 and Rob at LRG will take care of you.
-Use a direct script. Rather than trying to make nice with folks just ask them quickly and directly, to save you both time and energy, what you want. "Hi Harry Homeowner, I'm your local state farm agent and i'd like to see if we could (CLICK)". Why not try something more like "We're giving out free quotes on homeowners insurance, would you like to see if you could save some money?" If they say yes then you have a prospect, if they say no then hang up and your one call closer to your next prospect.
-Set reasonable goals of what you can accomplish. Rather than saying "I'm going to sell 10 insurance policies tonight", why not set goals of making 40 calls per hour (or more if you're using a predictive) so that you're goals are predicated on things YOU have control over. You cannot control whether someone says yes or no, but you can control how many phone calls you make. Once you've dialed for a bit you'll know that if you make 100 calls X amount of people will be interested in speaking with you on a favorable basis to discuss your product/services. You want know what the number is until you've made at least a few hundred phone calls.

Hope that helps!
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I hate scripts. Volume isn't always the answer.

When I was doing phone sales (advertising market, not insurance), I was researching my companies before calling. Build rapport. Get to know their company and pitch after you figure out a way that your product (insurance) fits in with them.

Ask some softball questions:
ie: I was on your website and it looks like you guys have a really solid company going. How many are on your team?

What are you talking about? Get to know there company before you're calling? I'd bet my Sunday dinner this person isn't doing anything with a large enough sales cycle to warrant that. On personal lines or even small group you're wasting your time researching a company for the 20-30 second call you're going to make. Cold calling is a shotgun approach that only works when well when you're making large numbers of calls. There is no magic to it besides doing the same thing repeatedly and doing it enough to get your desired results. The exception to that perhaps being if you're marketing or trying to sell something that has either a long sales cycle and requires developing a relationship over time (which most insurance products folks on this forum are marketing does not) or if there are so few prospects you have that you need to maximize each one (like if you bought 10 internet leads you just need to massage the hell out of because you can't afford to buy more and can't work up the courage to cold call).

 

[GreenSky]

Be careful. Dwayne will block you just like he's blocked me.

You don't want THAT!

Rick

 

[VaDwayne]

Geez, and here I thought you were a Medicare supplement expert there in Jerkwater, Virginia.

Hedging your bets?

As always, you are correct. You're amazing..

 

[peopleperson]

Bill Good, "Hot Prospects"
Amazon.com: Hot Prospects: The Proven Prospecting System to Ramp Up Your Sales Career (9781416542919): Bill Good: Books


Jay Conrad Levinson, "Guerilla Marketing"
Amazon.com: Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (9780618785919): Jay Conrad Levinson: Books



Between these two books, you'd have the ammunition and strategies that you need.

The key will be actually doing the work. That alone would set you apart from 85% of your competition, seriously.

.

And when you get down these 2 movies might help...

'Glenn Gary/ Glenn Ross' and 'Tin Men'... My favorite salesmen movies. Always makes me fell better...