Many Questions from a Prospective Agent who Needs a Mentor

[Joel Ruprecht]

1. Is there a "right" type of insurance to sell if your younger, and can perhaps relate better with younger people?
2. Is starting out as an independent agent impractical?
3. Does any experienced agent have time to mentor me? if so, please email me at - JoelRuprecht at gmail
4. I have charisma and motivation, but is that enough?
5. Individual vs. commercial lines?

I recently was offered a job at BL, but everything I have read has thoroughly frightened me out of that boat, so I looked at selling independently, which seems to make the most sense in terms of making money and being your own boss, but can I acquire the necessary skills to make a decent living, strictly via mentoring and online classes? Or should I seek out employment to get the initial skills to go out on my own?

I would greatly appreciate some light shed on the matter

-Joel

 

[Josh]

Starting off independent as a young agent in and of itself isn't a problem, but the lack of experience is something that would probably kick your butt around the block and back. For a list of reasons, you're going to want to start off with someone.

You're not going to find anyone looking to mentor you for the sake of mentoring you. Allegedly there is a gentleman on here that is offering it, but the best mentoring and training you're going to get will come from someone with a financial interest in your success. The tone of this forum is "get top contracts with training and a guaranteed release upfront", but that's not going to help a new agent. A new agent needs to pay their dues. There are a number of shops that will take an agent for a ride without training them, but that's a different issue altogether. I started off with AIL at a "bad contract level" working "bad leads" and learned a TON, stuff I still use today, plus I made $7k my first month. I learned a great deal real fast. Yes, it was a low commission level with a product that wasn't priced very competitive, but it was honest work and I received training that was worth that in and of itself. Even at AIL each office is different.

Charisma, motivation, and a quarter won't buy you a cup of coffee. What you need is good training and a marketing plan that lets you get in front of people. You're two largest challenges as a new agent will be finding people to talk to and finding people to talk to. As an independent agent it's unlikely you're going to receive much guidance. Yes, there are hundreds (thousands?) of threads on here about leads and generating leads, but that only goes so far.

What attracts you to this business? If it's "being your own boss", that's not all it's cracked up to be. I love it for myself and wouldn't want it any other way, but some people need to go to work every day. It's difficult to find the motivation to constantly work, especially when things aren't going well. It's also difficult for most folks to realize that you are going to have feast and famine times. Yes, sometimes it's great. Other times, business can be slow. When it's slow, you generally still have to spend money on marketing.

 

[timamr]

Josh made alot of great points. I have less than 2 years in. I sell health ins and am captive. I make good commissions but recieve even better training. I cannot see how anyone would go independent right outta the gate, no matter what line of insurance you sell.

But I will answer ur questions one by one (my answers in BOLD):

1. Is there a "right" type of insurance to sell if your younger, and can perhaps relate better with younger people? I dont think it matters. I am in my 30's and talk to 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's and 60 year olds.

2. Is starting out as an independent agent impractical? I started another totally different sales biz independent and went the captive route for insurance and am glad I did. I get support, training, rah rah meetings and have learnt how to set appointments, get leads and more importantly, how to find leads


3. Does any experienced agent have time to mentor me? if so, please email me at - JoelRuprecht at gmail As Josh said, $$$ makes the World go round. Unless the have a vested interest in you, it aint happening for free. Keep learning on this here forum. Come to think of it, I get EXCELLENT mentoring by being captive because my managers/trainers have a vested interest in me! If I make money, they make money! The more I produce, the more they wanna help me!

4. I have charisma and motivation, but is that enough? Nope...never give up and dont get lazy. Never quit prosepcting, cold calling, marketing, etc. Cause if you stop for a couple few days, your paycheck is gonna suck the next week or two (I still have this problem but it gets preached to me so I am preaching it to you)

5. Individual vs. commercial lines? Being new, I would personally stick to individual, unless u have some sort of past sales experience dealing with commercial, like a commercial real estate agent or something.

 

[PhilL]

Joel, In what State are you planning to operate? I will be glad to talk to you and give you some free advice. If you are interested, just go to my website to get my phone number and/or email and get in touch with me.