Med supp leads

[wilkin]

Frank you are right on with your recommendations and I know this worked before Do Not Call restrictions, but today? Sure we can buy a list that has been scrubbed for DNC but there are not many left. In many areas only about 20% of the population IS NOT already on DNC. Imagine how many times a day these poor souls are being hit up by telemarketers from every industry including insurance.

Even if we mail out surveys and work the replys, we can only call the replys within 90 days and then their permission to call them expires.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

What si the DNC? I don't think we have that in IN.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Don't you think that the agent who spends $42,640 per year is making a deep six figure income?

Isn't his or her income more relevant than what an average agent makes?

There are a lot of agents who take pride in the great skills they have acquired over the years and the fact that they can do a superior job with a minimum of tools and advertising expense.

I have a lot of respect for agents who can do this job with nothing but their brains, their personality, a strong work ethic, a good suit, a few applications, a pen and a yellow pad.

However, there is more than one way to be successful in this business.

There are a lot of ways to fail as well. I'm sure that buying Internet leads is one way to fail for a lot of agents. In fact, the only reason I built my websites was that I couldn't find a decent lead generation company back in 2003. I wound up learning how to generate my own leads. Without any classes or mentoring, I taught myself three programming languages, web design, and search engine marketing. This was not the lazy person's way out. This was work.

I'm not currently in the senior market as an agent because the apps need to be witnessed and I'd have to leave my office to write the application. This is not proof of laziness. If I go on an appointment, I won't be available to answer my office phone and properly serve my clients. Nor will I be able to call my Internet visitors before they click on another website.

Direct mail is also a prospecting approach that I've seen work. When I worked for Mutual of Omaha, our GM brought our agency from being one of the five worst in the country to being one of the three best in the country. During that time all the heavy hitters in the office spent hundreds of dollars each month on direct mail.

You can use any method poorly and blame failure on the method. If you telephone prospect without a smile in your voice, or walk and talk with B.O., you just might fail. I think that many agents send out letters without cracking the first book on direct mail or advertise in newspapers without a clue about print advertising. Sometimes it is the method. But it is not always the method; sometimes it is the failure to research how to use that method well.

I really don't think the agent who is spending $820 per week on "leads" is making that much money. Just my opinion, I may very well be wrong.

I also admire people who work extremely hard with their "yellow pad and pen" but why are they still working that hard? I don't even own a Big Chief tablet and a box of sharp crayons any more. Nor do I wear a suit, I usually wear a pair of tailored Levies, a starched Polo shirt, and freshly polished pair of Cole Hann's.

I agree, there are lots of ways to be successful, but regardless of the method used, why not do it the smart, easy way?

I admire your ability to have both the time and knowledge to learn to program, build websites, etc. However, I have done the same thing, almost. I know the name and phone numbers of people who do that for a living. I'm an insurance agent. I neither have the time or inclination to do what I can pay to have done a lot better and faster by people who have the expertise in those fields. I have an unwritten agreement with them, they don't sell insurance and I don't write code.

You are taking my comments way too personally. They were not directed at you. No one would ever accuse you of being "lazy". On the contrary, if anything I think you spent way too much time learning how to do those things that were at your finger tips simply by making a couple of phone calls. How much business did you lose while you were doing all that yourself? I would never attempt to learn to write code and try to upgrade YIO by myself.

I understand you are not in the senior market, I still am. Your statement about the apps having to be witnessed proves you are not in the senior market. I have been selling to seniors for 14 years and I have never seen an app that had to be "witnessed". I sell to seniors in my underwear all the time. (Not in person of course, over the phone.) Face to face sales are not required for either Med Supps or any of the Advantage plans. There is a thread on that somewhere.

I also agree that direct mail can work. I have used it and made it work. However, it is a very expensive way of prospecting. Again, why spend so much money for a few cards that have the same information one can get by purchasing a list? Especially since the majority of seniors are not going to remember filling out the card.

I use to work my butt off knocking on doors and have spent a lot of money on "leads". From my personal experience and taking into consideration the way I "sell", purchasing "leads" it a total waste of time and money for me. I make more sales and spend a lot less money prospecting from a list.

You may very well have developed the Rosetta Stone for Med Supp "lead" generation, I sincerely hope so. If you have I'll even buy some, that is if you will sell me any. LOL

As I stated before, if they are really that good and that much better than all the others then you are giving them away at $4.50 per lead. Even if they aren't any better than all the rest, they are still a bargain for those who believe that a "hot lead" is the only kind of "lead" that is worth a damn.

 

[policy doctor]

What si the DNC? I don't think we have that in IN.
*** ******* ************** ************

Buying lists is getting more restrictive, esp if Medicare age.

I think using Haines directories, and just mailing your preferred area, will serve you just as well. And if you call them, it takes a lot to get fined.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Frank's post is excellent. I only have one question and one (long/overstated per usual... just to piss-off Rick ) observation.

Question: with the do-not-call list, who can you call? Can you buy lists of people who are NOT on it?

Comment: Drop the word senior from your vocabulary. I'm a few months from 60. While my 82 year old mother (who can kick YOUR butt!)

I'll bet my mother can kick your mother's butt.

So, how about the term "raisins"?

My mother neither likes "seniors" nor the term "seniors". She calls them "raising", you know, old people all wrinkled up. She hangs around with "youngsters" still in their 60's and early 70's. She likes to go to dinner, dance and travel. She says all her friends who are "her age" are dull and boring and all they do is sit around getting fat, bitching about their problems and talking about all the pills they take.

The no call list has never been a deterrent when prospecting. I have a Prospects database chock full of people I can call at any time. Lists of people also.

Thankfully Al, I am not trying to sell you a Med Supp policy, however, I can talk that talk and give you factual, logical information and answer any question you may have. I can use what I call the dull, boring, "professional" approach if the situation calls for it. I'm not saying you are either dull or boring, it's just what I call that approach. Phew, hope I don't bet my ass busted for that one.

Since you, like the "other" Al, do not work the senior market, you really don't know what it is like in the "raisin" shed on a daily basis. Fortunately or unfortunately, not sure, you represent only a very small percentage of people who will be going on Medicare and will require that approach to make a sale.

If I used the approach you stated, most "raisins" would have hung up on me long before I got even 1/8 through your recommended language.

When talking so a sweet old lady who's only companion is her little Muffy Poo you damn well better ask about her dog if you want to get her attention. However, be prepared to listen for several minutes about Muffy Poo and even her potty habits. The dog's that is and even about hers as well. They often tell me way more information than I ask for or need to know. The people, not the dogs.

 

[Alston]

You are taking my comments way too personally. They were not directed at you. No one would ever accuse you of being "lazy". On the contrary, if anything I think you spent way too much time learning how to do those things that were at your finger tips simply by making a couple of phone calls. How much business did you lose while you were doing all that yourself? I would never attempt to learn to write code and try to upgrade YIO by myself.

I understand you are not in the senior market, I still am. Your statement about the apps having to be witnessed proves you are not in the senior market. I have been selling to seniors for 14 years and I have never seen an app that had to be "witnessed". I sell to seniors in my underwear all the time. (Not in person of course, over the phone.) Face to face sales are not required for either Med Supps or any of the Advantage plans. There is a thread on that somewhere.

Although I really didn't take your comments personally, I did misread or misinterpret them. There are a lot of postings on the forum from agents who appear to think that the old school ways are the ONLY ways. Because of that I've been tempted to write a posting in defense of underwear agents several times. Apparently my comments were misdirected as you are at least a part-time underwear agent and appear to "get it."

Yes, I did lose business by investing the time it took to learn how to put together a website and promote it. However, I've more than made up for the lost time in increased income. It was the right decision for me, but probably not for most people. My situation is fairly unique. I learned late in life (to the surprise of friends and family) that I have an aptitude for the above that far exceeds my abilities as an insurance agent. In fact, I would probably leave the insurance business as an agent if I didn't want to mentor my son and get him started in a good career.

I very recently made the decision to temporarily leave the senior market (until I could get my son trained). The carriers I worked with last year did require that the applications be witnessed by the agent. Medigap policies were only a small part of my business, so I didn't spend time searching for a carrier that would let me write an application without witnessing it. Now I know that they may be available. Thanks for the information.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

What is the Haines directory Doc?

 

[Frank Stastny]

What is the Haines directory Doc?

I think if you ever decided to stop going "commando" every day you would probably know of what she speaks.

One cannot be an underwear agent unless underwear is a part of the wardrobe. Calling without underwear will get you a huge fine, bigger than trespassing even.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Although I really didn't take your comments personally, I did misread or misinterpret them. There are a lot of postings on the forum from agents who appear to think that the old school ways are the ONLY ways. Because of that I've been tempted to write a posting in defense of underwear agents several times. quote]

My comments were not advocating "old school" ways. On the contrary, I was trying to convey to senior agents the need to join the 21st century and stop their old ways of paying for leads and then throwing them away. That really is insane and very "old school".

In the senior market those leads are like little pieces of gold. They can be used over and over again until a sale is made if the agent has 21st century tools to work with. It's time to give their Big Chief tablet and box of sharp crayons to their kids.

Although it may not seem like it, I think you and I think alike. We are both using technology to work smarter, just in different ways.

 

[Guest]

One cannot be an underwear agent unless underwear is a part of the wardrobe.

Request: Can we please retire the phrase "underwear agent?" First of all I'll bet no one (with the possible exception of STI... (here comes the pix!)) ever REALLY sits in his/her jockies/undershirt or bra/panties and actually calls clients. Yes, we've ALL gotten out of the shower dripping wet to take a call, but it's not the norm.

Can we maybe substitute the phrase "T-shirt agents" or "beachwear agents" or "cruisewears" agents as I'm sure it is more accurate. I prospect in my LandsEnd tennis shorts and a LLBean T-shirt... which is also beachware or cruiseware. I'm sure you guys do to.

The mental image I get of some of you in beachwear is bad enough. The idea of seeing you in jockies and an armless T-shirt is a bit more than I want to contemplate. (However the bra/panties image has allure! I'm going to wonder about that the next time I get a cold-call from a female salesperson! [more fertile ground for STI's endless photo collection!)

Al