My First Day
- Thread starter souldeux
- Start date
If you make those 50 calls each day, and turn one of those three prospects into deals, you'll close 240 applications this year taking the weekends off.
Keep at it. You're doing well. The next step is to get the close. That's generally easier than the prospect. But, not always.
- 11,995
Another option that doesn't have a monthly fee is just buying from a list broker. It takes a little while to find one you like but in the long run they usually get you better data and the prices is reasonable. Of the three guys I talked to Steve at The List Company or tlclists.com was by far the most helpful and honest. You get a better deal if you buy 10,000 up front, but you don't have to take them all at once. That is common with a lot of lists brokers. If you're looking for data I would definitely recommend talking to them and a few others to compare. Buying a list vs. going through the phone book gives you the ability to call companies that might not be listed in the phone book.
JSD8675
Expert
I haven't even started selling as an insurance agent, but I did have an old job where I cold called.
Maybe because I worked in Philadelphia, but the theme we used was Rocky. If you get punched in the face, get back up, and keep fighting. It's a numbers game, and the more people you call, the better your technique gets, and more fruitful leads you will get.
Keep calling!
Maybe because I worked in Philadelphia, but the theme we used was Rocky. If you get punched in the face, get back up, and keep fighting. It's a numbers game, and the more people you call, the better your technique gets, and more fruitful leads you will get.
Keep calling!
- 7,066
I’m sure all of the above suggestions are good ones for the person who is making them. Each agent is going to have their preferred way of contacting prospects that they have found works best for them and enables them to be “successful”. However, that does not mean that it will work well for every agent nor for every product.
In order for others on this forum to receive accurate, helpful information it is necessary to identify the product that is being marketed and identify what constitutes an “appointment”. To some getting permission to “drop off some information” is considered an “appointment”. For others setting a specific day and time to review the coverage, get a signature and pick up a check is an appointment.
Any kind of sales is a “numbers game”. Regardless of the marketing method one uses it is going to be necessary to contact X number of prospects to be able to make a sale. The number of prospects that need to be contacted in relationship to the number of sales made is also going to vary depending on the product one is marketing.
Long term care is going to be a product that most likely will require a substantially higher than usual number of contacts to ultimately make a sale. Of all the insurance products an agent can offer it is viewed by most people as, for lack of a better term, a “luxury” product. The agent usually has to try to convince the prospect that they “need” LTCi before a sale is generated.
At the other end of the spectrum is a health product for those on Medicare. Either a Medicare Supplement policy of one of the Part C offerings. In my opinion these are by far the easiest of all insurance products to sell. Everyone, almost without exception, who is on Medicare believes they “need”, and have, additional coverage beyond what traditional Medicare provides. Since the feeling of “need” is already there, that is one less hurdle for the agent to overcome.
For a moment let’s assume the above information is accurate. If an agent is marketing a “luxury” product like LTCi (I believe in LTCi and know how necessary it is, I have sold a lot of it.) then the most successful way making sales is going to be totally different than if an agent is offering a product that “everyone” believes that they “need”.
I only work the senior market now and over the past fifteen years I have tried just about every way there is to sell Medicare Supplement policies. Nothing has been more consistently successful than for me to purchase a list and make the phone calls myself. I make them one at a time and I use my finger to dial the number. I'm sure some of you are saying OMG. For me there is no value in having an auto-dialer. I don't need that kind of volume to make sales.
The number of calls I make per hour or per day really isn’t important to me nor is it necessary to make several hundred a day for me to be successful. Of greater importance is what I do and say when someone answers the phone as well as what I do with the information I glean from that call if a sale is not made at that time.
General statements like “cold calling is ineffective”, “need to make three hundred to four hundred calls per day” may apply to some products but definitely not to every product.
In order for others on this forum to receive accurate, helpful information it is necessary to identify the product that is being marketed and identify what constitutes an “appointment”. To some getting permission to “drop off some information” is considered an “appointment”. For others setting a specific day and time to review the coverage, get a signature and pick up a check is an appointment.
Any kind of sales is a “numbers game”. Regardless of the marketing method one uses it is going to be necessary to contact X number of prospects to be able to make a sale. The number of prospects that need to be contacted in relationship to the number of sales made is also going to vary depending on the product one is marketing.
Long term care is going to be a product that most likely will require a substantially higher than usual number of contacts to ultimately make a sale. Of all the insurance products an agent can offer it is viewed by most people as, for lack of a better term, a “luxury” product. The agent usually has to try to convince the prospect that they “need” LTCi before a sale is generated.
At the other end of the spectrum is a health product for those on Medicare. Either a Medicare Supplement policy of one of the Part C offerings. In my opinion these are by far the easiest of all insurance products to sell. Everyone, almost without exception, who is on Medicare believes they “need”, and have, additional coverage beyond what traditional Medicare provides. Since the feeling of “need” is already there, that is one less hurdle for the agent to overcome.
For a moment let’s assume the above information is accurate. If an agent is marketing a “luxury” product like LTCi (I believe in LTCi and know how necessary it is, I have sold a lot of it.) then the most successful way making sales is going to be totally different than if an agent is offering a product that “everyone” believes that they “need”.
I only work the senior market now and over the past fifteen years I have tried just about every way there is to sell Medicare Supplement policies. Nothing has been more consistently successful than for me to purchase a list and make the phone calls myself. I make them one at a time and I use my finger to dial the number. I'm sure some of you are saying OMG. For me there is no value in having an auto-dialer. I don't need that kind of volume to make sales.
The number of calls I make per hour or per day really isn’t important to me nor is it necessary to make several hundred a day for me to be successful. Of greater importance is what I do and say when someone answers the phone as well as what I do with the information I glean from that call if a sale is not made at that time.
General statements like “cold calling is ineffective”, “need to make three hundred to four hundred calls per day” may apply to some products but definitely not to every product.
- 9,744
Yes Frank, I agree there are big, big differences between products.
In this instance though, the poster identified under 65 health insurance as his target.
What percentage of the over 65 population buys MedSupp or MA? If it wasn't in the high 90s - I'd be surprised!
What percentage of the under 65 population buys individual health insurance? About 5%.
To get any results out of that target market, if cold-calling is your primary prosepcting method, you better get ready to make three to four hundred dials a day. Unless you want to starve, that is.
Hmmmm. 5% seems awfully low, so I tried to find some numbers on this... The only thing I could find was the % of people by age group that are insured through their emloyer plans. That would leave a much higher % of folks that buy their own coverage, when subtracting the 17% of those uninsured. Something isn't adding up here..
These are the stats that I found on employer provide ins ben:
Percentage of people covered by their own employer's health insurance plan by age, 2007:
under age 18 0.3%
aged 18 to 24 19.0
aged 25 to 34 47.3
aged 35 to 44 48.9
aged 45 to 54 51.2
aged 55 to 64 49.9
aged 65 or older 25.7
- 9,744
"Today, only 4.9 percent of Americans get insurance through the individual market"
An Unhealthy Individual Health Insurance Market
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