My First Day

[souldeux]

Nick, one of the inherent drawbacks to cold calling is that it produces a low probability prosp...er...suspect.

One-call close? Do you really want them as a client? What happens to your business when the next guy/gal calls?

Why don't you invest in some leads? Even if you only get back $2 for every $1 that you spend, it's profitable, you develop some cash flow to re-invest, and you live to fight another day.

You have an excellent point. I have to admit, my last post was made after four people who had requested I call them back in the evening when their spouses would be home dodged my call. I was slightly frustrated, but yes, I see your point -- a one-call close on a completely cold call probably wouldn't result in a loyal client.

I think one mistake I have made is in the way I've set my goals for myself. I know how much I'd like to make, and how much volume I'd need to write every week to meet that goal. I didn't stop to think that it'd take some time to build up to that, that I'd write business in the third week from people I'd first contacted in the first and things like that. Towards the end of this week, I got a little down on myself; I need to remember that I am only now starting to put myself out there and that it's probably not realistic to think in terms of week-to-week goals until I've put some prospects in my pipeline.

SportsNut, I like what you're saying. I think it'd serve two purposes, too -- keeping them from feeling pressured to buy, and keeping me from feeling pressured to sell. You said that the folks on the other end of the phone can feel it when I'm trying to be too salesy; I'd bet that they can feel the pressure I'm putting on myself as well as the pressure I'm putting on them, and that's not good for anyone.

Somarco, you really clarified something with your post that I should have realized on my own. Nobody likes their health insurance. I need to just let them tell be about how much they don't like their health insurance, and let them realize that they've got someone on the phone that knows how to help them. Don't sell it, let them buy it. Damn, now you've gotten me all excited about hitting the phones again!

 

[SportsNut]

Nick:

Health Ins isn't SOLD,... it is bought... Your job is to 1) gather their info, 2) assess their need (which plans work best), 3) lay out the options to them, 4) answer any questions, and then and only then 5) Submit the appl...
Then follow it thru u/w, and service the acct.

When cold call (prospecting) most of the sales might take 3 or more contacts. The exception might be two, and rarely would you bump into something that was simply just thinking to themselves, "I need to get some health ins", and you close them on the initial call. This will happen, but not often. So be realistic.

 

[souldeux]

Three or more contacts? I feel much better now that you've said that. I was operating on a hope for two, and was slightly disappointed in my perceived lack of sales skills.

Health insurance isn't sold, it's bought. I am going to write that down and tape it to the wall next to me so that I can always remember not to sell, but to help them to buy. I love what you said there, thanks!


And by the way, WIN, if you're following this thread: I'm not ignoring you, I promise! I got your PM, but don't have the requisite number of posts yet to respond to you. If you PM me again with your contact info or use the contact form on my website to get in touch, I'll return your message.

 

[somarco]

the way I've set my goals for myself.

Nothing wrong with having goals, but they need to be measurable and achievable.

Saying you want (or need) to earn $10k a week is fine, but not if you don't know how to get there.

You need to set activity goals that can easily be measured against results goals.

An activity goal is making 50 calls per hour.

A results goal is making 20 sales pitches a week.

When you measure activity you have a standard that is easily quantified. Either you hit that goal or you didn't. If it only takes you 10 calls an hour to hit your weekly 20 pitch goal then great. If not, then adjust your activity.

If you have results goals without activity goals you will continually be frustrated. But if you are making 50 calls an hour and still not getting the results you want at least you have an idea what needs to be adjusted.

Make more calls per hour or call for more hours.

When I used to make cold calls on the phone I set up a reward system. When I had 5 prospects who wanted a quote I allowed myself to take a 10 minute break. During my break time I would do something I wanted to do rather than something I had to do.

Then back to the salt mines.

When you are learning this game it takes time & practice but you need to practice things that work and get away from things that don't work. The more you practice the closer you will get to figuring out the way the game is played.

Don't sell it, let them buy it.

Gitomer says that.

I think Rob Liano taught it to him . . .

All you are trying to do in cold calling is open up a window of opportunity. Once you establish a dialogue, you can allow them to tell you specifically what they don't like about the plan, their agent, etc.

You can follow up the yes or no responses with open questions.

"What ONE thing, other than the price, would you change about your plan if you could?". This is a favorite question of mine. If you don't eliminate price you will always get the same response . . . the premium is too high. You just ASSUME they believe the premium is too high so when they give you a response you know TWO things they would change.

The copays are too low (as an example) and the price is too high.

Or, it doesn't cover my well visit (and the price is too high).

Or, my doc isn't in their network (and the price is too high).

Or, it doesn't cover my chiro visits (and the price is too high).

See where I am going?

Variations on this include "What benefit would you eliminate and never miss?".

Or, "Which benefits are you paying for that probably are not necessary?".

Obviously these are variations on the same question just a different way of asking the same thing.

Basically by asking questions you are allowing them to tell you how to fix their problem. You are also establishing credibility and a rapport without selling them a thing (other than yourself).

Once you have an idea of what they think is wrong (other than the price) you can start introducing value (yours) and showing them ways to save money without sacrificing benefits.

One of my favorite lines is, "you can always pay more but it does not mean you GET more".

That always throws them off, and then I proceed to show them what I mean.

Another is the battle over copays.

"How many times do you go to the doc during a year?".

Most will tell you 2 - 3 x per year.

"So why do you have an unlimited copay plan? Or a 6 visit plan?"

"Why are you paying for visits you don't use?"

Different ways to approach that allow them to sell themselves.

Call me next week. I will give you a lesson on how I sell.

 

[souldeux]

Bob, I'll give you a call sometime this week. Is the number on your website the best one to reach you at? I know this is more PM material, but I need just a few more posts before that opens up to me.

This thought occurred to me earlier: what time of day do you guys find is most effective for cold calling? I've been going from about 10-12, then 1-5.

 

[somarco]

Yup

If you get VM, leave a msg.

 

[souldeux]

Nothing wrong with having goals, but they need to be measurable and achievable.

Saying you want (or need) to earn $10k a week is fine, but not if you don't know how to get there.

Just to keep myself honest, I thought I'd be a little more explicit about what my goals are.

Overarching goal: I want to make $60k, gross, this year. That works out to selling about $520 of monthly health premiums a week, and $18 in monthly life premiums a week. I'm skewed towards selling more life than health because I'm much more knowledgeable on the health side of things and expect my life sales to consist 100% of cross-sales.

So, in a week, if I sell one policy at $520/month in premiums with $18/month of life premiums tacked on, I call that a successful week. Two policies each at $260/month and $9/month, that's fine, too. That's my number -- over is good, under is not. If I hit those numbers I gross $60k for the year and I'm feeling happy.

Honestly, I don't mind working 70, 80, 90 hours a week for that $60k. Right now, I'm a little less than happy with the numbers of hours I'm putting in -- I just couldn't feel good about things today and probably only put in six or so hours, but it'll be made up for tomorrow. My call volume sucked today, too, but I got to deliver my full pitch eight times and have five people to reconnect with tomorrow. Add to that another guy from last week who is starting to drag his feet on getting his stuff together and who I'm going to try to light a fire under tomorrow, a couple of training things with HCO,a call to somarco/Bob (brace yourself!), and some cold calls and it'll be a busy and productive day.

Now, honesty time, I don't know if $60k first year for a brand new indy health and life agent is absurdly ambitious or laughably low. I just know that I was riding a desk, grossing $27,300 a year and really despising it. I was living slightly below my means on that number, so from where I sit, $60k looks...beautiful.

 

[somarco]

Activity, if is it PRODUCTIVE activity, will produce the results you need. Money goals are fine (and even necessary) but the problem is the emotional side of money goals.

If you exceed your goal in one week you may tend to slack off next week, especially if you blow thru the goal in a big way.

If you fall short, you may beat yourself up to the point you are not effective the next week. Miss your goal 2, 3, 4 weeks in a row and suddenly slitting your wrists starts to look really good.

Yes, money is good and necessary, but a poor measure of accomplishment especially on a short term basis, and especially for a new agent.

If you try to squeeze clients into products just to meet YOUR goals you are not serving your client.

Proper and productive activity WILL produce the results you want and need on the money side of the equation and are much more measurable and attainable than pure money goals.

When a batter goes into a slump it is usually because they are thinking to hard about knocking the cover off the ball. The way to get out of the slump is to go back to the basics of just making contact with the ball.

Same for a salesman.

Just concentrate on making contact with enough prospects, the home runs will come.

a call to somarco/Bob (brace yourself!),

I have caller ID so if I don't answer . . .

Just kidding.

I don't know if $60k first year for a brand new indy health and life agent is absurdly ambitious or laughably low.

It's doable, but concentrate on the basics. You will get there.

 

[souldeux]

I just want to publicly thank Bob/Somarco for what he has done for me today. As you know from reading this thread, I'm a new agent located just down the road from Bob, and by all rights I don't suppose you'd be very far off in calling us competitors -- we're certainly prospecting a similar market. But despite that, Bob took a good hour and a half today to sit down on the phone with me and show me how he approaches sales.

I think I learned more from Bob in that hour and a half than I have in a week and a half of getting out there and doing it myself. You can't learn to ride a bike at a seminar, but if anyone can teach it over the phone then Bob can.

Bob, I hope I'm not opening you up to a flood of phonecalls from new agents asking for your help (and if I do, my sincere apologies for killing your work time!), but I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you took today to work with me. Hell, by the end of it, I was thinking about switching you to my AOR

Long story short, Bob = awesome guy, and deserves a little public applause for it.

 

[medicarebenefitsdirect]

Good Luck! Keep chipping away at it and hang in there. Find what works and keep doing it over and over.