N/A or Phone Call Screenings on the Increase ?

[DayTimer]

Just look at that face(in the avatar)...doesn't look like a guy that kids.

I'm starting to think he wasn't kidding. I guess I'll just watch Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman.

 

[DayTimer]

My numbers today were 25 dials/ 4 contacts/ 2 appts

PaulieD, you did good getting this discussion going. Lots of good advice in this thread from multiple vets from multiple IMO's & companies.

I have been primarily a door knocker since starting up, and I have done ok. Yesterday (Monday) I took much of the advice in this thread to heart, rocked the phone all day long, booked a 12 hour field day for today and had my first $4K+ day. I had more presentations today than I got in door knocking all of last week (I slumped big time last week, to be fair).

While dialing, I scored an appointment with all but one contact (a little beginner's luck, to be sure). The key for me was to keep rolling through the leads until they picked up the phone. I decided not to sweat the contacts to dials ratio, and focused instead on the contacts to appointments instead.

It took me a lot more than 25 dials, but the result was worth the effort, in my opinion. Phone time + field time = $200/hour in AP.

I caught a glimpse of how JD can write $200K/year with just 2 days in the field (didn't say I could do it - just that I can see how he can get it done).

Still can't figure out how he manages to score 6 appointments in just 30 minutes of dialing, but I'm in the Northeast, and getting people to answer the phone sure ain't easy. Heck, I don't answer my phone unless I know who it is. When I send in my first DM responder, someone is definitely going to have to door knock me.

Speaking of knocking, tomorrow I'll be door knocking my leads that had no phone numbers as well as the one lady who didn't want to set an appointment with me for today when I had her on the phone yesterday.

 

[KRobby]

You were dialing for 8 hours? How many appts?

 

[NAF1138]

I caught a glimpse of how JD can write $200K/year with just 2 days in the field (didn't say I could do it - just that I can see how he can get it done).

You can.

Still can't figure out how he manages to score 6 appointments in just 30 minutes of dialing, but I'm in the Northeast, and getting people to answer the phone sure ain't easy.

I work your area, at least part of it. You can do this too. Belief is part of it, having enough leads to call is another. There is a snowball effect.

 

[Jose Arteaga]

You can.



I work your area, at least part of it. You can do this too. Belief is part of it, having enough leads to call is another. There is a snowball effect.

You totally can Daytimer, really glad to hear that congrats! . Appointments will always give you the most bang for your buck in the long run.

 

[DayTimer]

You were dialing for 8 hours? How many appts?

Started dialing at 9 AM and booked my 8th and final appointment around 3:30 PM, so not quite 8 hours. And I did take a few breaks - surfed the net, poked around the insurance forum, went out in the yard for 30 minutes with my wedge and practiced my chipping to stretch my legs a bit. Then an hour and a half to make sure my bag was packed with everything I'd need for the next day, map out my appointment route, saved a policy from an NSF, etc. So it was an 8 hour day less a 30 minute outdoor recess and a scattered few minutes of unproductive web surfing, including 1.5 hours of paperwork and prep and NSF chasing. The rest was pretty steady dialing. I used my cell phone and my home phone so I had the next number dialed as I was ringing someone's phone. That way as I was hanging up from one no answer the next was already ringing.

I booked my first appointment for 9 AM and my last for 7:30 PM with 90 minutes between appointments, e.g. 9:00, 10:30, ... 7:30 PM. I had one no show and one called to re-schedule for today.

You can. I work your area, at least part of it. You can do this too. Belief is part of it, having enough leads to call is another. There is a snowball effect.

Yes, but you work a better area than I do, you have better leads than I do, you have that rocking authoritative beard, and you look much better in glasses than I do, so what hope is there for me? lol

You are right, belief is a big factor. It isn't like my upline hasn't been preaching me the same good advice as so many folks shared here in this thread. Sometimes, you need to hear it from 2 (or 200) others to really get something to sink in. But in spite of being told to use the phone, I have more or less stayed away from the phones and straight door knocked. That looks like it is going to change. I won't give up door knocking, of course. But I will use the phone first, door knock those who won't set over the phone.

The norm for most would be to dial through the leads (50+) leads (Old and New) 3-4 times on a Saturday to get 8-12 SOLID appointments. Some days won't be so good, "holidays" ... During the week, dialing through the leads 8+ times/per phone day, is the norm for a PRODUCER! ...
Agents that spend 6+ hours/3 days a week setting appointments, can Reap the rewards of a Six Figure Income. It's all about perspective, goals, and work ethic.

That post of Doug's really is what got me thinking about the whole phone approach in a different light. I read how JD and others get 20 leads, call 5 of them and get 10 appointments in 15 minutes, and then I would go to my leads and only get one contact out of the 25, and I think this isn't gong to work in my area, or I'm not dialing right, or that they can tell from my ring I'm a salesman. One of our managers actually holds appointment setting conference calls where we can listen to him dial and set appointments. These sessions are usually 3 hours long. It never dawned on me that dialing for three hours straight was the norm. I though he was doing it to give everyone a chance to listen in at some point. I like to think of myself as a smart guy, but sometimes I make myself wonder ...

At any rate, that post of Doug's really got me thinking that I Just haven't worked hard enough at dialing to get through and learning to set appointments. Somewhere along the line I had picked up the notion that if done correctly, setting a day of appointments should be quick and easy. I'll bet that sometimes it is, and will be for me. But now I know I have to go in with the attitude that I am going to just keep grinding out dials until my schedule is full.

And out the door I go ...

 

[goillini52]

Started dialing at 9 AM and booked my 8th and final appointment around 3:30 PM, so not quite 8 hours. And I did take a few breaks - surfed the net, poked around the insurance forum, went out in the yard for 30 minutes with my wedge and practiced my chipping to stretch my legs a bit. Then an hour and a half to make sure my bag was packed with everything I'd need for the next day, map out my appointment route, saved a policy from an NSF, etc. So it was an 8 hour day less a 30 minute outdoor recess and a scattered few minutes of unproductive web surfing, including 1.5 hours of paperwork and prep and NSF chasing. The rest was pretty steady dialing. I used my cell phone and my home phone so I had the next number dialed as I was ringing someone's phone. That way as I was hanging up from one no answer the next was already ringing.

I booked my first appointment for 9 AM and my last for 7:30 PM with 90 minutes between appointments, e.g. 9:00, 10:30, ... 7:30 PM. I had one no show and one called to re-schedule for today.


Yes, but you work a better area than I do, you have better leads than I do, you have that rocking authoritative beard, and you look much better in glasses than I do, so what hope is there for me? lol

You are right, belief is a big factor. It isn't like my upline hasn't been preaching me the same good advice as so many folks shared here in this thread. Sometimes, you need to hear it from 2 (or 200) others to really get something to sink in. But in spite of being told to use the phone, I have more or less stayed away from the phones and straight door knocked. That looks like it is going to change. I won't give up door knocking, of course. But I will use the phone first, door knock those who won't set over the phone.


That post of Doug's really is what got me thinking about the whole phone approach in a different light. I read how JD and others get 20 leads, call 5 of them and get 10 appointments in 15 minutes, and then I would go to my leads and only get one contact out of the 25, and I think this isn't gong to work in my area, or I'm not dialing right, or that they can tell from my ring I'm a salesman. One of our managers actually holds appointment setting conference calls where we can listen to him dial and set appointments. These sessions are usually 3 hours long. It never dawned on me that dialing for three hours straight was the norm. I though he was doing it to give everyone a chance to listen in at some point. I like to think of myself as a smart guy, but sometimes I make myself wonder ...

At any rate, that post of Doug's really got me thinking that I Just haven't worked hard enough at dialing to get through and learning to set appointments. Somewhere along the line I had picked up the notion that if done correctly, setting a day of appointments should be quick and easy. I'll bet that sometimes it is, and will be for me. But now I know I have to go in with the attitude that I am going to just keep grinding out dials until my schedule is full.

And out the door I go ...

Good post. You blended the advice of agents from 3 different FMO's. That's the way the Forum's supposed to work.

P.S. If you start having trouble with people not answering the phone, switch the hand you're dialing with.

 

[DayTimer]

Good post. You blended the advice of agents from 3 different FMO's. That's the way the Forum's supposed to work.

P.S. If you start having trouble with people not answering the phone, switch the hand you're dialing with.

Thanks. I confess that in addition to the 8 appointments I booked for Tuesday on Monday I also booked 3 for today (so I actually booked 11 total on Monday if you add my Tuesday appointments and Wednesday appointments together). One of my Tuesday appointments rescheduled to today, so I had four pre-sets today and I was planning on door knocking the rest of the day. I wrote almost another 2K today so I am just under 6K for the week, having my best week since I started - every app so far has been from an appointment.

I already gave a shout out to @Agentguy5. I also blame @FinalExpenseDojo.com, @Jose Arteaga, @theinsuranceman, and of course, @PaulieD (for starting this infernal thread to begin with) for causing me to have so much F2F time with prospects this week that it has seriously cut into the time I allot to aimless wandering and door to door lead knocking.

If there were an insurance-forum thread hall of fame, I'd nominate this one right here for membership.

 

[KRobby]

Thanks. I confess that in addition to the 8 appointments I booked for Tuesday on Monday I also booked 3 for today (so I actually booked 11 total on Monday if you add my Tuesday appointments and Wednesday appointments together). One of my Tuesday appointments rescheduled to today, so I had four pre-sets today and I was planning on door knocking the rest of the day. I wrote almost another 2K today so I am just under 6K for the week, having my best week since I started - every app so far has been from an appointment.

I already gave a shout out to @Agentguy5. I also blame @FinalExpenseDojo.com, @Jose Arteaga, @theinsuranceman, and of course, @PaulieD (for starting this infernal thread to begin with) for causing me to have so much F2F time with prospects this week that it has seriously cut into the time I allot to aimless wandering and door to door lead knocking.

If there were an insurance-forum thread hall of fame, I'd nominate this one right here for membership.

Weren't you averaging at 3-4k a week knocking as your primary first contact method your first few months? And you're going to mess with that after just a couple days of appointments? I'd be surprised if you do better long term without a significant change in lead order/expanded territory. May need a better route planner and route plan if the problem was actually getting to 20 leads with a 3 knock max (about 40 knocks).

 

[NAF1138]

Weren't you averaging at 3-4k a week knocking as your primary first contact method your first few months? And you're going to mess with that after just a couple days of appointments? I'd be surprised if you do better long term without a significant change in lead order/expanded territory. May need a better route planner and route plan if the problem was actually getting to 20 leads with a 3 knock max (about 40 knocks).

He just had a 6k week and you are telling him to not be excited about it? I mean, give it a couple of days at least.

Also, knocking 40 doors a week sounds flipping exhausting. Do you do that?

Edit; Holy cow have I gotten lazy. I just realize that I was getting on you for 40 knocks a week when I was forced to do 30 a day with no leads when I was starting at Combined.

Sorry. I take it back. Im a lazy jerk.