Negotiating with an IMO/FMO

Most FE clientele can't afford a Med Supp, they are prospects for cross selling Medicare Advantage to, because it has low to no premium.

FE....cross sell Medicare Avantage.

Med Supps.....cross sell FE.

The Med Supp prospect will have more money(better persistency) and be able to afford additional policies. Also, nicer houses. You won't run into much cat piss, dog crap on the floor, a wide variety of bugs(cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, etc.) and sh*t splattered toilets as you would on the FE Circuit. :biggrin:

Lol not the first time I have heard about cat piss and condemned houses. Is it really that bad.
 
This title might me the wrong wording, but my question is more what is realistically the highest contract a newby can get from an IMO.

An important question, but not the most important. Probably top 5, certainly top 10, but not the top consideration for a newby, imo/

So correct me if I am wrong, because I may have misread what you wrote. But, are you saying that you are contracted under a couple of IMO's.??? So you could have more then 1 IMO.

More than a couple. Plus several contracts direct to the companies.

Edit: some of my contracts are very old. Other than specific products or a IMO specialty. There is no reason to spread your business to thin. If you are newer. Stick with just a couple. IMohsoHO

Good stuff from @WinoBlues ...

@moneycage 2018 I assume you are as green as can be in that it appears you have yet to contract with one carrier. I am just finishing my 8th month full time (stared full time in the field with leads in February 2018).

Here is my suggestion: First, answer for yourself if you plan on starting by specializing in Final Expense. If so, then answer for yourself how you plan to prospect, e.g. you can cold door knock, develop or buy Facebook or Telemarketed leads, or drop mail to generate direct mail response leads. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

If you decide that DM is the way to go, then you have a decision to make. You can either join an IMO that will give you access to a fixed price lead program, or you can find a mail house, such as my personal favorite - Main Street PowerMail - and do your own mail drops. If I were starting over, I'd control my own mail by dropping 2000 pieces two weeks in a row in my area, and then drop 1000 to 2000 pieces per week each and every week thereafter. If you do decide to control your mail, you must make a committment to drop mail each and every week, 52 weeks per year. You're going on vacation? So what? Drop that mail ... each and every week. If you canot discipline yourself to do this, then go with a fixed price lead program to force the discipline upon you.

I have been on two fixed price mail programs, and they are certainly a worthwhile alternative. I myself vacillate between doing it on my own and fixed price. I have recently decided that the best way for me is to go on about 20 fixed price leads per week and drop 1000 pieces per week on my own. Many will tell you that 20 per week is sufficient. Others will tell you that 25 to 30 or more is where the "sweet spot" resides. The truth is that if you go to work to work, you can never have too many people to speak with about life insurance, but you can easily have too few.

Once you figure out your prospecting route, then you can turn to the IMO decision. If you are indeed brand new and green as can be, then get yourself with an IMO that offers training, at least one or two days of ride-alongs, and a fixed price lead program (even if you decided against this, you should preserve the opportunity to change your mind easily).

Second, do not contract with every carrier your IMO offers. Personally, I would limit myself to MOO/UOO, Trans, Liberty Bankers Life, and Royal Neighbors.

As far as IMO's I could recommend two for a newbie:

Matt Mungia's The Insurance Squad with 360 Financial. I have multiple contracts with him, including my main carriers as posted above, and in any given week, 90% or more of my business goes there (I have a few contracts direct to carriers who provide me a few leads each month, and those leads get written with the referring carrier if the client qualifies). Good training, fixed price leads, strong contract levels, and a good number of agents, many less than a year in the biz, who are writing $10K+/week, and doing it consistently. You can reach out to Matt through the forum and he goes by @SPUR CITY

I also would suggest that you speak with EFES, and in particular reach out to Chris Smith who goes by @Baseball7 here on the forum. Good training (the best door knocker in the biz, in my humble opinion), and as sharp a field underwriter as I have seen. If Matt is the best upline I've ever had, then Chris is the best upline I've never had. I have great respect for both, and either would be a good choice.

Contract levels are important, but are not everything - not even most important. Most important, imo, is this: Will your upline be available when you need help in the field? And will your upline treat you with respect as a valued partner or call you on your cell and scold you like an unwanted child because they don't like something you said on the forum or on Facebook?

The two IMO's I suggested are the two with whom I have personal experience. That does not mean they are the only two worth speaking to, but between those two guys, you should be able to pick an upline who will set you up for success.

Now, if you do decide to put your own lead program into place, you should be able to place contracts with two or more IMO's simultaneously. In that case, however, I suspect that Matt's organization would be more amenable to sch an arrangement than EFES, which is far more captive in character, imho.
 
Also, nicer houses. You won't run into much cat piss, dog crap on the floor, a wide variety of bugs(cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, etc.) and sh*t splattered toilets as you would on the FE Circuit. :biggrin:

Some highlights form recent happenings in "my" neighborhood:

Last Night:

Allentown car explosion: Police confirm at least one death; investigators swarm scene

Last week:

Tilghman Street slaying had neighbors sheltering inside where 'we're protected'

I had parked nearby to start door knocking just as the police were starting to allow folks back into the area after this one a couple of weeks ago:

Shooting behind Allentown elementary school leads to brief lockdown

A lot of FE agents have come and gone working center city over the years (as indicated by the many different FE agent business cards I have collected from my prospects.) But it is a rough, rough area (far rougher than it looks to someone form the outside looking at it in the daylight), and not many seem to stick around for the long hall.

I love what I do. Except when it rains. I really do not like door knocking in the rain. I'll take cat piss, cock roaches, shootouts, police lock downs ... anything so long as I don't have to door knock in the rain :no:
 
Some highlights form recent happenings in "my" neighborhood:

Last Night:

Allentown car explosion: Police confirm at least one death; investigators swarm scene

Last week:

Tilghman Street slaying had neighbors sheltering inside where 'we're protected'

I had parked nearby to start door knocking just as the police were starting to allow folks back into the area after this one a couple of weeks ago:

Shooting behind Allentown elementary school leads to brief lockdown

A lot of FE agents have come and gone working center city over the years (as indicated by the many different FE agent business cards I have collected from my prospects.) But it is a rough, rough area (far rougher than it looks to someone form the outside looking at it in the daylight), and not many seem to stick around for the long hall.

I love what I do. Except when it rains. I really do not like door knocking in the rain. I'll take cat piss, cock roaches, shootouts, police lock downs ... anything so long as I don't have to door knock in the rain :no:
Damn!!! Nice "Neighborhood". Are they trying to compete with Chicago?:shocked:
 
Damn!!! Nice "Neighborhood". Are they trying to compete with Chicago?:shocked:

Sort of ... maybe hoping for the title "Little Chicago"?

Ex-Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski, convicted of 47 felonies, asks for help with legal bills

Sad thing is the headline makes this sound worse than it really was, imo. Imo, poor Pawlowski was found guilty of less than goes on in most small cities in America. He wasn't even lining his own pockets ... he was trying to raise money to fund his election bid. That's why we're small time ... those Chicago pols are on the take to line their own pockets. Heck, where else but Chicago can a community "organizer" become presidnet in just a few years. Heck, Trump had to put in like 15 seasons on his horrid show "The Apprentice" before he got his chance.

Aren't those the days you get a clean start?

Ironically, those are the days I come home feeling the scroungiest - it's like every odor and every stench comes home clinging to me.

I have a new name for rainy days: In-service days, as in I stay in and get any service work done that needs doing. No service work? No work. Period. I do not door knock in the rain. I'll door knock in the snow, the sleet, ... heck, I have even door knocked in center city in the gloom of night (not may willing to that around here, I'm telling you). But I would not could not in the rain.
 
I have a new name for rainy days: In-service days, as in I stay in and get any service work done that needs doing. No service work? No work. Period. I do not door knock in the rain. I'll door knock in the snow, the sleet, ... heck, I have even door knocked in center city in the gloom of night (not may willing to that around here, I'm telling you). But I would not could not in the rain.
Have you thought about getting a rain coat? :huh:
 
Ironically, those are the days I come home feeling the scroungiest - it's like every odor and every stench comes home clinging to me.

I have a new name for rainy days: In-service days, as in I stay in and get any service work done that needs doing. No service work? No work. Period. I do not door knock in the rain. I'll door knock in the snow, the sleet, ... heck, I have even door knocked in center city in the gloom of night (not may willing to that around here, I'm telling you). But I would not could not in the rain.

Yes, I was not being very respectful there.

It has been a long time since I have done the door knocking and I don't remember it well, but since I was in the field with a car, I had a country territory where I drove between houses and just had to run for the porch if it was raining.

I don't know if I could have/would have survived being on my own, on foot, in the city doorknocking environment.

edit
If I was able to force myself to doorknock again, I think I would have to follow goillini's pattern of doing it from targeted lists in more rural areas to have any chance of success. I don't think I could get over constant fear in the environments you are describing.
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