New Agent - Need Advice

Karl Appleby

New Member
15
So this week was my first week with Lincoln Heritage, and so far as is well. I sold 4 policies and Ill prob sell 4 more by the end of next week with pending applications. Phone calls and door knocks are a breeze. My presentation and manner of engaging people isnt an issue. Also this is supplementary part time income, so Im riding it at a safe pace.

But I want some advice on leads / marketing. Bought a batch of leads from Lincoln Heritage, they sell their own leads. They were OK leads. I closed 3 out of 20, and I will prob close a few more. $680 for 20 leads.

First off, anyone have any organic hot lead company suggestions ?

Any suggestions for marketing / generating my own leads with fliers, online, whatever so I dont have to buy as many leads ?

Any other advice as a new agent would be great !
 
Be careful. Lincoln frowns on their agents buying leads from outside sources. If you don’t need them for the leads, then you can easily pivot to selling a much more affordable independent product offering to your clients with you makinf 25-45% more commission per sale. :D

But I’d check out Calendar Leads
 
Be careful. Lincoln frowns on their agents buying leads from outside sources. If you don’t need them for the leads, then you can easily pivot to selling a much more affordable independent product offering to your clients with you makinf 25-45% more commission per sale. :D

But I’d check out Calendar Leads

Thanks, yeah Im no dummy to how the business world works and I figured they were making a good amount of their money off selling leads. My territory manager is actually really cool and he cares more about policies being sold in our group. He’s not pressuring me to buy leads and wants me to move at a safe pace.

So are you saying that 25% - 45% profit would be realized by NOT buying their leads, or by selling FE product independent of Lincoln Heritage ?
 
Thanks, yeah Im no dummy to how the business world works and I figured they were making a good amount of their money off selling leads. My territory manager is actually really cool and he cares more about policies being sold in our group. He’s not pressuring me to buy leads and wants me to move at a safe pace.

So are you saying that 25% - 45% profit would be realized by NOT buying their leads, or by selling FE product independent of Lincoln Heritage ?

Well that was just from a commission standpoint. Most Lincoln agents I talk to are at 75%. Assuming you can get 100-120% with independent carriers, you’d be getting 25-45% more commission.

But that’s not the only number. Because you’re writing for one carrier, you will have some people you can’t write and up to 30% will go modified, which cuts your commission considerably. Our agency writes 6% guaranteed issue. That’s another 20-25% of your business where you’re getting half the commission you could as an independent.

Can’t remember, but I think you also get dinged for direct express cards. Depending on your area, that could be 10-30% of your business. With independent carriers, you get full comp, albeit as earned commissions.

Then there’s the leads. Direct Mail is great, if it’s fresh and never resold. I’m not 100% convinced that’s true with LH leads. I’ve heard way too many stories of agents saying they showed up to house that was burnt down or boarded up and magically that lead has no phone number.

I’ve heard that up to 50-60% of LH leads have no phone number. That’s really high. One guy told me he thought that LH would fill out some of the cards themselves.

Then there’s the fact that the Calendar Leads would cost almost 50% less than what you’re paying for now.

This is why Lincoln gets a bad rap here on the forum. Yeah they sell a lot of final expense. But if you look at it from a business perspective, the math doesn’t lie. They’re making money off of you rather than with you.
 
Well that was just from a commission standpoint. Most Lincoln agents I talk to are at 75%. Assuming you can get 100-120% with independent carriers, you’d be getting 25-45% more commission.

But that’s not the only number. Because you’re writing for one carrier, you will have some people you can’t write and up to 30% will go modified, which cuts your commission considerably. Our agency writes 6% guaranteed issue. That’s another 20-25% of your business where you’re getting half the commission you could as an independent.

Can’t remember, but I think you also get dinged for direct express cards. Depending on your area, that could be 10-30% of your business. With independent carriers, you get full comp, albeit as earned commissions.

Then there’s the leads. Direct Mail is great, if it’s fresh and never resold. I’m not 100% convinced that’s true with LH leads. I’ve heard way too many stories of agents saying they showed up to house that was burnt down or boarded up and magically that lead has no phone number.

I’ve heard that up to 50-60% of LH leads have no phone number. That’s really high. One guy told me he thought that LH would fill out some of the cards themselves.

Then there’s the fact that the Calendar Leads would cost almost 50% less than what you’re paying for now.

This is why Lincoln gets a bad rap here on the forum. Yeah they sell a lot of final expense. But if you look at it from a business perspective, the math doesn’t lie. They’re making money off of you rather than with you.

Alright so educate me further since Im new to FE and not too invested in LH so far ...

By “independent carriers”, does that mean small businesses or does that mean I would be independently selling FE ?

What would be the most profitable avenue for me to take selling FE? Specific company, or independent ?

Can I work for more then one company since Im 1099 ?

I dont “have to” purchase the LH leads, if Calendar Leads is a great tool Ill try it out. Ill prob stick with LH for now just to get the experience, but Ill avoid buying their leads if I can. I dont care what they say about it.
 
FWIW, read through some of the threads in this FE forum. There are plenty of threads discussing lead vendors and lead types, and even generating your own leads. You should also use the search function for “Lincoln Heritage” and “LH”. Even if you’re staying with them, you should do so with your eyes wide open about what to expect. A lot of us have been with them at some point in our career. Just about all of us have dealt with them competitively.
 
FWIW, read through some of the threads in this FE forum. There are plenty of threads discussing lead vendors and lead types, and even generating your own leads. You should also use the search function for “Lincoln Heritage” and “LH”. Even if you’re staying with them, you should do so with your eyes wide open about what to expect. A lot of us have been with them at some point in our career. Just about all of us have dealt with them competitively.

Thanks,

The thing is as I understand if I leave LH before 2 years is up I dont get to keep any of my residual payments on policies I signed up going forward. Im not even sure how keeping my advances works if I left early ...
 
But I’d check out Calendar Leads

Fake testimonials bother me.

If you click on "Discover More" on their main site you're taken to an order form where both of the alleged testimonials are completely fake.

Here is the page:

Calendar Leads 1.0

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"Heather M" is a royalty-free stock photo:

https://unsplash.com/search/photos/senior-picture


She's "Sarah" the satisified life coach customer here:

Online Life Coach with Christine Hassler’s Experienced Team

ePRLJeV.png


She's "Joanna" the team manager here:

Intrapreneurship Training | Intrapreneur Nation

76nYMrd.png


She's "Alex Gillespie" the author shacked up with her grandmother here:

Alex Gillespie, Author at Longevity LIVE

The unnamed man has also had a rich and varied life so far...besides his alleged FE career, he's John Smith at a septic service here:

Homepage

He's Matthew the London-based admin assistant here:

What’s the point of user personas?

Uivm2kl.jpg


He's David the married job hunter in Kansas here:

Redesigning a local library website — a UX case study

bCY5VFB.jpg


Etc.
 
Alright so educate me further since Im new to FE and not too invested in LH so far ...

By “independent carriers”, does that mean small businesses or does that mean I would be independently selling FE ?

What would be the most profitable avenue for me to take selling FE? Specific company, or independent ?

Can I work for more then one company since Im 1099 ?

I dont “have to” purchase the LH leads, if Calendar Leads is a great tool Ill try it out. Ill prob stick with LH for now just to get the experience, but Ill avoid buying their leads if I can. I dont care what they say about it.

So lincoln is a captive Final Expense agency/company. You could contract with an independent final expense agency and sell independent products. Same thing basically. They are all simplified issue whole life policies. They only differ in rates, underwriting and commission to the agent.

But as an independent, you would have access to multiple carriers and therefore can put your client in the right position. Read this article: Captive vs Independent - Final Expense Entourage

Now onto your second question, you can keep your pay throughs, as long as you don't replace your business. A lot of agents leave Lincoln and then flip their book. That is not wise or ethical. You will lose your renewals because you're not vested. But that's stepping over dollars for pennies.

That's another thing with going indy, you'll be 100% vested day 1. Gotta run. If you want to chat further, reach out at Schedule a Time Convenient For You - Final Expense Entourage
 
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