New agent question

[Thomas Scialla]

I have been out of the business about eight years, and I am just getting back in, but in my pretty successful 13 years selling life insurance it was all about getting in front of people. If I could sit with 10 people every week on life appointments I could make $100K a year in life commission.

Saying that I am the field underwriter isn't back dooring anybody. Its more like side dooring them LOL. When I'm running FE leads I am the field underwriter. I have products that can insure anyone. I have to find out what is wrong with them and put them in the right product. If that's not field underwriting I don't know what is.

I have learned a long time ago that smarter people than me have come before me and created systems that drive production. Production is my goal. I won't lie to a prospect. I won't put them in a product that's not right for them just to increase my commission. I do my due diligence and do right by them. However, if calling myself the field underwriter gets me a 50% appointment rate on my leads and calling myself a life insurance agent gets me a 25% appointment rate on my leads, well I will be the field underwriter every time LOL. I can't help them if they don't meet with me.

 

[titeye]

Problem with insurance leads though is generally they have also requested information a thousand times and even though you might have an "exclusive" lead, they've filled out 5 other forms and talked to 10 other telemarketers accepting a call back from an agent.

The website should have a big warning popup when you click on it that says "WARNING: IF YOURE CURRENTLY BEING SOLICIED FOR INSURANCE, PLEASE LEAVE IMMEDITALY" and then a button in red that says "I'm a time waster" that kicks you off the site, and a button in green that says "I'm a decision maker" that let's you enter

Just a quick reply, DHurd.
I fell into this psychological and emotionally draining trap just last week. My goal required that I buy 30-40 new leads. Monday, my activity was great! I wanted to brush up on my presentation and made 100+ calls. Tuesday, I would begin buying 10 leads, with the expectation of buying 10 per day until I reached my lead purchase goal. However, the first 7 were so crucifying, and that's putting it mildly ("didn't request", "wrong number", "stop calling here", number no longer in service, "...click", "...click" again, etc., etc.), that I lost focus. I started pointing at things beyond my control, such as, "the leads are no good, they were sold to someone in addition to me, the rep taking the lead order is on the take, etc." LOL
Now, I know 80% of any lead source is waste, but I'm now down to my last 2-3 bullets on my first 10 and haven't presented to anyone. Surely, these last 2-3 will be just like the previous one's. I swear to you, I had to call a friend in the business to talk me off the legde. I was about to jump! Then the thought occured to me. I made a decision to quit off a survey of only 10. Wednesday rolls around and I'm prepared to get back on my horse, but I had technical difficulty with my computer and couldn't resume my lead purchase. Same thing Thursday. What I was left with was calling those 3 leads that I never called from the original 10 and any that I didn't speak to yet. To my surprise and delight, all 3 converted and I finished the week with over $3k.

My epiphany was, I have absolutely no control over the lead process. I could either complain about it, point fingers, etc., none of which would do me any good. The only thing I was ever in control of was my activity, PERIOD! Imagine what I would have accomplished if I stayed focus and continued doing only those activities that I had control of.

 

[WinoBlues]

This right there is tremendous advice.

You are giving a performance...especially with telesales...your tone and how you communicate empathy are extremely important...

Never forget - People will do business with people they know, like & trust...

And especially people that they know, like and trust, know, like and trust.

 

[somarco]

My epiphany was, I have absolutely no control over the lead process.

Bingo!

Even if you generate your own leads, internet, paid ads, DM that you generate . . . you have no idea if YOUR lead was the first they clicked, the last or anything in between.

You also cannot control who answers the phone/door, who will be receptive, who won't, who will buy, who won't . . .

The ONLY thing in your control is YOUR activity level.

The number of calls you make, doors you knock, miles you drive . . .

Agents who pontificate over sending X number of cards = Y number of responses = Z number of appointments = M number of sales = Q number of $$$ in my pocket . . . are doing it all wrong.

None of those things are within your control OTHER THAN the number of cards you mail (or phones you dial).

You can't control who will read your card, open your mailer or answer the phone.

You can't control how they respond or IF they respond

The more you analyze the more paralyzed you become.

Focus on what you CAN CONTROL and the rest will follow

Oh, and activity alone only works if you are doing what works for you. If something doesn't work, don't keep doing it.

 

[Travis Price]

Agents who pontificate over sending X number of cards = Y number of responses = Z number of appointments = M number of sales = Q number of $$$ in my pocket . . . are doing it all wrong.

Well.. I do this as an estimate. I also know that no list is perfect, not everyone is going to read it or respond. Consistent activity that works for you and is profitable works.

Doing nothing, sitting at home, and expecting the phone to bring doesn't.

 

[shonceman]

Agents who pontificate over sending X number of cards = Y number of responses = Z number of appointments = M number of sales = Q number of $$$ in my pocket . . . are doing it all wrong.

I agree with everything you said about activity being the only thing you completely control. But, while the formula doesn't guarantee results, with proper tracking it can help predict them. After an agent works a system for a while, he should be able to predict his expected return on lead investment, or numbers of cold calls, etc, with some degree of accuracy. Of course it won't be the same week in and week out, but over time you can get a feel for your own averages.

 

[somarco]

formula doesn't guarantee results, with proper tracking it can help predict them.

Perhaps for you it works that way. And if you look at a long enough time frame the numbers might average out.

I don't know about you, but I have had dry spells that lasted months. It seemed like everything I tried didn't work. And then I would get on a streak and every call I took was a sale.

Ballplayers have streaks as well. They win a batting title, sign a big contract, and the next few years their average and RBI's nosedive. They get traded, then traded again, then again.

When I worked on the corporate side I got traded a lot, except they didn't call it traded.

Two years ago my wife broke her hip and I became her 24/7 caretaker for 5 months. During that time I didn't do anything to drum up prospects. I still wrote business but it was mostly referrals and a bit of organic traffic. It was June before I could get back in the game. I had a lot of catching up to do. By the end of the year I made $12k more than the prior year.

Yes, I worked hard for the last 7 months of the year but I would not advise taking 5 months off and expecting things to work out.

While taking care of my wife there is no way I could have predicted what would happen during the last part of the year.

 

[shonceman]

Perhaps for you it works that way. And if you look at a long enough time frame the numbers might average out.

I don't know about you, but I have had dry spells that lasted months. It seemed like everything I tried didn't work. And then I would get on a streak and every call I took was a sale.

Ballplayers have streaks as well. They win a batting title, sign a big contract, and the next few years their average and RBI's nosedive. They get traded, then traded again, then again.

When I worked on the corporate side I got traded a lot, except they didn't call it traded.

Two years ago my wife broke her hip and I became her 24/7 caretaker for 5 months. During that time I didn't do anything to drum up prospects. I still wrote business but it was mostly referrals and a bit of organic traffic. It was June before I could get back in the game. I had a lot of catching up to do. By the end of the year I made $12k more than the prior year.

Yes, I worked hard for the last 7 months of the year but I would not advise taking 5 months off and expecting things to work out.

While taking care of my wife there is no way I could have predicted what would happen during the last part of the year.

I get that. Life can definitely throw curveballs. Adversity is rarely predictable.

 

[Thomas Scialla]

I get that. Life can definitely throw curveballs. Adversity is rarely predictable.

You hit the nail right on the head there. We are in the business of selling safety nets against adversity. If I had a crystal ball I would set my appointments this way:

Hi is this Jimmy?
Hey Jimmy this is Thomas is All Knowing. You are going to die in 13 months. You need to buy an insurance policy today.

I have to get him 13 months before he dies because who wants the charge back? LOL.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Just a quick reply, DHurd.
I fell into this psychological and emotionally draining trap just last week. My goal required that I buy 30-40 new leads. Monday, my activity was great! I wanted to brush up on my presentation and made 100+ calls. Tuesday, I would begin buying 10 leads, with the expectation of buying 10 per day until I reached my lead purchase goal. However, the first 7 were so crucifying, and that's putting it mildly ("didn't request", "wrong number", "stop calling here", number no longer in service, "...click", "...click" again, etc., etc.), that I lost focus. I started pointing at things beyond my control, such as, "the leads are no good, they were sold to someone in addition to me, the rep taking the lead order is on the take, etc." LOL
Now, I know 80% of any lead source is waste, but I'm now down to my last 2-3 bullets on my first 10 and haven't presented to anyone. Surely, these last 2-3 will be just like the previous one's. I swear to you, I had to call a friend in the business to talk me off the legde. I was about to jump! Then the thought occured to me. I made a decision to quit off a survey of only 10. Wednesday rolls around and I'm prepared to get back on my horse, but I had technical difficulty with my computer and couldn't resume my lead purchase. Same thing Thursday. What I was left with was calling those 3 leads that I never called from the original 10 and any that I didn't speak to yet. To my surprise and delight, all 3 converted and I finished the week with over $3k.

My epiphany was, I have absolutely no control over the lead process. I could either complain about it, point fingers, etc., none of which would do me any good. The only thing I was ever in control of was my activity, PERIOD! Imagine what I would have accomplished if I stayed focus and continued doing only those activities that I had control of.

Good example. We all have to let the law of large numbers do its thing. I tell my agents all the time that if you have 20 fresh exclusive leads, and there's 6 yesses in those 20 leads, the 1st 14 leads could be "no's" and the last 6 leads are the "yesses".

And when you get to that 8th "no" in a row, you're probably thinking these leads are no good. But the reality is these leads are good, you just have to let the averages percolate to the surface.