New guy with a few questions

[loudee]

I'm extremely new in the biz but from what I've read you can make a very good living in this business. It all boils down to:

1. Product knowledge. This is a must. Know what your selling inside and out. You can never know too much.
2. Work your tail off with cold calling. If you can dedicate 3 hours a day, 5 days a week working the phone you should be able to generate a decent amount of leads. Do not slack on the calling. Also don't forget to walk to local businesses and drop off flyers.
3. Of course you need good phone and people skills. Doing the above will sharpen these skills.
4. Get appointed through a quality GA. I'm sure the guys on the forum can point you in the right direction.
5. Don't get discouraged. If you put in the time and effort there is a very good chance you will be making a very profitable living.

Again, I'm a newbie here and I'm sure I've missed a few things but I think the above advice is accurate.

Lou
ps...good luck

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I'm extremely new in the biz but from what I've read you can make a very good living in this business. It all boils down to:

1. Product knowledge. This is a must. Know what your selling inside and out. You can never know too much.
2. Work your tail off with cold calling. If you can dedicate 3 hours a day, 5 days a week working the phone you should be able to generate a decent amount of leads. Do not slack on the calling. Also don't forget to walk to local businesses and drop off flyers.
3. Of course you need good phone and people skills. Doing the above will sharpen these skills.
4. Get appointed through a quality GA. I'm sure the guys on the forum can point you in the right direction.
5. Don't get discouraged. If you put in the time and effort there is a very good chance you will be making a very profitable living.

Again, I'm a newbie here and I'm sure I've missed a few things but I think the above advice is accurate.

Lou
ps...good luck

17 successful years in the business.

#3 is the most critical. "Product knowledge", while important, is overrated. It's really more for your confidence.

COLD CALLING IS INEFFECTIVE. There are other marketing methods that are much, much more effective.

All the "hard work" isn't worth a hill 'o beans if you are not doing the RIGHT things...there's all kinds of people in the world who are "workin' hard", but have neither a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it out of...

 

[indmedins]

COLD CALLING IS INEFFECTIVE. There are other marketing methods that are much, much more effective.

Please do elaborate on this statement. I feel cold calling is a fine way to generate clients. I have made a fair share of sales on my efforts and when I call back to go over plans, these prospects remember me and are receptive. What methods work best for you?

 

[tryan326]

Thank you for the clarification.
In the company I am with now there are some people making $75k and some making $25k, so I guess it's the old 80/20 rule. Besides I have a family that depends on me so I have no choice but to make it work when I do make the move.

First thing you should do is figure out which line(s) that you want to sell. Since the family is depending on your income. Get licensed and appointed with a few companies and learn their products in and out while maintaining your current job. Being an independent agent you are a business owner, so you need to come up with a plan or modal that decribes how you going to execute day to day business. Based on what level of success you wish to achieve. Start selling insurance PT until you can take it FT...that way there's no pressure to make a sell b/c you still have a steady income.

 

[lookin4abetterwayinpa]

Thanks tryan.

That is part of my plan, I will select three carriers at first, and only concentrate on business local to me. I already have a GA that has provided tremendous training so far, even though I have not even acquired my license yet.

The reason I responded to somarco is simply this. I have been on this site for about a month now, just gathering info at first, then I joined. When I first found this site I read every post on every thread. You can figure out early who really knows what they are talking about, and who is just wasting their own time. Somarco, chumps, moonlight, txins, dave, and a handful of others have posted numerous things that I have learned immensly from.

To me it's amazing that these people will openly share with me how they became sucessful, w/o wanting anything in return. I guess there is hope for the world after all.

 

[gogoguy]

First thing you should do is figure out which line(s) that you want to sell. Since the family is depending on your income. Get licensed and appointed with a few companies and learn their products in and out while maintaining your current job. Being an independent agent you are a business owner, so you need to come up with a plan or modal that decribes how you going to execute day to day business. Based on what level of success you wish to achieve. Start selling insurance PT until you can take it FT...that way there's no pressure to make a sell b/c you still have a steady income.

This might be a way to go. I had a long talk with a newly retired guy from the insurance industry here in town. He told me that nobody in town has anything like training or much for guys just getting in. He told me I would be better off doing it for myself. He said really the only thing the guys here would provide me is a building and a sign. The rest is up to me anyway. Talked like I could do better on my own and keep an active roll in our document services business that is paying the bills. I don't see how we have such a hard time finding a good sales guy as we offer better than any insurance company I have heard off . We provide advertising,building,marketing budget for each guy, and a territory that is protected for them to work in. I told him I'm going to start marketing for help to insurance guys,lol. He did say he thought I could get to the money I wanted in 2 years and once there it would be easy to stay there. The two industries are very much the same, it sounds to me. I told him I'm not interested in becoming a telemarketer(unsolicited anyway). He said he didn't do that and nobody in his office did either. They did alot of direct marketing and of course owning a small print shop will allow us to do that cheap. I think the telemarketing deal shows a complete lack of class and instead of just pure volume doing the selling I prefer to really sell with ability not shear numbers.

 

[jerrykramer64fan]

Thanks tryan.

That is part of my plan, I will select three carriers at first, and only concentrate on business local to me. I already have a GA that has provided tremendous training so far, even though I have not even acquired my license yet.

The reason I responded to somarco is simply this. I have been on this site for about a month now, just gathering info at first, then I joined. When I first found this site I read every post on every thread. You can figure out early who really knows what they are talking about, and who is just wasting their own time. Somarco, chumps, moonlight, txins, dave, and a handful of others have posted numerous things that I have learned immensly from.

To me it's amazing that these people will openly share with me how they became sucessful, w/o wanting anything in return. I guess there is hope for the world after all.

Just don't start selling in WI, and I won't have a problem!

 

[B Ray]

It may be you.

It may be you are working hard at doing the wrong thing.

You could just be in a learning curve.

There are any number of explanations.

What I do know is this. If you quit, then you will pretty much justify my comment that the average person makes $5k their first year.[/quote]Above is a quote by somarco from my post

Well my first 4 weeks was trying to get some training, I sold the 3k in the last 4 weeks actually, I have not thought about quiting, maybe changing to a company that will train me, in the last 8 weeks, not 1 agent has had a presentation for me to observe and learn.

I have worked hard to get what I have,due to lack of training, I know what I can accomplish,knowing everything the company has to offer, I know the hours I'm willing to put into this business to make 100k per year. I will be successful in this business because, just like everything else I have done, I WILL put in the hours and it will work out, just like everything else I have done.

 

[arnguy]

COLD CALLING IS INEFFECTIVE. There are other marketing methods that are much, much more effective...

Paul, what are the "other marketing methods" that you are referring to? Please enlighten us.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I'm unaware that cold calling is ineffective

Anyone want to take the Pepsi challenge? Put me on the auto dialer for the week and you can use your method - we'll see which method generates more volume.

Not only will I write much more business, it'll be better business (small biz owners) higher premiums (higher average age, more families) and unbeatable ROI.