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Well, Paul, what's the skinny on your other methods? As you can see above, John P. has come up with a challenge.
New guy with a few questions
- Thread starter gogoguy
- Start date
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I think this question has been asked of him many times without an answer. Apparently it's a secret?Paul, what are the "other marketing methods" that you are referring to? Please enlighten us.
Rick
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Rumor I heard is that Paul targets mailers to successful male businessmen, has free seminars at Mons Venus, and writes them up after 6-8 beers or so. Just a rumor, of course 
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Saying "cold calling is ineffective" isn't a fair statement. Different things work best for different people. There are marketing practices that can be more effective than cold calling, but there a gobs of things that are far less effective than cold calling.
An agent has an hour to kill with no agenda. He/she has to choose one: Eat a sandwich; hit some balls; shuffle papers; cold call. The agent that chooses cold calling is the winner.
On the other hand, I've been told and have repeated, "cold calling is your punishment for not getting referrals!"
An agent has an hour to kill with no agenda. He/she has to choose one: Eat a sandwich; hit some balls; shuffle papers; cold call. The agent that chooses cold calling is the winner.
On the other hand, I've been told and have repeated, "cold calling is your punishment for not getting referrals!"
- 11,997
The gentleman that suggested spending 15-20 hour reading on here gave some solid advice. The type of insurance you want to sell tends to vary by personalities.
Most people starting in the insurance business do it straight commission, that's the way I started. Once you get experience and really know what you're talking about you could get a salaried position. If you get good at what you're doing a salaried position would probably be lower pay but more stable. The main exception I know to that is the property and casualty business which isn't generally well known for it's large first year income potential.
I work with Medicare Advantage and so that's where most of my expertise is in. At the end of my post I give a breakdown of a few different types of insurance as I've seen them.
With Medicare Advantage most folks are on a straight commission and people do it a bunch of different ways. A lot of successful agents will set appointments on Monday and Thursday and run them Tuesday, Wednesday and a half day Saturday running at least 8 appointments/day, 4 on Saturday. That's if they are setting there own leads, some other guys will use lead companies, just google "affordable medicare leads" and it will give you some ideas. If you don't have the cash to start with some GA's will subsidize them, either partially or fully, but will of course reduce commissions if they're doing that. First year income's for people that are working it right can easily be $50k-$80k or more. Obviously this varies a lot, but as long as you plan it out and work with good people you can do well.
Here's a breakdown of the others:
Property and Casualty: Agencies will higher customer service reps from $10-$15/hr, not a lot of upward potential but if you start your own agency and develop it over time you can build up a large clientele and stable renewals. Generally this is a much slower and methodical personality.
Traditional life insurance: Folks that are successful in this do VERY well for themselves, it does require a very aggressive and dedicated person. You'd need to have a LOT of help getting trained and unless you have a large network for people who are ready to buy from you it will take a ton of work to generate leads. Most folks that get in this business leave in less than 6 months, probably 90%+leave after a year and the next year more than half of what's left leave. Again, it's just a great way for an aggressive person person to make a ton of money.
Group Health: Typically a blend between the property and casualty and traditional life insurance sales. Larger renewal commissions than p&c and a lot more work. If you can grow a good sized book of business then the renewals can grow pretty quick and you can earn a real good living on a straight commission basis. Regardless of what type of insurance you go with, you're going to want to make sure you're working with good people that can train you and support you. With group health sometimes it's hard to get contracts with the carrier, but you can usually find an agent/agency that will let you work off their contract if they take a small part of the commission.
Senior Products/Medicare: My particular favorite and very flexible. It's difficult to get a job selling Med Advantage for a company with a salary, but almost everyone is looking for a broker straight commission. Many of the folks on here posting about Medicare Advantage can help you get a really good idea of what the market is like. It's nuts! But I love it. The people that sell Medicare Advantage usually sell Final Expense life insurance as well, it takes roughly the same type of personality a life insurance agent would. A perk about selling Medicare Advantage is that it's a must have product and sometimes people will enroll in your product even if you make a terrible presentation and they don't like you.
Hope this helps!
P
paparocks
Guest
I am in the same boat. I have a company telling me I can sell Senior Life insurance from their call center and make 75K easily and after a year or so, I can have 5 agents under me and I will make 150K or so. We all know the old "if its too good to be true, it probably isn't." Are these numbers even remotely realistic?
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No.
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