Phone scripts

[Frank Stastny]

Frank I can appreciate the way you work but my philosaphy I guess is there ARE no unqualified prospects. If I qualify them over the phone too much I may find out they are insulin dependent diabetic or they are on meds out the wazoo but then maybe they need some burial insurance or maybe when I get there a neighbor or a relative is there that needs insurance. This has happened a few times(not enough to base my entire career on it but it has happened)When I go on my appointments I want to have 5-8 . By the time I drive an hour one way to my first appointment out in BFE I want to guarantee myself some activity. Think about it, if you call every day and each dial you make lasts 1 minute a hundred dials will last 100 minutes(hour and 40 mins) calling is time consuming and I want to see as many people I can in a given day. If this is a numbers game and your numbers are 1 in 3 will buy then having only 1 appointment is as close to 100 percent no sale as one can get but if you have 5-8 appointments then your as close to 100 percent as you can get in selling something. Because of this philosaphy and seeing married couples and asking all the questions in person I usually write 6-8 med supps a week a few pffs and a fair ammount of final. It works for me,but to each his own. That is working 5 days a week some agents work 3-4 in field.

I guess I wasn't clear. I also sell in BFE but I got tired of driving an hour or more on the chance I would sell something. So, rather than driving that far I first made phone calls and asked all the questions I stated in my other post. If they don't qualify I don't make the appointment.

Yes, I may have missed some people that I could have sold a final expense policy to or maybe a neighbor who was visiting at the time but that so seldom happens. It is a long drive on the outside chance that I might sell a $25.00 a month final expense policy that will give you very little renewal in the second year and beyond.

I am not suggesting you change what you are doing or that you should do what I do. Not by any means. I was just stating that I made calls, asked important questions so I knew if I should go ahead and make the appointment. If it ain't broken for you then don't even consider trying fixing it.

My time on the phone is anything but unproductive. With the way I am doing it I make one or two appointments a day and most often sell one or two policies a day. If a spouse is involved that could be two or four policies a day. Isn't that better than trying to make 5-8 appointments a day and maybe only selling one or two policies?

You said you can sell 6 to 8 per week working five days a week. That is excellent working cold leads and knocking on doors. However, wouldn't you prefer to sit in the comfort of your office, make phone calls and then drive to BFE and write apps as opposed to knock on doors?

You are most likely putting in, counting travel time, well over eight hours a day, five days a week to write six or eight apps. Wouldn't you rather work three and a half to four days a week and write around twelve apps a week?

I very seldom make appointments on Fridays. Friday is "do my paper work day". I'm usually done by noon with plenty of time to play a little golf or just play a little.

Read my response to Salpro22. A lot of the people I call and sell are prospects I have a lot of information on. Many are "leads" that are several months or years old. I have every lead I have received at my finger tips. I can print reports and filter/sort them in many different ways.

Agents who have never used a contact management program specifically designed for L&H agents usually have difficulty understanding how I work.

No, it isn't a "plug" for YIO, it is a fact.

 

[johnrocks]

I am in dire need of a software management system and I will probably get one in a few days I just need to think about it:biglaugh: All kidding aside I do think what you are saying has a lot of merit,it's just seems to be a lot more phone time is involved doing all that qualifying over the phone. I think we will agree that there is no "silver bullet" that works for everyone,you just have to work with what you are comfortable with and go from there. I haven't been in this biz but a few years so I am still learning,listening and trying new techniques. I do have the upmost respect for you though and appreciate your input Frank. I just work 5 days a week because that has been my routine, I could take every Friday off but what I usually do is take several days off at a time and go up in the mountains or to the beach or whatever. Being single with no kids gives me different options I guess. Hope everyone has a tremendous week.

 

[J.R.]

It's not time consuming at all. I type in the information in the comment box as I am talking to them or enter the information in the appropriate field. I have a permanent record of our conversation and I can bring them up at the click of a button. That is the only way I could have created a list of all the Advantra people I talked to over a three year period.

There is a field in the prospects database for me to enter the name of the insurance company they have their insurance with when I make the initial contact. I can also print a report using any of the information in the drop down list in that field. In other words, for any company.

Every time a company has an increase I print a report showing all the people in my prospects database who have told me they have insurance with that company. When I call them I know they are going to be interested in hearing what I have to say. I don't consider that "cold calling" either. I know before I make the phone call that I have at least a 50, 50 chance of making a sale.

I have said many times that if an agent isn't recycling their leads they are losing out on a lot of business. Which would you rather call, someone who you know nothing about or someone where you know you stand a good chance of making a sale?

That is the only way I was able to sell that much insurance. When I was only calling direct mail leads I too worked my butt off to sell 4 or 5 or 6 policies a week.

Once I developed a computer program I sold a lot more and worked a whole lot less.

Agents who are not using their computers are working way too hard and spending way too much unproductive time.

Frank, I like your idea a lot and makes me think of a few ways to attack things out here. The only problem thus far with that system for me is 1) I use goeleads and you cannot export. So, either I have to import the client information for people who are no-go's, or hire somebody full-time. 2) I use ACT and love the program, but because I do not buy lists, it would take FOREVER to type in client information.

That is fine for new clients and appts. with new clients, however, I have found it more efficient to just go through the lists building up a pipeline as I go. I love your idea though of keeping records of people and their insurance company though. Maybe it is time to pony up and sign up for sales genie.


-J.R.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Salpro22 do you mean export from YIO or import into YIO?

We can take all of the data you currently have and import it into YIO. If that isn't what you are talking about then I guess I don't understand.

We import data from other programs for new users all the time. I usually charge a flat rate of $99.00 for that service regardless of how much data there is.

If I totally "missed the boat" then please try once more to explain what you mean.

I have never used sales genie. Have you downloaded the demo of YIO? I would really be interested in your evaluation of both and how they compare.

 

[Guest]

I am in dire need of a software management system and I will probably get one in a few days I just need to think about it

Before you invest a lot of money in anything, take a look at Free CRM at

http://freecrm.com/

This is not a 'hit' on Frank's excellent program, but it might get you where you want to go or be all you need... and the price is right... free. Also you might run a Mac (as I do) and can't easily run YIO.

Usual disclaimers apply.... even beyond... because I don't use the system. However everyone I've met who does raves about it. Why don't I use it? I've cobbled my own system together with MySQL, Apache, and phpMyAdmin. But that is NOT a solution for anyone who can't write SQL statements in their sleep... like I can. (And if you have to ask "What is SQL?" you don't even what to go there!)

Al

 

[J.R.]

Salpro22 do you mean export from YIO or import into YIO?

We can take all of the data you currently have and import it into YIO. If that isn't what you are talking about then I guess I don't understand.

We import data from other programs for new users all the time. I usually charge a flat rate of $99.00 for that service regardless of how much data there is.

If I totally "missed the boat" then please try once more to explain what you mean.

I have never used sales genie. Have you downloaded the demo of YIO? I would really be interested in your evaluation of both and how they compare.

I must not have explained myself incorrectly. I am talking about the time it takes to input data about prospective clients. Here is my present marketing plan. I do all of my own telemarketing myself along with a few telemarketers who work from their home. I currently use goleads for each telemarketer and I use ACT to store all of my current clients, as well as upcoming appts., notes, etc. I keep track of everything I can, w/ the exception of tracking every individual I or any of my telemarketers call. Once a business owner becomes a potential client, I store his or her info for future use, newsletters, etc., which if I understand your post correctly, is more in line with what you meant about following up with old prospects who might have had an increase.

I don't know if you do your own telemarketing or who you go through, but you well know there are a lot of companies out there that offer that kind of data. I love everything about salesgenie when it comes to their product, except for what except for the fact that I have to individually check each individual record in order to download a zip code, county, etc. Who the hell has time to click on 5000 records? If they change their system that allows users to click a "check all" box, I will immediately sign up. I do not know how one might compare your software to Sales Genie, as both offer two different products (leads, versus CRM). I have played around with your software and like what I see and would recommend it based on what I have seen thus far. Had I not bought ACT last year and took the time this past year to learn the program, I might have purchased the software. Sorry, but I have to be honest

freecrm.com is great and if I had a way to import data into the website, I would probably use that exclusively. We shall see what I do within the next year as I ramp up my marketing efforts. I hope this helps.

-J.R.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Yep, now I understand.

I only used a telemarketer once for a very short time. It didn't work for me when selling Med Supps. I like to engage the prospect in conversation, try to build a rapport and find out specific information. A telemarketer can't do that for me.

I make all my own calls.

I am always looking for ways to improve YIO. Most of what it does now is the result of several years of input from agents using previous versions. If you have suggestions for the next upgrade I would love to hear them. If they are things that would be valuable to a great many agents I will give them serious consideration.

Thanks for your candid remarks. YIO isn't for everyone, maybe only 99.9999% of the L&H agents. :biglaugh:

 

[Guest]

freecrm.com is great and if I had a way to import data into the website, I would probably use that exclusively.

From: http://www.freecrm.com/contact.html
"You can easily import all of your contacts from your existing Outlook, Act!, Gold Mine, SalesForce.com, Siebel, or other contact management and sales automation software into our application and get started quickly."

Al

 

[J.R.]

I should have been clearer. I meant to say that I am considering a way to import data into CRM via a lead source (i.e, salesgenie, goleads, etc.) w/out wasting a lot of time doing admin stuff. Thanks for the response though.

 

[johnrocks]

hi al thanks for the advice I will defintlt check it out