Project 200

newtoinsurance1

New Member
1
Hello Everyone,

I will be joining an insurance firm that requires a Project 200. I do not plan on using my friends and family but will instead network and use other prospecting methods. Is the Project 200 necessary to launch a career as an agent?
 
Hello Everyone,

I will be joining an insurance firm that requires a Project 200. I do not plan on using my friends and family but will instead network and use other prospecting methods. Is the Project 200 necessary to launch a career as an agent?

so, you are starting a career in an industry you don't believe in? Why would you not want to contact those you are closest with in your friends and family. You typed the words " I do not plan on using my friends and family". This gives me the impression you don't have belief in the product or company you are starting with when you believe you will be using them.

I read this as you do not plan to help your friends and family. if they die or become uninsurable while you are avoiding helping them, wont you feel horrible. it will and does happen.

you might want to rethink your plan
 
Hello Everyone,

I will be joining an insurance firm that requires a Project 200. I do not plan on using my friends and family but will instead network and use other prospecting methods. Is the Project 200 necessary to launch a career as an agent?

Ask every Edward Jones investment advisor if they needed a "project 200" to launch their individual practice. All of them did door-knocking and other prospecting.

Project 200, in my opinion, fuels the ongoing lack of training of each firm that promotes it AND only works for the agency to use recruiting to meet their commission goals. Remember, just because LIMRA promotes it, they promote it as a way for the AGENCY to sell more policies, not as "the" way for new agents to succeed long-term.

However, that being said, I agree with @Allen Trent. If you have the right relationship with your "network", you should want to help them through quality advice and the strategic use of your products.

I would use Project 200 as a secondary marketing strategy. If you're meeting with a family through your REAL prospecting efforts, and they remind you of someone else, you LEVERAGE that family and their similarities into your call to them that it 'triggered' you to think of them and talk with them.

Also, not all of us are in "direct contact" with our "project 200" (well not outside of Facebook anyway). And contacting them can feel very uncomfortable as though we're ONLY contacting them because 'we need a sale'. That would be uncomfortable for everyone.

Read Sandy Schussel's article in this link here.
An Untapped Life Insurance Sales Market!

“Well, they taught us to just call them up and offer to sit down with them,” Robert offered. “But I’m not comfortable with that. How would I be able to convince them that I care about them if I called them up out of the blue after five years to ask for an appointment?” he asked.

An easy way to ask someone you haven’t had contact with in a long time if he or she might be interested in working with you is just to tell him or her that you wanted to reach out to everyone you knew, adding, "and that included you."

Rather than making a dozen calls to total strangers like a lot of advisors do, I decided I’d prefer to call people I actually have some connection with who might be ready - or have already started - to invest for their futures, and who might want some professional help.

"You were one of the people I thought of. Would you be open to discussing your situation with me for a couple of minutes?"
 
Btw, if you really want to engage with the people you know, do an educational workshop at a local library. This can be a way for them to "support" you by attending the workshop, and you can invite others to attend... and then they can tell you what they think of your presentation, and perhaps... even ask to meet with you directly.
 
The Project 200 can be a great starting place if used properly... It is not just a tool to list family and friends but anyone you know who might have a need for your product that you can approach on favorable terms..This will normally include family and friends but also many people with whom you have just a passing acquaintance.. For example it would include all the people with whom you do business. Many if these might not become clients but may become referral centers and centers of influence.. My personal opinion is the same as Allen's. If you do not believe in your product enough to help a family member who has a need, you need to find another business.. Oh, an when I call on someone with whom I do business, their response has a lot to do in determining if I will do business with them in the future.. They don't have to buy... they don't even have to grant be an interview.. but they do have to treat me and my profession with respect.. .. :yes:
 
I read this as you do not plan to help your friends and family.

I would insert the word "sell" for help... I understand his position... unless his family is really stupid they know the need already and he doesn't want to come across as the proverbial sales guy...

Be there for your family and close friends... but you don't have to go around selling them... they will catch on to what you are doing... and if you want to, give them someone's card you trust.
 
I would insert the word "sell" for help... I understand his position... unless his family is really stupid they know the need already and he doesn't want to come across as the proverbial sales guy...

Be there for your family and close friends... but you don't have to go around selling them... they will catch on to what you are doing... and if you want to, give them someone's card you trust.
The family and friends probably already know at least a half dozen people that sell insurance and if they haven't asked them about insurance they probably are not going to ask you. You can offer your services to them in a non threatening way and if they say no, at least you have tried... You won't have to feel bad when you see a family member suffering hardship due the death of a uninsured member.. And, yes if it happens and you know you did not do your best, you will feel guilty if you truly believe in what you are doing... BTW, the first family an agent should make certain is protected is his own.. If you don't believe in it enough to buy it yourself, even if it means making a sacrifice to pay for it, you shouldn't be selling it to anyone else..
 
The family and friends probably already know at least a half dozen people that sell insurance and if they haven't asked them about insurance they probably are not going to ask you. You can offer your services to them in a non threatening way and if they say no, at least you have tried... You won't have to feel bad when you see a family member suffering hardship due the death of a uninsured member.. And, yes if it happens and you know you did not do your best, you will feel guilty if you truly believe in what you are doing... BTW, the first family an agent should make certain is protected is his own.. If you don't believe in it enough to buy it yourself, even if it means making a sacrifice to pay for it, you shouldn't be selling it to anyone else..


Read the last sentence...
 
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