Pushing a Sale

[Todd King]

Nope, not on the people sending in reply cards. More than half the people I see are getting extra help for their part D and/or Part B premium.

If you specialize in FE you will not find many SPWL buyers in that market. It's rare to even find med sup buyers. I do over 300 FE apps per year. I only do about 20 med sup apps per year. Half of those are from referral from my FE clients instead of them being able to buy themselves.

It's also going to comeback to what demographic you are mailing.If mailing higher incomes you might find more buyers. The returns go down because most people that can do SPWL or preneed policies have an agent. The typical FE reply person does not have an agent.

That goes back to what travis said, "if you chase two rabbits you will lose them both".

You can still find them if you look for them. Like I said, most agents don't know how to look for them.

You said yourself that some of the people mailing back are looking to add to what they have. That's a place to start looking; those with paid up policies. Another place is for those that have CD's set aside.

They are out there, but you'll only find them if you are looking.

 

[jdeasy]

You can still find them if you look for them. Like I said, most agents don't know how to look for them.

You said yourself that some of the people mailing back are looking to add to what they have. That's a place to start looking; those with paid up policies. Another place is for those that have CD's set aside.

They are out there, but you'll only find them if you are looking.

Maybe where you are. You would have to be Sherlock Holmes to find them in this area from the responders.

The ones looking to add to what they have only have $3000 and $4000 policies and are wanting to add another $3 or 4K to them. You ain't pulling a SPWL out of them.

I would be interested to know just how many SPWL apps you write from FE mailers compared to how many you just write FE on?

 

[Todd King]

When I was still in the field I would find about 6 or so a year. It's not that many, but they are out there.

There probably is a little difference between how you and I did business. I looked at everything in the house whether it was Med Supps, FE, LTC, or annuities. I took a look at all their existing policies (if they had them). I also asked about monies set aside, in the bank, in investments, etc. If you're not doing that then they are almost impossible to find.

I'm not trying to say one way is better than another. I just went a bit further than many other agents want to. It's just what I did. Just different.

 

[BenS]

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of good advice. I did some quick scanning of the property values on zillow for the areas I was in this week, and then compared them to the county I will be in next week. I think I'm going to have a lot more success next week. I'll be visiting more than a few trailer parks, apartments, and houses valued under 75k. These are the people I need to be seeing.

Today I pulled up to a house that is probably worth at least half a million with an Escalade in front. I pretty much knew my odds of selling a FE policy to them was slim to none. I'm new to the business, so I'm not in the position to offer some of the other products mentioned by other posters.

 

[WinoBlues]

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of good advice. I did some quick scanning of the property values on zillow for the areas I was in this week, and then compared them to the county I will be in next week. I think I'm going to have a lot more success next week. I'll be visiting more than a few trailer parks, apartments, and houses valued under 75k. These are the people I need to be seeing.

Today I pulled up to a house that is probably worth at least half a million with an Escalade in front. I pretty much knew my odds of selling a FE policy to them was slim to none. I'm new to the business, so I'm not in the position to offer some of the other products mentioned by other posters.

Got a phone number for them?

 

[Rearden]

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of good advice. I did some quick scanning of the property values on zillow for the areas I was in this week, and then compared them to the county I will be in next week. I think I'm going to have a lot more success next week. I'll be visiting more than a few trailer parks, apartments, and houses valued under 75k. These are the people I need to be seeing.

Today I pulled up to a house that is probably worth at least half a million with an Escalade in front. I pretty much knew my odds of selling a FE policy to them was slim to none. I'm new to the business, so I'm not in the position to offer some of the other products mentioned by other posters.

Once you run through an area completely, you'll have more success, knowing where to focus and not to bother.

We did a mail drop to an affluent area and several of the leads returned were like what you experienced.

As for the door-knocking, 95% of people who answer the door are friendly, once they understand your their because they requested you. I step back a little bit before they open the door, show them the card they sent in, and keep good eye contact.

Make sure you look the part of a professional; most people are going to decide within the first several seconds whether or not to deal with you. So make sure you look good when you door knock.

 

[xrac]

Nope, not on the people sending in reply cards. More than half the people I see are getting extra help for their part D and/or Part B premium.

If you specialize in FE you will not find many SPWL buyers in that market. It's rare to even find med sup buyers. I do over 300 FE apps per year. I only do about 20 med sup apps per year. Half of those are from referral from my FE clients instead of them being able to buy themselves.

It's also going to comeback to what demographic you are mailing.If mailing higher incomes you might find more buyers. The returns go down because most people that can do SPWL or preneed policies have an agent. The typical FE reply person does not have an agent.

That goes back to what travis said, "if you chase two rabbits you will lose them both".
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I just go right in. Never had a problem with. I don't doorknock as a rule. My appointments are set and they are expecting me. I've had a time or tow in nice weather where the folks said "why don't we just sit out here on the front porch if you don't mind". I don't mind doing business on the front porch.

I'm clean cut, dressed nice and have ID. I come from a family of cops and every says I look like a cop, too. Maybe that's why I've never had a problem?

JD, thanks for the good posts and info. It is interesting that you say you look like a cop. I thought you reminded me of a picture I saw at the post office.

 

[jdeasy]

When I was still in the field I would find about 6 or so a year. It's not that many, but they are out there.

There probably is a little difference between how you and I did business. I looked at everything in the house whether it was Med Supps, FE, LTC, or annuities. I took a look at all their existing policies (if they had them). I also asked about monies set aside, in the bank, in investments, etc. If you're not doing that then they are almost impossible to find.

I'm not trying to say one way is better than another. I just went a bit further than many other agents want to. It's just what I did. Just different.

I don't sell annuities and never have. I wouldn't know what to do with a free stack of annuity leads if you gave them to me.

I find out why people sent in the card. Occasionally they will say it was something other than a burial plan. I sell a bit of term to those people that were looking for something like mortgage protection or jus to supplement their life insurance.

I do ask every prospect who they have their med sup with. 90% of my prospects do not have a med sup. The ones that aren't on medicaid are on an MA plan. I don't do those anymore so, if they can do better, I refer then to friend that does MA.

But, even though I don't sell annuities I would know if they that kind of buyer. I ran into one couple that was looking for a reverse mortgage. I don't do those either, so I referred them to a guy that does.

I don't tryto be a jack of all trades. My focus and expertise isin FE. I'm not a financial planner and I'm not a gimmick guy that throws water bottles at people or bugs them to death at the gas station or the grocery store. Not saying that you do those things, but there are agents on here that claim they do that.

I believe in being consistant, steady and straitforward. . It works for me. I didn't make FE my primary focus until Feb. 2009. In that time I've done over $600,000 ap. But, that is not the numbers that I am most proud of.

EFES hasa weekly streak chart of at least $2000 ap submitted. This is my 128th straight week of accomplishing that. They also have an at least $10,000 ap submitted month streak. This is my 34th consecutive month on that chart. Those are the ones I'm proud of. Those are a big deal to me. Maybe not to anyone else.

This is also with my only getting 15 leads per week. So, if I leave an annuity or SPWL on the table here and there I can live with it.

 

[Mark]

JDEasy, it must be nice. You dont do graded, spwl or Annuities and you get 15 leads a week to work.

You are not the avg agent. Most of us still have to prospect, buy our own leads or do other methods.

I love selling SPWL. It is nice to make over 18k off of 1 case and to double the money they were going to leave someone. Tax free also.

I dont do many annuities. If someone wants one from me, I pass it to one of my agents.

I'm just bless not to have to need leads to make it.

 

[jdeasy]

JDEasy, it must be nice. You dont do graded, spwl or Annuities and you get 15 leads a week to work.

You are not the avg agent. Most of us still have to prospect, buy our own leads or do other methods.

I love selling SPWL. It is nice to make over 18k off of 1 case and to double the money they were going to leave someone. Tax free also.

I dont do many annuities. If someone wants one from me, I pass it to one of my agents.

I'm just bless not to have to need leads to make it.

I do sell some graded. Not much, but a little. I don't mind selling graded. I like AmCon's 40%-75%. What I don't sell is any GI or ROP.

If someone has to have that kind of plan then MoO is far and away the best deal for them. I give them the number for MoO. Sometimes I have even called up MoO for them and helped them enroll. There is no way that I would put someone with Americo, Presidential, UHL or any of the other GI or ROP plans when I know what they can get with MoO. To me it's just not right. If it's right for other agents I don't bust on them for doing what they think is right.

I wouldn't mind selling a SPWL if the opprtunity arrose. It just doesn't present itself in the FE market. But, if I did run across someone that had $10,000 or so to put down on their funeral expenses now, I would not recommend a SPWL to them. I would recommend a preneed to them. I think preneed plans are great if you can for it upfront and have the gurantees that come from a true preneed. When I do run into those I send them to Newby. Where I do not agree with preneed is when a person has to make payments. I think they are better off with a whole life plan then and that's what I recommend. My clients seem to appreciate the honesty that I will tell them that, if they have the money now, buy the preneed and I will send you to an expert, but if you are going to make payments, I will take care of it.

If I ever run across someone that has $10,000 to $15000 to spend and not just dedicated to their funeral I will recomend a SPWL. That hasnt happened yet. I don't expect it will as that is just not what this market is about.