Question About Prospective Career Opportunity

Kaeshade

New Member
4
Like how I included prospect in there? I know, thrifty.

Anyway, a bit of background: for about three years I've been at sales, 1.5 in the insurance industry working for a captive Agent as a producer (think: State Farm, AllState, Farmers type deal etc). I've set appointments from leads/cold, or warm market and/or closed p&c(lol), l&h, disability, and so on, mostly due to sales technique and admittedly not from extensive product knowledge.

I love insurance. Love it. I can't really explain why. The whole thing. And recently, I've made the decision to make a switch, to focus on Life & Health and hopefully some day a series 6/63 with some financial planning, at least that's the goal.

I have, presently, an opportunity with a couple different captive companies. I've decided captive because I know I still have a hell of a lot to learn, and they actually provide some type of mentor ship or assistance. Here's the list in total:

-combined
-farmers
-local broker
-John Hancock
-NYLife
-AIL/NILICO

Now, due to my having Exp in the field I've already sold my 200, yet was an utter novice and never properly generated referrals. My warm market is kind of a joke, but I'm about 5% for cold calling & 35%ish warm, 60% referral.

This all seems ridiculous, but it's not a pitch. I've been successful in other avenues of sales, and was as a producer as well

So which company ?

Thx in advance ;)

Edit: I have a very high close ratio if I have the opportunity to get in front of a client, but I have no idea how to prospect outside of lead companies.
 
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Company doesn't matter. Local agency training and management is everything.

That being said, there's a search button where you can look at various past opinions on most of these companies. I don't think we have much on John Hancock though. Maybe some stuff on their products, such as IUL or their long term care policies, but not much on their career agency platform.

I was with Combined Insurance. They'll teach you how to peddle policies through cold-calling and canvassing... but they don't have policies appropriate for "planning", nor a broker/dealer to help you get your Series 6/63.

Farmers focuses on P&C while cross-selling Life and other stuff. There's plenty here on Farmers - enough to tell me that I'd be happier elsewhere.

AIL... there's plenty here on them too. They also don't have a broker/dealer to get your series 6/63.

By reputation alone, I'd definitely take a look at NYL. I'd also check out MassMutual, Met Life, Northwestern Mutual, Guardian, Mutual of Omaha, etc.

However, I'm not going to tell you that these agencies have it all together. By reputation, NYL is the one that has the most regimented training. The rest? eh.

There's some GREAT video training available from the Insurance Pro Shop for $25/month that I recommend to everyone. At least, if you get to an agency and if their training is lacking... this is a training company that I have 100% confidence in.
IPS Insurance Marketing and Sales Resource Center

BTW, to "re-approach" your project 200, you need to position yourself differently and do business differently. You'd have to show people about the problems you solve instead of the policies you sell. Become a master at financial problem solving, and be able to show people how you're evolving your career, and you'll get a new respect and possibly referrals.

If you want some great referral training, I like Sandy Schussel's training here for $37:
http://sandyschussel.com/products/

When you want to systematize it, I'd look at Wayne Cotton's Client Acquisition System - which is considerably more expensive at $2,000:
Cotton Systems
 
Wow, thanks. Extremely informative. I've read a lot of all of your posts, but I decided I'd give you some information about me before I ask.

I'm definitely leaning NYLife, they are rumored by you all to have the best training (and retention?). My fear is, though, that my experience is from cold/leads or p&c cross-sell, and they don't suggest or are able to do any of that. However, it said training is as "wizardry" as it sounds, perhaps I could "learn to fish".

JH and AIL provide leads. While not sound, cross-selling or having some type of "in" has made me successful in the past. Not having that and I feel a bit lost.

I appreciate all the info, though, and will definitely check out the resources you listed.
 
If you're producing new premium, I can guarantee you that they won't care how you're doing it... as long as you're doing it.
 
What would you estimate the success rate of former producers switching to pure l&h?

Like I said, hooking p&c into a l&h convo is pretty easy, or tapping an established book of business. I've heard you guys mention newspapers and whitepages.com....

Like, I want to believe you guys are just running into people at the bar and somehow you generate a life insurance sale/referral out of it but I'm pretty damn charismatic and I'd have a pretty tough time performing that trick.

"Networking" is a really, really broad term.

I'm sure you might have figured out that I'm in my 20's: my age group isn't exactly full of business execs or a warm corporate market -- a lot of them are getting coffee.

Is this possible or am I over-shooting myself? I'd just rather not be another statistic in the Life/FP game, but I want to make it happen more than anything.
 
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There's a 90%+ failure rate in this industry - regardless of where they come from.

Let me give you a HUGE clue to this business. Stop trying to sell policies... and focus on a specific type of prospect profile.

Who do you see yourself working with: Personal/family market? Business market? Retirement/Senior market?

Once you pick your market, you need to narrow down your profile.

Age
Marital Status
Children?
Resident status: homeowners vs renters
Household Income
Radius from your home/office

Once you narrow this down, then determine what problems these people have. What problems do they generally have now and what problems will they have in the future if they can't solve their problems today.

Then you buy a list based on these demographics can cold-call them, or you door-knock the areas you are targeting in order to find these people.

Here's a general example of what I do and say:

"Hi, my name is DHK. And I promise I'm not trying to sell you anything right now or asking for any money. I hope that's okay?"

"I'd like like to take a quick minute to introduce myself and the kind of work I do and then you can judge whether we should keep talking or not."

"I'm DHK and I work in financial services. I work with families to help them to (1) reduce or eliminate their debts, (2) fund college educations while maximizing their eligibility for financial aid, (3) get the life insurance they need in case the worst happens, (4) pay off their homes 5 to 10 years early, and (5) have the retirement they've always wanted."

"Do you think my services sound like something that might be worth sitting down and talking about to help you and your family?"


It's a very "matter-of-fact" introduction and very pointed as to who I am, what I do, and how they will benefit. Most scripts out there aren't NEARLY so focused on specific benefits and results based on one's process. They're either very vague, or even manipulative by implying that you are a 'financial wizard' and no one is as smart as you are. Nor does it 'beg' for the chance to offer a call if you "see something good" or if 'rates change' or some other weak approach.

Would people respond to such an offer? The right prospects who would value an additional perspective to their financial situation will.

Those that say 'no' either have NO money whatsoever, they're off-profile, or they have other big issues in their life so that financial planning isn't a concern right now. (Hey, you don't know if they were just diagnosed with cancer, or whatever.)

Work with the willing... and just thank the rest for their time.

I see. My niche had seemed to be either writing final expense policies, which I was pretty hot at, or whole life policies to my age group (20's). Pretty much whole life. I like term, but I had trouble establishing a middle ground with middle class families as I'm a single and young bachelor with no dependents. I suppose I personally see a huge benefit to whole life policies to my demographic if angled the correct way.
 
There's a 90%+ failure rate in this industry - regardless of where they come from.

Let me give you a HUGE clue to this business. Stop trying to sell policies... and focus on a specific type of prospect profile.

Who do you see yourself working with: Personal/family market? Business market? Retirement/Senior market?

Once you pick your market, you need to narrow down your profile.

Age
Marital Status
Children?
Resident status: homeowners vs renters
Household Income
Radius from your home/office

Once you narrow this down, then determine what problems these people have. What problems do they generally have now and what problems will they have in the future if they can't solve their problems today.

Then you buy a list based on these demographics can cold-call them, or you door-knock the areas you are targeting in order to find these people.

Here's a general example of what I do and say:

"Hi, my name is DHK. And I promise I'm not trying to sell you anything right now or asking for any money. I hope that's okay?"

"I'd like like to take a quick minute to introduce myself and the kind of work I do and then you can judge whether we should keep talking or not."

"I'm DHK and I work in financial services. I work with families to help them to (1) reduce or eliminate their debts, (2) fund college educations while maximizing their eligibility for financial aid, (3) get the life insurance they need in case the worst happens, (4) pay off their homes 5 to 10 years early, and (5) have the retirement they've always wanted."

"Do you think my services sound like something that might be worth sitting down and talking about to help you and your family?"


It's a very "matter-of-fact" introduction and very pointed as to who I am, what I do, and how they will benefit. Most scripts out there aren't NEARLY so focused on specific benefits and results based on one's process. They're either very vague, or even manipulative by implying that you are a 'financial wizard' and no one is as smart as you are. Nor does it 'beg' for the chance to offer a call if you "see something good" or if 'rates change' or some other weak approach.

Would people respond to such an offer? The right prospects who would value an additional perspective to their financial situation will.

Those that say 'no' either have NO money whatsoever, they're off-profile, or they have other big issues in their life so that financial planning isn't a concern right now. (Hey, you don't know if they were just diagnosed with cancer, or whatever.)

Work with the willing... and just thank the rest for their time.

----------

Now, if you want to learn how to actually DO what I said in my intro, the training is available with the Insurance Pro Shop.
 
Yes and no.

Combined's training is great... for learning to do cold-calling, cold-canvassing, and selling basic policies. If all you want to do is prospect to present your policies and have the other person pick what they want (based on feature/benefit/price), then Combined is great for that.

If you want to learn and use more strategic planning methods, then at least Combined will teach you some pointers on how to get someone's attention... but it kinda ends there.

----------

If they had term life insurance at decent levels... and disability coverage for employees with decent coverage... then it could've been good to be with longer term.

However, they had no term life. They have non-par whole life, but only up to $100k.

An employee earning between $20k - $70k would qualify for up to a whopping $500/month disability benefit... that is STILL coordinated with state DI programs. If a benefit is going to be coordinated, it might as well be a much higher starting point.
 
Yes and no.

Combined's training is great... for learning to do cold-calling, cold-canvassing, and selling basic policies. If all you want to do is prospect to present your policies and have the other person pick what they want (based on feature/benefit/price), then Combined is great for that.

If you want to learn and use more strategic planning methods, then at least Combined will teach you some pointers on how to get someone's attention... but it kinda ends there.

----------

If they had term life insurance at decent levels... and disability coverage for employees with decent coverage... then it could've been good to be with longer term.

However, they had no term life. They have non-par whole life, but only up to $100k.

An employee earning between $20k - $70k would qualify for up to a whopping $500/month disability benefit... that is STILL coordinated with state DI programs. If a benefit is going to be coordinated, it might as well be a much higher starting point.


I take it you never sold the Little Giant accident policy.:laugh:
 

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