Rookie Health Agent Seeks Advice

[JRoot]

3. I should buy a web site from Norvax or Quotit so that I look reputable and my customers can run quotes. Also having the ability to send auto emails to prospects is a good idea.

Check out www.zapquotes.com. They only do CA and are much cheaper than Quotit or Norvax. Worth a look. I use them and recommend them.

 

[joshril]

I'll do 200 cases this year without either a Norvax or Quotit quote engine, so that proves that it's not exactly essential.

I guess my statement is biased because I'm in TX. It is essential in TX due to the amount of companies competing for market share...

That being said, for $100/month, why make it harder even if you only have 3-4 companies?

I operated several years without a quote engine and made sales, but I've reduced my workload considerably using Norvax.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I guess my statement is biased because I'm in TX. It is essential in TX due to the amount of companies competing for market share...

That being said, for $100/month, why make it harder even if you only have 3-4 companies?

I operated several years without a quote engine and made sales, but I've reduced my workload considerably using Norvax.

There's at least as many companies selling individual health in Florida as there is in Texas, and probably a good deal more, but that's not the point.

I am the search engine. I don't send "quotes" or muddy the waters by giving 42 different possibilities which only leads to confusion and NO SALE. If they want "quotes" they can go to e-health or some other quote engine.

We talk, I probe and recommend, we agree, and then an app.

 

[bluemarlin08]

I have Norvax and rarely use it. As Moonlight stated, I am the search engine and do pretty much as he does, IMO, too many quotes confuses the prospect, especially when they focus just on the cheapest plan.

 

[Health_Broker101]

You guys (and gals) are unbelievable, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me out!

Regarding quotit/norvax, I do see where many of you are coming from, the service is expensive and not really essential to do business but I think there could be as much value in the web site as there is in the quoting technology. If I have a highly professional web site and toll free phone # to go with a domain specific email(don't know what the technical term is but lets say the site is health.com, I'd like my email to be [email protected]) then it might help me out from a credibility standpoint.

As a newbie and starting out as an independant, I feel like I need all the help I can get.

 

[Gregb3104]

Tony,


I also have an agency based in CA. If you are buying Internet leads, I would recommend that you consider a non-resident license in several additional states. About 90% of our business comes from clients outside CA. Also, when starting your business, commission annualization is critical to cash flow. For the most part, Assurant is not competitive in CA, but is extremely competitive in half a dozen other states, and very competitive in certain situations in another 15 states. If you are working Michigan, Unicare will advance 6 months and is competitive in most situations.

Good luck.

When you have a quality website with search engine and auto responders, you should find that your closing percentage will about double compared to your previous efforts. It's an investment, but definitely worth it.

Although Norvax and Quotit's quoting engines and autoresponders are excellent, I do not recommend that you purchase a website from either company. From an SEO perspective, their websites would need to be extensively reworked.

A toll free number is inexpensive and does make a difference. We use Ring Central.

 

[joshril]

There's at least as many companies selling individual health in Florida as there is in Texas, and probably a good deal more, but that's not the point.

I am the search engine. I don't send "quotes" or muddy the waters by giving 42 different possibilities which only leads to confusion and NO SALE. If they want "quotes" they can go to e-health or some other quote engine.

We talk, I probe and recommend, we agree, and then an app.

I never send out "quotes" to clients either. When shopping rates, are you manually using the quoting software provided by the carriers? The big benefit of Norvax to me is the fact that I can look at quotes from multiple at one time.

I'm not sure what the market's like in FL, but the rates with almost all carriers in TX fluctuate considerably base upon the zip. I actually "shop" all the carriers for my customers, and I have a record of the quotes I have pulled up. If someone ever comes back and asked why I sold them that particular plan, I can pull the PDF, and say, well because you wanted XYZ benefit and this plan was priced the best... proof that I truly found them the best deal and didn't just sell the plan I wanted to sell...

I think it also boils down to lead volume. I work up to 100-125 leads some weeks... If I have 15 appointments weekly, I don't have time to manually run quotes.

 

[joshril]

You guys (and gals) are unbelievable, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me out!

Regarding quotit/norvax, I do see where many of you are coming from, the service is expensive and not really essential to do business but I think there could be as much value in the web site as there is in the quoting technology. If I have a highly professional web site and toll free phone # to go with a domain specific email(don't know what the technical term is but lets say the site is health.com, I'd like my email to be [email protected]) then it might help me out from a credibility standpoint.

As a newbie and starting out as an independant, I feel like I need all the help I can get.

You can purchase a domain/business email without using a quoting engine.

I'm honestly flabbergasted by agents that are supposedly writing 3-10 apps weekly and not using a quoting engine. I also don't understand how $100/month is considered expensive.

If you're goal, as a new agent (without referrals or a book to flip), is to make six figures, why wouldn't you spend $3.29/day to make your job easier?

The costs of starting in this business are so low compared with other industries. It really blows my mind where agents try to cut corners...