Seeking Advice from Agents in South Florida

[Newby]

I been in the Florida market selling insurance almost 20 years-I'm not hustling a lot like I did when I was single with no kids.. getting a little long in the tooth and to be honest- Getting burnt out on it.. Which is why I'm sorta pre-qualifying my leads now.. not to much of a drop off on production but I cut my deadbeats, lapse clients almost in half now...If they say they have bills to pay, do I have anything cheaper etc? I just close my bag and leave.. I don't want clients like that anymore.. the ones that call you every month 1 day before their draft and wants to know if I can hold off for another week..... blah.. done with it-

Here's what you can expect on every 20

And I consider my self an expert at setting appts because I've been doing it so long, in fact I can pretty much tell just by talking to someone over the phone if its a waste of time- and 9 times out of 10 I'm correct-

I'm working smarter not harder these days and I'm sorta semi qualifying the prospects over the phone- I have my own system to where I'll know in 30 seconds whether it's a waste of my time.. Because after all- Time is money

2 of them will be spanish speaking
3 of them thought it was free or swears they didn't mail it in
2 with no phone #'s
5 that wont answer the phone-

So out of 20 you'll get a hold of about 8 leads when you 1st make your batch calls

Outta those 8 you should set 5-6 appts

Outta those 6 appts you should write 4-5 of them.. Those numbers will be less if you spin your wheels and get a bunch of appts set from people that are generally not interested.. ( i use to do this)

So expect anywhere from 5-6 appts per 20 DM's

That's the easy part... Knowing how to sell and more importantly knowing when a door opens up at the table to be able to take of advantage of it is another thing.. It takes a good year or so- You're gonna make plenty of mistakes.. lot's of policies on amendment because you forgot to check off one box, or off by one day on the date etc, etc...

I'd see if theres someone in your area you can ride with for a couple days.. nothing is better than actually seeing it all live-

You are a perfect example right there. Older agents just like you that have been in the biz for decades and now have plenty of money and can just slow it down a bit and skim the cream off the top...they ain't going to do that in Michigan or Wisconsin. They are going to be in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, California, and Tennessee.

That my friends is why the mail returns are not as good in the south. Think of any state that you would like to retire in and the mail returns are going to be low. Think of any state that no one would move to in retirement and the mail returns will be much better.

It's not rocket surgery. Us old guys never fully retire. We just move south. Or stay there if you were already there.

 

[Agentguy5]

Remember, TPAAgent has been doing this for years.

His numbers are what they are, as he is an experienced senior agent.

Most new agents bock at me when I tell them the truth of FE sales in Florida. They end up going to an IMO that tells them exactly what they want to hear, and then they are out of business within a few months.

I just spoke to an agent this morning and explained why South Florida is FE hell.

If I want to drive 1 hours East, i'm in the Bahamas
If I drive 2.5 hours west, I'm in the ocean
If I drive 2-3 hours South, i'm in the keys. Homes start at 1/2 million there

Worse state Geographically!

 

[closing time]

Remember, TPAAgent has been doing this for years.

His numbers are what they are, as he is an experienced senior agent.

Most new agents bock at me when I tell them the truth of FE sales in Florida. They end up going to an IMO that tells them exactly what they want to hear, and then they are out of business within a few months.

I just spoke to an agent this morning and explained why South Florida is FE hell.

If I want to drive 1 hours East, i'm in the Bahamas
If I drive 2.5 hours west, I'm in the ocean
If I drive 2-3 hours South, i'm in the keys. Homes start at 1/2 million there

Worse state Geographically!

My man speaking the truth!!!

 

[nfl72]

stated by TPAA

"I consider my self an expert"

the definition of an expert is "an old drip"

Seems to fit nicely here! when you have all the money in the world and turn old and crusty, [ie TPAA] you need a bigger carrot.

I have evolved completely opposite of TPAA over time.

I used to do a lot of qualifying over the phone. Now I use the Massey method. Say as little as possible over the phone and schedule as many as possible. In fact; over schedule if possible. Makes up for the no shows.

From time to time I do find myself hitting a big one where if I had attempted to qualified over the phone I never would have just hung up.


You just never know

 

[billyb]

Doug I wasn't aware that you drive to the Bahamas?

NFL you are in FE heaven. No comparison to FL. The numbers that you post by working 2 days or less are amazing.

 

[TPAAgent]

stated by TPAA

"I consider my self an expert"

the definition of an expert is "an old drip"

Seems to fit nicely here! when you have all the money in the world and turn old and crusty, [ie TPAA] you need a bigger carrot.

I have evolved completely opposite of TPAA over time.

I used to do a lot of qualifying over the phone. Now I use the Massey method. Say as little as possible over the phone and schedule as many as possible. In fact; over schedule if possible. Makes up for the no shows.

From time to time I do find myself hitting a big one where if I had attempted to qualified over the phone I never would have just hung up.


You just never know

An old drip? You cut me bro, you cut me deep...

I can assure you your appt settings would be a whole lot different here than in Michigan- Here, you have to drop your min age to 50 in order to just barely crack getting 20 a week

Problem with the early 50 leads is, and you'll get 4-5 of them each batch. I can't speak for other states but here in Florida half those leads are usually males that are unemployed, living at home, or waiting to get their SSI approved and have no bank account and have a AMSCOT card with no money on it... I consider myself an upper tier sales agent and can close almost 90% of my appts- last year I started to do analysis on those appts and no matter how good you think you are- you couldn't close them on a $6 app.. Trust me-

And if you did? You'll be damn lucky if their first premium clears. When I first started in this business doing MP I was working 7 days a week busting my arse making 160k a year in AP- had to.. every client worked and you had to run your appts at night when they got home.. so you were usually restricted to 2 maybe 3 appts a night if you were lucky- and saturday was usually your full day and thats a hard day because most those clients had kids and were doing football etc.

I worked hard and built a house and paid it off in 6 years- My student loans paid for, my cars are paid for, no debt on my credit cards... Sure, I can spend a grand a week on leads and double my production and work my arse off.. but I don't want to-. Right now, With the system I developed over the phone setting appts I work Tues, Wed and a saturday every other week and can produce 80-100k in AP.

There's a lot of agents that show great AP numbers- But I guarantee 20% of those lapse.. And at the end of the year when you compare those agent Gross vs Net.. And there's a big difference in Net income vs AP-

I started going old school, way before laptops, when we use to have a rate book in our back pocket.. when cold door knocking was how you got your leads.. Know what I didnt do the last 10 years??? Ask for a referral... last year I decided to ask for referrals on a close... It's almost as good a lead as you'll get, when you call them, they'll listen to you because you mentioned their brother, sister parent etc... So far this year I sold 6 policies on referrals alone, something I didn't do the last 10 years for whatever reason-Not great.. but it adds up over time.. I also now give out my business card when I stop in between appts for lunch.. last year stopped into Dennys.. waitress was like 65.. gave her my card, she called me 2 days later- went there and not only sold her but 2 other waitresses... Working smarter, not harder...

I just ordered 30 tele leads for the first time in a couple years last week.. I went straight for the kill on those... "Hi, this is agent X- you spoke to one of reps the other day and they told you I would be calling, How much insurance are you looking for and are you looking to get something in place in the next 30 days?"

The only answer I want to hear from them is "About 5-10 thousands.. looking to get something soon".. Then I'll continue- If not I excuse myself and hang up the phone- Out of those 30 I sold a husband and wife for about 700 AP and a 63 year old man in perfect health looking for a 100 K 20 year term- gave him a quote over the phone and have an appt to write him this wednesday

My expected ROI is about $900.. I'm not chasing rabbits down holes anymore, cutting off the fat and weeding out the deadbeats

Liars & Buyers.... Find the latter....

 

[PA Bill]

You are a perfect example right there. Older agents just like you that have been in the biz for decades and now have plenty of money and can just slow it down a bit and skim the cream off the top...they ain't going to do that in Michigan or Wisconsin. They are going to be in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, California, and Tennessee.

That my friends is why the mail returns are not as good in the south. Think of any state that you would like to retire in and the mail returns are going to be low. Think of any state that no one would move to in retirement and the mail returns will be much better.

It's not rocket surgery. Us old guys never fully retire. We just move south. Or stay there if you were already there.

Really cold weather is hell on your arthritis.

 

[nfl72]

lol I knew those comments would smoke him out! you know I'm only having fun with ya!

and yes if I worked in Florida I'd sure do things differently. like find a new line of work! I'd probably go back to my old job.

BRAIN SURGEON


and last time I checked I think I am older than you! the pot calling the kettle black

 

[billyb]

TPAA I have the same issue with those under age 60 here in the panhandle. Like you a good number of the leads each week fall into this age bracket. Hard to close and if they are still working hard to catch at home.

 

[TPAAgent]

TPAA I have the same issue with those under age 60 here in the panhandle. Like you a good number of the leads each week fall into this age bracket. Hard to close and if they are still working hard to catch at home.

Yup, and you'll find that 1% that do have a job tell you they have insurance through work- But if you're good and know what you're doing you can close them... if you get that chance to even sit with them-