Sell Med Supps $$ to Get Started Break Even Point.

[entrep1776]

I started looking at selling insurance beginning of this year. Appreciated the input from everyone on the forum. I'm no longer driving Uber as of May (my car is too old now) and planning to take required Illinois insurance class July 20th & 21st.

Life and Health course $175.
Study guide/flash cards $75.
2 year license State of Illinois. $180.
Test for 2 lines L&H $102

E&O insurance $400.
Leads $400.

I'm in for $1400 to get started? Any other costs I'm missing?

Any advice/input on going with FMO...Kellogg Insurance Marketing? or?

For $400 in leads how many apps might I be able to write? each app is worth approximately $300? When would I be paid the $300? Would I spend $400 in leads/week? I don't want to take any advances.

Getting started in August. Good month to get started?

Advice appreciated.

 

[JimmyUt]

I started looking at selling insurance beginning of this year. Appreciated the input from everyone on the forum. I'm no longer driving Uber as of May (my car is too old now) and planning to take required Illinois insurance class July 20th & 21st.

Life and Health course $175.
Study guide/flash cards $75.
2 year license State of Illinois. $180.
Test for 2 lines L&H $102

E&O insurance $400.
Leads $400.

I'm in for $1400 to get started? Any other costs I'm missing?

Any advice/input on going with FMO...Kellogg Insurance Marketing? or?

For $400 in leads how many apps might I be able to write? each app is worth approximately $300? When would I be paid the $300? Would I spend $400 in leads/week? I don't want to take any advances.

Getting started in August. Good month to get started?

Advice appreciated.

I suggest someone other than Kellogg. They are local to me and from what I understand, all talk and no action. There are a few on the forum that are pretty helpful and I am sure others will chime in. Good luck either way.

 

[LostDollar]

(I am not an agent)

Electronic equipment-Tablet, laptop, phone and phone plan.

Answering machine.

Call recording software?

Call dialing software?

Mobile scanning and printing equipment?

Desktop computer? Fax? Copier? Scanner? Printer?

Internet access.

Education on how to use that stuff.

Office equipment. For a home workspace and for car.

Filing and organization. Organize and monitor lead cards. File and find customer apps. Track and file business costs for taxes.

Dependable car.

If you choose to do any doorknocking from lists-cost of lists.

Travel money for a ridealong with someone.

The following may come farther out than you are looking for:

Continuing education hours for state.

Medicare training, sales training, motivational training -Books-courses-site memberships.

Certifications. I have not carefully worked out the answers to this yet so I may have some inaccurate information here.
I believe to sell Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans you have to have an annual certification called the AHIP. I also think it has to be done for each carrier you use. Posts I have read suggest that this can run into a significant time requirement-have not gotten a good read on the financial cost.

It doesn't sound like there are any certification requirements to sell Med Supps, but I am not absolutely sure about that.

As far as IMO's are concerned-I have no experience-only reading of posts and some opinions.

My short list of two is:
Todd King
SMS (Senior Market Specialists) Columbia, MO.
(does an annual seminar and is close enough to me I could go.)
(do not confuse this one with another SMS in NE.)
Which one I would choose depends on the week I think about it and at the moment it is purely academic because I have not got a license.

There is a 3rd possibility-If you go to top posters and click on goillini52, you will see a link in his signature for one called Senior Market Design. He was very excited about the quality of their leads when he first posted about them. Goillini has not posted for some time so I do not know if his ongoing experience has continued the way it started.

Others will present other options, those are just the ones that I thought would make the most sense for me personally, starting completely from scratch and needing help.

=======
edit-another thing which I missed is a quote engine to let you easily see comparative rates and company characteristics when you have a specific age, gender and zip code potential client identified.

 

[Matthew King]

Great points by LostDollar, and also thank you for the shout out on the short list.

Not wanting advances is great but, I believe that you might need them in the beginning to get started. Also, who are you taking your L&H courses through? There are discounts everywhere for these types of classes.

There are also tons of training sites to get ready to sell as well. A lot of the IMOs and training sites have many discounts on stuff like this.

I believe in the beginning you should take advancing on Medicare, then as you build, dial it back until you make it to as earned. The rule is always, if you get 1000 leads (for medicare) with direct mailers expect about a 2% return. So, let's say you get 20 leads, expect to get in touch with about half, 10, then expect to sell about half, which is 5. These are good goals on the law of average numbers.

Somedays, you may not hit this number, and some days you may crush it.

 

[Chazm]

Imo you might as well just take your first $400 on leads and just throw it in the trash. You're going to need to learn how to talk on the phone first. Don't waste your money on leads to start. Do some cold calling and get rejected.

Even if you do spend $400 on leads and maybe get 1 sale out of it. Now what? Did you do another lead drop as soon as your first leads came in? Or if you're doing internet leads, be prepared to go through that $400 in one week

 

[Todd King]

Imo you might as well just take your first $400 on leads and just throw it in the trash. You're going to need to learn how to talk on the phone first. Don't waste your money on leads to start. Do some cold calling and get rejected.

Even if you do spend $400 on leads and maybe get 1 sale out of it. Now what? Did you do another lead drop as soon as your first leads came in? Or if you're doing internet leads, be prepared to go through that $400 in one week

entrep1776, Chazm is correct if you want to start out as cheap as you can, get a list and cold call. Of course, you'll need some advice on that to begin with.

I'm also going to put a plug in for MedicareTraining101.com. Since we have now become the administrators for that site, you'll have access to us via chat or phone if you need to.

 

[GreenSky]

Imo you might as well just take your first $400 on leads and just throw it in the trash. You're going to need to learn how to talk on the phone first. Don't waste your money on leads to start. Do some cold calling and get rejected.

Even if you do spend $400 on leads and maybe get 1 sale out of it. Now what? Did you do another lead drop as soon as your first leads came in? Or if you're doing internet leads, be prepared to go through that $400 in one week

I disagree. Trying to learn to sell Medicare (or anything else) initially on the phone is likely not going to work. While it's not rocket surgery, speaking with someone in person will teach an agent how to respond to questions without the pressure of a "5 second response."

I'm all for cold calling to set appointments. But certainly not for a new agent to sell.

Cold calling is great but only as good as the leads. Don't go for the unlimited monthly lists - they are not the quality needed.

Rick

 

[sshafran]

Leads $400.

I'm in for $1400 to get started? Any other costs I'm missing?

Well, it may seem obvious, but if you are like most you'll start face-to-face sales. Some of those appointments will be 2-touch (good grief, when I first started, I had a few people that I had to meet with 3 times before I closed the deal. Mostly my fault - not their fault. I'm glad those days are over, but when starting out, you just can't do the work as well).

So.... be prepared to use a lot of gas. Maybe not as much as you used with Uber - but every mile you drive estimate about $.50 in total costs.

Keep that in mind as you market - you may want to keep the radius tight.

 

[LostDollar]

When you consider: mail, phone and inperson; what do you think a reasonable number of starting touches is for a new client?

ie: education, making a sale, delivering a policy, followup etc.

I couldn't itemize the specific contact reasons off the top of my head but I have started to think in terms of I would have to be prepared to have at least 5 initial/startup contacts with a new client if I was selling Med Supps.

 

[FRJ]

What part of Illinois are you in? As for getting started, you plan to be licensed in August or going to start the process in August?

If you are in the Chicagoland area, you should strongly consider also getting into MAPD/PDP.

What level of income do you need to sustain yourself during each of the first 6-12 months?

I started looking at selling insurance beginning of this year. Appreciated the input from everyone on the forum. I'm no longer driving Uber as of May (my car is too old now) and planning to take required Illinois insurance class July 20th & 21st.

Life and Health course $175.
Study guide/flash cards $75.
2 year license State of Illinois. $180.
Test for 2 lines L&H $102

E&O insurance $400.
Leads $400.

I'm in for $1400 to get started? Any other costs I'm missing?

Any advice/input on going with FMO...Kellogg Insurance Marketing? or?

For $400 in leads how many apps might I be able to write? each app is worth approximately $300? When would I be paid the $300? Would I spend $400 in leads/week? I don't want to take any advances.

Getting started in August. Good month to get started?

Advice appreciated.