So How Many Calls a Day Should I Make?

[YouGotMyMoney]

just play the cold calling clips from "boiler room" on a loop during your cold calling marathon and it will work itself out.

 

[Mark]

It takes a certain type of agent to cold call.

Some agents are really great at it, while most are not.


I hate cold calling. It bets doing nothing, but it drains the hell out of your brain.

 

[WinoBlues]

When starting out one should think in terms of ten hour days with 9.75 of those hours doing nothing but insurance related tasks. (Fifteen minutes a day is more than adequate time to go to the bathroom. )

Successful agents are those who will do what others won't.

Then when we get to be gray beards that work-bathroom ratio flips.

Man there are some real masters on this board. Wish this had been around when I started. We had the bar, but that deteriorated into booze and woman as the night got long.

 

[benseattle]

Perhaps the toughest thing about cold calling (for me, anyway) is the sense that it's So Unproductive. Yesterday, I heard people say 'no thanks' after I barely said the name of my company -- it has the word "Financial" in it. They said no after I said that I was simply asking for an appointment for 15 minutes to "show you how we work." And others said no after I probed and prodded (politely) three or four times. Hours on the phone with nothing to show for it. (I earned a college degree, insurance and securities licenses FOR THIS?)

But at the end of the day, right in a row, I made some calls where the business owner picked right up and each said "Yes" after my 10 second open. VERY solid businesses too, the kind we'd all like as clients. Is there anything there? Heck, who knows, but if setting appointments is what cold calling is all about, I suppose it sometimes Actually Works.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Most agents don't like the phone because they don't have a well thought out plan and they really are and sound uncomfortable using the phone. They pretty much just "wing it".

With a well thought out telephone presentation the agent is a lot more successful. I'm pretty successful using the phone but there was a fairly steep learning curve at first. I still don't look forward to it but it is a whole lot easier and productive than when I first started.

 

[WinoBlues]

Another pay off to doing it early, is that later you are getting more inbound calls. Many of those turn into selling calls.

 

[VolAgent]

Perhaps the toughest thing about cold calling (for me, anyway) is the sense that it's So Unproductive. Yesterday, I heard people say 'no thanks' after I barely said the name of my company -- it has the word "Financial" in it. They said no after I said that I was simply asking for an appointment for 15 minutes to "show you how we work." And others said no after I probed and prodded (politely) three or four times. Hours on the phone with nothing to show for it. (I earned a college degree, insurance and securities licenses FOR THIS?)

But at the end of the day, right in a row, I made some calls where the business owner picked right up and each said "Yes" after my 10 second open. VERY solid businesses too, the kind we'd all like as clients. Is there anything there? Heck, who knows, but if setting appointments is what cold calling is all about, I suppose it sometimes Actually Works.

The hardest part of cold calling, knowing that you'll get lots of nos. In fact, if you start getting too many yes's, you're doing something wrong, stop! At best, expect to set an appointment with 5-10% of the decision-makers you actually talk to. Then expect some no shows on the appointments.

Just keep at it, show them you know your stuff and earn some referrals. If you can keep it up for a few years, you'll be in goo shape.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I worked with an agent who had trouble cold calling. I worked with him a little and I suggested that his goal be to get 100 no's each day and keep calling until he did.

I don't think he ever reached his "goal" but in his mind it was a realistic goal to have and gave him something to work toward each day. The closer he got to 100 the better he felt because he knew he could quit them.

Just another way of looking at it.

 

[VolAgent]

I worked with an agent who had trouble cold calling. I worked with him a little and I suggested that his goal be to get 100 no's each day and keep calling until he did.

I don't think he ever reached his "goal" but in his mind it was a realistic goal to have and gave him something to work toward each day. The closer he got to 100 the better he felt because he knew he could quit them.

Just another way of looking at it.

And where is this agent now?

 

[Frank Stastny]

And where is this agent now?

He's in a padded room.

That was when I was still captive. I don't have a clue. He and I weren't
"drinking buddies". He learned to use the phone and did very well cold calling.