Social Security Timing

[TRSecurity]

I used to pay for a SS Timing software (monthly fee) until one of the FMO's I use created their own. I use that for free now. It's a great tool for me (as I do a lot of income planning) and very useful for clients.

I have created mailers, radio ads/segments, newspaper ads, and conduct seminars on the topic, which has lead to many prospects in my sweet spot.

Being able to talk intelligently about something most people are confused about has given me clout. I expect within a couple of years that everyone in this space will be doing similar social security analysis for people.

 

[Stephen]

This seems fair to me. As an agent that sends some annuity business through SMS I wouldn't want them selling to my competitors at the same price I pay. It's a value add for doing business with them.

If you are sending all your annuity business elsewhere, why would you buy marketing systems from SMS? Move your contracts if your FMO is not helping you.

I agree, the pricing model and reasoning behind it is fair. I think that SMS has a great piece of software, but I would be giving up too much by jumping ship on my current marketing organization to save $2,000.

 

[xrac]

Early Retirees May Not Have To Wait To Take Social Security

 

[goillini52]

This seems fair to me. As an agent that sends some annuity business through SMS I wouldn't want them selling to my competitors at the same price I pay. It's a value add for doing business with them.

If you are sending all your annuity business elsewhere, why would you buy marketing systems from SMS? Move your contracts if your FMO is not helping you.

Who's SMS? I know of 2 FMO's with those initials.

 

[xrac]

Who's SMS? I know of 2 FMO's with those initials.

I believe it is Senior Market Sales.

 

[Stephen]

I'm glad that this thread got dug up, I will give you guys an update.

I did talk with SMS and we just couldn't come up with an agreement that made sense for both parties. I wasn't comfortable jumping ship on my current FMO that I consider a crucial part of my business, or paying $2,000 for their marketing program "sight unseen". Understandably, there was no way for them to let me preview their IP without letting the cat completely out out of the bag. No hard feelings, and I would actually recommend Senior Market Sales for anyone looking for a new FMO and wanting to add Social Security planning to their business model.

Sometime in August I ended up paying for a 1 day crash course in Social Security from a man that retired from the SSA after 35 years, and built my own Social Security marketing plan from the ground up, in addition to revamping and repackaging my Medicare marketing.

In September I took my show on the road and and was able to do 2 free seminars before getting caught in an OEP avalanche that stopped me in my tracks.

I did end up writing a a few Medsupps, one LTC policy that I brought another agent in on and split, and one small fixed annuity. The funny thing is that only one of those people actually attended one of my seminars, everyone else just heard about me from someone that did attend. Something else that I didn't expect was that after our initial meetings and answering a few basic questions, Social Security strategy was not the primary concern of any of the people that I met with, but it was intriguing enough to get them into the door.

My goal for 2014 is to set 10 seminars before October, and do a better job of following up with all of the attendees.