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Well, as it says im starting a career in FE. I decided to partner with EFES because of my lack of experience and their training.
I started this thread to track my progress, receive pointers and maybe show the real deal how it is when getting started without any of the rah rah cheer leading spin.
I have been in sales for my entire adult working life (working for myself the entire time)
Joe Ciaccio is my RD, hes a pretty cool guy, easy to get along with. Originally I was going to contract direct to Joe, but he and I decided it would benefit me more to be under Jack Scag as I will need a little hand holding in the beginning.....
I have gone on 2 ride alongs so far.....1 with Joe, another with Jack....Both days we had some fresh DM leads but we didnt have any appointments so we door knocked everyone......We did a LOT of spinning our tires, knocking on doors and folks werent home, wouldnt answer the phone etc. Out of the 2 days we probably knocked on 15-20 doors, gave maybe 6 presentations and we managed to get one policy out of it. I, for the most part just sat and observed while they did the warm ups and selling etc. One thing I can say was my biggest take away from those 2 days was the objections we ran into. Knowing what objections I will come across will certainly help me better prepare myself for when I do come into them.
I can see it being pretty frustrating doing door knocking. I can see how it has its place tho. I think for me, I will set as many appointments as I can for the beginning of the week and use the last 2-3 days to knock people I wasn't able to get in touch with and deliver policies etc.
As I mentioned earlier, I have been in sales my entire life, so Im very comfortable and confident while in peoples homes, talking to them etc. Im not worried about that aspect. My biggest struggle I think will be with the products. Placing people with the right carrier to make sure they get the max benefit for their budget as well as the right carrier for their health conditions to prevent amendments in applications.
Right now im appointed with
Royal Neighbors
Americo
Foresters
United Home Life
and Monumental
Pending Kemper
I think for now, it would probably be best for me to put my focus into 3 carriers. Learn them inside and out and then add another and so on.
Heres what im leaning towards....
Americo because it is my highest commission plus they have a GI product.
UHL because they allow for a monthly direct bill which I think will come in handy time to time.
Im not sure which I should use as my 3rd out of those Im appointed with...Any suggestions?
I started withe the 45 DM lead option from EFES, so that should give me a decent start.....To fill gaps, I have looked into PHR's press 1 leads. Pretty quick turnaround and a pretty good price. I may wait a few weeks until I am a little more comfortable with the underwriting process before starting those.
Im excited about this. I feel confident that it will work very well for me.
I feel I should mention, JD, Reardon, Rousemark, JDJINSGUY, you guys have helped me along the way. Either directly by answering specific questions I had, or indirectly by following your posts. If either of you are ever in the Tampa FL area I would be happy to buy ya a beer. I appreciate all your help.
I plan to update this thread with progress, the good, bad and ugly.
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10/7/13 update
Just got my first batch of leads in. They are the DM leads from EFES.
15 leads. All but 1 has a phone number and 8 of them have a "spouse" listed so potentially 23 prospects not including referrals.
I dont think Im ready just YET to go see them.
Talking to the customer, being in their home, the "selling" aspect doestn bother me at all, Im comfortable there. However, I dont know the products yet. I will be spending the next few days studying the questions on the application, reading over and over the pamphlets etc.
I will be going on another ride along Thursday, hopefully come Friday I will be ready to knock a few out of the park.
I started this thread to track my progress, receive pointers and maybe show the real deal how it is when getting started without any of the rah rah cheer leading spin.
I have been in sales for my entire adult working life (working for myself the entire time)
Joe Ciaccio is my RD, hes a pretty cool guy, easy to get along with. Originally I was going to contract direct to Joe, but he and I decided it would benefit me more to be under Jack Scag as I will need a little hand holding in the beginning.....
I have gone on 2 ride alongs so far.....1 with Joe, another with Jack....Both days we had some fresh DM leads but we didnt have any appointments so we door knocked everyone......We did a LOT of spinning our tires, knocking on doors and folks werent home, wouldnt answer the phone etc. Out of the 2 days we probably knocked on 15-20 doors, gave maybe 6 presentations and we managed to get one policy out of it. I, for the most part just sat and observed while they did the warm ups and selling etc. One thing I can say was my biggest take away from those 2 days was the objections we ran into. Knowing what objections I will come across will certainly help me better prepare myself for when I do come into them.
I can see it being pretty frustrating doing door knocking. I can see how it has its place tho. I think for me, I will set as many appointments as I can for the beginning of the week and use the last 2-3 days to knock people I wasn't able to get in touch with and deliver policies etc.
As I mentioned earlier, I have been in sales my entire life, so Im very comfortable and confident while in peoples homes, talking to them etc. Im not worried about that aspect. My biggest struggle I think will be with the products. Placing people with the right carrier to make sure they get the max benefit for their budget as well as the right carrier for their health conditions to prevent amendments in applications.
Right now im appointed with
Royal Neighbors
Americo
Foresters
United Home Life
and Monumental
Pending Kemper
I think for now, it would probably be best for me to put my focus into 3 carriers. Learn them inside and out and then add another and so on.
Heres what im leaning towards....
Americo because it is my highest commission plus they have a GI product.
UHL because they allow for a monthly direct bill which I think will come in handy time to time.
Im not sure which I should use as my 3rd out of those Im appointed with...Any suggestions?
I started withe the 45 DM lead option from EFES, so that should give me a decent start.....To fill gaps, I have looked into PHR's press 1 leads. Pretty quick turnaround and a pretty good price. I may wait a few weeks until I am a little more comfortable with the underwriting process before starting those.
Im excited about this. I feel confident that it will work very well for me.
I feel I should mention, JD, Reardon, Rousemark, JDJINSGUY, you guys have helped me along the way. Either directly by answering specific questions I had, or indirectly by following your posts. If either of you are ever in the Tampa FL area I would be happy to buy ya a beer. I appreciate all your help.
I plan to update this thread with progress, the good, bad and ugly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/7/13 update
Just got my first batch of leads in. They are the DM leads from EFES.
15 leads. All but 1 has a phone number and 8 of them have a "spouse" listed so potentially 23 prospects not including referrals.
I dont think Im ready just YET to go see them.
Talking to the customer, being in their home, the "selling" aspect doestn bother me at all, Im comfortable there. However, I dont know the products yet. I will be spending the next few days studying the questions on the application, reading over and over the pamphlets etc.
I will be going on another ride along Thursday, hopefully come Friday I will be ready to knock a few out of the park.
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