Starting out selling life as an independent agent?

[Tahoe Ray]

No thanks. I don’t sell life insurance really.

I wouldn't buy a domain with no traffic/content for 37k even if it was the only thing I sold.

 

[Travis Price]

I wouldn't buy a domain with no traffic/content for 37k even if it was the only thing I sold.

I’d buy Medicare.com

A few weeks ago I was looking on instantdomainsearch and typed in Medicare.

.US was noted as available. I got super excited and went to buy it. Then GoDaddy burst my bubble telling me it was sold.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

I’d buy Medicare.com

A few weeks ago I was looking on instantdomainsearch and typed in Medicare.

.US was noted as available. I got super excited and went to buy it. Then GoDaddy burst my bubble telling me it was sold.

Medicare.com was sold for almost 5 million over 5 years ago...

 

[Travis Price]

Medicare.com was sold for almost 5 million over 5 years ago...

That’s why I’d bought it for 37k

 

[goillini52]

learn the products, write out scripts, practice presentations etc. etc. During that time I'll be working on the seo/digital marketing side of things for my site. Once I have some scripts, objective handling, presentations etc. etc. down I plan on trying out door to door.

Do Forum searches. You can find all of that on the Forum.

 

[Travis Price]

Door to door? I mean, do you have a plan for that? Most people that door to door are doing it with FE DM.

I mean, I’m weirded out when people come to my door without any business. That’s a tall barrier to overcome.

Ffs, I still haven’t seen those magazines the kids sell door to door 10 years later.

 

[dbab]

Door to door? I mean, do you have a plan for that? Most people that door to door are doing it with FE DM.

I mean, I’m weirded out when people come to my door without any business. That’s a tall barrier to overcome.

Ffs, I still haven’t seen those magazines the kids sell door to door 10 years later.

My plan will probably change when the time comes, but as of now, my thought process is to try multiple things and see what works. The other side of that is doing door to door as means of practicing talking to strangers instead of solely making a sale or two.

 

[Rob Lion]

Do you need to start selling now?

If not, I’ll give you the same advice I gave another prior web developer:

Go. Online. For. Marketing.

Pick up Jeff Root’s book “Digital Life Insurance Agent”

SellTermInsurance.com is his bga site.

You can start marketing in your state/area but you may want to pick up other licenses once you pick your niche.

FYI: You need a niche. Don’t try to sell all life products to everyone.

I wish there was a large enough scuba community in the US to make consistent money. I’d just sell to them as I’m a diver.

Digital Content Marketing gives you a long time to learn about your products and you can fit it in a part time schedule.

Don’t try to set the world on fire. You’ll get super overwhelmed as a part time agent. Slow burn it until you can walk from your ft job.

No thanks. I don’t sell life insurance really.

Not to be that guy, but if you aren't selling Life insurance ease off the advice. 90% of my business is Term, but not every client that fills out a lead quote is a term client they could be an IUL, GUL, FE, or even an estate planning case. The only time i'd niche down is when I'm established and and have a steady flow of leads specifically for that area of focus, I know a guy who only sells Life & DI to Physicians and is rakeing an insane amount of money from it but it takes a lot of sweat equity and time to get to that point.

 

[Rob Lion]

Hey guys,

I’m looking into getting my life & health license in Texas. I’m currently trying to figure out on a high level how things need to work for my specific situation. Let me give some background. I’ve been doing web development and digital marketing (seo, email marketing, facebooks ads) for about eight years. During that time, I have also done sales/prospecting through cold calling and nurturing warm leads. I'm certainly not a sales pro by any means but I do have experience and I'm fine with picking up the phone and hearing "no".

I live in a pretty wealthy area. Median income is $80k -$100k with a lot of home owners. There is also a mix of traditional families and younger working singles/kidless couples. I’m not intimidated by meeting new people or handing out a business card. Talking in front of a group or giving a presentation doesn’t really freak me out either.

I currently have a full time job working remote from my house, so I would like to start selling insurance on a part time basis. Since I do work remote, I can take phone calls during the day if I have to. I also have an hour and a half before work I can work on insurance related matters, and I will have about three hours in the evenings I can dedicate to insurance matters.

Of course, the end goal is going full time as soon as I possibly can.

Here is where I have some questions.

1. From what I have found, life has great commissions on the first year but they drastically drop after the first year. My thought process is to start by selling term. Keep in touch with every client and occasionally send them info about how other products might help. Then pitch (I’m not sure the correct term) additional plans if helpful to my clients in year two in order to help even out the drop in term commissions. I assume there are better strategies/options. Any thoughts on this?

2. I don’t mind doing all of my own prospecting, lead generation, marketing etc. etc., and I don’t want to be required to make a certain number calls, sales, appointments etc. etc. The captive agent route doesn’t sound appealing at all, but I am worried about my lack of knowledge. The thought of screwing up someone’s life insurance policy is my biggest fear in this whole endeavor. For new agents, is starting out captive highly recommended, or is there enough training available online e.g. insurance pro shop? DHK's thread, "Guidance for New Life Agents" makes it sound like it's possible to start out independent but I easily could have misinterpreted.

3. When I think about the different types of insurance to sell, I’m immediately drawn to life for a variety of reasons. Second up would be homeowners. Given the demographics of where I am, would it be better in terms of earnings to focus on life or homeowners?

I know this is long and I do appreciate all of you who read over this and provide feedback!

Every product has a different sales approach to it, find a product that you can sell and you won't hate your life selling.

Assuming you're going to do Term, Commissions are 80-100% of the Annual premium, typically and 0% past year 1. This is inventory though you will rewrite, & convert these policies if you stay on your book of business.

Create a website, Write content for that website frequently, optimize your website, create back links, and repeat steps 2-4 and you will see results 6 months to a few years.

You can always buy leads during your website ramp up period but you want to go through a trusted IMO for that and the only one i could recommend is DigitalBGA.

 

[Travis Price]

Every product has a different sales approach to it, find a product that you can sell and you won't hate your life selling.

Assuming you're going to do Term, Commissions are 80-100% of the Annual premium, typically and 0% past year 1. This is inventory though you will rewrite, & convert these policies if you stay on your book of business.

Create a website, Write content for that website frequently, optimize your website, create back links, and repeat steps 2-4 and you will see results 6 months to a few years.

You can always buy leads during your website ramp up period but you want to go through a trusted IMO for that and the only one i could recommend is DigitalBGA.

Rob...

Not to be that guy...

You literally said what I said.

Dude needs a know his market to know how to market to them


PS: I was selling life insurance when you were in middle school.