suggestions

[Scott]

I am excited to have found a new source of information. No worries, I have thick skin and you can bust my chops all you want.

Here is my situation. I have owned a mortgage and commercial finance company for the past several years. As you can imagine, things are a little hairy right now. I have had my health/life/annuity license for just over a year. We had been writing some mortgage insurance on household breadwinners. Anyway, I have decided I need to increase my product offering in order to maintain during my industry downturn. I have found an extremely capable, recently retired sales manager who is willing to mentor me in his agency with an extremely generous commission structure and potential to inherit his book of business (approximately 400 clients now) down the road when he fully retires. He wants to start me off concentrating on life insurance and annuities. I feel relatively comfortable and fortunate so far.

Here are my questions:
1. I have a relatively large pipeline of clients with good report and strong networking and referral potential. How would you suggest I approach and introduce the idea of "insurance" initially? As valuable as I believe the product is, seems like even my "good" people go running like cockroaches with the lights turned on.

2. I realize that it is very competitive to try to draw traffic through the internet, e-mail blasts get caught by span guard and I hate telemarketing! Does any one have any ideas for effective marketing and collection of contact information to solicit initial call? The lead companies I have researched so far seem like an expensive crap shoot.

3. If you were choosing, would you want to be with a small agent who has a long track record with a couple of quality providers or with some big time broker/dealer trying to climb the corporate ladder and absorb the mandated pitch?

4. I am also interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts concerning the AVIVA IUL policies. After initial inspection, it looks like a great vehicle to partially (or fully) fund a retirement.

Look forward to everyone's insight and I apologize in advance for the lengthy thread. Have a great day!!!

 

[magooandme]

I can offer one answer to your questions:
I would rather choose to be with a small agent who has a long track record with a couple of quality providers.

 

[somarco]

Mentoring is an "old school" plan that works. Trust me. I have been there.

We have an entire thread on earning a "six figure income" and no one (including me) mentioned the value of mentoring.

Some of my highest earning years occurred when I had the privilege of working closely with a mentor in a nice market.

Combine those two and there is no limit on what you can do.

Unfortunately, niche markets are eventually "discovered" and get quite crowded which dillutes the earning power of all. That is when you need to find a new niche.

That is where I am now. Getting close, but not there yet. (If I were I would not tell you).

Your questions in order . . .

1. The quickest way to lose friends is to announce you are an auditor for the IRS or you are in the insurance business. (There was a Randy Newman song about "all my friends are insurance salesmen). Your mentor started somehow, and it probably wasn't buying leads. Ask him about the best way to approach your clients and friends. The soft approach usually works best. Offer a no obligation comparison or evaluation. Don't push the sale. Let them come to you. Eventually you will gain confidence, and an audience, that will trust you, buy from you and refer friends.

2. Lead companies are for people who do not have, or do not want to take the time to cultivate a local market. And yes, they can be a crap shoot but you can also build a loyal following from them if you work them right. I spent the first 25 yrs or so in the business working out of town (mostly out of state) and cultivating clients that were insurance agents and consultants. When I decided to switch to personal production very few people I knew were aware that I was in the insurance business. The ones that did only knew that my clients were large employer groups. I had to start on the bottom run and work my way up. The advantage I had was my understanding of how this industry works and I knew it better than most of the agents. I still do . . .

3. Doesn't matter. I have learned from folks who have a long tenure and others who are relative short timers. The short timers can teach you things that are more relavent, but you can learn from both.

4. Run! Anyone suggesting life insurance to fund retirement is teaching the wrong thing. Yes, there are situations where life insurance can be an adjunct funding vehicle, but the application is limited.