I have not seen anything recent about this subject. I tried cold calling for Med Supp leads several years ago, but I could not handle being on the phone all day. A good friend of mine has a ton of telemarketing experience that I could probably get to call for me at around $10/hr. He would call seniors from age of 67-75 in counties with low MA penetration and see if they wanted an agent contact them and give them a quote to save them $50 or more/month. He'd collect their basic info like current rate, and any meds they may be taking, and their age. Let them know that an agent would call back withing 24-48 hr.s I would follow up from there. Seems very viable and I think this is Chris Westfall's approach. Is it still viable? I know I can't have TMs calling in Ohio. I thought about having my TM call in Indiana. I would think that I could close at least one out of ten, which comes out to $120 per new client cost, which isn't bad for Med Supps and the TM does most of the work.
Telemarketing Med Supps
- Thread starter timeflies
- Start date
I would talk about annual savings over monthly. Not many 67 yr olds you can save $50 a month on coverage.
- 1,900
This definitely still works today - I know many agents who are doing this successfully.
Here is a Medicare Advantage % Heat Map to assist in picking the right counties to target.
Dont have tm call in Indiana, we're full!
Yes, it's still viable...
I'm not sure on closing 1 out of 10 telemarketed leads. Not for lack of ability, but underwriting, etc. Maybe if they are pre-screened?
Glenn would know better on close ratios for cold call leads - I bet a lot of it has to do with how "pre-screened" they were. It's been a few years since I worked telemarketed leads... I can't remember the ratios - but I know other agents do it successfully.
Finally, $10/hr is high unless he's doing $4-5/hr superior work to someone overseas.
- 1,900
The number 1 question I get asked... How Many Leads Will I Close?
Here are just a few of the variables to consider with this:
What script is your telemarketer using? As an example, I have 2 different scripts we use for Medicare Supplement lead generation when calling folks ages 67 - 77. One script asks knockout health questions, the other script does not. The more detailed your script is, the higher your closing % should be (and the less leads you will generate). This may sound very straight forward but I am a firm believer that LESS is MORE when it comes to lead generation via cold calling. Just because you are using a 20 page telemarketing script does not guarantee you an application.
Click Here to see our cold calling scripts for Medicare Supplements
How many carriers are you writing with? If you are trying to submit 80% - 95% of your business with 1 carrier, you are going to write less policies. It shocks me how many "brokers" are trying to put almost everything they write with a single carrier ...
How long have you been writing business? This is more/less another way of asking how skilled you are. If you have been writing Medicare business for 3+ years, you are probably going to be much more skilled at what you are doing than someone who just got started. 10,000 hours to become an expert, right?
What is your follow-up process? This is a BIG one. If you are trying to "one call close" all of your business, you are going to write a whole hell of a lot less policies than someone who has a strict follow-up process involving a CRM, Emails, Phone Calls, and possibly even snail mail. The data behind this is staggering and again blows me away when I hear agents who don't use CRMs.
What area are you marketing to? This can be a big variable as well. How competitive are the carriers in the area you are marketing (see question 1)? How receptive is the area you are calling to cold calling? Typically I see different results when comparing states like Texas v. New Jersey. Targeting more rural, low MA% counties are a great way of putting the odds in your favor.
Okay, so how many leads will I close??
It could be anywhere from 0% - 20% (If you are closing less than 5% after working through 100+ leads, I would recommend reaching out to your up-line to talk about your sales process).
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