Telemarketing Question

[eza4short]

Quick question to the telemarketing pros on here. I am wondering if the following break down is close to accurate when cold calling for Health/life Insurance.

Out of 100 people you speak to
10 quotes
1-2 apps

is that reasonably right.

 

[Josh]

Quick question to the telemarketing pros on here. I am wondering if the following break down is close to accurate when cold calling for Health/life Insurance.

Out of 100 people you speak to
10 quotes
1-2 apps

is that reasonably right.

The numbers will vary a TON. That being said, no, you're not going to be able to quote 10% of the people you talk to, especially on life. Where are you calling? What script are you using? What type of product are you selling? All of those will factor into your response rate. That being said, you should get more than 1 or 2 apps out of 10 telemarketed leads if you're doing it correctly.

 

[chp]

I agree, too many variables to put a firm number on it. My telemarketers just find clients who are interested in getting quotes, they do not ask any health questions, so we get a large share of "leads" that we filter out and try to sell. I would advise you to keep detailed info on everything that you do, and figure out how much each "lead" is costing you. Then you can determine how many you sell, and what your profit margin is.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

And many people can't stand insurance agents, are we to find a new profession then?

 

[Josh]

I don't think telemarketing is the way to go.

I couldn't disagree with you more, but please keep telling people that so they'll be getting less calls before we get to them!

 

[Frank Stastny]

I don't think telemarketing is the way to go. The great majority of people can't stand telemarketors!

When you pick up the phone don't do it as a telemarketer would. Develop a smooth, conversational approach and don't start the call by asking questions you don't know the answer to.

Example:

"Hi, how you doing today?". The worst way to start a conversation. They know you really don't care and it throws up a huge red flag that it is a call from someone who is going to try to sell them something they neither want nor need.

If you want to get their attention immediately, call them Mr. or Mrs., not Bob or Betty. All telemarketers call them by their first name. If you say "Hello Mr. Smith" that is going to get their attention a lot quicker than if you say, "Hi Bob, this is Jason, how you doing today?". (I personally see red when I hear that.)

Come up with something smooth, original, non sales sounding and conversational.

 

[ksigmtsu]

When you pick up the phone don't do it as a telemarketer would. Develop a smooth, conversational approach and don't start the call by asking questions you don't know the answer to.

Example:

"Hi, how you doing today?". The worst way to start a conversation. They know you really don't care and it throws up a huge red flag that it is a call from someone who is going to try to sell them something they neither want nor need.

If you want to get their attention immediately, call them Mr. or Mrs., not Bob or Betty. All telemarketers call them by their first name. If you say "Hello Mr. Smith" that is going to get their attention a lot quicker than if you say, "Hi Bob, this is Jason, how you doing today?". (I personally see red when I hear that.)

Come up with something smooth, original, non sales sounding and conversational.

I use first name on leads and Mr or Mrs on b to b telemarketed. Seems to work differently on warm and cold leads. Might work differently on a T65 or medicare cold call list though, I have never tried that. I do find Mr. and Mrs. to work better on mailer leads, they more closely resemble cold calling in my experience. I also never offer to sell my leads anything though, I just call, tell them I'm the local agent assigned to their request and what can I help them with?

Literal lead script for ANY lead im using is "Hi (first name), I'm (name), I am the local agent assigned to your internet request, I see you needed help with your (line of insurance), do you have any questions I can help you with?" 9 times out of 10 they come across with "I was looking for quotes on this, or I don't have this and I thought I needed it, ect. You don't get hung up on. IF you use that approach, you are not pressuring them, you do NOT come across as a telemarketer, you need qualify them IMMEDIATELY if there is an actual need. It works about 100x better (i have no statistical evidence to prove the 100x, just it feels that way and my contact ratio and amount of people that allow me to quote them or buy would suggest what I am doing is working) for me than anything else I've tried on internet leads, although I would bet again Frank is probably right on mailer leads, or cold calling. Different sport entirely.

 

[Frank Stastny]

... cold calling. Different sport entirely.

I like that.

It is definitely a "sport" that requires participation on the part of both players in order to "score".

 

[ksigmtsu]

I'm about to get serious about cold calling too, setting up callcentral and mojo today. Been using callfire which is great for small list dialing, but for major list dialing needed something with higher call quality than vonage. Callcentral beats the hell out of vonage anyway best I can tell, its gonna be cheaper for 5000 minutes of 800 service than 100 was with them, plus it replaces rapidfax, and the call quality is night and day difference.