The Art of Cold Knocks

[shonceman]

Farmers - This is more of where I am now. I am into comfort food that is easy to harvest. Sometimes I harvest a chicken sometimes I will have steak. My farm also has private hunting grounds. Just got to tend the farm. Hell, I have been known to tend abandoned farms.

Yep. Love abandoned farms. Usually very fertile ground!

And when one of these FE city slickers pops up and starts poaching on my farm, well....

 

[WinoBlues]

Yep. Love abandoned farms. Usually very fertile ground!

And when one of these FE city slickers pops up and starts poaching on my farm, well....

Yeah, a hunter has to hunt every day, forever. Or become a merchant selling farm implements and starting a hunting club.

 

[tribetime32]

Love this post. Worst someone can say is "no." If it's a no go you lost 2 minutes.

 

[DayTimer]

If they tell you to call first and just don't show up

I do make appointments at the door. But if they won't set an appointment for the next day or two, I crumple up the lead tell them to throw it away for me.If they take it and don't protest, they were never going to be a sit.

And I love doing that ... I whistle all the way back to my car and just about break into a hop, a skip ,and a jump it makes me so happy.

 

[somarco]

I whistle all the way back to my car and just about break into a hop, a skip ,and a jump it makes me so happy.

 

[goillini52]

And I love doing that ... I whistle all the way back to my car and just about break into a hop, a skip ,and a jump it makes me so happy.

 

[NAF1138]

I don't know and I was never with combined. But @NAF1138 was with Combined. I don't know if he was with them here in PA or if it was before he landed in these parts. I had a combined manager reach out to me to recruit me back in 2017 - not sure how he found me. So he was definitely looking to recruit folks around here.

It was in PA, in fact my territory was your FE area. Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon County. Oh, also parx casino and racetrack in Bucks County. Jockeys were great clients.

But yup. Cold calls only. Door to door, farm to farm, business to business. Showing names of clients "you may know".

 

[shonceman]

Does Combined still send teams out to cold call like they used to?

I don't know and I was never with combined. But @NAF1138 was with Combined. I don't know if he was with them here in PA or if it was before he landed in these parts. I had a combined manager reach out to me to recruit me back in 2017 - not sure how he found me. So he was definitely looking to recruit folks around here.

It was in PA, in fact my territory was your FE area. Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon County. Oh, also parx casino and racetrack in Bucks County. Jockeys were great clients.

But yup. Cold calls only. Door to door, farm to farm, business to business. Showing names of clients "you may know".

Last I heard, Combined had some agents running DM leads for FE, and others working businesses for payroll deducted policies. But I'll bet both of those channels still know how to cold knock a door!

I haven't ever run into a Combined policy since I moved to Texas nearly 15 years ago. But when I was running debits in Virginia, those Combined agents were door knocking machines! I could always tell when they were in my neighborhood because sales got markedly tougher. People I had lined up to buy life insurance would put me off because they had just paid a 6 month premium for their Combined accident policy.

When I became a manager, I loved getting ex-Combined agents! They were a hard working bunch, for sure!

 

[DayTimer]

Last I heard, Combined had some agents running DM leads for FE

The combined manager who was trying to recruit me was adamant about NOT buying leads. He made it sound as though they'd fire you if they caught you working bought leads.

 

[shonceman]

The combined manager who was trying to recruit me was adamant about NOT buying leads. He made it sound as though they'd fire you if they caught you working bought leads.

Interesting. Like I said, I haven't encountered any Combined policies or agents in 15 years, so anything I heard about them was at least that long ago. Maybe they tried that model and it didn't work well for them. I wonder why they'd be opposed to agents working leads they paid for themselves. They must be easy to replace.

So did that recruiter indicate how they're bringing in business? Are they still doing straight canvassing?