Thoughts on the FE telesales biz

[theinsuranceman]

The Powell's out of Ga. were the first FE group in the nation to start FE tele-sales circa 2003. They've been thriving with FE tele-sales since then with NO signs of exiting FE tele-sales.

I'm only guessing, but I believe some of these carriers that are exiting the FE tele-sales arena don't know the crucial finer points of FE tele-sales...especially the warm down. Most of the FE carriers out there are run by bean counters who have never sold FE, much less sold anything. That's why they struggle to turn a profit the last few years because they are getting less than 2% interest on their reserves, which means they now have to make their profit from selling insurance which they don't have any real world experience. Look at the carriers who have exited the business the last 5 years, even the field sales only carriers.

The CEO, President, Vice-President and ALL of their leaders at Sr Life have experience selling FE. They know what agents go thru....some days you can't give it away and some days everyone is taking it from you. That's important to me.

 

[Newby]

The Powell's out of Ga. were the first FE group in the nation to start FE tele-sales circa 2003. They've been thriving with FE tele-sales since then with NO signs of exiting FE tele-sales.

I'm only guessing, but I believe some of these carriers that are exiting the FE tele-sales arena don't know the crucial finer points of FE tele-sales...especially the warm down. Most of the FE carriers out there are run by bean counters who have never sold FE, much less sold anything. That's why they struggle to turn a profit the last few years because they are getting less than 2% interest on their reserves, which means they now have to make their profit from selling insurance which they don't have any real world experience. Look at the carriers who have exited the business the last 5 years, even the field sales only carriers.

The CEO, President, Vice-President and ALL of their leaders at Sr Life have experience selling FE. They know what agents go thru....some days you can't give it away and some days everyone is taking it from you. That's important to me.

I agree that is an important factor. People at every level that have real world experience with the product they are selling and working directly with (and understanding) their customer base. I agree that most companies have a disconnect there.

 

[Rob Lion]

I have always seen FE telesales when marketed to the same type of customer that FE face to face agents market to (low income seniors) as a very tough gig. It's hard enough to get in front of them without them "porching" you, get them to show you their current policies for an accurate comparison (their memories of what they have are never correct, and the policy is never really at their daughter's house) and all the other smokescreens you get when you are face to face. It's even harder when they can just hang up on you and be done with you.

If I was selling by phone, I would want to do it with an agency like Jeff Roots which is actually taking a whole different approach to the lead generation, as well as the target customer and is ready to pivot to products other than FE based on your qualifying of their needs.

I think agents and companies have bad experiences with FE phone sales mainly when they are largely selling to low income families. Low income people are less logical and more impulsive in their decision making. They are easy to get them to make a buying decision but harder to get them to stick with a decision. Most of them have something they are already paying on but very often it's something that a face to face agent can easily beat. But harder for a phone agent because you can't review their actual policy. You have to rely on their fuzzy understanding of what they have. So they (the client) has way less confidence that you know that your product is a better option for them because you didn't really see what they had.

The other thing is that low income people are VERY price sensitive. Most products that are approved for phone sales are not priced low. They are mid-packers on up. That is the #1 easiest thing that face to face agents will use to wedge you out is if your policy you sold them is easy to beat on price. Anyone who thinks that low income seniors stop responding to FE direct mail, Telemarketer's, or Facebook leads just because they already bought a policy has their head in the sand. I would estimate that 70% of them are on the constant hunt find a little better price on everything they have to pay for. I've personally been on hundreds of Medicare appointments where they "wanted to see if they can get a better price" and they are on a zero premium plan. Or they are dual eligible and pay nothing anywhere. It's just the nature of the low income demographic.

Phone sales agents have several advantages and many disadvantages compared to face to face agents. I think their disadvantages are amplified if they focus on the low income families with a product that has a LOT of competition.

As soon as you raise your target prospects up in income level you have a more logical thinking client base, but a tougher one to get an appointment with (for face to face agents) and that is a huge advantage to a good phone agent (convenience). This is a factor in why Med a Sups by phone has a way better success rate than FE. The fact that Med Sups are rarely ever sold to low income people allows the product to screen out the base of people that are going to be least persistent to start with.

This is all my own opinions and observations. I accept that everything is debatable by people that have different perspectives and experiences.

Most telesales guys at least the ones i know sell from FB and internet leads typically these aren't bottom of the barrel income people. Especially, in my experience all of my FE deals have been kids buying policies on their parents.

 

[Newby]

Most telesales guys at least the ones i know sell from FB and internet leads typically these aren't bottom of the barrel income people. Especially, in my experience all of my FE deals have been kids buying policies on their parents.

Yes that is very common with Pre-need funeral insurance too. Which is a more affluent market. Adult kids buying policies on mom and dad.

A huge advantage there is that with PreNeed the insured doesn't need to be involved in any way if there kids are buying a policy on them.

 

[KRobby]

Yes that is very common with Pre-need funeral insurance too. Which is a more affluent market. Adult kids buying policies on mom and dad.

A huge advantage there is that with PreNeed the insured doesn't need to be involved in any way if there kids are buying a policy on them.

Yep, with PreNeed, the system certainly makes sense. They can afford to take care of it with one check.. leaving not much appeal to a fe policy.

 

[Newby]

Yep, with PreNeed, the system certainly makes sense. They can afford to take care of it with one check.. leaving not much appeal to a fe policy.

They usually only do it with one check if it's a Medicaid spend down. The majority start it with monthly premiums.

 

[NSRH]

If youre going to succeed in F2F FE sales, you need to have sales experience.

If youre going to succeed in FE Telesales, you need to have phone experience.

If your entering new to sales, and pick FE, you better find someone who's had successful experience at doing what you are about to do.

VERY FEW have any mild success in FE Telesales, from the carrier down to the agent.

Study the organizations doing it on a mass level, and study the individual agents who are making big bucks doing it. There's a common thread.

Telesales companies are popping up every day... they have no idea what they are doing, and are out the biz very quickly. F2F success does not translate to Telesales success. In many ways, it holds you back.

From my experience, the most successful telesales agents, are the ones that failed F2F.

 

[Rob Lion]

If youre going to succeed in F2F FE sales, you need to have sales experience.

If youre going to succeed in FE Telesales, you need to have phone experience.

If your entering new to sales, and pick FE, you better find someone who's had successful experience at doing what you are about to do.

VERY FEW have any mild success in FE Telesales, from the carrier down to the agent.

Study the organizations doing it on a mass level, and study the individual agents who are making big bucks doing it. There's a common thread.

Telesales companies are popping up every day... they have no idea what they are doing, and are out the biz very quickly. F2F success does not translate to Telesales success. In many ways, it holds you back.

From my experience, the most successful telesales agents, are the ones that failed F2F.

 

[KRobby]

What do you mean by failed? I thought most fe agents were independent. Or do they now have minimum required quotas like Merrill Lynch?

 

[NSRH]

What do you mean by failed? I thought most fe agents were independent. Or do they now have minimum required quotas like Merrill Lynch?

Everyone has a quota. Its called paying your bills on time. If you cant do that, you didnt hit quota, and you fired yourself.