Tough First Month

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Well, I made the change to Insurance Sales last month as a captive with a Senior Company that has a good record for training. I am in my fourth week in the field and it has been a major disappointment. The week of corporate training was fine. They went over the standard presentation for the Medicare Advantage products, received some training in calling and closing.

The field training has been a disaster. I was sent out with an agent who is a first time trainer. I felt the first two weeks were a waste of time. It basically felt like you were in competition with him rather than being shown the ropes. When I asked questions about things like help on the other products that we sell, he was telling me to talk to my field service manager, who is busy training someone else at the moment.

The leads are a bit of an issue. Basically I am calling recycled leads. While I am setting myself up for a good November on MA plans, surviving until then will be tough. It is like Glen Garry Glen Ross...The T65, direct mail, and call in leads are fed to a few of the agents. It is much more seasonal than I expected. Though we have a few other products to sell to non seniors, it is not a very good selection.

I talked to my Office manager about the experience, and was basically blown off. My field Manager is training the new guy, who has been calling in sick, not making any calls, disappearing from the office. In addition to two days at the office cold calling, I am doing several hours a week at home. I am reading books and watching sales training videos. I am making a strong effort, but feel like I am getting no support.

I am contemplating throwing in the towel with this company and looking for an IMO or FMO. I have done fine with my presentations without my trainer. It is nice to not have him butt in. I am able to do the warm up without him interrupting. I have good knowledge of how Medicare Works and am able to explain that to the customers.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent a bit. If something does not change soon, I feel I will have to regroup and start over again. But I feel I have the knowledge and commitment to make an insurance sales career work.
 
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MA is not a good choice. Go get trained by a big captive company. Physicians Mutual if they have an office near you. Mutual of Omaha. The New England. NYL. Don't go around selling MA plans. That's the best advice I can give you. { besides, you are not supposed to be calling leads and soliciting sales in MA, unless those rules changed. Supposed to be preset appointments only. }

You think a bad month is bad, it can drag on for years.
 
This quote you said:

"But I feel I have the knowledge and commitment to make an insurance sales career work."

Is all you need for success, thinking you can, just look for the right opportunity, you obviously know you're in the wrong one!

Hang in there and create your own destiny!!

You become what you think about!
 
Well I'm sorry to say this but for me and a lot of other agents that I know they all went through the exact same thing. What you are doing by listening to tapes and reading books and working on your own presentation by yourself. The first 2-3 months in the industry are hard for all. The way your feeling is completely normal. What you need to do is get as much information as you can from them and get ready to make the jump of being Indy. What you are going to notice is that not only are you going to have more options but you're going to be more prosperous.
 
Doesn't sound like you have a very good trainer. What I'm basing this on is that you say "it's nice to not have him butt in". That is a NO NO. If you are on an appointment with someone it should always be understood....NEVER NEVER NEVER inturrupt!! Now, that said, I must back up and say, if you're messing up the presentation so bad that he has to butt in....well, that's a different story!
 
Doesn't sound like you have a very good trainer. What I'm basing this on is that you say "it's nice to not have him butt in". That is a NO NO. If you are on an appointment with someone it should always be understood....NEVER NEVER NEVER inturrupt!! Now, that said, I must back up and say, if you're messing up the presentation so bad that he has to butt in....well, that's a different story!

He wants to control every situation. It was not as if I was making mistakes. There were a couple of times I looked to him to ask about the plan that the person was on. He had an cheatsheet that highlighted the premiums and copays other MA plans available in the state. I did not. When I asked him if I could copy it, he said no, to wait for my Field Manager to get back. The same hold true for other things, like putting together packets and questions about the other products that we did not receive any training on.

Plus there were a lot of racial comments he made, which made me very uncomfortable around him. I brought things up with the office manager and she just said he was a good trainer (even though it was his first time training in this company) and it was a personality issue that I needed to work out and said I could go out on my own, but not with another trainer.

My visits alone have gone well. I am comfortable with the presentation and can explain what Medicare covers without needing any materials and know our products. I think it is one of the best Sr. Companies out there as far as customer service and value. I just lost faith in my office.
 
MY guess is Senior Solutions, Penn or Pyramid Life.

It was Sterling Health Plans. I asked a lot of questions going in, but reality does not match the answers they gave me when I signed in. As a corporation, they are great. I think they offer great customer service and value on the MA side. The employee status was a nice added benefit.

Plus the field office is not the best organized. They have hired a lot of new agents in the last month, and were not prepared for that. I drew the short straw as far as field trainers go.

But the commissions are pretty low compared to being an independent. UA is the only company I can offer for other services. The Cancer & Critical Illness are OK, but the Individual Health and life seems so-so. So things are very limited which makes it seem very seasonal.

If I were starting in October, it may be a different situation. But as a new agent starting in the summer, it is tough to survive cold calling and making appointments with people who you cannot sell until November. While they do have a good marketing side with direct mail and leads generated from TV advertising, those leads are funneled to a few Senior Reps.

If I am going to bust my butt and work 60 hours a week, I want the chance for a big return on my time and effort. What I was promised and what the reality is, is like night and day.
 
.....What I was promised and what the reality is, is like night and day.

Isn't that the truth about almost everyone in this business except some career shops and maybe a few INDY's. No wonder the majority that survive wind up INDY.
 
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