What is the Average Persistency Rate for FE by Phone?

[vanquishV12]

if i could do half that i would be happy, so would my wife

Half in volume or half in hours worked?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

if i could do half that i would be happy, so would my wife

Now this thread is evolving into something good. My question would be... Why are you not doing that? If that would make you and your wife happy? What are the things holding you back? Leads? Training? Who knows... You have to answer that one for yourself.

 

[hockeyday]

leads, training yes can you help

 

[inreverse]

"If a lead will not schedule an appointment (they don't want anyone to come by, don't remember mailing the card in, thought it was soc. sec. benefits, etc.) do you save that lead and call that lead at a later date? If so, how much time do you wait to try to reschedule again? Or do you just throw this lead away?

What do you say when on the phone setting appointments?

What would be the ave. % of "no shows" when you get to the house? Of the "no shows" about what % will buy when you recontact them? Or will even reschedule an appointment with you again?

If you have a "no show" what do you do for the next hour or so?

Do you wear a tie or dress business casual? Or some other attire?

What % of your sales are bank draft vs direct bill?

How do you handle the usual objections: "can't afford it", "we don't need any", "we are just shopping around right now", "let me talk to my children", "call me back next month", etc., etc.

How do you service your clients besides mailing them a card the week they buy?

I would really appreciate responses from the face to face agent, "big dogs", ie J.D., Travis, "Stratos", Matt, Scott, etc

 

[jdeasy]

Jd...CONGRATULATIONS!!!! A GREAT POST! WELL DONE!!!
When I said "lazy" working 2 days a week I wasn't aware there were 2 other days setting appointments on the phone.

If a lead will not schedule an appointment (they don't want anyone to come by, don't remember mailing the card in, thought it was soc. sec. benefits, etc.) do you save that lead and call that lead at a later date? If so, how much time do you wait to try to reschedule again? Or do you just throw this lead away?

I will call a lead until I talk to someone. I don't leave messages. If I talk to the person that sent in the card and they don't want to schedule an appointment for whatever reason, I drop it in the trash. If I talk to someone that wasn't the sender, I will call until I get to talk to that person. If they won't schedule, it goes in the trash. In almost every case that person will send in another one on the next mail drop.

What do you say when on the phone setting appointments?

Is this CJ?, if yes, Mr. J, this is JD with ##. We are the folks you sent in a request for information to about our senior final expense life insurance, I'm the guy that takes care of that in your area. The reason I'm calling is because I'm going to be in your area tomorrow and I need 10 minutes of your time to go over your options, I've got an opening at 9:30, will that work for you? Then the conversations go from whatever their answer is. If they say no, I say, well, I've got another opening at 3:00 or whenever I have an opening. I can pretty much guage by the conversation if they are looking for a time to schedule or looking for a way out.

What would be the ave. % of "no shows" when you get to the house? Of the "no shows" about what % will buy when you recontact them? Or will even reschedule an appointment with you again?

I don't keep track of the % of no shows. Sometimes I won't have any in a week and sometimes half will no show. Scheduling the day before cuts down on my no shows. When there is a Monday holiday, I use Tues for my phone day and I will schedule for Wed. and Thurs. I will always have more no shows on that second day when I do it that way.I genrally don't reschedule with a no show, especially if they don't call me back after I leave my contact info. I will try to call them one time to see if something happened. I had one this week that was a no show and it took me two days to get in tough with her again. When I did, she apologized and said she had a death in the family and asked me to call her next week. I will call her back. I don't waste a lot of time on people that don't want to see me.

If you have a "no show" what do you do for the next hour or so?

I always carry the leads for an area with me that I haven't been able to contact. I will just pull over and start calling. If I have one with a bad number or no number, I will go doorknock it. I hate door knocking with a passion, so, it's a last resort. I have done quite a bit of business doorknocking though.

Do you wear a tie or dress business casual? Or some other attire?

Business casual and usually a logo shirt from one of the companies I represent. No ties, ever!

What % of your sales are bank draft vs direct bill?

Almost all of mine are bank draft. I just have two companies that do direct monthly and I rarely use it. They have to convince me that there is a good reason to do autodraft. My persistancy is about as high on my direct as autodraft because of that. A good reason to me is someone that has had money stolen or unauthorized charges that has decided no more autodrafts. Monthly direct is a very small part of the business.

How do you handle the usual objections: "can't afford it", "we don't need any", "we are just shopping around right now", "let me talk to my children", "call me back next month", etc., etc.

I have a presentation that I always use that removes most objections before we ever get one. The only true objection is money. Everything else is a money objection disguised as something else. I have a good BS meter. If they truly don't have the money, I can't sell them anything.

How do you service your clients besides mailing them a card the week they buy?

I don't just send cards to people that buy. I send a card to every person I meet with. If they buy, I send them a congratulations card for taking care of their family. If they don't buy, I send them a thank you for your time card. Many of my clients have other policies with me, MA, med sup, PDP, etc. They know they can call me anytime about anything. Even to cancel. Sometimes they just run out of money. I'll help them get the draft stoped. Most of those call me when things turnaround and they can afford a policy again. I also send a birthday greeting to every client.

Needless to say you can run with the "BIG DOGS".

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.

That's about the gist of it. I'm not a particulaly good salesman. I'm not good with overcoming objections. I think I am good at paring out the BS objections and getting down to the real thing.

 

[inreverse]

JD,
Thanks for taking the time to respond, your success is well deserved!

 

[theinsuranceman]

That's about the gist of it. I'm not a particulaly good salesman. I'm not good with overcoming objections. I think I am good at paring out the BS objections and getting down to the real thing.

Another great post. Hopefully these question and answers will help our FE brothers/sisters in this wonderful business.

PS: If you ever want to learn the phone sales route call me. When you make your calls on Mon. you don't have to invest the 2nd day (Tues.) driving to their house. What I mean is when you finish making your calls on Mon...well you've already got the buyers written up and recorded, no need to drive to their house to write them up on Tues. because you were doing this on Mon. when you had them on the phone. You could almost DOUBLE your income in the same amount of time using phone sales with a digital recorder. Even if your closing ratio on the phone was only 75% as good as your face 2 face closing % (there is Not this much difference but I just want to emphasize how GREAT phone sales can be) , your income would still be 50% higher! Crunch the numbers.

Now we can all kiss and make up..LOL. Luv ya!

 

[inreverse]

I guess some people can't help themselves!!

 

[theinsuranceman]

That's about the gist of it. I'm not a particulaly good salesman. I'm not good with overcoming objections. I think I am good at paring out the BS objections and getting down to the real thing.

Jd..what ages an income levels do you guys mail to?

Could you provide a sample of the mail piece?

 

[jdeasy]

Jd..what ages an income levels do you guys mail to?

Could you provide a sample of the mail piece?

You're asking the wrong person about that. I get my leads from EFES and they do all the mailings and they do all the calculations.

When I did my own mailings in the past, I would specify incomes above $12,000 and ages 35 up to age 80. My returns were less than 1%. That's why I hooked up with EFES. I'm sure their income is less because I get leads from people that make much less than $12,000.

I don't know if their lead piece is proprietary, but, I'm not gonna be the one that puts it on the board.