When to walk away...

[TripleH]

^LOL!!! When the stars align and it's a full moon...this happens.....

Oh! I forget idk if we in the FE forum but I mostly do MP. Occasionally I'll come up on a MP leads who are elderly, plethora of meds, and have to get them Final Expense coverage

Actually my most recent app

This older lady is on Social security and requested at date in accordance with that. 3rd of the months as you mentioned.

2 and 2 makes 4! Sounds about right, yes in the FE realm it's way different, but like you said when they start taking out med after med, they only fit into one product line. I don't know anything about MP at all

 

[Roger Chan]

There's a reason why a cardiologist doesn't seek out rhinoplasty candidates and vice versa. When you try to be everything to everyone you just end up becoming nobody to everybody. Be a laser-focused specialist.

 

[theleadingagent]

2 and 2 makes 4! Sounds about right, yes in the FE realm it's way different, but like you said when they start taking out med after med, they only fit into one product line. I don't know anything about MP at all

Lol! That's EXACTLY how I feel about FE

My ass be confused af when I get in the home and they're like "I want $300k mortgage protection" but they are like 82, just got out surgery, on hella meds. Then they're like "$10k coverage is that all? I want the whole thing, I want term, and I only have $40 a month to spend!" ....

I inadvertently lost out on a lot of sales because I didn't know how to handle what I thought were MP leads who turned out to be FE

I'm getting a bit better with the FE market.

You ever need ideas on the MP....I got ya fam

 

[shonceman]

Home services seems to be too much of a grind in today's marketplace when leads are in such abundance. Instead of going to a ton of clients houses and running a debit route, I would much rather go find another EFT client to stick on the books. But I do agree it is a niche market that still exists, however I wouldn't say it's thriving at all. It's a contracting business model as you can tell by the amount of companies left that Kemper gobbled up. Only American National and Reliable (Kemper) are the two I run into and the turn over rate (for agents) and theft on those policies is pretty high. Like you said, over priced insurance, but has a place in the market. A smaller and smaller one as every year that passes.

Home Service is thriving in the independent sector. Liberty Bankers Home Service has experienced phenomenal growth. In fact, in the early years after LBL first got into that business, one of the home office executives told me it was the only division of the company that was profitable right out of the gate. Security National's home service division is also in major expansion mode. A couple of months ago I was contacted by a market researcher working for yet another carrier who's considering getting into that market. So, I respectfully disagree that the home service system is in decline.

Market consolidation like you've observed with Kemper is common in all facets of this business. It is not indicative of the health of a market sector. If that were the case, the fact that so many FE IMO's are consolidating under just a handful of NMO's would be a frightening portend.

What is on the decline in all sectors is the career agency model. It's just too expensive to maintain an employee agent force. The future of home service, as with most insurance distribution channels, is with the independent agent.

As far as it being a grind, you're totally right. It's hard work. But worthwhile, rewarding, and actually more profitable than you might think. But, no, it's not for everybody. So, send me your cast offs! I'm able to work with lots of folks that won't be a good fit for you.

 

[WinoBlues]

There's a reason why a cardiologist doesn't seek out rhinoplasty candidates and vice versa. When you try to be everything to everyone you just end up becoming nobody to everybody. Be a laser-focused specialist.

What do you do with leads that turn into term or standard risk leads? Such as the owners of the FE policy. Do you guys work with a Life agent or just walk away from it?

 

[rousemark]

Home services seems to be too much of a grind in today's marketplace when leads are in such abundance. Instead of going to a ton of clients houses and running a debit route, I would much rather go find another EFT client to stick on the books. But I do agree it is a niche market that still exists, however I wouldn't say it's thriving at all. It's a contracting business model as you can tell by the amount of companies left that Kemper gobbled up. Only American National and Reliable (Kemper) are the two I run into and the turn over rate (for agents) and theft on those policies is pretty high. Like you said, over priced insurance, but has a place in the market. A smaller and smaller one as every year that passes.

Yeah, but you are not taking into consideration he gets a 40% renewal commission with LBL for collecting that premium after the first year.. And, there are ways you can collect and never leave your house if you wanted to The Indy debit agent is not the same as the captive agent when it comes to comp. . Plus, the additional business from working you book and through referrals is cost free leads.

 

[shonceman]

Yeah, but you are not taking into consideration he gets a 40% renewal commission with LBL for collecting that premium after the first year.. And, there are ways you can collect and never leave your house if you wanted to The Indy debit agent is not the same as the captive agent when it comes to comp. . Plus, the additional business from working you book and through referrals is cost free leads.

That's true. I do get 40% in years 2-10, then 20% for life. However, my first year comp is significantly lower than I get on my FE contracts. But for HS, I'm at the top level, and direct to the company (General Agent). In reality, the 5 year comp is similar on FE contracts at the highest level. But on FE, the comp is lumped heavily into the first year, and there are a lot more levels between the top NMO level and street. On the independent home service side of LBL, there are usually only two levels (GA and Agent).

Home Service requires a different mindset. For the FE agent, it's mostly about making sales, year in and year out. If he stops making sales, he's out of the business (unless he becomes a recruiter - which is still sales!) In Home Service, the emphasis is more on service as the agency grows. The successful HS agent will reach a point where he literally won't need to think about making sales. They'll just happen as he's servicing the book.

So, yeah, it's a grind, especially for the first few days of the month. Right now I'm running like Parnelli to get the collections in! But I literally don't need to chase leads any more. I still need to make sales, but they're much easier to come by. I've done it both ways. For me, this way is much more peaceful.

(Let me add, though, that I'm not at all trying to sell anybody on becoming an independent home service agent. It requires a long range commitment, and it's a pretty tough gig in the first few years. In my opinion, it's much easier to find early success with the typical FE lead based system. And for agents working that system, everything @Roger Chan has said in this thread is spot on! You need to take his advice, and walk away from the "agent killers".
But send all your castoffs to me!)

 

[tribetime32]

Good post! I think that a successful agent can be marked just as much by how quickly they recognize a time waster than a lot of other factors in this business. Being able to recognize the right vs. the wrong people is a big reason why top agents can write 10k+ per week!

 

[TripleH]

Yeah, but you are not taking into consideration he gets a 40% renewal commission with LBL for collecting that premium after the first year.. And, there are ways you can collect and never leave your house if you wanted to The Indy debit agent is not the same as the captive agent when it comes to comp. . Plus, the additional business from working you book and through referrals is cost free leads.

Wow I did NOT know it was 40% and 20% For life. I wonder what the persistency is. What do you mean he can collect by not leaving his house?

 

[TripleH]

That's true. I do get 40% in years 2-10, then 20% for life. However, my first year comp is significantly lower than I get on my FE contracts. But for HS, I'm at the top level, and direct to the company (General Agent). In reality, the 5 year comp is similar on FE contracts at the highest level. But on FE, the comp is lumped heavily into the first year, and there are a lot more levels between the top NMO level and street. On the independent home service side of LBL, there are usually only two levels (GA and Agent).

Home Service requires a different mindset. For the FE agent, it's mostly about making sales, year in and year out. If he stops making sales, he's out of the business (unless he becomes a recruiter - which is still sales!) In Home Service, the emphasis is more on service as the agency grows. The successful HS agent will reach a point where he literally won't need to think about making sales. They'll just happen as he's servicing the book.

So, yeah, it's a grind, especially for the first few days of the month. Right now I'm running like Parnelli to get the collections in! But I literally don't need to chase leads any more. I still need to make sales, but they're much easier to come by. I've done it both ways. For me, this way is much more peaceful.

(Let me add, though, that I'm not at all trying to sell anybody on becoming an independent home service agent. It requires a long range commitment, and it's a pretty tough gig in the first few years. In my opinion, it's much easier to find early success with the typical FE lead based system. And for agents working that system, everything @Roger Chan has said in this thread is spot on! You need to take his advice, and walk away from the "agent killers".
But send all your castoffs to me!)

That's a ton of value, now I know why those reliable agents fight tooth and nail when I'm replacing their business.
So once you build a book of 200k, you're making 80k a year in income for the first 10 years. Is the combo 40% on new business and is that all as earned? Thanks for the great content!