Will These Numbers Work in FE

[jdeasy]

Could well be something wrong with my salesmanship but perhaps leads was the wrong term.. Have never worked a "qualified " lead program where someone has actually mailed in a reply card..The leads I was referring to was little more than a list of names with ages and addresses, which any agent could now acquire free of charge using the neighbors function on whitepages.com. Was still a cold call but at least you could smile and address them by name when they came to the door.
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Gee.. that sounds much longer ago when you say it!

Direct Mail has been around a lot longer than that.. Had friends selling what we now call Final Expense that were running direct mail leads in the 70s. I just never felt I needed it to find prospects.. What we didn't have was GPS... I would run into agents about every morning who were asking the postal clerk at the Post Office counter where someone lived... The county maps never seemed to be up to date.. At least, in those days, the rural postal clerks were more than willing (and actually had the time) to help..

That's a big differnce than having 40 leads. I would say that getting 15 appointments from 40 cold calls is excellent.

 

[Tearmann]

Pulling Pitch,
Like others have mentioned you need to focus on the number of appointments in a given week. You will need 10 - 12 appointments per week...you close 7 or 8 one week but then only close 3 or 4 the next.
As to a 1000 piece mailer, you'll most likely see a return of 10-12. Of those you get 3-4 appointments, you can door knock the rest but at the end of day you should get 2-3 sales. At $475 per 1000 thats quite expensive...about $45 per lead for each returned. Your better setting it yourself at the post office. Your cost will be $29 per lead Plus printing...with 1000 pieces at 1-1.5% return.
For a direct mail campaign to work in FE you need 25-30 New leads per week and 10-12 appointments to realize your income goal. Your average sale will be closer to $35-$40 per sale...you will have higher but its doubtful you'll average $50 for policy.
Look for IMO/MGA's that can keep your business expenses down to under 25%. That will give you a nice profit.