Final expense insurance: Be independent throughout your life

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 07:17 am Post Subject:

Hi Jeremy and Bluerhino92,

I'd like to share some of my views in this regard..

But don't you think that its important from the customer's point of view to know their agent in person?

Can you clear all their doubts over the phone?

And, by what percentage you sales have improved since you've started dialing?

The big difference is I didn't have to drive a 1/2 hr, 1hr, or 2 hrs to the appointment and realize I can't sell them or warm up to them... I just dial my next lead.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 02:12 pm Post Subject:

I absolutely agree.... well said!

Your sales can't help but improve because you are always selling when someone picks up the phone not just trying to set an appointment.

It's hard enough to find people home to set enough appointments for the week, why not get rid of that extra step and everyone who answers the phone you try to do a presentation with them.

There is so much down time selling in the field it's tuff to be successful because the ave agent isn't willing to sit on the phone Monday for 10-12 hrs to fill up his week with appointments.

They might get 8 appointments, if they are lucky. 2 may cancel, 2 might be no shows, 1 might be a one legger that you try to sell anyways and that only leaves 3 good appointments.

None of those headaches and frustrations with Telesales.

And I do make a connection with my clients and answer all their concerns over the phone. Heck I just got a card in the mail Monday from a Lady I helped in Virginia thanking me for helping her.

The issue I see with telesales for some people is have to sit in the saddle everyday, whether that's 4 days a week or 5 days a week.

Some people just can't be on the phone like that. It is something I had to get used to coming from the field but now I'd rather be on the phone selling than trying to set appointments.

Steve

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 09:39 pm Post Subject: Final Expense By Phone

Selling final expense by phone is a great way to go. You WILL, undoubtedly get less of a closing ratio than in person, but some folks are determined to work from home - and you can do that in Final Expense.

I encourage you to search diligently for the best contracts before getting locked in somewhere. Once locked in at a company with a low contract they WILL NOT let you out to go with another IMO under any circumstances IF the reason you are leaving is to go for a higher contract.

It is very frustrating to sign up with someone at 80%, 90% or even 100% to find out that you could have done MUCH better with someone down the street.

Remember that the lead costs are a fixed cost. They pretty much cost the same anywhere. The persistency, too, is just about the same everywhere. The ONLY thing you can control from the beginning is the amount of that premium that you will be paid for your effort. Our agents generally make 30% higher than they made with other contracts. This is a very important, and too often overlooked point - until it's too late.

Best of luck,

C. W.

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 04:28 am Post Subject:

Hi C.W

Selling final expense by phone is a great way to go.

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 06:46 am Post Subject:

Hi cwestfall,

Once locked in at a company with a low contract they WILL NOT let you out to go with another IMO under any circumstances IF the reason you are leaving is to go for a higher contract.

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 07:10 am Post Subject:

Hi bluerhino92,

I absolutely agree.... well said!

And I do make a connection with my clients and answer all their concerns over the phone.

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 01:33 pm Post Subject:

All the telesales we do is paperless. Once the prospect wants to buy a policy we just do a 3 way phone call with the companies and on a recorded line they confirm all the typical info...Name, address, beneficiaries, bank account for drafting, ss# etc.

They then ask the health questions. Once that is completed, which maybe takes 10-15 min, I stay on the line with them as the company hangs up and just rap up the sale and get referrals. Everything is paperless. I don't even have paper leads because they are in our lead management system on my computer.

If I want to go back home to WI to visit family, I can just get on a computer and start making calls and selling. Sell anywhere to anywhere.

Also about getting top contracts or not. You can get a 100% or higher contract with companies, which is great, but now you are going to have to purchase leads and plenty of them to be successful. If you are in the field, not only do you have to pay for the leads/wk (20 "A" leads will typically cost you $500), you have to pay for gas and you have to spend 80-90% driving and being unproductive. You generally won't have consistent training or guidance either from most IMO....

They will deal you a high contract and wish you good luck. Most places just peddle contracts and hope you stick... if not you fade away with all the other people they gave a high contract to.

If you cant buy enough leads and afford all those cost associated with being in the field or have the skills to close the deals because you only can afford 10 leads a week, a high contract is pretty much worthless but atleast you can say you got the best contract. It may not pay your bills though.

You need to work with an organization that has a system in place you can just plug into. They need to offer on going training and support, access to an abundance of quality leads etc. Be careful about being stuck in a high contract without all the pieces in place to make you successful.

Closing rates are not always lower over the phone. For most agents it will be in the 30%-60% range. Just depends on your skills, the same as being in the field face to face.

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:29 am Post Subject: FE Insurance by phone

We sell all FE by phone with 80% contracts and leads as low as $3 shared or $8 for a live lead transfer and have some great rates contact me at deactiveate

E-mail id deactivated for your safety

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 03:29 pm Post Subject:

Even if the closing percentage was lower, you would still sell more policies on a daily / weekly / monthly basis. If you are doing face to face consultations and your closing percentage is 80%...Let's say you can see 10 real appointments (take out the no shows, etc.). You would basically have a max of 8 policies.

If you have a closing percentage of even 20% on the phone...You would need 40 appointments (over the phone) to have 8 policies.

Obviously these numbers were selected because of the easy math, but the point is that you have an opportunity to meet a lot more people over the phone.

The debate that we see a lot is all about trust, and are clients comfortable doing business over the phone. Although I like to think I have a professional appearance, I do know that if I was overweight / sloppy / different ethnicity / etc....there are many clients in the senior population that are not comfortable meeting someone in person in their home.

I have an agent that used to work with us that is doing much better over the phone. He attributes it to his skin color. Like it or not, politically incorrect as it is, he realized that as an african american he encountered a lot of elderly white women that were simply scared to let him in the house. You can never judge a book by its cover, but we have to remember that the world was also much less tolerant of differences 60 years ago when these clients were growing up!

He sends Christmas cards out to some of his clients every year, and he said he's received several cards back with little messages on them like I had no idea you were black. You don't sound black on the phone. He said he's never been insulted by it, but he has said that if a 30 y/o made those comments he'd be all over it...LOL!

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 07:52 pm Post Subject:

While it is true that the higher up in contract level you go the less support you get, many agents don't need support/training. If you've been doing any final expense for anything longer than six months, you shouldn't need very much support.
You are always better off if you get the higher contract, buy your own leads and structure your own self.
Some agents have a hard time with the self-structuring and need support even though they have to pay for that support in one way or another, just like leads...you are going to pay for them one way or another.
There are many companies that allow a true phone app, some new to it, some old and some have gotten away from it. You always need several in your bag to cover the different situations that you run into.
The problem I see with going with a company that supplies you leads and gives you a lower contract is that you are basically captive with them. As I stated before, if you sell for a while you no longer need training. Do you think they are going to raise your commission level when you find you can do all of this on your own? Highly doubtful. You should always shop for contracts that have an up front release!
Any IMO, FMO, MGA, GA or agency that won't give you an up front release is one that is afraid you'll run off and leave them for a reason. What reason you ask? When you find out you're better doing it on your own and you will actually make more. That's what they are afraid of, and rightly so.
I personally don't worry about it...I give up front releases and I've never had to release anyone...that's because they know they can't get higher than the contracts I give.
Bottom line is, there are places for the agencies that give leads/training/support and there are places for the IMO that give no leads/ no training/very little support. And of course their are the ones that fall in the middle somewhere.