Monday, October 1, 2007

Agent vs Boiler room

I'm at the end of my "free lead" trial. Haven't talked to much about it - internet leads are simply terrible. I've been writing a lot of state plan though!

Just got a lead - shared of course. Actually got excited to call it - husband 56, wife 60 two kids. Not bad. Ok - let's do "agent versus boiler room!"

stats: Family on Carefirst at $1,800/mo - have had it forever. Husband - recent heart attack, high cholesterol, lots of meds. Wife, healthy and two kids - 18 and 20, healthy. They've in love with Carefirst, don't want to change - want lower rate.

And they're off!

Boiler room: "I'm sorry, you already have a plan and you don't qualify for anything. Thank you."

Agent: "You qualify for MHIP because of your condition - even if you already have a plan. It's $334 for a $1,000 deductible. Because you're primary and canceling your wife and kids can submit a new Carefirst application, go through underwriting again and get $1,000 deductible for $554.

However, if your wife got her own plan it would be $211. You kids should get their own plans because they'll be dropped at age 24 anyway, less employers are offering health, and you should lock them into a plan now. They'd pay $84 a piece so it's actually cheaper to go that way."

So hubby's doing the MHIP app as we speak and taking my suggestion for indie plans for the wife and kids.

Boiler room = Go screw off.
Agent = $1,800 on month on Carefirst - now $713 - still on Carefirst.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agent,

What happens if you generate your own leads via internet? Do you think your own self-generated internet leads will still be junk?

I was thinking about going the adsense route with google and spend maybe 5 dollars/lead for clicking my ad.

info@marylandquotes.com said...

Internet leads are mainly junk - it doesn't matter if you generate them yourself. Most people looking online for health insurance have no current coverage, are broke or have major health conditions.

Most savvy people wouldn't be caught dead typing in their full name, address and phone number into some strange website. Yes, you get some gems but not many.

Your core business should be small business owners. Probably 1 out of every 50 internet leads are actual business owners.