Yet another extremely busy day

At the start of this my fear was simple; I'd get next to no business if I wasn't doing some form of cold-calling - B to B or telemarketing and trying to go local would result in the business being too sporatic.

Now I can say that if I keep this up over the next several months I'll be hiring agents to help me keep up with the business. Health insurance is simply incredibally sought-after and as I theorized, most savvy people simply don't make a move because they don't know where to start nor do they trust "telephone agents."

My phone was ringing today - which to me is insane since I really haven't done much. But I can't tell you how pleasurable it is to pick up the phone and hear "I'd like some help with health insurance." I was running quotes literally all day.

The bottom line is I'd never be able to handle the business my locality is capable of generating. Health insurance is such a huge problem for everyone and where would the normal person go? You might think "they'd hit the internet net." You'd be wrong. Most people simply suck it up. They pay that $700 a month rate and think "it is what it is." That is, until they know there's a local health insurance agent who's established in the community that they can trust.

Tomorrow is the art & crafts fair and more of my flyers go out. I'm in the next chamber of commerce publication and have 5 more chamber events over the next 4 weeks. I met an Allstate agent yesterday and we talked today for a while. He told me he has never solicited a client - ever. 100% of his business is calls from the community and referrals.

I'd say within 6 months I'll have a physical location, staff, and a few agents on salary+ and be literally the place to get health insurance in my area. At that point I might think of expanding state wide. I can't believe if you throw a rock you'd hit 4 P&C agencies but no one's applied this to health.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Another "error"

Gotta love all these mistakes companies make. I wonder if there's ever an error where a client owes $1,500 and the bill comes for $0. Doubtful.

My phone just rang and my not-at-all-happy client laid into me. She just got a lab bill stating there was insufficient information to process her claim, which means it didn't get the network discounts applied or count toward the deductible. Obviously stuff like this can rattle people because it appears they don't have insurance.

So I had her fax me the bill and call Assurant claims. Turns out the her social security number goes next to ID Number and her policy number goes next to group ID. Labcorp put "PPO" next to the group number and the claims person says Labcorp knows better.

So I called Labcorp and they admitted they are already aware of the mistake and how to fix it and now it's being submitted properly.

The last thing to note is don't pawn any of this off on your client. This is your job. Don't ever say "here's the number to claims - let me know how it goes." Your client shouldn't have to spend their time and energy on crap like this.

Chamber breakfast - great success!

I had my breakfast meeting today for the chamber of commerce. I was overwhelmingly impressed! The people who run this really understand a lot about social events and it was very well structured.

Most times you attend social events you end up with little gaggles of people who know each other and you have to find a way to fit in. Also, if you're like me you're not the kind of person who's just gonna walk up to a group of people and start talking about what you do.

There were about 120 biz owners at the breakfast and we are all at tables of 8. Everyone got 60 seconds to pitch what they did and hand out cards to everyone - then we had to switch tables. So by the end every person there got my card and heard a short speil about what I do. I was also the only person at the event who sold health insurace.

So far today since I've been home I've received 8 calls from people who want health insurance or want to lower their rates. Phenominal - and I got a buffet breakfast. We're not supposed to directly solicit people after the event - no one wants 100 small biz owners calling them over the next few days, but emails are fine. So today I spent some time loading all their email addresses from their biz cards into Constant Contact.

Also, I had a client call me today who was supposed to fill out an Aetna app a few days ago. I assumed she flaked since I never got the verification link. She called me to today to get an update. I was like "what update?" She did the app three days ago using my link - shows me as the broker. Called Aetna and of course the entire broker support deparment was in a meeting until 3:30. That's top notch service!

Finally got ahold of someone around 4pm - she couldn't figure out why it wasn't assigned to me. Must be a "snag." Yep....great snag that gives them the business while cutting me out at the broker. Now I have to fax in the last page of the hand written app and they'll switch the deal back into my name. Thanks Aetna - I appreciate that!

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Knocked out one today

Did a Golden Rule app today, a state plan and simply have a ton of stuff working. This is like a different life for me then a few months ago. I'm really starting to get busy - as in very busy.

I have the chamber of commerce breakfast tomorrow at 7:30am. I'm really looking forward to that! Then on Saturday I have the arts & crafts fair where I can promote my business.

I have to say the improvement in general quality of life is just fantastic. This has nothing to do with motivation like "Jeffrey Gitomer," "Zig Ziglar" stuff. This has to do with simply working an 8 hour day just like I would if I was on salary for some company. In fact, if I was making in salary what I'm currently making in commish I'd likely be working 50 to 60 hours a week with some company.

And I posted this before but it's also the "objects in motion..." rule where when I get going I simply stay going. The opposite is true when you're doing nothing and trying to psych yourself into some kind of action.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Three deals!

I would have been happy today with two, but got three with a referral signing up tomorrow. Got an Assurant, Aetna and Carefirst Blue Cross (can't screen shot Carefirst because we did a paper app.)

This is going to be one of my real 1st weeks. Not only am I simply working full days but I have very modest advertising out that's pulling a few leads a day, I have my chamber of commerce breakfast Thursday morning and I'm volunteering at my chamber's art & crafts fair on Saturday. Because of that I get to put a marketing piece into a grab bag everyone gets when they walk in.

This is simply what I should have been doing from the start. There was nothing at all wrong with buying leads when I started but I should have supplemented it with community marketing and community involvement.

I will stress that no single activity will generate enough business to make a living. I know agents who just joing groups like BNI and that's their sole marketing source aside from pestering friends and family. Won't work. The deals are too sporatic. It's local advertising, doing local events, (fairs/trade shows)chamber of commerce, and telemarketing.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Fantastic full day

I'm committed to simply knocking out full days. Until I have enough cash for a lot of local marketing and doing local events it's simply all day contacting old leads, generating new ones, running appointments and phone sales. The days of 2 or 3 hours a gone. Things are simply habits or they're not. I have not been in the habit of a full 40 hour week.

The results are dramatic. I've spent the entire day on the phone and sent 8 solid quotes out today all with tomorrow follow-ups. All of them are qualified for health and money. If I just closed 2 of them what I'd show myself is a full day of work would be 2 deals a day. I won't even run the math on 10 deals a week - the commish is staggering.

The bottom line is there are all sorts of mental tricks we all use to fool ourselves into working when we're not. The interenet is obviously a dangerous thing to have around if you're into work-avoidance. It's like a fat man trying to lose weight while being locked in a room all day with 20 bags of potato chips. The will power needed is insane.

The irony is the internet was supposed to make your business "explode" with the ability to buy leads, generate leads and sell online. However, in reality the internet is directly responsible for most agents failing. Shared leads are simply horrid, it costs a fortune to generate enough leads through your website to make great money and most agents (98%) don't have either the experience and skills necessary to sell online. Without the net all agents would be on "old school" sales techniques and doing much better.

If you want to lose weight, don't buy the chips. Only have healthy snacks in the house. That's my trick. If I want a snack we have grapes and apples. If I wanted Oreos I'd have to drive to the store - so guess what I eat.

Same with the stupid internet - between email, message boards and the net in general it's just too easy to avoid putting in a full day at work. So today the browser was shut down and the only thing on my screen was prospects and quote software.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com