New Blog

I'll leave this blog up since if you're a new agent you can dig around in past posts and find a lot of great information.

I have a new video training blog on Wordpress:

http://insuranceagenttraining.wordpress.com/

As always, I heavily recommend joining the association I started - IHIAA - which is now experiencing fantastic growth and we're now starting to tour around the country putting on free workshops. 

www.ihiaa.com

Talk about lack of updates!

Well it's been quite a while since an update on this blog but I'll get back to updating it a few times per week.

It was a very tough transition for me from selling health to working on the association full time. I did not expect the rapid growth - guess I'm by far not the only one who's looking for a positive environment.

With the members we currently have it's interesting now to talk about lead sources. We started out recommending 4 shared lead source we thought were at lead decent - not over-sold.

Results? Agents simply do not do well directly competiting against other agents and it's largely a failed concept. The agents who say "it works" needs to define what "works" means. If it means hunting people down day after day week after week so they can land 1 out of 15, to me that is not "working."

We are now only recommending exclusive lead sources or recommending agents generate their own leads from local marketing efforts - choice is theirs.

We do have one shared source left standing - quite a good source: http://leads4agents.com 100% search driven and non affiliates. If you want shared - there's your source.

The same members we have who were doing either poorly or "so so" with shared and doing great with exclusive. We also have another exclusive source coming to the table.

Exclusive leads run around $18 a pop and 90% are indeed exclusive. Simply put, only 10% go onto other lead sources.

Closing is working out to 1/6 which means $108 returns $700 commission on average with a fraction of the headache of working shared.

You can even get to 1/10 and $180 returns $700 which is ugly but still at $520 profit, you actually have a life and you only need to work 40 leads that week to net just over $2,000.

If you want the three exclusive sources we use - contact me.

Downside to exclusive? Volume can be an issue if you want a small area. You need to be prepared to take the entire state and you need a budget. It's not a program for the income challanged.

On the telemarketing front, we have demoed now with three agents a voice mail campaign BtoB - so it's DNC compliant. When the owner answers they hear a message asking if they would like to receive quotes on health insuance. If yes, press 1, to be removed, press 2.

So far a 10,000 call campaign had resulted in between 18 to 22 leads with the campaign costing around $300. That's around $15 for a live transfer. Now - that's not qualified or health filtered but 1 out of 10 is $150 to return $700 and again, your phone rings.

Association as main job now

After yesterday's Norvax webinar my main job now will be running and managing the IHIAA. To me, the number of members is amazing and I greatly appreciate every member.

This industry has so many flaws I can't even count....but let's try:

• Horrible lead sources agents stumble across - waste hundreds/thousands of dollars
• Between lacking to no training on products or the correct products to sell and why
• Zero training about writing apps relating to the claims review process
• No community atmosphere
• No unbiased source of info - we're an association - do not make overrides so we don't need to "steer" agents into selling for any particular carrier
• Agents trapped into bad contracts - can't escape
• Agents trapped in bad agencies - can't escape
• Taught "kill it and grill it" methods of writing business - write an app - onto the next kill
• More of a "just get the deal" - less focus on "career agent"

So we can solve a lot and there's power in numbers.....a lot of power in numbers. Regarding my blog - I'll keep updating it as to what's going on in general, but at this point I'm just dealing with my existing block of business and referrals.

Complete automation

Man, I don't know how health insurance was sold 20 years ago but at this point my system is fully automated.

Technology is simply amazing. First of all, let's cover this first - I'm a fan of getting leads as exclusive as possible however generating exclusive leads takes at least 3 hours a day. That's 3 hours I don't have anymore with running the association.

But for brand new agents who have literally never written a single deal - to mirror this - just remember to have a big budget, product knowledge and closing skills.

Ok, so I'm getting shared leads from three different sources and they all get fed to LeadPod. LeadPod is transferring around 26% which is fantastic since on my own I only got a hold of around 12% since my follow-up skills are lacking.

I'm closing 1 out of 4 transfers so let's do the math:

Lead cost: $7 on average
4 transfers: $40 ($10 per transfer)
17 leads to get a deal X $7: $119
Total: $159
Average Commish: $700
Net Profit: $541

Just remember that if you want to budget this out:

20 leads a day X 5 = 100 leads per week X $7 = $700
26 transfers X $10 = $260
Total: $960

That's why I'm saying that this is an advanced system.

This means all I do is feed 17 leads a day into LeadPod and it's $2,700 per week net. Not bad for never having to make an outbound call.

When they transfer a prospect I qualify then take them right to infiniteconferencing.com/join. I like the fixed address - now I don't have to email an invite. I just give them the participation code and there's no download for them to log in.

I start a desktop share and take 'em to my Norvax site - line up a few plans side by side and they choose. I don't do hardly any "first call closes" but we go over the plans, compare them then I email the plan from the Norvax site that we discussed so they can review it.

To me it's all a bit insane:

1. Leads from the internet
2. Leads fed into Leadpod - only transfer prospect with interest and time to talk
3. Desktop share
4. Norvax comparisons
5. Email quotes
6. Online applications

Complete automation. Also, my day is surreal with this system. Feed 20 leads a day into LeadPod and my phone only rings around 4 times a day - that's it. Aside from those 4 calls a day I do my follow up call to take applications but that's about the extent of it.

Do I really get paid to do this?

Also, webinar today at 1pm EST to go over association benefits: www.ihiaa.com

Time Change

I'll be running webinar to go over membership benefits on tomorrow, Saturday at 11am EST - not tonight at 6pm. Info is below and on the website www.ihiaa.com

Trying to keep up with updates

Sorry all - trying to keep up with updates and I'm falling behind. Right now I'm still on LeadPod - absolutely love them.

Basically, all of my leads gets fed into LeadPod and they simply make the calls for me. In my particular situation it's a Godsend since most of my day is the association yet I still need to write some business.

This automates my business and frees me up to do other things during the day.

The association is doing extremely well - much better than I thought it would without any formal advertising.

I just started uploading courses online: www.ihiaa.coursehost.com

Right now I have over 30 courses to upload - it's a fantastic format since members can punch into any course and everything is indexed.

I'm also going to do my 1st live webinar this week about membership and I'm sorry if I have not replied to your email or called you back yet regarding questions. Between current members and writing business I'm behind on answering some questions.

Tonight at 6pm EST just go to:

www.infiniteconferencing.com/join
Code: 2101012

Call into: 712-432-1699 code: 449228

Everything

Well, I had a goal this year to finally hit 1 million in business - 20K a week, which I've never done before. I've always been over $700K a year but never hit my ultimate goal.

This year, however, I'm tracking 1.4. Why? I have basically everything in place:

• Flyers to businesses
• Flyers plastered up on community bulletin board
• Norvax quote site
  
• Shared leads
• LeadPod
• Referrals (I'm staying in touch much better with clients)
• Constant Contact following up with old leads

I will say this to anyone getting into this biz: This is a phenomenal career. It is well worth the hard work and patience needed to get off the ground.

I spent a lot of years in sales and not too many days pass when I don't really appreciate what I'm doing for a living. Let's compare this to other sales jobs:

• No credit checks - which normally kills most sales (car, home improvement, etc...)
• No driving to see clients - totally unique to insurance sales
• Can sell all available products unlike other sales were you represent one company
• Renewals - totally insane. The 8th wonder of the world is compound interest - renewals are just like that. Name me a sales job outside of insurance were you continue to be paid on past business
• Economy proof. Check out the out-of-work real estate agents and mortgage brokers. That industry collapsed. However, when the economy tightens more people need a rate reduction. I'm doing more business now then ever. Everyone needs to save.
  
• This will never go away (despite for the "universal" people may dream about)
• You are truly helping people
• Six figures is relatively easy if you don't pack it in too soon and give yourself a chance
• Almost no start-up costs compared to running other businesses

Today's just one of those days where I appreciate what I do. I just came up from watching the morning news and the Baltimore beltway is jammed. I just watched, though "damned" and went back upstairs with my coffee and cranberry muffin.

Norvax - sometimes you don't know what you're not getting

Of course I always knew Norvax existed but never really gave them too hard of a look before. I was in the "if it's not broke don't fix it" mode - been making great money without it so why mess with it.

Also, as any other biz owner, I'm always trying to maximize profits and minimize costs. However, in this case it not what I was making it's what I was losing. Obviously if you're making $500 by spending $100 more you can make $1,000 it's a no-brainer.

I've now had Norvax for two weeks and it's an amazing and noticeable difference - absolutely increased business and easier. My site's www.mdhealthquotes.com - if you want to run a quote just enter "test" as your name and a MD zip code - 21113 will do. Put in your real email.

Now I can do company side-by-side comparisons - which I've done so far for every prospect and absolutely amazes people. They also get an email shot out with quotes and the auto responder keeps in touch by email at times you set.

I use to follow up by Constant Contact or simply manually sending emails - now it's set for me. Follow-up is crucial in this biz and it's one less thing I have to do.

Norax also alerts me by email when someone's in my site playing around and also shows me the specific plan they're looking at. Basically, when I give prospects my web address and go over some plans the shopping stops. They can now play around in my site on their own and look at plans - which they do.

I bought it since it's a tool and from running the association I'm basically comparing all tools and lead sources. I want to see what's a waste of money or "fluff" and what's legit.

Norvax is one of those things where if you don't have it then it's not what you're saving, it's what you're losing.

You'll pay what I pay - it's $75 a month for the engine/broker office and $50 if you want auto-responder - so it's $120 if you want both which is a $100 per month discount if you're a member. If anyone wants any details just contact me.

Sorry for the down time!

A week and no blog update - I apologize but it's been absolutely nuts. Most of my time is now spent on the association with about 6 new members per day on average.

Marketing and leads are obviously everyone's biggest issue and members are looking to me for legitimate sources. As everyone knows, I'm not an internet lead guy - been off them for 2 years.

So let's cover this first:

I feel the best way to build your business is local marketing; telemarketing, BtoB, flyers, chamber of commerce, etc...I'm still a fan of Marketing Campaign Solution's auto-dialer CRM. I think new agents need to learn to get comfortable on phone and spend as little money possible on leads while generating a lot of leads.

Telemarketing accomplishes that - $300 a month for the dialer (for members) and you should be spending at least 10 hours a week on it - 15 for newbies. That's the lowest cost-per-lead you'll find in the biz....and obviously the leads are exclusive.

That being said, it's not a perfect world and many agents simply do not want to telemarket. Fine - not an issue. They're looking to buy leads so I've been busy testing out lead sources. I'm not going to recommend lead sources that I can't close. Not to blow my own horn - but if I can't close 'em I doubt a new agent would be able to.

So I'm running the alossociation and dealing with shared leads....doing decent with the BETTER sources. And there are indeed good and crappy sources - the difference is immediate and apparent. Hardly anyone answers the phone on the crappy sources:

• Too many agents calling
• Lead generated by affiliate spam or incentive ads
• Leads target the broke: "guaranteed issue for $29.95 a month!"

Decent lead sources don't use affiliates - don't spam, don't use banner or incentive ads, aren't sold and re-sold 20 times and people actually answer.

I also just started using LeadPod a few days ago - they call my leads for me and transfer the prospects to be so I don't have to plug away on the phone all day. So far so good but too soon to post actual results.

But yes, there are indeed still some fantastic shared lead source out there.

5pm - not 6 for the webinar

Typo - 5pm tonight, not 6pm for the webinar for IHIAA.

Great Press!

Read Benpath's press release as we endorse them as our exclusive lead provider - actually our only association provider of exclusive leads.

Benepath not only offers exclusive leads, but when the quote is submitted the prospect goes to your page that Benepath designs for you. You integrate that with Norvax and now the prospect clicks "submit" and immediately sees quotes from your Norax engine with your contact information on the left side.

You get instant notification and when you call the prospect is actually on your Norvax page looking and quotes. No call centers, no affiliate crap, no redirects to Ehealth.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23916571/

We'll also be having another webinar tonight at 6pm to go over member benefits - some newly added benefits and do a Q&A session.

Go to www.ihiaa.com at 5pm to log in.

PLEASE DON'T SHOP AT WALMART!

I've totally had it with this filthy and disgusting company. How many times do we have to hear how they screw their employees?

This takes the cake:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/law/04/02/walmart.decision/index.html

This poor woman - loyal employee of Walmart was permanently brain damaged in a car accident. She was awarded 1 million of which $400,000+ was hers after legal fees. She needed that money for continuing care.

Walmart, however SUES HER to recover what they paid towards her medical expenses - the goal was leaving her penniless they a mult-zillion dollar company would have $400,000+ while this lady struggles with daily life without money for on-going medical.

I will never stop foot in another Walmart and I encourage everyone to follow.

Membership webinar today

Again, it's far better to just hold a webinar to answer questions about the association - so if you've emailed me with questions just go to the site:

www.ihiaa.com

at 5p, click the webinar link and call into the conference number. The webinar will last about 10 minutes.

I've been busy lining up more and more member discounts, and it's gonna get real nice. So far we have three lead sources offering discounts - and lesser known sources that don't use spam tactics.

I've also lined up a fantastic agency offering Humana advances - so if anyone is interested in a Humana contract with an advance just contact me today at admin@ihiaa.com or just call: 410-874-7241

Another webinar

As the days go by I get more and more emails and calls about the association. I try to get back to everyone but I'm falling behind with the emails.

I'll be holding a webinar tonight at 6pm - just hit the site: www.ihiaa.com and click the webinar section. All you need to do is click the meeting link and call in right before 6pm EST. I'll go over everything and answer any question.

If you want to be sent a reminder before the meeting starts just email me at admin@ihiaa.com

Yesterday it was call after call lining up discounts and agencies. I have a line on a fantastic agency that gives Humana advances - got more talking to do today for that.

Lined up a very good lead source; shared but they don't redirect to Eheatlh nor use affiliate spam to generate leads. 100% search driven, and tested. 75 cent per-lead discount to members to boot.

Back on the phone today to scour more lead sources.

And the mailers go out!

1st batch of mailers go out today - this is the real size (click on it) and the only change they made was centering and enlarging the text under "webinar." The postcards can be simple since all I really need agents to do is hit the website. Should be interesting results.



In other news I'm getting the Norvax quote engine installed on my site since they just came out with changes that really made a huge difference to me in the way I like to present quotes to my clients.

I'll update you more on the new Norvax features either later today or tomorrow.

Are you an information kiosk - and IHIAA webinar today

First off - we're holding a webinar today on the benefits of joining the association followed by a Q&A session. Go to www.ihiaa.com and click into the webinar link. Yesterday was our largest enrollment date yet!

There is power in numbers and as membership grows we have more leverage to work on steep discounts on services agents use every day.

Onto closing deals. Are you wasting time with tire kickers? Are you trying to chase people down - calling over and over, leaving message after message?

Don't wast time with tire kickers and don't spend countless hours just giving away free information to prospects who never had any intention of enrolling.

It's hard in this business to create a sense of urgency; we can't offer discounts; "buy by tomorrow and save 10%" like most sales industries.

Still - urgency needs to be created but it's a thin like between coming across as helpful without turning into a used car salesman.

Qualification is the key. Regardless of the lead source, my initial conversation is a series of questions - not statements. A huge mistake agents make is going into sales mode with prospects; going over plan benefits and rates.

Instead of launching into a presentation, ask a battery of questions. They won't answer the questions or seem disinterested? Done - move on:

Me: "So what's your biggest concern now about your coverage - your rate or benefits"

Prospect: "ummm, I dunno."

Me: "Ok, what's your current rate?"

Prospect: "Ummm, I dunno. Around $300 I guess."

DONE!!! Move on! There's no interest there. Interested prospects will engage you, answer questions and convey dissatisfaction about their current situation.

However, if you're not careful you can even lose the interest ones but not setting yourself up as someone who's gonna do business.

When I have a prospect on the phone who's conveying interest I have to get them excited about what I can do for them. Normally I'm saving clients money and I put it like this:

"Well Pam, you're currently paying $640 and based on some quick quotes I'm looking at you can save just over $200 a month. How does that sound?" When she says it sounds great I'll say:

"The good news is this is very simple. I can show some plans side-by-side and once you choose the plan you want I can take care of the application in minutes."

This positions me as someone who's gonna do business - no someone who's gonna just "show them quotes." When you do a presentation it's important for them to be in "buying mode" instead of "researching mode."

Addicted to the live desktop presentation

I've now signed up every client over the past 2 weeks using the Zoho desktop share feature and now I really don't know how else I would ever do it.

I like controlling the presentation. Before, I was just telling my prospects to "click this" and "click that" but you're really not on the same page as them.

I'm doing the side-by-side plan comparisons and it really turns it onto a shopping experience. My next step is hooking up with the Norvax engine. As it stands now, I can take them to my site and do side-by-sides for one company but what I'd love to do is comparisons between other carriers.

Imagine taking a healthy prospect and doing a side by side with Copay Select, Aetna ppo30 and Max Plan with a copay. Lol - "Ok Jim, choose $140, $260 or $310."

On the association front, I went with "website tonight" from Godaddy and greatly improved the look of the main site: http:/www.ihiaa.com and the member's site. In fact, from the modest monthly fee ($12) Godaddy charges for unlimited pages it's a far better overall value than using Google's free site.

Exclusive lead source - largest membership day yet

I took on a vice president for the association - friend of mine in MD who's been licensed for over 20 years and a CE instructor for 15 years. He's obviously bringing a lot to the table.

He's been using an exclusive lead source and just crushing it - turned me onto some of the leads and I closed two today. Just fantastic. If anyone wants the info on the leads you're gonna have to call me or email me - it's not gonna be posted, except association members have the scoop.

Largest day for memberships to date - growing very very quickly. There is a lot of strength in numbers and I'm on the horn hours a day talking to everything that is insurance related working on all sorts of deals.

We are starting a mailing campaign next week - mailers going out to newly licensed agents; just passed the test - ink's not dry on their license.

I think we can go a very long way in keeping agents out of bad situations - and we all know what I'm talking about.

Everyone following along with this blog - you are witnessing the birth of what will eventually be the largest insurance association in the country - over time (and no time soon) we can add life, senior and P&C to the mix and have the 1st "independent agent association."

With tons of members just imagine what can be lined up for benefits - and think of the eventual power we can have even dealing with carriers. What will absolutely happen is we'll put a nice dent in the more unethical outfits. It'll be very very interesting as things progress.

Craziness and live webinar today

Well, my goal a while back when I started this blog was gear myself into being busy all day. Safe to say I've accomplished that.

Still calling 1o clients a day - yesterday I called 20. I'm working on solving a few problems - a few feel they've been billed in error. When I asked why they didn't call me the main response was they didn't think I handled stuff like that.

I'm gonna be moving 2 clients over to GRs HSA 100 - they're currently on Assurant's copay plan and I can really lower their rate.

On the association front I ran three webinars yesterday, dealt with arranging some affiliations and am getting a lot of calls and emails about it. Which brings me to my next topic:

It's easier for me to answer all the questions at once so today anyone can jump on a webinar and I'll go over the benefits of membership and answer any questions.

For the webinar - time and how to get it go to the main site: http://www.ihiaa.com - click on the webinar link.

Working my current book of business - lining up carrier training

Over the past two weeks I've been calling 10 clients a day - I have a pretty large book of business after 4 years in the biz and frankly, aside from the constant contact newsletters I do not stay in touch with them.

I think most of us are guilty of concentrating on the next sale and letting clients who have been on the books a while become forgotten.

Well, I did two deals this past week just from calling my book of business. Everyone liked that I called them and I even solved a few problems and am working on moving 6 currently dissatisfied clients to other carriers.

I think my book is large enough where, if I concentrate on referrals, I can get 2 deals per week every week.

For some reason, I've always had some sort of fear (probably from my Mega days) and if I picked up the phone and starting calling people who have been on the books for a while I'd hear:

"Yeah, thanks for calling - this plan sucks and...."

Now - I don't know where the fear comes from - I only sell sold plans and no one I called was mad at me - a few were disappointed with their plans and just want a change.

On the association front - yesterday was the biggest membership day - I was processing new members almost all day.

Looks like a lot of people, just like me, really want a community environment - and of course we go far past that with a ton of support.

Starting on Monday we'll have a full schedule of live webinar/conferences that members can punch into at will. We're gonna have two general webinars where everyone can get around with everyone else and we can simply shoot the shit and trade ideas.

I'll also be announcing the 1st contest on Monday. Imagine, contests, prizes and recognition for independent agents.

However, much more important to me is training. I called most of the top national carriers last week and had some great conversations on how a lack of training on the corporate level really hurts them.

So what I'm lining up is a rep from the carrier running a webinar for members. So someone from "ABC Carrier" will run a presentation on the plans, underwriting and ethical standards for agents for members. All of them said yes.

Now what we can eliminate is new agents being either not training or mis-trained by GAs, MGAs, FMO's etc...Remember, the association does not offer contracts - our members still have to hook up with the carrier directly (almost zero training) or go through an agency (iffy training.)
Right now the only way carriers know to do business is:

A) Marketing outfits recruit agents for them
B) Agents simply happen to fall into their lap after they get contracted

I will argue with anyone that both of those methods are failed models. Another model is to have agents join the association, get all the basics and tools they need for success, then call up Unicare, for example, and say "Ok, we have 60 new members who need contracts - let's schedule the Unicare training webinars for them."

Over time, this can change a lot of the ways this industry current runs.

Knocked out a GR HSA - half the day on the association

For those of you reading along this blog is obviously about my day to day activities in the insurance field - now that I've started the association it's simply part of my day.

Out of the clear blue the phone rings - referral. Very nice guy, 36 no health conditions and got a glowing review on me from one of my clients. He just dropped his BX coverage this past January due to the rate.

We went right online - didn't even do the desktop share, showed him the GR rates - he asks for my recommendation and I say "there's not even a close second - the HSA." He rarely uses health insurance so a copay plan would be ridiculous.

This has something to do with staying in much better contact with my clients. I'm going through my book of business and calling 10 or so clients a day just staying in touch. All of them really appreciated the call.

Starting now I'm going to send coffee mugs with my agency's name out to everyone with a fridge magnate. After that I'm going to stay in touch with everyone 4 times a year. I think with the block of business I currently have there's no reason why I shouldn't be getting at least 2 referrals per week.

Then reason I'm not is simple; we forget about each other as time goes by. They probably don't have my card - lost it or put it away - I send out the Enewletters which most people just probably scan and delete.

I need the fridge magnate so my name is always available and I think the coffee mugs are a nice touch - no one throws away mugs. I have a nice small collection.

Very busy yesterday with the association - got 8 new members yesterday and got everything sent out to them - also did 3 personal training webinars and I have a group webinar scheduled for today.

I'm also lining up more and more member discounts and current going back and forth with a lot of companies. I'm also busy creating more download-able training webinars so agents can choose their topic and view it when they want.

As time goes by I'll be spending a lot more time on the association as I have very big plans for it. I think, if done properly and I provide a great value, it can really take off.

I personally get a great deal of satisfaction from helping people. I have a lot of passion, especially when it comes to newer agents, since I remember what it was like to be new and try to get decent information.

I think new agents are set up to fail. They really don't have much chance of success at all. Captive outfits teach them the wrong methods and you pretty much can't go independent with zero training and support.

A total lack of community environment means boredom with leads to a lack of motivation, then self-doubt. When that happens and you get into "I don't know what I'm doing wrong" mode it's the beginning of the end.

I've had senior agents join just because they want to get around with others - trade ideas, tools, marketing techniques and basically have a fun environment.

When you do well and your name comes out in the next newsletter (member's choice) it can mean a lot. Contests and prizes start in April - which will be a blast.

The most successful people in the country don't sit alone at home. They surround themselves with other successful people.

Hooked up with Norvax

I've been working with Norvax on a discount for association members and after a few days of reaching the right person it's a go. I've lined up discounts on the Norvax quote engine and their leads.

At first their offer came back with a discount over their published rates, however I knew that 1st price they hit me with could be given to an agent just sticking to their guns and asking for a discount - so I asked them to dig deeper.

It's "everyone wins" since members get rates they can't get on their own and Norvax gets more business. I personally don't get squat except the more benefits I offer with membership the more members I get - and the more members the more "strength in numbers" which leads to better deals.

I also told Norvax when agents are supported it leads to increased sales which basically means everyone's better off. The average new agent now might buy leads and drop off quickly. That same agent with training and support can learn to work those leads better which is more money for the agent and more money for Norvax.

I'm working now on them actually featuring my association however I got kicked up to the next level for that request.

I'm not a huge shared lead fan but many agent's are so I'm now working on the major lead carriers. Say I get a $1 per lead discount for members with Netquote and someone normally buys 20 leads a week. That's a $20 saving per week - dues are $20 a month, which means they're ahead of the game by $60 per month.

This is how it works with Gary's CRM - member's price is $300 in stead of $350 - dues are $20 per month which means members are ahead by $30 per month just for the CRM discount.

I want to be able to get some fun going - prizes, contests, etc...but not the typical agency stuff where the agent with the most production wins. To be honest, most agents hate those contests since you might as well just give the prize to the top guy.

I'd like the association contests to be structured in a way where everyone has an equal chance of winning regardless of their experience.

The association so far is growing with new members every day so right now I'm online shopping for some cool prizes for our 1st contest.

Using desktop sharing for presentations

As you all know, I do a mix of in-person and online. Most of my sales are online - about 80% and I've used a lot of different methods but the desktop sharing is my favorite.

First of all, I don't believe in going over rates with people who are not yet qualified. It's pointless if they are no where close to be in the right place in time to sign up.

Qualify first. Ascertain the level of interest. Make sure you can help their situation and that they want help.

My line is "what are you looking to change, your rate or your benefits?"

It's an ugly question to ask since 90% of the response is "nothing, I'm happy with what I have." Worse yet is not qualifying people with no current coverage. You might be thrilled to show that family of 4 a $280 rate but it's $280 a month more than they paid last month.

For the uninsured the question is "when did you want coverage to begin?" The answer most of the time is "well, right now I'm just looking."

Fine - none of that bothers me. I'd rather be blown off then stroked along. Tell me now that you're not interested, not after our 4th call. Some agents get ticked when they get bottom-lined on the first call. To me those are the people I don't have to waste time with.

So, now I've ascertained interest and found someone who's bitching about their plan or rate. Now it's info collecting time:

• what carrier do they current have
• what's their current rate
• how often do they see their doctor
• what's the medical history
• height and weight
  

I'm always surprised when agents put the cart before the horse; go off quoting rates and showing plans - then come to find out they're overweight with high cholesterol.

No auto agent can quote true rates without knowing about tickets, accidents and DUI's.

Ok, while I'm asking them the qualification questions I have my browser up and am running quotes. I need to know if I can help.

If I can improve their situation I'll give them a range of quotes since I'm going to eventually compare a few plans. So I'll say:

"Ok, you're currently paying $740. From what I'm looking at you can save between $210 and $280 a month depending on which plan you choose."

I like putting it in terms of savings rather than rates. I think "you can save $260 per month" has more impact then "I can get you $560."

Once they express interest that the savings are good enough to move on my line is:

"...it's your choice. I can either sit down with and go over your options, then you can choose a plan and I can take care of the application or we can do it online which takes about 15 minutes."

Most will say "Online." If they say they'd like to do it online I'll ask if they have 15 minutes now. If not, then I set up a time for an online meeting.

For the meeting, I punch into Zoho and set up the conference - I then send the invite with time to log in. When I call my prospect I just tell them to click on the link and log in.

When desktop sharing is activated I take them to my website's quote page. I already know the carrier I'm gonna recommend so I run quotes while they watch.

There's a "coolness" factor to this since most people don't know desktop sharing exists. It's also engaging for them to see the quotes and plans and you control the presentation.

Instead of telling them to "click on this" and "click on that" I can do side-by-side plan comparisons for them.

After they choose a plan I can start the broker assisted app and they can watch me fill out the application. This really alleviates the boredom clients have to go through as the agent asks them 10 minutes+ worth of information - now my clients get to follow along.

I think it also gives a lot of legitimacy to the billing section since you don't have to just ask for billing info - they see the page and the info you need.

If you haven't tried the live desktop feature - punch into Zoho and try it out.

A great response to the association

I am very impressed with the response to the new association. I'll talk more about it since I've received a lot of emails with some general themes.

Some people feel $19.95 per month or $200 one-time is cheap therefore they won't be getting much. Don't worry - that rate is for initial members. I want to build up membership and exceed expectations. I'm also going to be surveying members often and tweak it as I go along to make sure everyone is getting the maximum value.

Once it's fully launched and off the ground dues will be around $49.95 per month - which is where I put the value of membership. Even at that rate a one deal per year pays for it. GoToMeeting charges $50 a month and you get one benefit.

Where I think I pegged it is agents simply want a community environment. It increases motivation, solves boredom and increases production.

Agents want help "on demand" when they need it but also want to be recognized for their efforts and accomplishments. We will be featuring members who have achieved a goal and as we grow we'll actually be giving out small prizes and gifts to members who are doing well.

I cannot stress enough how important a community environment can be - even just with idea sharing.

What I'd like, and am creating is simple; all the fun benefits and fun involved with being the member of an outfit without any of the BS. And we all know the normal "WHAT ARE YOUR NUMBERS!" bs that we all hate.

Number don't matter - what matters is that you're maximizing and reaching your personal goals. Can you really do that alone in your home office? Possibly....but unlikely.

Extremely busy day - closed my in-person

Very busy today to wrap up the week - which is the way I like it. I had agents sign up for the association so I spent time with them and did two CRM demos.

I ran my appointment and I'm glad I confirmed the address tonight - the address I had was his business address however I was going to his house which was 40 minutes north! So it was an hour and fifteen minutes each way - quite the haul.

However, it's a family of six on a Mega plan paying $800+ per month....worth the drive. The wife would not do it online, she wanted to meet with me. She was pretty bitter - had the "fool me once..." attitude.

Her Mega agent was very slick according to her, made it sound like the best plan in the world. Sos he grilled me. I knew I was in for it when I sat down and she had a table full of Mega paperwork and a calculator. No one would have closed this online - not a shot in hell.

She was all business - barely looked at me. The husband was the opposite - we hit it off and we're going on and on about all kinds of stuff. I actually though the wife was so turned off in general that I wasn't gonna get the deal.

She probably asked a solid 20 minutes of questions. Fine - I nailed it. The entire family is healthy but she's on two meds for HBP - so there's no way they were going to GR. She was already bitching that Mega didn't cover anything.

But I gave it a try - showed her GR and said right upfront that her HBP and any outpatient treatment would not be covered. She simply pushed the brochure away.

Off to Assurant - Max Plan at $585 per month - it'll be approved in a day and I already built in the increase. Nice to close the week out with a $1,700 commish.

IHIAA

I had my link up to the association I'm starting a few weeks ago and took the link down after enough agents signed up that I could handle initially.

Now that I'm over the hump with most of the major training it's open again for some more members.

So what's this about? There's just too much BS in this industry- basically no place for either new agents or agents moving into selling health to go.

There's no community environment for independent agents and if you have a question, problem, concern or are simply excited about a sale - there's just nothing.

I want to pull independent agents together to create a network. The dues are $19.95 per month and to be honest, for a new agent or anyone who wants a supportive community environment that's chump change.

If you're interested just click the link to the top right and read about it. You can download the forms but don't pay - call me instead. I want to make sure it's a proper fit before any money is remitted.

If anyone has any questions about it just call me - 410-874-7241

This is a marketing, not a sales job

Unless you have some massive book of business where you're getting 3 to 5 referrals a week this is a marketing job. It's 80/20 - 80% marketing - 20% selling.

How long does it take to close the average deal (presentation + app) - no longer than an hour. The math is simple - even 5 deals a week is only 5 hours of selling out of 40.

If you're meeting with clients, even doorstep to doorstep is 2 hours per day and only 10 hours out of 40. And if you're qualifying correctly you're not doing a bunch of presentations that don't end in sales.

And now we get back to that over 80% of your week is marketing. That's 6 hours a day that needs to be spent either generating leads or calling leads back.

The reason for the high failure rate isn't because agents can't close deals. It's because they spend so little time marketing they never reach interested and qualified prospects.

If you think this is a sales job then:

• Try to sell someone a plan who has little to no interest. Sales books will teach you how to turn disinterested people into sales - give it a shot

• Try to get someone to commit before they're ready to do that app. Sales books will teach you how to close people quickly. Be my guest.
  

None of it works....but it's fun to read. What sales book do teach is basic sales skills that are indeed necessary for this job - but by no means will turn "I'm too busy, call me next week" people into clients.

You can try to fish with a spear if you want. You'd better be patient and damned good. I'm neither. I'd rather cast a net over the side of the boat, scoop up a ton of fish and throw the ones I don't want back.

At the end of the day I have fish in the fridge - the guy with the spear is still staring at the water.

You need A LOT of prospects - even if your goal is 2 or 3 apps per week. Not many agents are closing better than 1 out of 20 regardless of the lead source. You want three apps? You won't pull it off with less then 60 leads a week.

If you're manually dialing and getting 4 lead an hour that's 15 hours a week on the phone for 3 deals. Here's the problem - when I can you'll get 3 deals out of 20 leads that doesn't mean immediately. 1 may close in a day or two - another might close in a week and the last might close in 3 weeks.

Because of that it gives the new agent the illusion that "this isn't working" and the throw in the towel quickly. Maybe 2...3...possibly 4 days of telemarketing they say "hmmmm, 4 days of this and only 1 deal - it doesn't work."

You need the pipeline - and I can't state with enough aver (hey, that makes me look intelligent!) that you NEED a pipeline of leads before you start putting in consistent deals.

How much in the pipeline? 100. You need to amass 100+ leads before anything will start happening consistently. Most agents pack it up way before 100 leads are generated.

Another HSA

Put in another HSA today - with my goal being to make almost all of my business HSAs. The longer I'm in this business they're just the only things I really can stand behind.

Two deals in this week so far with 2 more online appointments and an in-person on Friday - I should hit 5 apps this week.

I got a great quote request though my site today from one of my faxes - husband is diabetic, wife and two kids - on Cobra for $1,100.

His benefit admin told him because of his diabetes he'd have to ride out Cobra for 18 months. Wrong. He's off to MHIP and I'm writing the wife and kids - they're thrilled.

I didn't put in any time on the dialer today - my son's school was canceled so I make call-backs, did the HSA deal and played with my boy - probably only put in a solid 3 hour day today however one of the pleasures of being self-employed is being able to handle curve balls.

Back up your data

Our power went out, apparently around 1am and obviously no computer. Area wide - 17,000 knocked out including my son's school so he's off today. Power company's message was all power restored by late tonight.

As luck would have it we just got power back now - and I was on my way out the door. I have everything stored online - all of my prospect spreadsheets, appointments, documents and obviously I can run quotes online.

If you use a desktop CRM to store all of your client and prospect data you're ass out if the power fails and really ass out if you crash unless you backed up your data.

Now, without anything being online - what if I had an appointment this morning with all my client's info - name, number, address, etc...stored on my desktop? I'm screwed. However, I can pick up my cell and call anyone to access my appointment calendar to get the info I need - then drive over one of my friend's or family's home and get to work - really not skip a beat.

Flash drives are fine but useless if the power's out - you'd have to drive somewhere. They're also useless if they melt in a fire. Pure preservation of client and prospect data is online storage. Everything I update gets stored online before I wrap it up for the day.

I personally use upload all my Excel and Word docs to Google but there's a ton of online storage places - including Zoho. I use the Google calendar for all of my appointments.

Working 9 to 5

Well, one of my 1st legitimate days where I worked the full day. Very satisfying. I hopped on the dialer at 9:15 today since I knew I need time to do my call-backs and get in 3 hours on the dialer.
I got in just over three....had to go that extra 10 minutes to get my 30th lead. I just couldn't leave it at 28 (the report shows 28 but I got 30.)



I did call-backs from yesterday's leads and I'll go over some things:

• 2/3rds of people saying "send it" are secretaries. I generated 30 leads today and 12 from owners. Most owners who answer have group and I simply don't deal with group.
  

• When I called everyone back from yesterday I came to find it's a waste of time to call the secretaries back. All of them from yesterday just blew me off with "yep, got the fax.....see ya." The same gatekeeper who wouldn't let me pass yesterday obviously are not gonna let me pass today - and a few were a bit miffed I called back today. I won't be calling gatekeepers back anymore.
  

• I set three firm appointments today from yesterday's leads....but from the owners I knew I already had interest. As I'm making the calls I run into those owners with natural interest. Those are the rare "I'd love to see what you have - please send it. My rate's blah blah..."
  

So basically what this is all coming down to is this method is simply a way for me to have an easy time on the phone so I can stay on the phone long enough to find the people with natural interest. Works for me.

Another item to note - enthusiasm. You need it. I was doing well on the dialer for just coming up on 2 hours, then my tone started to drop. I was getting a bit burnt and wanted to ride it out until I hit the 2 hour mark.

Interesting to note that when your tone drops so do the leads. Later today I grabbed another cup of coffee (nice psychological boost) and hopped back on to try a little experiment. I called for about 20 minutes with a pretty flat "lifeless" voice and just read the script. Nothing - nodda. No leads. I could physically feel how uncomfortable people were.

Then I got back into a strong, firm but happy voice and started pounding them out again. Lesson? This is nothing were you can just put in your time. You need to be into it and believe in your script. You need to be upbeat and change the tone of your voice to keep interest.

But again, a solid full day today and I'm already seeing that it's gonna take full days to punch out a deal a day. That's fine and I need to create a habit or working all day.



This is not easy - it's hard. If it was easy the average commish wouldn't be $700 - three a week is six figs and we all know how many agents are making six figs.

Here are some unfortunate facts:

• Most people are not gonna switch no matter what the rate is. They are "security" people and would rather keep their high rate on the plan they trust.
  

• Most people don't qualify for indie plans. They have either too many health conditions or are undergoing some type of treatment.
  

• You can't better most people's situations. Although the media falsely reports that there's a health insurance crisis nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is almost everyone is perfectly happy with what they have.
  

So who are we looking for?

1. Someone with current coverage
2. Someone who's unhappy enough with their current plan to switch immediately
3. Someone who qualifies

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a very very small percentage of your market. That's not meant to be a downer - just a reality check.

I have no problem just busting my ass all day if it results in 5 deals a week. That's a crap load of money. I'm actually very excited.

Amazing day and some thoughts

Well, I'm proud of myself. Just over 4 hours on the dialer with 32 leads generated.

498 dials
249 minutes
31 leads
29 said piss off
118 messages



2 of the 31 leads were call-backs from messages left - which are obviously fantastic leads. One's a slam dunk - husband 57, wife 57 paying $800 on Mega. He literally said "...I got your message. You got anything that can get me off this shit?" My kinda guy.

If I don't have more than one deal out of today's work I'll be stunned. I'm also tracking my time - which was be an eye-opening endeavor. Although we all like to think we work hard, charting your time will prove otherwise.



Even with 4 hours on the dialer plus time faxing and emailing I only came up with 6 hours of work today - 2 hours shy of a full day. Part of my problem was the 9:50 start time - which I'll solve tomorrow.

So now the gloves are off. I have Gary's incredible dialer, I have a very comfortable pitch and now it's about logging in the time. Can I simply log in the time and put a million on the books? It's not "can I" but "will I."

The elusive deal a day and Zoho

Ahhhh, the deal a day. Yes, I've dreamed the dream. A deal a day comes out to 1 mill a year in volume and I personally do not know any agent doing it with personal production. Why? A few reasons:

• Money: Closing 1 out of 20 leads (pretty much par for the course) at $7 a pop = $700 a week in lead costs. It's a thin list of agents with $700 per week in marketing money. It's also an organizational nightmare to try and deal with 100 shared leads a week.
  

• Can't generate volume on your own. Without buying leads you'd still need to generate very high volume. Aside from hammering the phones almost all day I can't think if a way to generate a high volume of leads.
  

• Belief in what you do. Even with the marketing money or the means to generate a ton of leads, without the firm belief that you're really helping your clients you'll never have the drive.

Well, I feel comfortable enough with my telemarketing pitch to spend a lot longer on the phones then I'm used to so I'm going to drastically increase my phone time to see if I can nail that deal a day.

It's gonna be a lot of time generating leads and a lot of time following up. With my pitch, these are totally unqualified leads and calling back is a lot of "yeah, we got the fax....bye." I really can't worry about any type of closing ratio and simply focus on "X" amount of time spent on the phone = "X" amount of business hitting underwriting.

1st report out tonight.

You should also check out http://zoho.com - they have a lot of free business applications such as a webinar with live desktop sharing, web conferencing and a host of other business tools. As you see, you can embed a presentation or publish it online or share it: http://show.zoho.com/public/healthagent/Telemarketing

Yes another doctor update

Well, apparently I gave a good HSA presentation. After my HSA vs Copay pitch the wife's gut instinct was to go with the Copay Select since at $500+ per month it was $200 less then what they were currently paying.

But I told her that's really not the point. The point is pure protection which copay plans don't offer. So I got not one, not two but three more calls back throughout the early evening with both the husband and wife on the line digging very deep into the real differences between HSAs and copays.

Of course, I'm a HSA advocate to my presentation was obviously slanted towards HSAs. I get "we'll need to think about this and call you back."

Normally that's my "....call you back... in a month" signal however my phone rings just after 8pm and it's the husband saying he's stuck on the GR app.......which I hate it when clients simply decide to click "apply" without me because I like to either do the app myself or walk 'em through it while they're doing it.

So what did they pick?

Update - a call from a doctor

My phone rings - it's a doctor. Got my fax yesterday. She was on her husband's plan and her husband lost his job - got offered Cobra which they couldn't accept at $1,400 a month.

Their coverage expires on March 1st and she was actually asking about short-term plans because she doesn't want a lapse in coverage.

She's 52, husband's 52, two kids and she's only on a hormone replacement med - no issue there. She asks me how she can get covered by the 1st - I took her to my GR site - she's all over the Copay Select - even over the HSA since they used to pay $700+ for their coverage under the hubby's old job.

I never get through to doctors! I hit the secretary yesterday who just gave me permission to send the fax. On my old pitch it would have been "the doctor's busy - bye."

Wow...so this is actually a lead generate tool. Insane. After three days of sending faxes I have three deals working just from people who have contacted me. It's "permission based fax blasting."

leads from faxes

I had my system pretty well set with my other "send you information" pitch, then getting the owner's email - shooting out brochures then calling back to ascertain interest and qualify. Never once did anyone ever email me or contact me for quotes after I sent the email.

However, after three days of sending faxes I have 3 quote requests submitting through my site. One I got last night is a family of 4 paying $750 on Mega. I'm sure there's a deal there somewhere.

The bottom line is I so much more enjoy simply getting permission to send a 2 page report that I'm on the phones more often. No one's gonna put any significant amount of time into a marketing technique they think sucks.

Although I've always hopped on the phone and did what I have to do I already see far less anxiety before I begin my calls and zero while I'm on the phone. I flat out enjoy this pitch. I'm on and off the phone in seconds and the only thing I need is a fax number.

For those of you either doing this or wanting to do it don't forgot a cover page offering free quotes with your number and web address. You also want to use an internet fax service....unless you want to send 3 pages through your machine.

Sites for internet faxing:

http://rapidfax.com/homepage/index.html

http://www.myfax.com/

You simply upload your documents, type in all the fax numbers and click send. You don't want to be sending this by email if you can avoid it. I think a lot of you know hardly anyone reads the emails.

When it's sent by fax people will at least scan it and it gets passed around the office. You're looking for the information to get in front of as many people as possible.

Do what works for you

Yes....do what works for you and don't worry about what other's are doing. I'll talk about someone who contacted me a few weeks back frustrated and ready to quit.

He had joined an agency touting only buying leads and selling online. After over 200 leads purchased he had 3 deals put in the system, one of which blew up in underwriting. His "manager" stopped returning his calls and when they finally ended up talking the conversation was:

"Maybe this business isn't for you."

Now...saying that this agent (who doesn't want his name disclosed and I respect that) was a former sales manager for 8 years and used to train reps it's hard to believe he's not right for this business.

He brought up to his "manager" (as I use the term loosely) that he might be better off meeting with people. That idea was beaten down with a stick saying that's the "old method" that doesn't work and he'd just end up driving around and wasting gas.

After six weeks in the biz trying to call leads all day he had made a grand total of $1,100 or $180 a week. However, 200 leads X $7 = $1,400 so actually he was in the hole.

We had a few nice conversations and he continued to buy the shared leads. He was not interested in cold calling - which is fine. Turns out he had no problem getting a hold of people - just couldn't get them to commit over the phone and quite frankly just didn't know how to close people on the phone - felt very uncomfortable with it.

We tweaked his leads - I had him sign up with a few sources but all zips within driving distance. From that point he called his leads, gave them the "local agent" pitch and set appointments to meet 'em.

Last week he turned in $18K of volume - at 20% he made $3,6000 and is buying around 60 leads a week X $7 is $420 for a net of $3,180.

And yes, he drove all over the place - said he closed about half of the appointments he set. The point is obvious - not everyone is going to use the same methods and have the same results. You have to find and do what works for you.

Fantastic results with the "free report" script

Got an hour in today on Gary's dialer with the new script I'm using and the results are stunning. Almost an hour of calling and 11 leads.

This is over 50% of people who don't have group saying yes - and I've never had over 50%. Only 4 "bite me's" and to 11 yes's:

15 people who didn't have group
11 yes
73% yes

It's obviously very nice to telemarket when over 70% say yes. Now - I don't offer it to businesses with group because it's a flat out waste.

After I faxed everything out today I got a call from a lady working at a doctor's office - needs coverage. The fax got passed around the entire office.

I also got to pitch secretaries - which I stopped doing since they never put me through to the owner and the owner never checked the email I sent. However, now I can get permission to fax my reports and it's almost like leaving a flyer off going BtoB.

So now if a hit a gatekeeper who won't let me pass I ask her for permission to send the fax. The lady who called me today was working in an doctor's office where the secretary just told me to send the fax.

My pitch:

"Hi, I'm John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans and we've just issued a two page report on how people can save 30% or more off their health insurance premiums. At this time we'd just like to send the report to you and we can either email it or fax it."

100% said fax it - all 11. A few points:

• When you're telemarketing you're running into people who are naturally interested merely by making a high volume of calls. Those are the people who will strike up a conversation just by you mentioning health insurance. The problem is most agents don't do well with telemarketing so they never stick with it long enough to reach those people.
  

• This pitch puts your information in front of many people and you never know what will happen. Faxing is key because the entire office can read it and it gets passed around - unlike email.
  

• People will actually read this. Anytime you see "5 myths" or "5 ways to save" it's an eye catcher. I used to email brochures and obviously no one ever looked at 'em.
  

• You're not gonna telemarket in the first place unless you see action. When almost everyone is telling you no it sucks. However, almost everyone will allow you to send a free report.
  

• It's key in they pitch to say it's a two-page report. 4 of the 11 people double-checked to see how many pages I was faxing. If you just say "send you a report" people might think it's a small book and say no.
  

IMPORTANT: Faxing, unless you have permission, is illegal. I always take down the name of the person who told me I could sent it and always send it quickly so no one gets amnesia. A secretary could give you permission, the owner gets in the next day, sees the fax, call you and accuses you of blasting.

When I follow up it's simply "just checking to make sure the fax went through ok." Then I just get into finding out if I can help. I can also have them grab the "5 Ways to Save" and we can go over it looking for something that's a fit for them.

By the way, I'm faxing using this: http://www.myfax.com
Just type in the fax number, upload the docs and send. Very easy.

A friend of mine cleaned up the docs I'm sending the prospects so if you downloaded the ones yesterday these look much better.

Five Myths: http://www.savefile.com/files/1406599

Five Ways to Save: http://www.savefile.com/files/1406603

Using a "send you a guide" pitch for telemarketing

On the board yesterday my interest got peaked when Paul talked about typing up a "HOW TO SAVE MONEY" guide for health insurance and pitching the guide. Well if anything I'm always one to give anything a shot so I typed this up:

http://www.savefile.com/files/1404910

http://www.savefile.com/files/1404914

I actually love stuff like this "exposing myths" and "5 ways to save..." I think it's something people actually read...at least scan. Absolutely no one reads the brochures I send and they're not fax-able. Too many pages.

So my pitch today:

"....John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling because we just released a guide with tips on how to save 30% or more off your health insurance. The guide is free and we can send it to you by email or fax."

Results? 8 leads an hour. It's the highest "yes" ration I've had - over 60% said yes. This is truly "telemarketing light."

The other goods news is it's far less information then I've been sending so people are more likely to get their interest peaked. Of course, I'll follow up making sure they got the guide, then get into whether or not they want my help.

This also puts me in the role of an expert trying to get out information instead of the role of a salesman during the 1st call which is why the positive response rate was so much higher. We're not talking about plans or rates - we're talking about a free guide to help people save.

Of course, I was tearing it up with Gary's dialer today.

How this job works when you're selling what people actually want to buy

As many of you may know, we have MHIP in Maryland - incredibly affordable guaranteed issue health insurance and basically anyone with a condition qualifies. I signed up a lady yesterday and let's do the play by play so you can see what it's like to sell what people want:

Around 9am - Lead submitted through my site - lady, age 42 getting divorced with depression. Med's not working for her and she wants to go back to her doc to either adjust the dosage or get a new med. Obviously she doesn't qualify.

Told her about MHIP through Blue Cross - guaranteed coverage and $1,000 deductible for her was $242.

Interesting; although she runs a small business, amazingly she wasn't busy, didn't need to take my number, didn't need to research it, etc...

9:15 - we're at the MHIP site and I go over the plans and rates. She downloads the app while we're on the phone and the rest of the call was her grilling me about how to fill out the app.

9:20 - we're off the phone

10:15 - she emails me - a few questions about parts of the application.

10:40 - she emails me the application then calls - makes sure I got the application.

Interesting how this all works when you're selling affordable quality guaranteed coverage. People don't blink. Did I have to go over her health history? No - she could have brain cancer and it doesn't matter.

Qualification - the key to making this stress free

I learned years ago to take a lot of time and qualify people quickly. Chasing people are who are disinterested, uninsurable or who you can't help is a waste of your time and your prospect's time.

First of all, there are always rare exceptions to the rule, but the rule is if the first thing out of your prospect's mouth when you call is "you really got me at a bad time" it's over. Yes, do call again (I do) but what you're gonna find it is goes nowhere.

When you're calling interested people who want and need your help it's never a bad time. When it's legitimate and you really did catch them when they're too busy they will apologize and suggest that you call them back later the same day. Disinterested people will never suggest that you call them back.

Now....you're on the phone with someone who wants to talk with you and has some time - you need to qualify. It's not rude. It's a time saver for both parties.

You need to qualify for three things:

• Health
• Time
• Money

HEALTH

While on the 1st call I need the information necessary to work up quotes which is health history, height/weight and anything pending (testing, doctor visits, procedures.) For me it's as simple as this:

"I don't like to quote inaccurate rates - then I just get yelled at. So I just need some quick information so the rates I work up are accurate:

1. "How's your health? Are you currently on any medication? Do you have any diagnosed conditions - even small ones like allergies or asthma?"
   
2. "Do yo smoke"
3. "What's your height and weight?"
4. "Do you have anything scheduled like a doctor's appointment or testing?"
   

TIME

This is something I learned to do years back also - qualify for their time frame. You don't want to be sitting in front of your client after an hour presentation and hear "Well this is all great but we just paid for the quarter so we don't need to do anything until May. Got a card?"

My question is simple:

"Once you choose a plan do you want it to start within 30 days?

You'll be surprised at the amount of people who will say "Nah, I'm just shopping now and planning on doing something in the summer." Or "Right now we just want to look at some rates and we'll get back to you."

Those would have been all of your "You got a card?" people on appointments. I'm not running around to see someone only to find out they have zero interest in signing up regardless of the rates I show them.


MONEY

This is key especially for currently uninsured prospects. I'm not setting an appointment with anyone who doesn't have coverage unless I get an agreement that the range of rates I quoted is in their budget.

"Tim, since you currently don't have coverage now I want to make sure that the plans I'm quoting are in your budget. Depending on what you choose you're looking at $160 to $230. Is that in your range?"

I'm not wasting my time on a presentation only to find out he's looking to be under $100. For people with a plan, most of them are not going to switch unless you save them enough to make it a no-brainer.

If they're currently at $460 and the best you can do is $420 I guarantee that's not a no-brainer. That's a "we need time to think about it." I've found that you need to save people at least $100 a month before they're flinch. For qualifying people with a current plan I actually don't ask a question but gauge their response when I set up the appointment:

"Ok, you're paying $460 I have several plans to show you between $305 and $330 which means you'll be saving over $100 per month. All I need is 20 to 30 minutes and I'll sit down with you and go over your options.......what time is best for you?"

When I'm not saving them a significant amount of money I hear "Oh, this is a really bad week." When I'm right on the mark I hear "How about Wednesday morning?"

CALLING TO CONFIRM - THE ULTIMATE CONFIRMATION

Most of my appointment cancel. They cancel because of the kind of qualification I do - they know I'm not an information kiosk and I'm all about business; signing 'em up. Because of that a lot of people flake when I call to confirm appointments.

This is why I don't mind seeing people and a lot of agents simply hate meeting face to face. My closing is near 100% when I meet with people because they know I'm coming over to take an app and I know they qualify.

Agents who hate to qualify or don't qualify spend a lot of time running around and end up passing out a lot of cards.

Just realize that as uncomfortable and appointment is for you with an uninterested prospect they're more uncomfortable. It flat out sucks to sit through an entire sale presentation when you know you're not gonna buy.

Save you and your clients time and headache and get all the qualification out of the way before you meet.

Getting set up for business

I talked with a lot of new agents so I figured it would be nice to go over everything you need to get set up for business.

E&O
If you're a new agent, get E&O before you do anything else. Almost all carriers require it and you don't want to limit yourself to only selling the products of carriers that don't. It can take a few weeks to receive your certificate so apply now, then get everything else set up.


Email
Avoid a free account like Yahoo or Hotmail. It's simply not professional - Gmail would suffice if you have to use a free account. Other then that use your ISP account which should either be your name or your agency's name before the "@" - abcinsurance@comcast.net. If you're using Outlook make sure you have it set up to search for incoming messages often.


Phone
If you're brand new to this biz you'll be living on the phone. I'd suggest a land line with unlimited minutes. If you're using a cell just realize that you'll likely be on the phone at least 3 hours a day or 4,500 minutes a month.

If you're married or living with someone you'll want to discuss having two numbers if you're using a land line. We have two lines in my house - one for business the other personal.

Constant Contact
They have a free trial period and I heavily recommend them. They're fantastic for client newsletters and shooting out reminders to prospects.

Voice mail
One of the 1st things you should do when you get started is set up a professional voice mail greeting. I'm really amazed when I call agents who have been selling for months and get "please leave a message at the tone."

Call Forwarding
When you're out of the office during business hours always forward your calls to your cell. You want prospects and clients to be able to reach you at all times without hitting voice mail unless you're doing a presentation. You can list your business and cell number on your emails to prospects but I guaranteed you most prospects are gonna call your biz number and when they hit voice mail likely hang up. Even if they leave a message then it turns into phone tag.

Data Backup System
Have some type of system to back up your data. Some agents use flash drives, others upload it to file storage sites - I personally puts my spreadsheet and documents on Google. If your computer crashes you do not want to lose your prospect and client information.

For me, if the power goes out for some reason and I have appointments lined up anyone can access my Google spreadsheets - just call a friend and give 'em the password. I can also hit the library and pull up anything I need.

Toll Free Number
If you're just local business you really don't need one. If you're doing state-wide or out-of-state business you should have one. I used Ring Central but there are a lot of toll free services.

Fax
Choose some type of fax services - I use Efax. You'll receive a lot of faxes in this biz and a physical machine is a pain in the ass - paper jams, buying toner, poor quality, etc...

Business Entity
If you're gonna use your name "Pete Smith - Independent Agent" you don't need to do a thing. You'll just file as a sole proprietor for tax purposes and don't need to do anything extra. If you'd like an agency name you'll need to register it with the DOI and register your business with the state. You can still file as a sole proprietor so unless you're hiring people you don't need an EIN.

Website
Get one. In this day and age not having one says "new and broke." A website establishes that you're here to stay and give you credibility. If you're money tight this should be one of the 1st things to save for.

Business Account
Find out what your bank's requirements are and get a business account. When I first went independent all I needed was my state business filings (I had to register my business with the state) and my agency license. You really need to separate business from personal expenses and using your business account for all related expenses makes everything easy to track.

Receipts
It sounds obvious but most people don't do it - keep your receipts. I'd heavily recommend getting your taxes done - especially 1st year - by a CPA who will want to see your expenses. If you plan on deducting miles see the IRS rules - you need to keep a log of your business miles.

Meet with an Accountant
when you're new in this biz everyone's a tax expert. I heavily recommend paying a small consultation fee and sitting down with an experienced CPA who will give you scoop on what you need to do for taxes.

CRM
You'll need one for client and prospect management. I use and recommend YIO - http://yourinsuranceoffice.com

2 HSAs this week

Closed 2 HSAs yesterday from telemarketing - both in-person deals. Everyone here knows or should now that I close deals online and in person - I simply make a judgement call based on my conversation.

Neither of the deals I did yesterday would have closed on the phone. The "I only close by phone" agents will argue that if they can't sign 'em up online there wasn't enough interest in the 1st place so they lost nothing. Really.....go the dictionary and look up denial.

One appointment was actually very fun but long - almost 2 hours. The wife actually broke out her medical bills over the past year and say at the table with a calculator to run the numbers. Of course, they were paying just over $500 and the HSA came in just over $300 so she came out ahead.

My other client was a single guy - 52 and dropped Carefirst around 3 months ago due to cost. He simply didn't fully understand HSAs on the phone and doesn't use the net. He was only about 30 minutes and done.

Hey....I'll sell online when I can but I'll always mix and match it because frankly I enjoy getting out of the house during the week and meeting with clients. What I don't like about face to face is driving all over creation for 15 appointments a week, running night appointments, getting stood up or blown off.

But that doesn't happen when you have the ability to sign people up online. Well over 50% of your clients would prefer doing it online - they don't want to meet with you. I can also sense the level of interest and I'm simply not gonna drive and meet someone with "so so" interest.

And thanks to everyone who emailed me about the association I'm starting. I'm really trying to create something inexpensive that's valuable. For example, for anyone interested in Gary's CRM association members get it at $299 per month - $50 a month discount. Just for the $19.95 a month in dues your ahead $30 a month. And that's one benefit.

I'm going to be very busy building up more and more benefits. If anyone else has any questions about what I'm doing and offering just contact me by email or phone.

Independant Health Insurance Agents Association in pre-launch

Well....this has been kind of a secret - a bad one at that actually since I've been discussing it with a lot of agents now for actually well over a year.

Bottom line is simple; as independent agents we have no community - really no positive place to go for training, support and community environment.

Newer agents especially are left hanging out to dry. I really hate the emails I get talking about how agents got burned. There simply needs to be an organization to train and support new agents, get everyone together to trade ideas and start having some fun.

If you're one of those agents who are quite happy to just handle it all by yourself and be left alone this is not for you.

However, if you want year-round support and a community feeling without the "what's your production this week!" bull this is absolutely for you. If you feel that you can benefit financially by being a part of a supportive community this is for you.

I have a link on the top right going more into detail and if anyone has any questions just call me.

My entire system

Few emails asking some details of my system so here it is:

Goal:
I live in a pretty heavily populated city - right between Baltimore and Wash DC. There are thousands of businesses within a short distance from my house.

I think health insurance is a top concern for most people. Most people, if they knew they could better their situation without getting burned would jump on the chance. But that's not what we see - we talk to people day in and day out who we could save a significant amount of money yet choose to stay with what they have.

Why? Fear. Fear of....a lot of stuff - mainly fear that if they switch they'll regret it. With no established name, no reputation and no local presence you're fighting an uphill battle. You can use any marketing tactic you like but it's not gonna build up your name in the community and you are doing nothing to make this business easier for you down the road.

So while most agents are waiting for the next lead to hit their in-box someone one street away is looking for health insurance and don't know they exist. The bottom line is you can buy as many leads as you want - get used to it - you'll be buying them 5 years from now. Referrals from some random deal you closed online will be few and far between.

So my marketing plan is a heavy local focus by:

• Telemarketing local businesses
• Flyers put out in local businesses
• Door hangers for residential
• PPC campaign run locally
• Sponsoring local events
• Ads in local publications
  

I have done the telemarketing, local ads and flyers for the last 6 months and just now my phone's starting to ring during the week. I closed 2 deals last week from phone calls which is very significant. Most of this marketing is very inexpensive.

Notice I have no included things like radio or local TV ads. From the research I've done so far those methods are very expensive with low return.

There's a cumulative effect with local marketing and it takes time and patience. Most agents will give up on a local marketing campaign before it ever gets a chance to get off the ground. They think they'll gonna slap out 100 flyers and their phone's gonna ring. Ummmm, no.

Telemarketing Local Businesses

• I use MCS's auto-dialer CRM (click my link on the right for Marketing Campaign Solutions) and now use an exclusive HSA pitch which works well for small biz owners. I can generate 3 solid HSA leads per hour with is a lot.
  

• I shoot all my leads an instant email and also mail a letter the next day. The letter goes a long way to establish professionalism and legitimacy. It separates me from some "glorified telemarketer agent"
  

Here is the letter I mail: http://www.savefile.com/files/1387981

If you're gonna mail a letter don't make it an infomercial and don't beg for business. Stay away from phrases like "I've been trying to reach you" which makes you sound unsuccessful and desperate.

• I wait around three days to call back which makes sure they got the letter. At that time I ascertain level of interest, qualify then set either a physical or web appointment.
  

Flyers in Local Businesses

When I was new in the business I put out around 1,000 flyers per week - now that I'm off the ground I just put them out when I'm out and about however in the spring I'm going to look into paying someone to put them in businesses.

I used to highlight my website and generate leads but a lot of business owners are not web savvy nor are they going to go online and type in their personal information. I switched to promoting my phone number instead with very good results.

Flyer: http://www.savefile.com/files/1387989

For new agents who really don't want to telemarket and are buying a few leads but not enough to really write a lot of business, print off some flyers and hit the streets. Heck, put on jeans and a shit and just leave 'em with the person behind the counter if you don't want to confront the owner.

Your question:

"But what will the return be?"

My answer:

"Better then the return you'll get sitting in your office staring at your computer."


Doorhangers for Residential

I haven't done these actually in over a year since to be honest, it's tiring to walk up and down townhouse steps for 2 hours - it's like being on a stair master for 2 hours straight and you have to get out 1,000 to see the return.

That being said, if you're new they're cheap - 3 cents a pop at http://doorhangers.com

If you really hate the idea of telemarketing or don't have a lot of money then this very well might be the way to get you off the ground. You'll need a lot of townhouse communities - they do not work in single family home areas since it takes too long to put 'em out.

I slap up 200 per hour in townhomes and it's one deal per 1,000 placed. So 2 hours a day or 10 hours a week is one deal. To be frank, that's a lot of effort for one deal however the cost is $30, your effort is free and the average commission on a deal is $700. So that's $700 for 10 hrs of work and can be done early in the morning so it doesn't distract from your day.


PPC Campaign Run Locally.

I'm running a local pay-per-click campaign with nice results. I'm on the first page with 3 to 5th placement for health insurance quotes keyword at around $7+ per click and a 3 to 1 click to quote request ratio.

That means an exclusive lead is costing me just over $20 which I'll take. I'll keep the campaign going as long as it doesn't cost me more than $200 for a deal - which right now it's looking like about $140 for a deal.

My campaign is local - which means your IP address needs to be in a certain radius of my house for my ad to appear. Again, only going after local business.


Sponsoring Local Events

I've sponsored events before and have been successful each time. However, I always defaulted back into buying leads with the "why should I be out here" concept. That's the wrong concept and had I continued sponsoring local events over the past few years I absolutely would have a name in the community by now.

Also, sitting in your house on the phone all day honestly is boring as shit.

So basically I'm trying to brand myself locally - which is just barely starting to work. A marketing exec told me a couple of years ago that the average person needs to see your name at least 8 times before it registers.

UGA vs Time vacations

Well, we got our Time trip packet in the mail yesterday and my wife's thrilled - going crazy choosing the events and planning our trip. This will be my 3rd insurance trip in 4 years in the biz - Assurant only does trips every other year.

I thought it would be fun to compare the Time Manhattan trip to the UGA (Mega Life) Cabo trip. Very interesting comparisons that really tell you a lot about each company:

Airfare
Time - free
UGA - I paid

When we Landed
Time - Limo waiting for just me and my wife
UGA - everyone got on a "beer bus" and drank until we got to the hotel

Hotel
Time - St. Regis in Manhattan
UGA - Hilton

Activities
Time - Paid for 2 activities of our choice from a list of 6
UGA - paid for no activities - we laid around the pool all day

Dining
Time - one night at NBC's infamous Rainbow Room, one night at the Stock Market Exchange, one night gala ball (tux mandatory) at the St. Regis
UGA - buffet's at the hotel - all the pasta you can eat

Special Event
Time - Dessert cruise to the Statue of Liberty then launched fireworks while tenors on the boat sang opera
UGA - took us to Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo club and everyone got trashed

Telling - isn't it.