The overwhelming response to yesterday's post was no store-front office. A lot of emails I got did indeed convince me that over-all it would be a waste of money.
Store-front expenses would be at least $4,000 a month and that would be for a small location including phones, utilities and a secretary.
I'm not sure how many people who walk in - probably few to zero. So if there's little to no walk in traffic then the only benefit of having store-front space would be setting appointments for clients to come in and meet with me. I think those results would be lacking.
If I just want to be around other agents for some atmosphere the best move would be office sharing. The problem with sharing expenses with other agents is being stuck with all the bills if they decided to pull the plug and go back to working from home.
My problem with sitting in my home office all day is about to be solved in the spring by attending local events - which is another gamble but one that I'm ready to take.
I really haven't met any agents who have consistently done trade shows, fairs, and other local events. I know when I was with UGA we did a large trade show at the Baltimore Convention Center and I had a 4 hour shift - got many leads.
I did a health fair sponsored by a local hospital - held in a fire station from 10am to 2pm and maybe a few hundred people where there. I wrote 7 apps spread out over the next month.
I think that fact that those apps were spread out psyched me into thinking that it wasn't effective. Especially since at that time there were no online apps and deals took from between 2 and 3 weeks to underwrite.
So from the day of the health fair to the day the last deal was approved was over 2 months. Also, these events are only as effective as you are. I don't see sitting in a chair behind a table and letting people grab the brochures and giveaways as effective. In fact, that method could result in zero business.
I think the method that works is standing in front of the table and at least handing flyers out to everyone that comes by and engaging the people who are interested.
An obvious down-side to these events is they're mainly on weekends and things like fairs and festivals run all day/all night. So either me or someone else would have to man the table or booth for possibly 12 hours.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Office or no office
One of my goals this year was to get an office and as it stands now I'm still weighing the pros and cons.
Would it just be added expenses for the same amount of business? There are around 5 agency owners in my chamber of commerce - two are "franchise" owners; Nationwide and State Farm but the other 3 are just independent mainly writing P&C.
I'm the only one without an office. They all have retail, not office locations. What I mean is all have offices in plaza's - not on the 8th story of some office building.
That crap's expensive - just to rent an office in a complex is from $1,000 to $1,500 - easily. And that's a small office.
Store-front locations run $2,000 to $4,000 a month depending on size and location. Do they all know something I don't? I do a pretty decent job motivating myself to work so having an office just for the sake of having an office would be added expenses.
For me, going for an office would have to increase my business and that's where I'm stuck. If I had a store-front location would I actually get a bit of traffic? When I did local advertising would it pull better since people also notice my office?
One part of me can't see people coming in to sit down and buy health insurance. Yet these other agencies don't seem to have a problem with people coming in and sitting down.
I think it's unfortunately one of those things where it's impossible to predict the results until I simply do it. But for obvious reasons it would tough to pull the trigger one a one or two year lease and have the added expense if it didn't work.
Also, I have a love/hate relationship with working from home. Same days I'd really like to go to an office and being at home is depressive. Other days I'm happy as hell that I work from home and couldn't see going into an office that day.
If this is something I'm gonna do I'd want it done in the spring when I plan on being at a lot of local events.
Would it just be added expenses for the same amount of business? There are around 5 agency owners in my chamber of commerce - two are "franchise" owners; Nationwide and State Farm but the other 3 are just independent mainly writing P&C.
I'm the only one without an office. They all have retail, not office locations. What I mean is all have offices in plaza's - not on the 8th story of some office building.
That crap's expensive - just to rent an office in a complex is from $1,000 to $1,500 - easily. And that's a small office.
Store-front locations run $2,000 to $4,000 a month depending on size and location. Do they all know something I don't? I do a pretty decent job motivating myself to work so having an office just for the sake of having an office would be added expenses.
For me, going for an office would have to increase my business and that's where I'm stuck. If I had a store-front location would I actually get a bit of traffic? When I did local advertising would it pull better since people also notice my office?
One part of me can't see people coming in to sit down and buy health insurance. Yet these other agencies don't seem to have a problem with people coming in and sitting down.
I think it's unfortunately one of those things where it's impossible to predict the results until I simply do it. But for obvious reasons it would tough to pull the trigger one a one or two year lease and have the added expense if it didn't work.
Also, I have a love/hate relationship with working from home. Same days I'd really like to go to an office and being at home is depressive. Other days I'm happy as hell that I work from home and couldn't see going into an office that day.
If this is something I'm gonna do I'd want it done in the spring when I plan on being at a lot of local events.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Great demo today
Thanks to everyone who joined in for the demo today. For those who didn't and just want some basic info I have a pretty detailed page under my "Campaign Marketing Solutions" link on the right of my blog. I'll also be doing more free demo's for people who want to see how it works.
Very good day today and a GR app from a lead generated Monday. I'm very excited about the direction this year's heading. I absolutely cannot wait until spring time so I can get out there and sponsor events like fairs and festivals.
What it's coming down to for me is being out there sponsoring events, participating on chamber of commerce events and telemarketing. I think a combination of those three will really work great together.
If it's anything I really want to get across over and over again it's to generate your own leads. I hear people talk about how that's "old school" and I'm not taking advantage of technology.
However, I've hired a ton of agents over the past years and I don't see how technology helped them. In fact, for "technology" being that fantastic the failure rate is still stunning.
Actually, the technology has been harmful to most agents. They're focusing on these websites with quote engines and buying leads which results not only in wasted money but a false hope of production that never comes or comes too sporadically.
If you must buy leads at least make them a supplement source to other marketing. I think the largest problem is agents are not working full days if you could work as:
If you want those 5 leads then great - get 'em. But after they're called and you've followed up with your previous leads you and I both know you have a ton of time left in the day. Then it's pick one:
Not in the mood for anything. Your spouse pissed you off this morning and you have a "middle finger in the air" attitude?" Great - throw on jeans and a shirt, grab flyers and slap 'em up on door or businesses.
I hear this all the time:
"But how many calls will I get?"
The reply?
"How many calls will you get sitting on your ass in your office?"
At best, just doing some type of marketing activity boosts your self-esteem and gives you energy. Doing nothing just fills you with self-doubt about whether or not you'll ever made great money doing this.
Very good day today and a GR app from a lead generated Monday. I'm very excited about the direction this year's heading. I absolutely cannot wait until spring time so I can get out there and sponsor events like fairs and festivals.
What it's coming down to for me is being out there sponsoring events, participating on chamber of commerce events and telemarketing. I think a combination of those three will really work great together.
If it's anything I really want to get across over and over again it's to generate your own leads. I hear people talk about how that's "old school" and I'm not taking advantage of technology.
However, I've hired a ton of agents over the past years and I don't see how technology helped them. In fact, for "technology" being that fantastic the failure rate is still stunning.
Actually, the technology has been harmful to most agents. They're focusing on these websites with quote engines and buying leads which results not only in wasted money but a false hope of production that never comes or comes too sporadically.
If you must buy leads at least make them a supplement source to other marketing. I think the largest problem is agents are not working full days if you could work as:
- Prospecting
- Contacting leads
- Presenting
If you want those 5 leads then great - get 'em. But after they're called and you've followed up with your previous leads you and I both know you have a ton of time left in the day. Then it's pick one:
- Telemarket
- Go BtoB
- Participate in some local event - heck, go hang flyers on bulletin boards
Not in the mood for anything. Your spouse pissed you off this morning and you have a "middle finger in the air" attitude?" Great - throw on jeans and a shirt, grab flyers and slap 'em up on door or businesses.
I hear this all the time:
"But how many calls will I get?"
The reply?
"How many calls will you get sitting on your ass in your office?"
At best, just doing some type of marketing activity boosts your self-esteem and gives you energy. Doing nothing just fills you with self-doubt about whether or not you'll ever made great money doing this.
Demo's on for today
For those of you who want to see the demo of Marketing Campaign Solution's CRM dialer I'll be hosting it today at 1pm EST. For those who have already emailed me I'll be sending out the link to GoToMeeting with the number to call in 30 minutes before the session - so check your email.
I'll be showing everyone how it works, the features and the effectiveness.
I'll be showing everyone how it works, the features and the effectiveness.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Playing around with the script
Just got finished with my hour and a half of calls and after spending the morning following up with previous leads I decided to screw with script. I followed up with around 12 leads I recently generated and set up a solid in-person meeting for Thursday.
Everyone else was "....all looks great - we'll get back in touch with you." Now I really don't mind that but it's just both of our time that's wasted.
Right now I'm tracking 1 out of 8 leads closing from the leads I generate. I, like everyone else, don't really like being told "no" but my biggest pet peeve is following up with people who don't want to be followed up with.
If I'm pitching someone who says no, that's it. It's over - 15 seconds of their time that I wasted and they forget I ever called 5 minutes later.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for every lead to be a deal but I changed my script to be more direct thereby wasting a lot less time with people. I used to call and talk sending new plans and rates. Today I tried:
".........from Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling to see if I can offer my services. I run a local agency and help people who would like to either lower their health insurance rate or improve their plan. What I do is shop all the main carriers and show you the most affordable options..."
So as you can see, this is not a "send you rates" script - this is a "would you like my services" script. I did this for 90 minutes and obviously far more "no's" but the "yes's" are as solid as they get.
Now instead of talking about sending plans and rates I'm talking about what I have to offer in the way of services:
These are my stats today with this new script - 91 minutes and I actually got 2 leads - don't know why it's only logging 1. As you can see, I was blowing through calls - 249 in 90 minutes. It's because I wasn't wasting time I normally wasted on the "just send me information" people.
I also already got two call-backs but both hit my VM since I actually took a break for lunch. I called back one and just hit their machine but the other one left their cell and email address and wanted the info.
What I think this is gonna be is the exact same amount of time on the phone, same amount of deals, far less follow up.
Everyone else was "....all looks great - we'll get back in touch with you." Now I really don't mind that but it's just both of our time that's wasted.
Right now I'm tracking 1 out of 8 leads closing from the leads I generate. I, like everyone else, don't really like being told "no" but my biggest pet peeve is following up with people who don't want to be followed up with.
If I'm pitching someone who says no, that's it. It's over - 15 seconds of their time that I wasted and they forget I ever called 5 minutes later.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for every lead to be a deal but I changed my script to be more direct thereby wasting a lot less time with people. I used to call and talk sending new plans and rates. Today I tried:
".........from Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling to see if I can offer my services. I run a local agency and help people who would like to either lower their health insurance rate or improve their plan. What I do is shop all the main carriers and show you the most affordable options..."
So as you can see, this is not a "send you rates" script - this is a "would you like my services" script. I did this for 90 minutes and obviously far more "no's" but the "yes's" are as solid as they get.
Now instead of talking about sending plans and rates I'm talking about what I have to offer in the way of services:
- Searching all the carriers to find the most affordable comprehensive plans
- Take care of the application process
- Provide all ongoing support for any issue - no more calling 800 numbers
These are my stats today with this new script - 91 minutes and I actually got 2 leads - don't know why it's only logging 1. As you can see, I was blowing through calls - 249 in 90 minutes. It's because I wasn't wasting time I normally wasted on the "just send me information" people.
I also already got two call-backs but both hit my VM since I actually took a break for lunch. I called back one and just hit their machine but the other one left their cell and email address and wanted the info.
What I think this is gonna be is the exact same amount of time on the phone, same amount of deals, far less follow up.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Prospecting, the lost art and a CRM demo
First of all I really want to thank those who joined in on the webinar. It really went well! To those of you who replied a little late, I cut it off at a relatively small number of agents just to make sure it would turn out ok. It did.
We had a great chat session, traded ideas and some links. This was exactly my goal - to get independent agents together, brainstorm and trade information. We will absolutely be having one webinar per week and take it from there.
As everyone knows I'm using Marketing Campaign Solution's CRM for telemarketing and I'm going to offer a live demo. Anyone interested can punch into the webinar and I'll use the live desktop feature and three-way calling. This way you can see and year the action.
The CRM Predictive Dialer Live Demo Webinar:
This Wednesday the 30th at 1pm EST. Only licensed agents can attend and just email me for an inviation.
THE LOST ART OF PROSPECTING (or maybe "the lost art of working")
I firmly believe the single worst thing to happen to the insurance community is shared leads. It has taken what would have otherwise been a great career and turned it into a concept of sitting in front of your computer wearing sweatpants (you're wearing sweatpants, not the computer) and becoming some unmotivated drone.
The 8 hour work day has been replaced by numbingly waiting for a lead to hit your inbox and calling people back who haven't wanted to talk to you the 4 previous times you called. But hey - this is the 5th call so maybe they'll answer.
We have replaced hard work and building a local business with the thrill of easy money - yet that "easy money" seldom comes as agents, in great frustration, call lead after lead and hit voicemail after voicemail. Then finally you connect and get "you're the 5th agent to call me!"
That is not the insurance business people. Why are we not active in our local community? Why don't we advertise everywhere and participate in local events? Why? Because, like crack, we've been told we can get a quick fix without much effort.
There is a force in the universe that will not allow us to make a lot of money without a lot of work. I have a feeling a lot of new insurance agents also have the Carlton Sheets and Don Lapre courses at home.
More and more this field seems to attract lazy "get me rich quick" agents instead of agents willing to put their nose to the grindstone and simply work. This industry becoming just another "six figure" punchline for a bad infomercial.
We need to get back to building a business. We need to make 70% of our day prospecting/marketing and 30% sales presentations. Right now it's 10% of our day spent on prospecting and the good news is the other 90% is freed up - no one to present to!
Everyone needs to pick three and at any given point in time you're doing 1 of these three or presenting to a client:
1) BtoB
2) Telemarketing
3) A lead-producing activity such as local events, network clubs, etc...
We are greatly rewarded psychologically for working hard. Something inside us wants to give a pat on the back after a good hard productive day.
Conversely we feel bad about ourselves when we don't work hard - call it guilt. Then our self-esteem takes a hit since deep down inside we know we're support to be working hard, yet choose not to. At that point is a slide down a very steep hill as you start looking for the Sunday paper to hit.
We had a great chat session, traded ideas and some links. This was exactly my goal - to get independent agents together, brainstorm and trade information. We will absolutely be having one webinar per week and take it from there.
As everyone knows I'm using Marketing Campaign Solution's CRM for telemarketing and I'm going to offer a live demo. Anyone interested can punch into the webinar and I'll use the live desktop feature and three-way calling. This way you can see and year the action.
The CRM Predictive Dialer Live Demo Webinar:
This Wednesday the 30th at 1pm EST. Only licensed agents can attend and just email me for an inviation.
THE LOST ART OF PROSPECTING (or maybe "the lost art of working")
I firmly believe the single worst thing to happen to the insurance community is shared leads. It has taken what would have otherwise been a great career and turned it into a concept of sitting in front of your computer wearing sweatpants (you're wearing sweatpants, not the computer) and becoming some unmotivated drone.
The 8 hour work day has been replaced by numbingly waiting for a lead to hit your inbox and calling people back who haven't wanted to talk to you the 4 previous times you called. But hey - this is the 5th call so maybe they'll answer.
We have replaced hard work and building a local business with the thrill of easy money - yet that "easy money" seldom comes as agents, in great frustration, call lead after lead and hit voicemail after voicemail. Then finally you connect and get "you're the 5th agent to call me!"
That is not the insurance business people. Why are we not active in our local community? Why don't we advertise everywhere and participate in local events? Why? Because, like crack, we've been told we can get a quick fix without much effort.
There is a force in the universe that will not allow us to make a lot of money without a lot of work. I have a feeling a lot of new insurance agents also have the Carlton Sheets and Don Lapre courses at home.
More and more this field seems to attract lazy "get me rich quick" agents instead of agents willing to put their nose to the grindstone and simply work. This industry becoming just another "six figure" punchline for a bad infomercial.
We need to get back to building a business. We need to make 70% of our day prospecting/marketing and 30% sales presentations. Right now it's 10% of our day spent on prospecting and the good news is the other 90% is freed up - no one to present to!
Everyone needs to pick three and at any given point in time you're doing 1 of these three or presenting to a client:
1) BtoB
2) Telemarketing
3) A lead-producing activity such as local events, network clubs, etc...
We are greatly rewarded psychologically for working hard. Something inside us wants to give a pat on the back after a good hard productive day.
Conversely we feel bad about ourselves when we don't work hard - call it guilt. Then our self-esteem takes a hit since deep down inside we know we're support to be working hard, yet choose not to. At that point is a slide down a very steep hill as you start looking for the Sunday paper to hit.
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