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.