Independent Health Insurance Agent

A New Site for Insurance Training

2011-01-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

I'd like to announce that after almost a year of work I've finally launched a new site for insurance training that's completely free: Agent Navigator.

We have sections for health, life and senior agents with video training and an article library. We also feature free live webinars and detailed information for all states. I also am building the first "compare" section where insurance agents can finally compare all products and services.

I heavily recommend when you visit the site that you sign up for the newsletter. The site is updated very often as more and more content is loaded.

BlogTalkRadio Share Show Widget

2009-10-23T15:52:00.001-04:00

New Blog

2008-07-31T06:56:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-06-05T07:49:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-01T07:22:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-22T07:29:00.002-04:00

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:

Leads from the internet
Leads fed into Leadpod - only transfer prospect with interest and time to talk
Desktop share
Norvax comparisons
Email quotes
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

2008-04-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-18T07:53:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-11T08:38:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-10T07:55:00.000-04:00

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!

2008-04-09T10:33:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-02T15:57:00.001-04:00

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

Great Press!

2008-04-02T13:50:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-04-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-31T07:20:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-27T08:18:00.000-04:00

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!

2008-03-26T07:21:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-25T08:27:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-24T09:35:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-19T18:32:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-18T06:51:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-15T09:25:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-13T08:23:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-11T16:51:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-11T08:50:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-07T20:06:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-06T07:43:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-06T07:04:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-05T17:56:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-05T10:16:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-04T17:19:00.000-05:00

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?

Someone with current coverage
Someone who's unhappy enough with their current plan to switch immediately
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

2008-03-03T16:59:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-03T07:26:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-01T08:28:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-28T07:56:00.001-05:00

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

2008-02-27T15:36:00.001-05:00

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.

2008-02-27T08:31:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-26T15:36:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-26T07:50:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-25T07:35:00.000-05:00

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:

"How's your health? Are you currently on any medication? Do you have any diagnosed conditions - even small ones like allergies or asthma?"
"Do yo smoke"
"What's your height and weight?"
"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

2008-02-22T08:08:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-19T08:23:00.001-05:00

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

2008-02-18T09:12:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

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.

HSA telemarketing pitch

2008-02-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry about having to move the webinar but I had a prospect move up a HSA webinar presentation. Very good presentation too - 54 year old lady, great health paying $390 through Carefirst and I can save her over $100 a month and lower her liability.

Initially she expressed a concern over paying more for her deductible - she has $750 deductible now with BX. However, what she didn't know was she also has a $2,500 OOP 80/20.

She tried to argue that point, standing firm that $750 was all she had to pay. Thanks to technology and desktop sharing I pulled up the Carefirst site and showed her she has $750 + $2,500 = $3,250 in liability.

She says "wow...I never knew that." So now she has less liability and over $1,000 a year in savings. Her only concern is her annual and I convinced her that a repriced annual is no where near $1,000.

Should be signing her up on Monday. I take my time with people and it hits when it hits. I am very uncomfortable "closing" people when they're not ready to sign up - and everyone's 6th sense tells them when they're talking to someone who's not quite there yet.

Good move to make? Crank out a "nice talking to you" letter and highlight some points you made. I mail prospects all the time. I really don't know if it has a direct effect since when I sign people up I don't ask "hey, did my letter make a difference?"

My theory is it's professional and goes far towards legitimacy. If I'm spending a lot of time with someone I can cough up the cost of postage.

I was back in the dialer today and tried a HSA script - great success. In fact, I like the HSA script far more than the "save you 30% script."

My pitch was pretty basic:

"Hi, this is John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling because we're currently heavily promoting HSA health plans through the top carriers like Carefirst, United Healthcare and Time. On average they are 50% less expensive then traditional plans and I like to email you the information and rates."

When you're making calls the intro needs to be short and get to the point. If not you'll have a lot of people cutting you off - which sucks.

After a "yes" then it's time to slowly get more and more info:

I just need your age and zip code to work up the rates
Have you heard of HSAs before?
What do you currently have now?

As I get more and more info qualifying more and more drop out with "just send me what you have and I'll take a look at it." I'll always email the into to those people but not count them as a lead.

If they're unwilling to give me their age and zip it's pretty much over. But as you can see, I did just over 2 hours of calling today with 7 solid HSA leads.

This is cool. First of all, it's cool to have this CRM system where I'm talking to so many people I get a chance to play around with scripts. Secondly, I really enjoyed talking about HSAs to people today.

What made me feel the best was displaying to knowledge of HSAs. I pretty proficient on them, but not a total expert - need to do more research to get into some intimate details.

Webinar reschduled for Monday at 1pm

2008-02-15T09:32:00.000-05:00

I have to reschedule today's webinar until Monday at 1pm. I have a HSA presentation to give today at that time.

Everyone who emailed me - I'll shoot you out the link on Monday. Time again:

Webinar
Monday the 18th
1PM EST
Info@marylandquotes.com to join

Webinar tomorrow and reality

2008-02-14T08:13:00.000-05:00

We'll be having another shoot the shit webinar tomorrow:

Friday at 1pm EST info@marylandquotes.com if you want to attend

Even if you've attended past webinars I still need you to email me if you want to attend.

Now, a reality check. I got a great email from Al, a friend of mine out in CA saying he loves my blog but would like more reality about the ups and downs. I'm great about posting the ups, almost never post the downs.

First of all, here's what I got yesterday from Assurant. Yes, that's an unusually good week and I also have renewals in there.

However, my typical day is getting my ass kicked from morning 'till afternoon. I get blown off, stood up (for phone appointments) said "no" and anything else you can think off all day.

I'm on the phones in the morning calling past leads and following up. Almost all of my calls end up in:

"We haven't had a chance to look at the information but we'll call you back when we do."

"I think I'm gonna just stick with what I have now, but thanks."

"You got me at a bad time but I have your caller ID so I'll call you later."

"This all looks great but I really need to look it over and think about it. Can you give me a week or two?"

"It looks like we're gonna do this, but I don't have time right now."

That's over 90% of my calls. The truth is simple; 10K a week at 20% is six figures and 10K is only 3 deals a week. How many agents are actually making six figures? Dunno - not many.

IF you're ethical, IF you're doing a thorough pre-screen and IF you're only dealing with people where you're bettering their position 10K a week takes a LOT of work.

Don't pay attention to these agents you see doing "50K a week" selling online. Overwhelmingly they are slam artists, not agents.

Because agents avoid getting told "no" and because they avoid that they strive to speak to the least amount of people a day instead of the most amount.

I don't care what your lead source is - overwhelmingly 90% of your phone calls will end with no submitted application. A lot of people simply can't handle that and when they just start to realize those numbers they do something wrong:

They start looking at "what am I doing wrong" and second guess everything they say to prospects. And when you think what you're saying is wrong of ineffective it's a fast downward slide from there.

There's not too much you can say wrong to people who are buyers. They either really want coverage or really want to change what they have. I do far most listening them talking with people I close.

In fact, I pretty much know I don't have a deal when I'm the one talking. There's not an agent in this country closing better than 1 out of 10 leads from any source. Again, you pick up the phone and have a 90% chance of not getting the deal.

A lot of new agents look at senior agents and think we have our presentation so well honed that we get far more "yesses." No, we've simply learned to deal with high volumes of no's.

Today I have 6 people to call back to go over rates and quotes. 5 of those 6 won't go anywhere.

one shot one kill

2008-02-12T18:28:00.000-05:00

I normally don't for for one-call closes but again, my phone rang today - even forgot to ask where she got my number but looking for coverage, one med, currently has Mega and anxious to get off.

I did a GoToMeeting and used the live desktop tool, showed her GR quotes, did the app online and it's done. Not a huge premium - $145 a month but from A to Z it took about 25 minutes. Tomorrow I'm gonna call her back and ask where she got my number.

I'm getting quite busy - I've had little ads out for months now - always put the flyers out anytime I'm out and about and I think my redesigned flyer for '08 is starting to pull. I have yet to actually go BtoB with them - just been leaving 'em in strip plazas when I'm running around.

I am very very excited about this year. I could increase my earnings by 100% if I keep tracking the way I've been going.

When it's all said and done, by April it'll be:

Telemarketing - 8 to 10 hours a week
Flyers at all businesses when I'm out and about
Local events
Redesigned quote page and work on my website for more traffic and quotes
Mailers

I plan to crush this year. I want to be busy beyond belief. I have no eathly clue what'll happen to the health insurance market in the upcoming years but I'm certainly not gonna be left with my ass hanging out if the train comes to a stop. I'd like some cake in the bank so I could move to plan B without worrying about finances.

I'm sorry I haven't updated my Feb spreadsheet yet. I will. I use a much broader Excel sheet to track my leads and have to import only certain columns for privacy reasons and because you wouldn't be able to view it all at once. My spreadsheet has a lot of columns and I have to scroll over to see them all.

Flyer

2008-02-11T07:23:00.000-05:00

Here's the flyer I use:

http://www.savefile.com/files/1373381

Fyers can be used many ways:

Going BtoB
Bulletin boards
Hand outs at events

If you're new, broke and not into telemarketing print off a stack and head BtoB. If you're doing fine with you current system it doesn't help to put them up bulletin boards.

For me, I don't do much formal BtoB since I' not new - already have renewal income. I'll go out if I'm bored but I'll also hit a strip plaza when I'm out and about. Takes literally minutes to walk into a few store and leave a flyer at the counter.

I also changed my flyer - actually many times to see if what was written had any affect on the results. It does - and dramatically. A poorly designed or mis-worded flyer will not pull hardly at all. You'll think it's the method that sucks when it's actually the flyer.

As can see, I'm advertising to call for quotes. This is because I'm tired of the web-submitted junk. There are obviously great leads through a website - those are also the same people who would have called you.

It's working well. It's cool for my phone to ring. I also have a factor that's specific to MD - MHIP. I can put anyone who's uninsurable on that program in 2 weeks - pays me $100. Although that's not huge money it at least means I can help anyone who calls and it at get some payment.

35K!

2008-02-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

I had a fantastic week - just over $35K submitted with 7 deals. 3 of those deals were new from telemarketing, 2 were calls from flyers while and 2 were referrals. Only 3 of the 7 were telemarketed deals - the other 4 were people who picked up the phone and called me.

And by the way, this was an unusually high week. If I put in 35K a week every week it would be insane. I average $700,000 a year in volume which is only 13,000+ per week.

It's the 2 referrals I'm impressed with - I'm really trying to build a local name and it's just starting to pull results. Again, my goals have still not changed and I think there's enough people in my locality looking for health insurance to make a great living.

Telemarketing is a means to an end. I do not plan on telemarketing for years and years. It's a tool to use to get into your local market and start getting known.

Advertising without a reputation, as I've already seen, pulls low results. However, over time advertising my agency and website - as people see my name over and over and over pulls more and more and I'm just starting to see that.

I think the final key to all of this is participating in local events. Not only will that generate leads but also really get my name known in the community.

I'm more into having my phone ring then generating web traffic - which is more expensive however higher quality and a much better closing percentage. When you advertise your website "get free quotes" you're advertising for shoppers. I know that from my PPC campaigns.

However, when you're advertising to save money off your current plan you're advertising for buyers. You're also not advertising to people who currently don't have plans.

I switched my "free quotes" flyers and my website to "save money" flyers with my phone number. Web traffic obviously down, phones calls up and closing is up.

Really, my theory is kind of simple:

Put an ad out: "Maryland Health Plans - Get Free Quotes....blah blah blah"

- lacking results. No established name. No established reputation.

However:

Same ads placed every month
Doing all chamber of commerce functions
Mailers to all local small businesses
Showing up at all local events

Now someone sees that ad and it's "Oh, there's all over the place - just saw 'em at the last festival" and they now contact me.

I've been talking to a few agents lately about mailers, why most don't pull and mistakes people make when sending them. Turns out I'm a violator of everything I shouldn't have done with mailers.

I've been talking to one agent who's been pulling 1.5% which beats my typical .05%. He even admits that it's one arm of a local marketing campaign and mailers alone won't sustain an agent's income. Nice to talk to honest people instead of "here's my secret system to making a ton of money without working."

But even at 1.5% return is relatively low ROI:

1,000 mailers X 50 cents = $500
3 cents per record X 1,000 = $30
1.5% return = leads

I really hate to guess the closing out of that - 1 to 2...three would be a gift. I'd need two to make it really worth it.

They key to this of course is dumping profits back into all forms of local marketing so over time I become a recognized name.

There are things I'd like to do but I really don't know if the cost would be justified. I could pay anyone $10/hr to simply plaster businesses with flyers. They'd just leave a flyer but also be required to take a business card. So not only do I know they've actually placed the flyers but I can follow up by email or phone.

The math is impossible though; 50 flyers placed per hour X 4 hours a day is $40 a day or $160 a week with 1,000 flyers placed per week. Return? Again, low - 1% probably or 10 leads. However, $160 for 10 leads is $16 per lead - exclusive and local. These are also "phone ring" leads since my web address is just a small footnote on my flyer. Most web leads are junk.

However, does that beat mailers? 1,000 mailers would be $500+ - this would be $160.

Webinar, my son and Fidelity

2008-02-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who attended the webinar. I think it's really fun to get together and trade ideas and we'll definitely be doing it once per week.

I have to apologize that I was not my usual self - got a call this morning before the webinar from my son's kindergarten teacher that he was acting up today - which we've had issues with off and on throughout the year, and it's starting to get old.

In better news I lost a health deal but sold life! I've made it a goal this year to cross-sell life a lot more and so far it's been working very well.

For one of 10 different reasons I might not get the health deal but I've been pitching everyone on life. Most say "we're set with life" but all I need is a few deals to make it worth my while. Today was on of 'em - $42 premium and $500+ commission. Did the app online and that's that.

Another motivation for me is the upcoming election. I personally do not believe we'll see a "career altering" event in health insurance any time soon. But prove me wrong. If something goes south with health insurance, even if it's years from now I want to be well-honed and ready to go with another insurance product.

2 deals and a trip

2008-02-05T18:06:00.000-05:00

I was slammed today - no time spent on the phone. I wrote two deals which took up most of my day - didn't even follow up with the leads I generated yesterday.

I also got my formal notification today that I won the Time Palm Springs trip in May! I'm very excited - 4 years in the insurance biz and this is my 3rd trip.

I absolutely love these trips - so does my wife. Looking very forward to it. The insurance industry really seems to do a great job of making it a real trip and not some kind of "junk" trip.

I won a contest before in another industry and won a trip only to find out airfare and food was on me. All they were picking up was the hotel. Gee, thanks. But the insurance companies pick up airfare, food, lodging and give you spend cash. Now that's a trip.

Tomorrow we're on for the webinar which I'm looking forward to. I'll be shooting out emails tomorrow morning with the link and number to call for all those who responded.

Webinar for Wednesday

2008-02-04T18:12:00.000-05:00

We'll have another webinar:

Wednesday the 6th
1 PM EST

Just getting together, trade ideas on marketing, sales, and generally shooting the shit. Anyone who wants to attend needs to email me:

info@marylandquotes.com

And now I bring you truth in advertising

Results for today

2008-02-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

My wife's still at work and my son gets off the bus soon so I have to cut today a bit short. I was on the MCS dialer for 90 minutes, got 7 leads. Not too bad. I updated my spreadsheet - just click "February Tracking" on the right.

I use an Excel sheet for detailed info but always import into Google just in case my computer crashes. Just so we can have some fun and track along with me I just put the very basic info.

Last week I said I was playing around with really getting into more qualification on the 1st call. Some people are up for that, other's aren't and the "if it's not broke don't fix it" saying comes into play. I've used a certain system for working my telemarked leads that's been getting me results now for over a year.

Step 1:
Generate the lead - soft touch

"I'm calling because there's a lot of new plans and rates in Maryland for individual health insurance from the top carriers like Blue Cross, United Health care, Time and Aetna. What I'd like to do is send you the information and you can see whether or not you can save some money. Do you have a group plan or your own?"

(ps: don't say "how are you today?" when making cold calls. It does more harm then good.)

I then get their email, I'll ask a few more questions to owners who have time, then end with "I'll follow up with you, probably in a day or two."

Step 2
Call back to qualify
As you follow my sheet you'll see this is the "separate the men from the boys" call. I'll be ascertaining the level of interest, dumping off those with little to no interest and heavy qualification. Set up a firm app't to go over plans and rates.

Step 3
Call or show up for appointment
Either log them into my webinar or show up in person for the presentation.

If it doesn't need to be more complicated then that.

As for a webinar this week - we'll have one and I'll post the day and time either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Tracking with me for February

2008-02-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

Showing is better than trying to explain so since we've just started this month I'm going to share a Google spreadsheet. This way you can track the lead and deals. My main leads go on Excel but at the end of each day I'll import then into this sheet and update it.

The spreadsheet is here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p8HKIagCuSCgDt1YTvtg4DA

Obviously all personal info is gonna be blocked 0ut since I'll be putting detailed comments about each lead.

What you'll be able to see is "X" hours of generating leads = "X" leads which results in "X" deals. For those who have any misconceptions about what it actually takes to put in $700,000+ in volume this will be a splash of water on your face. I'll also be logging in time spent each day generating the leads.

I think a lot of agents think you get a few leads - 20 or so a week and all you really need to work on is your closing skills and pitch. If that's so you're far better than me. It takes a lot of leads and a lot of phone time to me to write a decent amount of business.

What you're going to see is that it's about lead volume. Since I generate my own leads it's a mixture of volume and quality.

Results are in - no office

2008-02-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

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.

Office or no office

2008-01-31T09:53:00.000-05:00

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.

Great demo today

2008-01-30T16:23:00.000-05:00

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:

Prospecting
Contacting leads
Presenting

"Work" is not being at Office Depot or messing with your spreadsheets. That's work avoidance. It's very to put in a full 8 hour day when you're getting 5 leads. When that's the case of of your day is screwing off while fooling yourself into thinking you're working.

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

ANY MARKETING ACTIVITY IS BETTER THAN NO MARKETING ACTIVITY!

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

2008-01-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

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.

Playing around with the script

2008-01-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

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:

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

Although it was far more no's I really enjoyed talking to the 2 leads about what I have to offer instead of just sending plans and rates.

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.

Prospecting, the lost art and a CRM demo

2008-01-28T15:36:00.000-05:00

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.

Getting together for webinars!

2008-01-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

If there's enough basic interest I'm thinking of getting agents together for webinars. It would be a time when a group of us can get together and basically shoot the shit about anything health insurance related; talk about marketing, selling and basically be able to talk to other agents about what's working or not working.

I'd be using Vyew and there's a number to dial in so everyone can chat and view marketing, sales, scripts and other cool stuff on the webinar.

I think they should be short - no longer than 30 minutes and maybe only once a week unless there's interest to have them more often.

These would only be for licensed agents since we'll be going over marketing, selling, closing, etc...we obviously don't want consumers prying in - sorry consumers.

Because of the right coast/left coast time differences, east cost mornings would be out so I'm thinking a great time would be around 1pm EST. The Californians are already up and about and the east-coasters still have time left in the day.

You can use these webinars as kinda of a "get off your ass" kick in the butt and we can all pick up valuable tips.

So let's set this up for Monday the 28th at 1PM EST.

If you want to participate you'll have to email me. Then I'll shoot you out the invite link to the webinar and the number to call in on. Again, you must be a licensed agent. Email me at info@marylandquotes.com

(If I smell that you're a consumer be prepared to prove you're an agent:-)

Webinar selling

2008-01-25T09:02:00.000-05:00

Well let's get this out of the way; the best was to sign people up, especially if you're new, is to go see 'em. However, that's not always possible and not everyone's going to want to meet with you nor should you have to with everyone.

If you have a single prospect displaying very high interest and they qualify I really don't see the need to hop in your car.

I use Webinars for most of my online selling. There's a slew of companies offering webinar services but I use Vyew because it's free and has all the features I need. Most other services charge around $50 a month.

Why webinars?

It has a "wow" or "cool" factor to it. Most people have never seen a webinar and they are indeed pretty cool - people will be impressed

It's more engaging for people to look at something rather then just listen to some boring agent spout off about plans and rates

You control the presentation - you know you're both looking at the same thing. This isn't the case when you take them to your quote page and you're talking about Copay Select while they're looking at Plan 100.

Don't have to fumble with what to day. A lot of newer agents struggle with what they should be talking about. You need to talk about your services, the plan and the rate. With webinars all the info's right in front of you and all you have to do is highlight key points in the brochure

The brochures are fantastic sales tools but without webinars they're difficult to go over. You might be on page 2 and you're client's probably looking at page 5. This allows you to go over the brochure and even highlight key benefits.

Rates are last - and rates should be last. You cannot sell any plan without building value. Most presentations are backwards - agents show rates first and go over the plan benefits last. This leads to "selling by rate" instead of "selling by value." With my webinars I go over my services first, then the company, then the plan THEN then rates.

You can click to share your desktop - basically it's like your client is standing behind you looking at your screen. You can pull up quoting software and they can watch as you do the online app.

Downsides

View uses Adobe Flash - which almost everyone has. But if you have a client running Windows on an old 386 it's gonna be a problem. If you're computer or internet connection is slow it'll be tedious to go from one page to the next and your client will get frustrated.

But again, Vyew is free - http://vyew.com - sign up and have at it.

An offer grom Gary - Marketing Campaign Solutions

2008-01-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

A lot of emails from Gary's CRM, most them them asking me about pricing and basically how it works. I just talked to Gary and asked if he'd be willing to give any of my readers some type of break and he said yes.
So here's the offer from Gary:

$349 per month with no long-term commitment (normally $449) $149 set-up fee waived 1 week free trial
You must state that you read about this offer on my blog and it's only for a limited time. Gary didn't pin it down and say for exactly how long but that's up to him - not too long.

Call Gary at 912-944-2540 or email him at garyprado@gmail.com

I think that's an outstanding offer. It's everyone helping everyone - I get a discount and you get a discount and all is fair in the world. If I wasn't blown away with this I'd be talking about how much of a waste of time this is. In fact, I - like many others - hung back in the shadows after knowing about it and just recently decided to give it a try. The results are the results - it rocks.

I'm on day three using this and it has changed my entire marketing system. Results are indeed results and I'm two deals now submitted after 4 1/2 hours of calls. As you all know, most of us calls leads for 2 hours a day and don't put in 2 deals.

Ok - exactly how does this work and what are the features?

You download the CRM - pictured - onto your computer. You can buy data from MCS or import you own data

You go into "settings" and label your own buttons. This way you can keep track of leads, not interested, call backs, have group, etc....

You set how many number you want it to dial at a time - 3, 2 or 1. I recommend 3 numbers at a time - it's actually very easy to manage and you get maximum results

You pick up your office phone and call into the server. You do not call through your computer. This a dedicated line and the quality is crystal clear

You enter in your password and click "Start Call Session" - then it starts dialing numbers until it someone picks up or it hits a machine. If it hits a machine you click AM-LM to leave a message you record. You simply record your own message when you call into the server. It will continue to dial the other two numbers while your message is being left.

When someone answers, as you can see from the pic, it displays "answer." If you look at the pic you'll see this real example of Donna with "answer" next to it but if you look at the data the top you'll see all of Donna's info. This is instantaneous. Even before she says "hello" I see all her info. So after she says "hello" I'm already prepped to say "Is this Donna Smith?"

While I'm on with Donna all other calling stops. After I'm done talking to her calling will resume after I click the appropriate button; lead, not interested, etc...

On the top right you'll see "email." I can type in Donna's email and shoot her out an email I design right from the CRM.

Lower right you'll see you can pause dialing or stop the calling session.

In the middle right you'll see a "lead sheet" tab. You can type in all relevant lead info and save it.

When you're done with your session you can run reports and export your leads.

If you're currently making calls it's not what this costs - it's what it costs not to have. I've done my own telemarketing and it's 40 dials per hour and I can tell you right now I've run the math and it's ugly for hand-dialing:

I have 2 deals closed for 4 1/2 hours. It's 3 to 1 - meaning this triples my results. So those same two deals would have taken 13+ hours to generate. Most of us can handle calling 2 hours a day - possible three so that's an entire week's worth of calls to put in 2 apps.

Here - it's 2 hours a day of calls to put in 5 apps. So you need to figure out what your commission is on an extra 3 apps per week and see if $349 a month is worth it. It's obvious.

From a personal note - I don't find myself having to get psyched to do this like when I hand-dialed. Each time you hand-dial you have to "psych" yourself to make the next call. I really like dialing one number, leaning back in my chair and simply being connected with people.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do besides this. If I can plug out a deal a day from a few hours of calls - heck, what else would I possible do?

A deal from yesterday and more calls

2008-01-23T16:34:00.000-05:00

I'm officially addicted to this. It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed any marketing method but this is enjoyable. Whatever used to suck about making calls, this solves it.

Put in a deal from yesterday's calls. Healthy family paying $1,200 on Cobra and they simply didn't know any better. The wife wanted an infertility benefit and after grilling her it turns out she had an easy birth with her last child but simply wants the benefit. No problem - we wrote up Coventry.

$1,000 deductible for $680 a month for $8,160 in volume. I have two other people from yesterday's calls who are still highly interested so I'll see how that plays out. But one deal for 2 hours of calling is just fine by me.

More calls today:

149 minutes
459 dials 4 rock solid leads plus a call-back from a message = 5 DNC 184 is simply my way of marking anyone I don't want called back when I reset the data. That includes a lot of people who answered but they were larger businesses with group coverage.

I'm also only dealing with the owner. If the owner's not available I'm onto the next call. That's why I have such a high amount of dials today - I was 10 seconds with people who current have group and off the phone immediately unless it was a small business. I got a lot of doctor's offices, law firms and churches today and have to remember to scrub them out of my next set of data.

I only counted a "lead" today as someone I completely qualified head to toe; health, has a current plan, can and wants to save money.

Basically, if you paid for 40 leads these would be the 5 you're really impressed with. I'm just not gonna spend my days following up with people I can't help or people who really don't want to switch from what they have. Doesn't mean I'm gonna close all of 'em, but I'll take 1 out of 5 over 1 out of 20 any day.

So again, 2/12 hours of call today for 459 dials which would have taken me 11 1/2 hours to call manually dialing.

A few people have emailed me about my script. It's not much of a script:

"....new health plans are available from the top carriers like Blue Cross, United Healthcare and Aetna and I'm offering free quotes. If you have an individual plan you could save a significant amount of money. Do you current have a group or individual plan?"

If they say "group" I ask if they have employees on the plan. If yes it's over unless they continue the conversation.

If they say they have their own plan that's my potential lead. I say "then I'd really like to send you the new plans and rates - all I need is your home zip code and age."

Obviously we're dead if they say "just send me the info." I'll shoot 'em out info but won't count it as a lead. If they give me their zip and age I simply start a conversation about their current plan and what they'd like to change. If they say "well...I'm pretty happy with it but you can send me what you have" then we're done. Again - shoot 'em info, won't count it as a lead.

For the people who start to go on and on about their rate or plan THAT'S what I'm counting as a lead.

Gonna mess with my telemarketing system today

2008-01-23T07:46:00.000-05:00

I've been used to hand dialing and gotten into a habit of getting the info I need and ended the call with "give me time to call you back tomorrow...." I had to get off the phone and back to dialing to generate more leads. You really can't afford to waste 20 minutes with someone who you "think" is highly interested, then that goes nowhere and your hour's shot.

Today, however, I'm gonna shoot the shit with interested people more and get more rapport going. I can pause the dialer and go off an a tangent with people which is what I really enjoy doing.

When you start looking at my lead results on seeing 2 to maybe 4 leads an hour you might think "this is no big deal - anyone can generate that many leads." But I'm guessing my closing ratio on these is gonna be around 1 out of 6 instead of the typical 1 out of 15 or even 1 out of 20 when you buy leads. When you're making calls yourself you're certainly not gonna fool yourself into thinking someone with low interest is actually a lead.

I'm pretty sure I have at least a deal out of yesterday with 113 minutes on the phone. I'd be impressed if that comes true. I was guessing more like 4 hrs a day would be one deal per day which is what I'm after.

My goal for this is $20,000 for the week and I'm interested to see how many hours on Gary's CRM it'll take for me to hit that number.

Wrapped up the calling

2008-01-22T16:05:00.000-05:00

I wanted 3 hours today but got just under 2 in. My son had a half day - out at 1pm and my wife was working so I had to play Mr. Mom.

Here's the results:

113 minutes of calls
247 calls made
8 leads
55 messages left

3 additional leads from message call-backs. Those are strong as death. I'm very impressed with 3 call-backs out of 55 messages. The last on was a guy on Cobra for $1,200 a month, family plan and a few pre-ex conditions but nothing big, easy to underwrite.

I've never been able to leave messages before. You can do so manually dialing if you want but you'll have to put in more time calling to make up for it.

Back to what I'm calling a "lead." I'm taking advantage of the sheer number of people I'm talking to and only counting a "lead" as someone with high interest - not just someone who wants to review some plans and rates.

The bottom line again is 247 calls made in 113 minutes when manually dialing 40 an hour would have taken me 6 hours. I'm good for 2 hours of calls per day so I did 3 days of calling in 2 hours. Simply incredible.

Very nice!

2008-01-22T12:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, 1st time I've ever made calls myself from the MCS (Marketing Campaign Solutions) CRM . It was pretty simple to configure - I labeled the buttons to match what I'm doing (I'm actually going to re-label some for the next round to simplify the results,) recorded my voice mail message and configured the email settings so I could shoot out emails from the CRM.

Very very cool - had it banging away at 3 dials at a time and it was very easy and almost fun to manage. You can see the stats above however again, I'll be simplifying the stats for the next round of calling:

Dials - 109
Lead - 4
Messages left - 20
Owner not in - 14 (phone was answered by gatekeeper)
DNC - 2 is not "do not call again" but simply wrong numbers
Not interested - 11 (see rest of post)
Got a call back from a message I left - lady has Mega and wants a quote

So a total of 5 leads.

So again, if you're manually dialing 40 numbers per hour this represents almost three hours of work which I did in 52 minutes.

I also had a different definition of a lead since I was on the phone with so many people. Normally when I telemarketed I was just out to sending owners info on the new plans. Then I'd follow up and ascertain interest - but mentally it had to be that way for me since "qualified" leads are few are far between when manually dialing and it's depressing.

Many of those 11 "not interested" leads would have been counted as leads. But after they said "sure, send the info" I got into some basic qualification. That's when I told most of them they're simply better off with what they have.

I found a huge psychological factor with the auto-dialer. When manually dialing you have to "psych" yourself before every single call. But when this I made one call then literally lean back in my chair (feet on the desk also:-) and just go through my pitch when people answer. Bottom line is it's simply easier to actually DO this.

I'll be making more calls today and give the update at the end of the day.

But the way I am not selling or offering this for the people who have emailed me. If you're interested in getting this call MCS at 800-660-6863

Wanted: guinea pigs

2008-01-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

I'm looking for a few agents who are new to selling health - the newer the better. If you're a licensed agent and not selling health yet but considering it that's fine too.

I have a site I've been working on for a while and while it's not done yet I'd like a few people who aren't senior agents (since they already everything) to give me a review on what's I've done so far. There's a lot of info to review so I need some people with time to go through it.

Just shoot me an email if interested - info@marylandquotes.com

CRM installed!

2008-01-18T17:42:00.000-05:00

Just got off the phone with Gary's tech support and I'm ready to go! Now, not like I'm the world's biggest fan of making calls but again, in 2008 it's all self-generated leads. After talking to a lot of established agency owners I just don't see a reason for pay for leads. But you also have to do what works for you at the same time.

Although I'm not a fan of making calls I'm also not a fan of B to B. I do it because it works. But I know myself and once I get going I can really get into it. Getting into my car for B to B is 90% of the battle for me. Once I'm at my location my brain shifts to being productive and trying to get as many leads as possible.

Same with telemarketing - 90% of the battle for me is picking up the phone and dialing for first number. I think Gary's auto-dialing system is gonna solve a lot of problems:

I don't have the daunting task anymore of manually dialing where I have to always psych myself into making the next call. Now I dial into a server and I'm on auto pilot.

It's obviously more effective. I'm used to hand-dialing 50 numbers per hour, speaking to 10 or so owners and generating around 3 leads. Closing 1 out of 15 means 5 hours on the phone but I'm baked after 2 hours. So in the past that's meant 2 1/2 days of calls to get a deal.

Now this system will be dialing 120 or so number per hour and my results will more than double. Mentally that gets me more in the game since the outcome is more noticeable

I can't leave messages when I hand-dial; total waste of time. But now messages are left while the system continues to dial. That's the "X" factor and I'll find out those results next week.

I'm a tracking geek. I love spreadsheets and figuring out ratios. For hand dialing it's a pad of paper and pen. However, this spits out cool reports so I can track everything.

So starting Monday I'll be using this and posting the results. Stay tuned.

Wrapping up the Week

2008-01-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

Ended this week by just doing a Carefirst app for a grand total of three apps this week. Not bad, but not peeling the paint off the walls either. I want 5 apps per week on average throughout this year. I know I'm capable of submitting a million in premium.

True to my goals this year I will not be purchasing any leads - they will all be self-generated from a pretty wide variety of marketing methods.

I really can't wait to do some events however reality is I'll need to wait until spring. There are obviously very few outdoor events like fair and festivals in the winter.

So for now I'll be concentrating on a combination of B to B and telemarketing. I'll be using Gary's system (Marking Campaign Solutions) to telemarket and be happy to post the results. I'm actually waiting for one of his techs to call to set the system up.

Man do I love this job!

2008-01-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

Here's the view from my deck right now. Snow's coming down hard here - roads are already a mess. Not a problem, I don't skip a beat with making calls or taking an app online. I also have my son getting out early which isn't an issue.

It's days like this when I really appreciate what I do. It wasn't too long ago I was selling cars and if anyone here has sold cars before you know exactly what you do when it snows; break out a shovel and start cleaning off cars! Man I used to hate that.

Even in other fields like when I sold home improvements all of my appointments today would have been canceled. It's just insane that there's a home-based job that exists (aside from stuffing envelopes, processing government loans and assembling jewelry) where you can make fantastic money and it doesn't matter what's going on outside.

I'll be watching the evening news as everyone's tied up in a 2 hour traffic jam around the beltway.

Got to work

2008-01-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well I got off my ass today and hit the phones. For me most of the battle is simply getting into the groove but once I'm there it's smooth sailing. Good day on the phone too - five solid prospects who I'll be quoting tomorrow.

And now my Golden Rule rant

I only like quoting final rates. I simply can't stand saying "oh, and add $36 if you want that option." When I quote all carriers except GR it's like Ragu; "it's already in there." However, GR has no quoting tool that will spit out one final figure.

On the software you only get a page of add-ons; lifetime max buy-up, drug card, and preventative for Plan 100 and 80. For Copay select it's additional to buy up the drug max. I'm not exactly sure what the software does anyway since you can't email quotes. You can view it or print it - useless.

The bottom line is I like taking clients to my website so we can use the quoting tool. But when I use the quoting tool and tell them to click on the "view benefits page" I now have to "sell" drug coverage or the buy-up.

For families the GR quote link shows a nasty low-ball figure. For example, if I'm showing Plan 100 to a family and they're looking at a rate of $253 they get excited. But alas, we click the view benefit button and come to find it's $65 extra for drug coverage and $67 for the preventative package. So it's a $130 low-ball!

What I tell my clients as soon as we pull up the rates is not to pay any attention to the first figure and the rates are actually on the "view benefits" page.

We all know why GR does this - because most agents never include the drug card, drug buy-up or preventive in the quote because they're too scared to lose the sale by telling clients that valuable options are an additional price.

What GR desperately needs is Asurant's software.

Well, here we go again

2008-01-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

Two deals already submitted an approved and an app going (hopefully) today. And this is where it all goes south and my mind starts messing with me.

I'm completely unmotivated today. Why? Because it's Wednesday morning and I've made enough to cover the bills with a little left over - so now it's a fight with myself today to dig in and go that extra mile.

I think it's natural. Unless you have this "Donald Trump" mentality and drive most people would rather be doing other things besides work. But I do love what I do it's just getting over that hurdle of stopping or slowing down after I've made "X" amount.

So today it's simply back on the phones for me.

Wrapping it up today

2008-01-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

Another good day on the phones both generating leads and calling back some old leads. My bottom line at the end of each day is I need 10 solid leads.

A few have asked about my system; as in what do I do when I call a prospect. Everyone has what works from them - this works for me:

Step 1:
I simply introduce myself, state what I do and tell them they might be able to save a significant amount of money. After that it's mainly questions. If they won't answer questions saying they're either too busy or just give one-word answers where it's apparent that they don't want to talk it's over. I put them on my Constant Contact email list and they get quarterly reminders.

I'm only looking for people who complain. They can bitch about:

Their rate sucks
Their coverage sucks
They don't have coverage and hate not having it

But unless they're conversational about one of those three things I pretty much don't have a deal. I cannot "sell" health insurance too well. If I think they're rate's high but they don't think it's high there's generally no deal.

I absolutely don't mess around with people who don't have current coverage especially if interest is lacking.

All in all I don't work too well with people when my 6th sense tells me they simply don't want to be bothered. Instead of breaking out the sales tactics I've found it more productive and easier on my attitude to simply move on.

Step 2:
Qualify. I qualify to death. I want to know their complete history before I talk about carriers and rates. It's a mistake to simply ask if they have any pre-existing conditions. They generally won't disclose medical events is the past years where there's been a full recovery. Instead, I how often they've seen a doctor over the past "X" years (generally 5 or 7.) Then I start digging from there.

After I've done the pre-qual I can determine if I can better their situation. If I can I tell them I'm going to put together an email with the brochures of the plan I'm going to recommend and set the appointment - either phone or in person.

Step 3:
If it's a phone deal I call at the appointed time and for in-person I've already confirmed and show up. This is when they see rates - not before! Why? Because if clients see the plans and rates, then you get off the phone with them they have little incentive to get back in contact with you. They have everything they need - why talk to you again?

For a phone deal I take them to my site during the "appointment" and have them click on the company I'm recommending. We go over plans and rates and do the app.

For deals where the rate will not be same (rats up for Assurant and Aetna or Standard 1 or 2 for GR) I don't have them click on the links. They will not show the final rates. For those cases I work up the final rates, tranfer them to a Word doc. and upload them into my Webinar - then direct my client to the webinar.

I used to send clients rates after the 1st call and found that to be a mistake. They don't know what they're looking at anyway; Aetna PPO30, GR plan 100, CoreMed.....they have no clue so what good are the rates?

I also think some people get turned off if they see 80 different plans and options, think it'll just be too long an confusing and don't get back in touch.

There has to be some kind of hook - some reason for them to pick up the phone again or something cool to leave on their voice mail. You've already sent plans and rates? Oh, what's your VM message: "Ummm, this is John, Call me I guess."

My message is "Hey Jim, it's John from Maryland Health Plans. I put together some rates and I think you'll be very impressed."

Nice way to start the day

2008-01-15T07:22:00.000-05:00

Last night I got a call from a referral last night - needed coverage for their son in VA who has asthma - won't take an exclusion for it. GR came is lower but actually not that much lower and the parents didn't care about the copay option - so into Assurant that went. That'll be a CSD instead of a rider.

Even though it's only $117 it's still $1,404 in volume and I'll take it - especially for a referral who says "so how do we get this started?"

Posting my daily results again

2008-01-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

Been talking to a few people who miss when I was posting my results; spreadsheets, deals, etc...

That's no problem and actually motivational for me so starting today I'll be posting my daily routine and results.

As for today so far I just got off the phone with a prospect:

She's 28 and has HPV (human papilloma virus.) With GR and Assurant it's an exclusion at best so she's MHIP bound (Maryland Health Insurance Plan.) She's $157 per month for a $1,000 deductible plan so why bother with riders. She's at higher risk for cervical cancer.

But we have the husband, age 39 who's perfectly health but a small snag with the kids - ages 4 and 5. One has asthma and is on Albuterol and the other has Eczema with daily topical medicated cream.

I'll probably be looking to GR for this - don't see too much liability with riders for those conditions. I could throw it to Assurant however rates are 40% higher and additional rate doesn't compensate for having the meds covered especially taking the $500 drug deductible into account.

As for business submitted today - did a Plan 80 - husband, wife and two kids on a budget. $285 X 12 = $3,420 in submitted premium today (above.)

Very excited for '08!

2007-12-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

I'm very geared up for '08. I think it's going to be my best year in this business. I posted a while back about potential changes to our industry in the upcoming years. The bottom line is no one knows what's going to happen 3, 5 or 10 years from now. I'm sure if you asked Mass. agents 5 years ago whether or not their state would have implemented their system most would have said "Nah - just a bunch of politicians talking."

I like "expect the best, plan for the worst." I really love this industry and what I do but have admittedly not maximized my potential. I really don't want the train to stop some time in the future and spend the rest of my life saying "well, I really could have made "X" amount if I would have given it 100%."

I will never maximize my potential sitting in a chair in front of a computer. I'm a people person - not a glorified telemarketer. I simply perform better and are much happier when I'm out and about.

My flyer campaign is first - I'll be out with those this week. Although I'll continue with telemarketed leads those will be eventually burn out since I'm only generating business is my locality this coming year. I'll have much more of a focus on renting table space at events - to which I have no earthly clue as to what the return will be on that.

But I'm not a "guesser." You can play with stupid math scenarios and lock yourself into "analysis paralysis" and never get anything done. Most new ventures are "do, fail, tweak, re-do." I'm prepared for that.

The bottom line is this; I can go B to B as I have many, many times in the past and write 3 apps a week for 10 hours of B to B. My average commish is $800 so you can do that math. Expenses are zero (minus cost of flyers.) Can another agent make 10 hours of calls and get 3 deals? Not sure - maybe. Are they all biz owners? Probably not.

Every time I've done B to B my laziness kicks in and I start thinking "well there just has to be a way where I can do less effort with the same results."

But B to B is also no long term solution since again, you burn up the territory. You can't walk into the same business again a months later: "Hey, me again."

I'm simply anxious to see how being very active in the community in general will result in business. Only time will tell.

Researching local events

2007-12-28T10:21:00.000-05:00

A few months ago we went to a German festival at Fort Meade which is five minutes from our house. It was packed with sponsors who all had tables - well over 50 businesses. The place was mobbed and there were lines of people waiting to visit the tables to pick up information and the giveaways.

Come to find out later it was a whopping $150 to rent a table. You didn't need any huge trade show display. All you needed was $150 and something to give people who stopped by.

The event was Sat. and Sun. Just a wild guess - I would have pulled at least 20 deals out of it. I pulled 7 deals out of a small health fair held at a local fire station (which only ran 10am to 2pm) in '04 and about 200 people where there. There's one thing however I don't have to guess at. I didn't get any business out of it because I didn't have a table.

I've done a lot of research and obviously events are all over the place - far too many to be to personally attend. I'd like to be at the larger events this year - the Maryland State Fair pulls in 600,000 people. How much business would I get out of that?

I think a lot of it is how you have it designed. If you just plant your ass in a chair and people come by to just take your brochures and giveaways - probably not that many. If you create a bit of a buzz and get people to write down their basic info then obviously you'll do a lot better.

In our area Chick-Fil-A always has a booth where you spin a wheel to see which giveaway you'll gonna get. You also fill out a card to win a bigger prize.

I'm not sure I can give away any type of large prize due to rebating laws. But I can absolutely have people fill out short "get a free quote" cards. The bottom line is when people come by you want their contact information.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Gearing up for '08

2007-12-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

My original goal has not been forgotten; to establish a local health insurance agency. True to that goal I'm gearing up for '08 in a few days. Everything done to gain business with be local. That will include:

1) Local telemarketed leads
2) Renting table/booth space at events
3) B to B flyers - probably pay someone to distribute them
4) Ads in local publictions

My theory:
A lot of people would review their coverage and possibly switch but there's no local established agent/agency they know about and trust. We all know that most people actively seeking quotes are young, broke or unhealthy.

Most people with money, between 40 to 62 with coverage just suck it up. They're likely uphappy with their rate but wouldn't be caught dead typing in their personal information on the net.

I am happiest when I'm out of the house. I successfully sold online for almost a year - never met with a single client. And I was never more miserable.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T20:23:00.000-05:00

MERRY

CHRISTMAS!!!

Hell Yeah!

2007-12-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

Mail truck pulls up yesterday and gives me a package. I open it up and it's a frick'n Magellan RoadMate GSP Navigation system from my Assurant RSD. How cool is that!

I've been wanting a navigation system for a while so I'm thrilled. I've been playing with it every since I got it - has the voice feature and everything else I'd want.

In other news, my seminar for new agents is almost done. Actually, there's not too much to put together. We all remember when we first go licensed and said "Ok, now what."

Most newbies get sucked into NAA, Mega and Aflac or captive life companies who may or may not be telling them what it's really gonna take to make that "easy six figure" income everyone's touting.

I'm a firm believer that any agent who has a great work ethic and sales skills would do far better selling health insurance then any other product. But just how would any agent get into the health field? Ummm.....unless it's UGA, Cornerstone or UA they wouldn't. Most new agents don't even know companies like Golden Rule exist none less how to get appointed.

The seminar isn't going to be about one company being better or one way of generating leads being superior. It'll be about letting agents know all the available ways to generate leads with all the pros and cons of any method.

So what I've put together is a "how to become a health insurance agent." No one will contact under me - that's a conflict of interest.

I've received a decent amount of feedback regarding pricing and everyone's all over the map from $50 to over $1,000.

First of all, it's not necessarily about what it's worth but what people are willing and able to pay. It's also about starting low to establish myself then possibly charging more. I think the initial fee will be around $200.

No more secretaries?

2007-12-21T08:25:00.000-05:00

I guess this is a bit off topic from health insurance but I've been doing a lot of research lately which entails calling a lot of companies. I'm stunned by the number of voice mails I get either calling the mail toll free number or going straight to the voicemail of people high up in the company.

Where the hell did all the secretaries go? I don't mind hitting voicemail if I'm calling a person or home-based business. But if I'm calling a company with a business location I should never hit voicemail - ever.

These companies don't want to spring for $12/hr to have someone answer the phone? There's also a lot of message services you can hire where someone will answer with your company name and take a message.

Even more insane is unreturned messages. These companies have no idea why I'm calling - if I hit "Bob's" voicemail I simply leave "please call me back at ****" message. I could be a potential client - no returned call.

Still chugging along

2007-12-20T12:53:00.000-05:00

Again, sorry for the lack of updates but between Christmas, my wife starting a new job, keeping up on individual business and working on a project my time has been limited, but I'll be back to updating every day.

I'm not doing any type of marketing right now for new health sales - kinda "off" until Jan 2nd. I still get new business from existing leads and referrals. I also have renewals.

Right now I'm putting together a kind of workshop or seminar to educate newly licensed agents or agents looking to make a switch into health insurance sales. It will not replace my individual sales but simply be something I do around twice a month.

No one needs me to explain that new agents basically are screwed when it comes to carrier contracts, lead sources and a myriad of other land mines and pitfalls. As we all know, most new agents get snatched up by unethical captive companies and those who wish to go independent don't have the faintest clue on how to go about it. They end up signing up with agencies who only tout one or possibly two carriers.

I still have not figured out:

1) How long the seminar would need to be - I'm thinking 6 hours.
2) How much I'd charge.

It's actually not a matter of how much I'd charge, but how much someone's willing to pay for a fair value. Comments are welcome. How much would any of your paid to get "all the scoop" on going independent.

Sorry for the lack of updates

2007-12-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry for the lack of updates but I'd like what I post to be new and not just rehashing old posts. I'm current doing consulting for four clients so I'm trying to give them my time. Although I'm still writing deals I'm also working heavily on a project - have been for about 2 months now - that's not even close to being finished yet. When it gets closer to being done I'll talk more about it.

Up to 8 agents??? WTF!

2007-12-05T13:05:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to help out a new agent and am doing some shared lead research for him. Just got off the phone with InsureMe since a few year ago they were one of my better sources - the volume was simply never there.

I was stunned when I asked how many agents share the lead and heard "up to 8." What! Up to 8? She said the average is between 3 to 5 but yes, in some markets it's shared with 8 agents.

Man, you just really have to feel for these people wondering onto websites thinking they're gonna see quotes and up the 8 agents call them. How in the hell does InsureMe think the client is served by any more than 3 agents calling? It really burns my biscuits.

Holiday blues

2007-12-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, even I like this template better. Done.

I'm getting a bad case of the holiday blues which is way too soon. I still have 2 1/2 weeks of solid selling to do and I'm doing my best to punch it out until the 21st. From the 21st to the 2nd you're pretty much dead in the water. Consider it our industry's one week vacation.

My wife just started her first job in six year yesterday! That's fantastic since any income she brings in is extra money - and we need it. Although I made good money I'm buried in tax debt from before I even became an agent. Then during my 4 years as an agent I made 3 good attempts at recruiting. Unless you have a bank roll and don't mind working 12 hours a day I don't recommend hiring.

I can give you a little "recruting 101"

First of all, how much are you writing? If you're not writing much you shouldn't hire - if you can't do you can't teach. Actually, if you can't do you shouldn't teach. If you can do, and make good money it will take 4 agents writing the same amount as you to replace your income. About 1 out of every 50 agents hired will be a consistent producer - and you have to train and babysit the other 49.

Marketing

2007-12-01T15:21:00.000-05:00

First of all, now I'm depressed. I hated the old look of this blog and really like the new antique look. However, my sister thinks it looks girly. Oh well.

I think I've succeeded in confusing a lot of people regarding marketing in general - shared leads, live transfers, hire girls, get Gary's CRM, etc...

Let's break it down:

The single best way to generate leads is picking up the phone and making calls. It's free and effective. I really recommend Gary's CRM (call Gary at 912-944-2540.) You can easily generate 4 to 6 leads per hour - call it 5 for the math and you'll write 2 to 3 deals week.

If you're new in this field you want to be able to take your time with clients until you get a feel all of this.

If you're new in this business:

A) Pick up the phone and start making calls
B) Hit the street with some flyers and go B to B

There is no "C." Spending a lot of money on leads when you're new is pretty much an express ticket out of this business. Under no circumstance would I recommend a new agent buy shared leads. Save yourself the time and just hop on Monster.com

Even now I don't go anywhere without flyers in my car. If we stop off at any shopping plaza I hit every store then catch up to my wife. If I get a deal a month out of it that could be $700 a month extra.

Live transfers and hiring marketers/running a campaign

I would only recommend spending money in leads when you at least have a few deals under your belt. When you do, make sure you're spending money on exclusive leads. There has never been a more failed concept than sharing leads. Most will fail. The few with success experience great frustration and it's not the way to make a living in this business.

Even with all that said I'm out to proove to myself that nothing will trump establishing a stong local presence.

Offering consulting

2007-11-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

I offered consulting services over a year ago and it was quite successful. Unfortuntely, and to be honest, I let a few bitter agents get to me who thought it was horribly unethical for me to charge for help and information. That decision I feel is up to the person who's willing to pay.

This post is spawned by yet another new agent I just go off the with who said "I just too much help and can't waste that much of your time." This is a recurring theme from people who contact me. I'm simply charging $20/hr and there's no minimum.

I can offer and will always offer people free advice. But there's a difference between a 20 minute conversation and someone who really needs and wants help - especially on-going help.

A lot of people who contact me are embarrassed to "waste my time" and understand that I work for a living. I think a lot of agent never contact anyone at all. Under no circumstances should agents be "winging" this business. There are far too many traps and pitfalls unless you want the typical 1 year learning curve that costs you $30K in marketing and lost deals.

What I have to offer quite frankly is very valuable - especially for new agents. I can show you how to get the best contracts that fits your needs and basically go over A to Z of anything relating to health insurance.

Well - the pitch is here:

http://healthinsuranceconsulting.blogspot.com/

My appointment this morning

2007-11-29T22:57:00.000-05:00

Wow - almost the appointment from hell. Sell that one online? I barely made it out the house with an app. He was fantastic on the phone but laid into me at the house. He's computer software engineer and simply went over every detail.

His hang up? Lab and ER going to the deductible. He couldn't get past it. He kept saying over and over "so basically except for seeing a doctor I owe thousands." Ummmm....yes.

I would not have closed that as a new agent. I had everything on dining room table. It was a sea of brochures and rates. I had to show it "is it what it is." We covered Assurant's bad rates, Aetna's horrible rates and Blue Cross' lacking coverage - and still everyone's lab and ER hits the deductible.

He was flustered but knew his wife and kids had to have coverage. He literally had his head in his hands and said "So this Golden Rule is the best we're gonna get?" Yep - best rates, great coverage. He signed.

How the Vimo transfers work

2007-11-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

I've received a lot of emails about the Vimo transfers so I'll post the entire scoop. First of all, you can call Justin at 650-230-0070. If you do decide to sign up please do me a favor and use me as your reference - I do get a credit for referrals. And although I do get a credit I would never recommend any lead source that I don't think is fantastic. And you're talking to a guy who hasn't purchased an internet lead in almost 2 years.

*You sign up and fund your account. I believe you need $100 to fund it but talk to Justin. I already had credits in my account from over a year and a half ago when I used their shared leads - then chose to suspend my account. I found their shared leads to be lacking.

*As you see in my screenshot, you then see the bids for the states you chose. Since there's not a high volume of leads available in any given state you're encouraged to choose more than one. As you see, I picked my backyard - MD, VA and DC. Then you bid. It's like Ebay for leads - almost. You can ask about what the bids are like in your state before you sign up. I believe in TX max bid's are like $65. I think it speaks volumes if there's an agent out there willing to spend $65 per lead. Well - think about it. For $195 (1 out of 3 closing) to return $700 go ahead and close 1 per day and you're at $2,500 net for the week and your job is answering the phone when it rings. I'll take it.

*When some one hits the Vimo site as you can see they have two options - run quotes themselves or talk to a professional. I really like this. Obviously only the most interested people will choose to speak with an agent. The prospect then speaks with a Vimo rep who does a basic qualification - height/weight, major conditions, the basic story and makes sure they will wait on hold while they transfer to an agent.

*The higest bidding agent is the 1st one called. If that agent doesn't pick up or passes it goes to the next bidder. So you can pass? Yes. When your phone rings you are not connected with the prospect or charged at that point. You're on wiht the Vimo rep who gives you the Reader's Digest version - age, general situation, etc...You then choose to accept the call or pass. If you accept you're connected and also recorded. This is just in case the call drops or during your health screening you uncover a major declineable condition. Then there's no charge.

*You can set you preferences for times you want to be called and also pause your account. Obviously you're not charged if Vimo calls you and you don't pick up but it's a waste of everyone's time to have you phone ring if you're not available. Pause you account.

*The leads are exclusive. You can take the calls, go over the basics with the prospect and collect all the info you need, then arrange a time to call back. No one else can get that lead.

ROI

As I posted below - how much does it cost for you to be on the phone with a qualified prospect who wants to speak with you? You tell me. At $8 per lead for 20 leads that's $160. So you tell me what normally happens after you call 20 shared leads. Do you get a hold of 1, 2, 4, 6 of them? When you do are you the only agent calling? When you get a hold of them do they look forward to hearing from y0u? Only you can answer those questions since every lead source is different.

You should be making $700 per deal average commission. Closing 1 out of 4 of these at $30 a hit is $120 for a deal. I'm willing to bet that's your ROI for closing shared leads but this is 1/1oth the headache. My good friend has only been on them for 2 weeks now but closing 1 out of 3.

I have received 2 and closed 2. I imagine I'm also good for 1 out of 3 over the long haul.

Vimo live transfers

2007-11-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well I took two transfers today and closed both! The 1st transfer was just a 25 year old girl, dropped off her parents plan. I took all of her info, emailed her plans and rates, called her back at the time we set and signed her up online. Perfectly healthy except an outpatient knee procedure 4 years ago - torn AC, no issue.

Second transfer was a huband looking for coverage for his wife and two kids. His job wants over $600 a month to add them which is obviously a no-go. Wife's 34 and healthy with two kids - no meds, no conditions. I also emailed him plans and rates and he called me back an hour before the appointed time - wanted me to go over everything.

We have an appointment to meet tomorrow morning at 9am. I'm not gonna go over all the details with them then he's supposed to turn around and explain it all to his wife? Nope. The best I could have done was schedule to time to call the wife but we all know how that goes sometimes. Huband's paying - wife picks the plan. It's basically closed - he knows I'm coming over to take an app and after leaving the appointment time completely open it was him who suggested we meet tomorrow. Very solid.

Now I'm not retarded - I won't be closing every Vimo lead I get. I obviously had a horseshoe up my ass today but there's no way on earth you're closing less than 1 out of 4. I'm on this like white on rice. Oh, and I didn't even max out the bid and still got two calls. Got a buddy in MI who's steadily closing 1 out of 3.

VERY nice to have these be exclusive. I can let people off the phone to catch a breath and not worry about them getting pummeled.

My goals and my lead rant

2007-11-28T07:17:00.000-05:00

My goals the next year have remained unchanged - I want to do 100% local advertising including sponsoring all available local events. Why don't I just do that now? Cash flow. Although I made good money now, after taxes, business and personal expenses it's not enough. I need to save up money.

I'm also extremely interested in the Vimo live transfer leads. As stated, I am absolutely not against buying leads. I'm against buying junk leads. The quality of internet leads sucked to a point with me where I was literally spending half my day calling people over and over just to write modest business. Then call centers spung up and I was now competeting with unethical slam artists.

I used to call 10 leads and have 4 to 5 pick up the phone. Then I normally was only sharing that lead with a discount rep and Mega agent. I was doing quit well, always closed 1 out of 10 and was happy to pay around $8 a pop. Then most lead companies either jacked the rates, went under (two good source I used simply said forget it when Google re-configured rates for PPC and 1st place placement) and most went to affliate programs.

SO WHAT DID INTERNET LEADS USED TO BE LIKE?

I attached the last month I had with internet leads which for me was July of 2006 - about a year and a half ago (before it all went into the crapper.)

Received 46 leads
Spoke with 27
Wrote 10

That's 58% answered and I closed one out of every 2.7 people I spoke with. I closed one out of every 4.6 leads received. What you don't see is volume. You didn't need it (and couldn't get it anyway) since they are all people actually searching for health insurance. Now you could get 46 leads and be luck to speak to 4 people. Maybe you have 2 or 3 deals - maybe you have none.

The problem with the companies that went to affiliates is they continued to charge the same rates even though quality was greatly diminished as well as their costs. What's a spam generated lead worth? About $3 to $4. The only lead worth $8 is a key word generated lead - meaning the client hopped on the net and typed in "health insurance quotes." How much is a lead worth where the prospect doesn't know or want agent contact? Next to nothing - around $1 to $2.

Affiliates have landing sites that tout "instant online quotes." Lead companies should not allow that. All landing sites should state in some way that agents will contact them. And lastly, agents should not put up with it. If you're spending over $7 for leads where the client has no idea you're calling and they're not key work driven you should write an email to that company and quit. How anyone is paying $7 to $8 per lead to have 5% or even 10% of the people pick up the phone is beyond me. All I can say is you're not very business savvy.

The Vimo live transfer has my interest peaked because I'm seeing the exact same results I used to have on my old lead system.

Forgot to mention...

2007-11-27T16:53:00.000-05:00

For the Vimo live transfers, when your phone rings it's a Vimo rep on the other line - not the client. The Vimo rep gives you the basics - age and situation. You then determine if it's "pass or play."

I re-activated my Vimo today and forgot to pause my account - I don't want any leads yet since I'm 4 days behind on calling my telemarketed leads. But I just got a call from Vimo - rep told me he had a lady on the phone who's son just got dropped from her plan and she wantes him covered immediately.

For the internet lead people

2007-11-27T14:58:00.000-05:00

I was on the phone with on of my agent friends in Michigan and he was going on and on about the Vimo live transfer leads - says he's closing 1 out of 4. I've known this guy for almost four years and he only sells off internet leads and only selling online - very successfully I might add. He's constantly looking for and testing new lead sources.

Vimo Live Transfer
Vimo advertises all over the place and when prospects call in they talk to a Vimo rep who then screens then for health and makes sure they want to speak with an agent. The call then goes to an agent.

Agents bid for the price so obviously the price is set by "the market" or agents. I like that a lot. By definition if they were junk or "un-closable" then over a short period of time the program would be defunct.

Right now bids are in the $35 range but that doesn't mean you have to bid that much to get a call. Agent with the highest bid simple get called first. If they don't answer it goes to the second highest bidder. If you bid on "off times" like nights or weekends you can get a good deal.

But let's take $35 as a cost point. First of all, this is an exclusive health-qualified lead (If they don't health qualify it's credited.) So the question is how much do you pay to speak to someone. And actually, the question is how much do you pay to speak with someone who WANTS to speak with an agent?

Let's say the best lead sources have a 20% answer rate. So 20 leads results in 4 people picking up the phone. At $7 per lead right there is $35 to speak to someone. And out of those 4 people who answer how many wanted to speak to an agent? None to 2. Now you're at $70 or more to speak with someone who actually wants to talk to you.

If you don't understand ROI you probably would never consider a lead for $35. If you don't have fantastic closing skills you might not want to give this a shot either. If you think this might be for you then you need to track your closing percentage of people you actually speak to.

Say you close 1 out of 30 shared leads but only talk to 6 out of those 30. In that case you would have paid $210 for 6 Vimo transfers. However, at $7 a pop you spent the exact same amount. It's kinda "don't let the math fool you."

The beauty of this to me is not having to rummage through 30 leads to find 6 people who actually want to talk to you. On some of the worse sources now only 10% are picking up the phone. Heck - that's 3 people out of 30. At $7 for 30 leads you've just spent $210 - you just don't have to scour through 30 leads.

This would only be a system for people with proven closing ability and obviously great phone skills. You also need some cake - they debit your card for ever $100 in charges. So if you want 4 leads per day you're talking about $100+ per day.

Can you get killed? Well, getting killed would be making nothing. So at $700 average commission and $35 per transfer that's 20 leads and no sales. If you can't close people who are pre-screened and and waiting on hold to talk to you then you need another career.

This is inticing to me. I'm not against internet leads at all. I'm against calling junk. If quality had not sunken so drastically I would have never shut off my leads in the first place.

I think the math will still mess with a lot of agent's heads. I think most agens would be happy to pay $2 a lead and close 1 out of 50 but wouldn't pay $20 a lead to close 1 out of 5. Sticker shock gets to you.

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Getting ready for the next phase

2007-11-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

I'm getting the money together for the next phase of my plans which will entail 100% local marketing. I will obviously keep the telemarketed leads as long as they come in but if the past is a predictor of the future I have a few months with my marketers before they flake. It certainly beats having them for a few weeks before they flake on the old 1099 system. When and if my marketers quit I will not replace them.

To be honest, I am burt to the crisp on bugging people. It's not in my nature to pester people and a source of anxiety when I make my calls. The good obviously outweighs the bad and helping people is absoutely worth "bothering" people for 20 seconds on the phone. At least I let people off the hook quickly.

My original theory was there's enough local people interested in changing their health insurance situation to make a great living. I still believe that. All the local State Farm, Allstate and Nationwide offices can't be wrong. I'm friends now with a local agency owner who I met through my chamber. About 90% of his clients come to his office just from his local presence and referrals although he admitted it took years to accomplish that. I have the time - ain't going anywhere.

I will be doing a lot of events after the new year. Basically, if an event allows me to rent table/booth space then I'm there. This is the kind of stuff I truely enjoy anyway. I am not too well set up to sit in my office making calls. It's unbelievable boring to me. I'm a "out and about guy" which is why I did a lot of B to B and why I'm back to meeting most of my clients.

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