I've been a work from home health insurance agent for over four years and this is my daily log detailing all the fun and bull involved in being an independent agent. My goal is to build a strong community presence and show other agents that the key to this business is generating your own leads.
I have started an association to train, support and unite independent health agents. See my link on the right.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
