Becoming an Independent Insurance Agent

Hi, this is my first post. WOW! An awesome amount of great information here. I have been in Real Estate and Mortgage sales for over 20 years, operating my own home-based business the last 15 years. Question: I am thinking of getting my Health (California) and Life Insurance licenses to start with. I interviewed with: New England Fincl (a Metlife subsidiary) and Insphere Insurance Solutions. Problem: I signed-on with Insphere before doing my due-diligence and went to some 'scam reporting sites' and found out that they might be big fat liars! Not really sure, as I am new to insurance industry? I already signed their online contracts but havent gotten my license, gone through any training yet or sold a thing (ie. havent even started my first day yet). So, am I 'bound' by them or can I back out now? Secondly, has anyone heard anything good/bad/indifferent about them. The Health Choice One option looks GREAT to me. I have been 'independent' for years doing Mortgages/Real Estate and that appeals to me. I'm just concerned that I am 'locked in' with Insphere, even though I havnt even started yet? I'm NOT going to quity my (albeit low) salary job and go to work for a GA or what have you , until I hear some more feedback from you professionals! Thanks in advance, sorry for the long post.
 
Re:Selling Supplemental Insurance

I've been offered a position with Aflac and Colonial selling to small and medium businesses. In this economy, is selling supplemental insurance a good choice? Thanks, Chris B.
 
Re: Selling Supplemental Insurance

I've been offered a position with Aflac and Colonial selling to small and medium businesses. In this economy, is selling supplemental insurance a good choice? Thanks, Chris B.

I have seen more positive response to supplemental products lately in my line. My opinion is that it is because of the uncertainty and confusion of our medical insurance world. The "cash in hand" products seem to make sense and maybe i just feel a little more confident saying that I at least know if you have cancer...etc.... that this will pay you and not go thru the government or even the doctors.....
 
Hi, this is my first post. WOW! An awesome amount of great information here. I have been in Real Estate and Mortgage sales for over 20 years, operating my own home-based business the last 15 years. Question: I am thinking of getting my Health (California) and Life Insurance licenses to start with. I interviewed with: New England Fincl (a Metlife subsidiary) and Insphere Insurance Solutions. Problem: I signed-on with Insphere before doing my due-diligence and went to some 'scam reporting sites' and found out that they might be big fat liars! Not really sure, as I am new to insurance industry? I already signed their online contracts but havent gotten my license, gone through any training yet or sold a thing (ie. havent even started my first day yet). So, am I 'bound' by them or can I back out now? Secondly, has anyone heard anything good/bad/indifferent about them. The Health Choice One option looks GREAT to me. I have been 'independent' for years doing Mortgages/Real Estate and that appeals to me. I'm just concerned that I am 'locked in' with Insphere, even though I havnt even started yet? I'm NOT going to quity my (albeit low) salary job and go to work for a GA or what have you , until I hear some more feedback from you professionals! Thanks in advance, sorry for the long post.

What do the termination clauses in the contract say?
 
It is your insurance company appointments with assigned commissions that lock you in not a boiler plate service agreement you sign with a captive brokerage.
 
I've been a health insurance agent for about 3 months now. Lately, I've been struggling with the sales.
My company is not giving enough leads and the few I get, they simply are not interested.

Furthermore, I bought leads through netquote, hoping to find new business, but I couldn't really close those from netquote. In fact, I close more sales with my company's leads than netquote, and these are shared among the agents in my office. Sometimes, I think it's was the crappy zip codes where I was getting these netquote leads. Not to mention how expensive they are.

Anyway, I've been trying to other alternatives to attract clients...I created a personal website; I did some advertisement in facebook and I did weblisting in the search engines. Of course, since I'm just starting out, I didn't really spend much, about $100 spent on advertisement. However, it didn't really work. No one called from my website or the facebook ads.

So I find myself a little desperate now, so I had some street signs made. I was thinking I put some in the light poles, stop signs, or in the ground. I was wondering if anybody has tried that? I haven't done yet because I'm not really sure if I should put them in the first place. Also, I'm don't know if I could get fined for that. However, I see people putting these street signs here in Miami, Florida. That's why I thought about putting up some in order to get some business.

Also, what other ways do you recommend me to attract more business to me? I'm growing tired and becoming a little frustrated.

Thanks for the input
 
You are faced with the dilemma that we all try to overcome which is to achieve valuable marketing results without breaking the bank. Back in the days passing out flyers and cold-calling was the thing. Now, it's important to have a good website that is "search engine-friendly". If you can achieve this, you will have overcome one major obstacle in order to be successful.
 
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