Hey all,
Been in the industry since last September with FFL selling primarily FEX and some MP. Since the very beginning, it's been very tight for me paying my bills while trying to spend 3-5k/month on leads and dialing 10-15 hours per week and the few months that I have written 15-25k have resulted in some serious chargebacks (got about 10k debt now accrued over the past month and a half that forced me to have to get a full time 9-5 job).
This has been extremely frustrating as all of these chargebacks were some of my best clients (multiple sits, both husband and wife there or parent/child) on $1,500-2,500 policies that I thought were well placed/fit within the budget (most of them with Americo interestingly). Issued about 40k over the past 2-3 months that resulted in close to 19k of business falling off the books. Obviously my product placement/tying down the policies could get a lot better, but these all fell within the clients' budgets at the time.
Is this just par for the course in this niche (FEX and 20 times sold over FFL internet leads)? Felt like I've just been spinning my wheels the past 9 months and when I have successfully grinded out some good numbers it just ended in massive chargebacks that felt largely out of my control (obviously there's more that I could've done, I take full responsibility for that - just discouraged and wondering if this is the norm). Also, even those months that I have put up 20k plus of issue paid business, it felt like the entire model/system was sort of harassing clients 'I'm the local guy required to drop this off, I have to come out there,' jamming the appointment down their throat and multiple agents in the same area all calling prospects 15 plus times in a day and literally hundreds of times over multiple months. No disrespect to anyone but it honestly felt like a bunch of bottom feeder sharks in bloody waters all trying to get tiny little fish for $30-60/month.
I've been conflicted because I had tried to follow the FFL model to the best of my ability which resulted in this chargeback situation while I see all these ppl issuing 20-60k/month consistently. My intuition has told me from the very very beginning back in September that there is a much better way to do this business where I can work smarter rather than harder (sniper approach rather than shotgun). Aka targeting middle/higher income younger clients with IUL's, annuities, LTC and CV WL policies for debt free life, RE or business financing that would result in fewer chargebacks, much higher average commission, and most likely less market saturation as barrier to entry is a lot higher.
I understand digital marketing and FB ads after having spent a few thousand dollars on previous businesses before insurance, going through multiple biz/marketing coaching programs and currently working for a company that teaches people how to start marketing agencies - so I know I can figure out my own lead generation - I just never went all in with that b/c I didn't have the money (in retrospect I can see that I actually did) or full product knowledge to be able to effectively market.
Assuming others here will have some valuable thoughts on this all and how I might be able to move forward best, just looking for some potential feedback from others within the industry outside of the echo chamber I've been in (spend more money, make more dials, run more appointments, recruit 10 people for only 1 of them to stay long term, don't try to do your own marketing, etc.) Any thoughts appreciated.
Been in the industry since last September with FFL selling primarily FEX and some MP. Since the very beginning, it's been very tight for me paying my bills while trying to spend 3-5k/month on leads and dialing 10-15 hours per week and the few months that I have written 15-25k have resulted in some serious chargebacks (got about 10k debt now accrued over the past month and a half that forced me to have to get a full time 9-5 job).
This has been extremely frustrating as all of these chargebacks were some of my best clients (multiple sits, both husband and wife there or parent/child) on $1,500-2,500 policies that I thought were well placed/fit within the budget (most of them with Americo interestingly). Issued about 40k over the past 2-3 months that resulted in close to 19k of business falling off the books. Obviously my product placement/tying down the policies could get a lot better, but these all fell within the clients' budgets at the time.
Is this just par for the course in this niche (FEX and 20 times sold over FFL internet leads)? Felt like I've just been spinning my wheels the past 9 months and when I have successfully grinded out some good numbers it just ended in massive chargebacks that felt largely out of my control (obviously there's more that I could've done, I take full responsibility for that - just discouraged and wondering if this is the norm). Also, even those months that I have put up 20k plus of issue paid business, it felt like the entire model/system was sort of harassing clients 'I'm the local guy required to drop this off, I have to come out there,' jamming the appointment down their throat and multiple agents in the same area all calling prospects 15 plus times in a day and literally hundreds of times over multiple months. No disrespect to anyone but it honestly felt like a bunch of bottom feeder sharks in bloody waters all trying to get tiny little fish for $30-60/month.
I've been conflicted because I had tried to follow the FFL model to the best of my ability which resulted in this chargeback situation while I see all these ppl issuing 20-60k/month consistently. My intuition has told me from the very very beginning back in September that there is a much better way to do this business where I can work smarter rather than harder (sniper approach rather than shotgun). Aka targeting middle/higher income younger clients with IUL's, annuities, LTC and CV WL policies for debt free life, RE or business financing that would result in fewer chargebacks, much higher average commission, and most likely less market saturation as barrier to entry is a lot higher.
I understand digital marketing and FB ads after having spent a few thousand dollars on previous businesses before insurance, going through multiple biz/marketing coaching programs and currently working for a company that teaches people how to start marketing agencies - so I know I can figure out my own lead generation - I just never went all in with that b/c I didn't have the money (in retrospect I can see that I actually did) or full product knowledge to be able to effectively market.
Assuming others here will have some valuable thoughts on this all and how I might be able to move forward best, just looking for some potential feedback from others within the industry outside of the echo chamber I've been in (spend more money, make more dials, run more appointments, recruit 10 people for only 1 of them to stay long term, don't try to do your own marketing, etc.) Any thoughts appreciated.
