Hiring an Appointment Setter. Questions?

GoForBroker

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What kind of script would I have them use? They do not work for my company so they could not say they are calling from such and such. Could they say calling on the behalf or something like that. Companies do this so I know its legal but I just want to hire a couple of college/part timers to free up more time for me to be out trying to sell. Plus I am not getting as many calls in as I need because of my part time job taking most of my day time calling hours. They would be paid per appointments set and nothing more. I am just lost on what kind of script to use.
 
To be perfectly honest I think you're throwing your money away if you think you're going to have success with this. You might want to go back to the drawing board and come up with a different marketing plan.
 
I appreciate that but I must disagree. I would at least like to give it a shot. The money out is not a lot at all. I am only looking for 10-15 appointments a month to start and I think this is easily done with the right person and script. If it fails I will ditch it. With my current scripts I do not go in depth about anything, its a simple question about whether they are happy with their current benefits or who they have. Then I try and set an appointment or get a renew date or an email to send more information. I am being told just to get in the door by everybody so that is what I am trying to do. It is very hard to do and I know this. Any question by the employer is simply responded by, that's why I need an appointment in person, every case is different.

What other types of marketing do you suggest? The only way to get groups seems to be walking in and hoping the right person is there or cold calling them. I am not fond of either approach but I need appointments. My options right now seem to be do it myself, outsource it to appointment setters or get out of the business. I am not seeing the other options here although I wish I could. Everything beyond the old timer prospecting is fun to me. I have the car but I need the tires.
 
Medicare Plan Solutions knows of what he speaks.

You said "my part time job taking most of my day time calling hours". That sounds like more of a full time job.

In your second post you said, " I am being told just to get in the door by everybody". That's what "they" tell all new agents. I have found that to be a waste of time unless some attempt is made to qualify them before setting the appointment.

Before I will set an appointment I find out the name of their current company, how much they are paying, I tell them exactly what the premium will be if they take a policy with me and I ask some general health questions to help me determine whether or not I want to continue talking to them and or set an appointment. I work the senior market selling Med Supps.

Regarding what to have them say, it is going to be difficult for you to "train" them if you yourself don't know how to do it successfully. I strongly recommend that agents learn to be successful using the phone first. Only then will they be able to guide someone else to do it successfully.

Simply handing them a "script" isn't going to do it. Using the phone successfully is a learned, well practiced art. People have to be taught to do it correctly.
 
What other types of marketing do you suggest? The only way to get groups seems to be walking in and hoping the right person is there or cold calling them. I am not fond of either approach but I need appointments. My options right now seem to be do it myself, outsource it to appointment setters or get out of the business.

I suggest doing it yourself. It sounds like you may be caught up in an Aflac type situation and that could be a part of the problem. The other part is that you think you can outsource it to appointment setters, and as Frank so politely pointed out, it's extremely difficult to train someone to do something you don't know how to do yourself. If you're not doing this full-time, odds are you don't know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, any money, time, and energy invested in hiring, training, and supporting a telemarketer will likely only result in brief and inconsistent success at best.

If you want to sell insurance for a living you probably need to find a different product, you definitely need different managers, and you probably need to save up some money so you can focus on this full-time so that you can learn what you're doing. What made you interested in selling insurance?
 
I appreciate that but I must disagree. I would at least like to give it a shot. The money out is not a lot at all. I am only looking for 10-15 appointments a month to start and I think this is easily done with the right person and script. If it fails I will ditch it. With my current scripts I do not go in depth about anything, its a simple question about whether they are happy with their current benefits or who they have. Then I try and set an appointment or get a renew date or an email to send more information. I am being told just to get in the door by everybody so that is what I am trying to do. It is very hard to do and I know this. Any question by the employer is simply responded by, that's why I need an appointment in person, every case is different.

What other types of marketing do you suggest? The only way to get groups seems to be walking in and hoping the right person is there or cold calling them. I am not fond of either approach but I need appointments. My options right now seem to be do it myself, outsource it to appointment setters or get out of the business. I am not seeing the other options here although I wish I could. Everything beyond the old timer prospecting is fun to me. I have the car but I need the tires.

Either follow "their" advice or get out of the business. While normally I respect Frank a lot, he is incorrect this time. Prospecting for groups is different than prospecting for med supps. You just need to cold call and cold walk with the intention of getting a census and/or X-date. Hiring a telemarketer only adds another step and expense to this process. You are brand new and odds are everyone can tell it, its going to be difficult.

Just keep walking in doors and digging for pain when you can talk to the decision maker, or at least the group administrator. Try to find out what they are unhappy with about their current plan and see how you can improve their situation. You should set goals for how many census forms you are going to collect a day, and how many X-dates you are going to collect.
 
All good points. I will keep digging on my own for now. I have some more phone training coming up next week. Just seems the group market is so over ran and it is starting to seem like a waste of time calling people for hours and no returns. Then when you finally do get a group you get like half of 25 percent of the AP up front and then have to wait 8 months to get the other small half. These people do not want to be called so to me its starting off on the wrong foot before they even know my name. I was told early on on this forum what I was doing was not the best idea and now I see that. We will see what happens but I have another company that does final expense that I am highly considering. The other option is to get back into selling what I know and saving more money for a possible run in the future.
 
No one wants to hear from an agent. Until they need them. Go ahead and accept that now. Just be glad you're not in life, by the time they need you for life insurance, its usually too late.
 
Either follow "their" advice or get out of the business. While normally I respect Frank a lot, he is incorrect this time. Prospecting for groups is different than prospecting for med supps.

My bad, I read his post to quickly and missed that. Sometimes the "hurrier I go the behinder I get".
 
No one wants to hear from an agent. Until they need them. Go ahead and accept that now. Just be glad you're not in life, by the time they need you for life insurance, its usually too late.


Really when I call people say, Eric sell me some life insurance.

Seriously though life is not hard to sell. I love it and it PAYS!
 
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