IMHO, You Don't Deserve 120%

[SPUR CITY]

Ok, time for me to put in my 2 cents about STREET... and this is IMHO A new agent who has the ability to go into an office to learn and be trained, mentored, hand held with ride-alongs, should ALWAYS be at a MUCH lower level than Street! The education that I received while learning to sell mortgage protection life insurance while at a 60% contract and paying full price $30 for leads was priceless. Going into that office 5 days a week for years is what prepared me for today. That education prepared me for Final Expense. With that being said, new agents that come into FE with NONE or LITTLE insurance sales experience should NEVER get street level, even if they are able to get on the weekly training calls and get to study scripts and get to ride with an agent from the IMO. New agents should ALWAYS have to pay their dues, after all, THE UPLINES are taking RISK on losing a lot of money if the agent writes bad business and walks away! My favorite, Unbiased model is the one that Reardon has... Start agents around 80% while hand holding, ride alongs, daily phone calls, weekly/regular meetings or web conferences... Train them... One agent at a time! Give them a goal and then once they hit that number, move them up to Street.... As an Independent 2 YEARS AGO, my contract level was 110% and I was advanced 6 months... that was MORE than I was worth and I was VERY happy with that! For those of you that are shopping around for contracts, maybe you need to ask yourself, "IMHO, what am I worth?" AGENTS wanting a 120%-130% contract with out the business that is WORTHY of such a contract level, kinda disgust me... Get your LAZY ass off the computer and go out and sell something! Most of the agents that come to the forums DO NOT HAVE THE WORK ETHIC to even write $50,000 a year in AP and are trying to figure out how to get a RAISE so they can do even LESS work.... IMHO I Respect those with a STRONG work ethic! 1. BBOMAN who will drive 8-10 hours and pretty much anywhere 2. Spurcity who is willing to fly all over the country 3. Thad.sipple who is willing to give FREE leads and a 100 Point Contract to ANY FE agent To WORK and CREATE A FUTURE ALL 3 started at the BOTTOM and worked their way up the hard way! RESPECT EARNED THROUGH ACTION IMHO

Speaking of flying...after our Alabama trip Ill be flying to New Jerzy to help a new agent get rolling. Ill be working HIS leads in HIS backyard.

 

[Gooner]

Alright...I'm blushing

Seriously though, it is not just insurance agents that are lazy...it is the 90-95% of our country. Most people never "get it".

Same could be said of Real Estate agents, car salesman etc...however, in all of those professions they start out at the same pay rate, which I believe was Doug's initial point.

 

[marc82much]

I've never sold a single FE policy, but I think it is the carrier who decides what you are worth. If I can find company that offers me a 120% contract, should I say no, I am not worthy?

 

[Tater_Salad]

IMHO,that was nothing more than a long winded plug for your guys at 360.........

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I started at low assigned commissions... Being taken advantage of is not what made me successful. I would have loved to have had bigger contracts, honestly I think higher comp may be incentivizing to agents to work harder and not feel so overwhelmed and anxious when working on small spreads between cost and commission.

Let's be honest 70-90% of all agents who enter FE fail, and most are Epic Fails. So the old ways are not necessarily working. These mentors and mini up lines do not have a very high success rate in developing successful agents, but they still are collecting overrides through the whole process. They should have to return their overrides if the agent fails.

I don't understand the school of thought that you should be deprived of compensation because you are new. That's like your grandpa being mad because you rode the bus to school when he had to walk.

I am pro agent, my years at EFES where I got to witness "know nothing mentors" making overrides from agents because they live in a certain state, has left a distain for *** recruiters that goes bone deep with me. New agents have a better chance of beating Ebola in Africa, than learning FE from some of these "FE experts."

I didn't get in this business to build an agency. I am a producer, and that has shaped my view of this issue. Agents are the talent and deserve the compensation. Insurance companies and IMO's want to keep them ignorant and loyal. Many times through the tactic of guilt! They make the agent feel bad for wanting to improve their quality of life.

 

[John Galt]

There are always exceptions. You and Matt are examples of the exceptions. But you guys "get it". Most do not ever get it and even for the ones that do it normally takes time to get it.

I agree with your assesment of yourself. But, again, you are an exception.

Now, that's all the kindness you will get from me for a while.

Aww man, I'm blushing now, someone noticed I actually do produce lol

 

[FEX Quotes]

Speaking of flying...after our Alabama trip Ill be flying to New Jerzy to help a new agent get rolling. Ill be working HIS leads in HIS backyard.

...Then getting fat and drunk at FEXQuotes HQ

 

[pcbinsurance]

I bet over 95% of those who have sold insurance for more than 5 years have been on low contracts when they started.

Kudos to the transparent ones who offer street level to newbies. Just because I had low contracts to start doesn't mean others should. Higher contracts lessen the fail rate by not forcing agents to do double the work for the same pay.
That said, you could give 150% to new agents and 75% would still fail.

 

[John Galt]

I bet over 95% of those who have sold insurance for more than 5 years have been on low contracts when they started.

Kudos to the transparent ones who offer street level to newbies. Just because I had low contracts to start doesn't mean others should. Higher contracts lessen the fail rate by not forcing agents to do double the work for the same pay.
That said, you could give 150% to new agents and 75% would still fail.

I agree, low contracts IMHO are The reason so many new agents do fail, it's hard when you are new, I started at 50% and I would never do that to an agent, just wrong.

 

[slagzone]

Ok, time for me to put in my 2 cents about STREET... and this is IMHO

A new agent who has the ability to go into an office to learn and be trained, mentored, hand held with ride-alongs, should ALWAYS be at a MUCH lower level than Street!

The education that I received while learning to sell mortgage protection life insurance while at a 60% contract and paying full price $30 for leads was priceless. Going into that office 5 days a week for years is what prepared me for today. That education prepared me for Final Expense.

With that being said, new agents that come into FE with NONE or LITTLE insurance sales experience should NEVER get street level, even if they are able to get on the weekly training calls and get to study scripts and get to ride with an agent from the IMO.

New agents should ALWAYS have to pay their dues, after all, THE UPLINES are taking RISK on losing a lot of money if the agent writes bad business and walks away!

My favorite, Unbiased model is the one that Reardon has...

Start agents around 80% while hand holding, ride alongs, daily phone calls, weekly/regular meetings or web conferences... Train them... One agent at a time! Give them a goal and then once they hit that number, move them up to Street....

As an Independent 2 YEARS AGO, my contract level was 110% and I was advanced 6 months... that was MORE than I was worth and I was VERY happy with that!

For those of you that are shopping around for contracts, maybe you need to ask yourself, "IMHO, what am I worth?"

AGENTS wanting a 120%-130% contract with out the business that is WORTHY of such a contract level, kinda disgust me... Get your LAZY ass off the computer and go out and sell something!

Most of the agents that come to the forums DO NOT HAVE THE WORK ETHIC to even write $50,000 a year in AP and are trying to figure out how to get a RAISE so they can do even LESS work....

IMHO

I Respect those with a STRONG work ethic!

1. BBOMAN who will drive 8-10 hours and pretty much anywhere

2. Spurcity who is willing to fly all over the country

3. Thad.sipple who is willing to give FREE leads and a 100 Point Contract to ANY FE agent

To WORK and CREATE A FUTURE

ALL 3 started at the BOTTOM and worked their way up the hard way!

RESPECT EARNED THROUGH ACTION

IMHO

With your logic any athlete that play's pro sports today shouldn't make the millions of dollars they make today because the athletes back in the 60's 70's and 80's didn't make millions of dollars.