Looking to Move into Insurance....multiple Roadblocks,

[mcompton1973]

First, I'm typing this on my cell phone, please be forgiving of spelling and grammar. I can not seem to be able to run the spell check from my phone.

I am looking at the insurance/financial services field...again. I was in the mortgage industry back when you could say that and not need to hide tour face in shame. When I transitioned out of that, I considered insurance or financial planning.

I know that I would be great at the sales/educating clients/service side of this industry. Here are my challenges....

1. Credit. I have a ton of really good excuses on why my credit is bad (lost house in a fire while under insured, income cut in half after mortgage industry collapse etc) but I also know part of it is just me.

2. No savings. I know that usually this is a 'live off of savings for a while to get started' kind of career move.

3. Fairly high monthly budget. It takes me about 5k in my pocket each month to cover the bills. In some parts of the country it's not much, but in Oklahoma its pretty high.

4. No warm market. I moved to rural Oklahoma about a year ago. I know very few people and have no family in area other than wife and kid.

5. I'm not a great networker. I am naturally a better farmer than Hunter. I CAN hunt, It's just not my natural comfort zone.

What I have going for me is (and I'm not saying this to brag...) that I'm well above average intelligence and I have a really good memory for learning stuff. I'm always the product knowledge expert wherever I go. I also WANT to be in this industry. I keep coming back to it. I'm a good teacher, good at consultative sales, and I just know this field is right in my wheelhouse.

In my limited knowledge of the industry, it seems like the only real way I would get hired and could make it work would be to do something like WFG or HBW where my background isn't as scrutinized (credit) and I could work part time. I know that this path doesn't work usually, but maybe?

Is there another way? Some other path I am missing? Or is this really just not the right industry?

Thoughts?

 

[DHK]

Your post reminds me a lot of me.

Let me describe what your problem will be. John Savage (a big-time producer who died in 1993) said this:

"Knowledge of the product never was and never will be worth more than 5% (of your sale). Knowledge of people... 95%. And if you ain't got that straight... you've got nothing straight."

While you need to know 100% of that 5%... you need to be able to relate to people in a way that builds trust. For some people, that's intuitive... and others have to work at it.

For credit... as long as you can get a life insurance license... that's half the battle. Do you have a life insurance license? If so, then you just need to find a place or a contract that will give you a great start with some decent training. Don't worry about getting securities licenses yet. But if that comes up, credit could be a more serious issue at that time.

Some of the "top firms" might pause at bringing you on board - New York Life, MassMutual, Guardian, and other career agencies might require a lot more explanation about your credit, and still might not let you join their agency. There are others out there.

In my opinion, it's actually GOOD that you don't have a warm market. That means that you'll have to work harder up front to find people interested in the work you do. Search the forum for door-to-door and cold-calling strategies and scripts. There's lots here.

Your other weakness... will be your $5,000 monthly nut. It might take you a couple of months before you start seeing some income... so this might be an issue.


What you need... is a lot of "pre-training" before you enter the field. In essence, you can't afford to start off not knowing your craft. You need good training from day 1, because you can't afford to get too bloodied up in battle and not have a sure path to rely on for very long.

I often recommend the Insurance Pro Shop Member's Only site for only $25/month. There are online training videos that I've found to be some of the highest quality training I've ever received. I'd start there before "diving in" to the industry.

As for the WFG/HBW and other "MLMs" out there... you can get better contracts with some of the folks on here that'll start you around 75%+ (instead of 25% with those places). Remember at WFG/HBW, you can't increase your personal compensation without recruiting... and I think that's too big of a distraction for anyone in this business. Either be a consultant, or be a recruiter... but don't try to be both.

 

[mcompton1973]

Thanks, I'll check out some of those resources later today. I understand that a small percentage of the business is product knowledge. I've been involved in sales for the last 20 years with a military background before that. My problem is that I keep taking sales jobs, and not finding a long term career.that's what keeps leading me back to insurance. The idea of building a book and having a career and not just a job.

 

[johnnyhodges]

Your right you got a lot of valid reasons / excuses for not doing it, but what makes you really want to do this. Trust me you gotta really want this to be your livelihood to be good enough to make a living. Right now you need 60k per year to just maintain. You may / will have to include some expenses right out the gate to start and they add up. The best less expensive way was already stated, go the life insurance route, I would add get your health insurance license and certify on the marketplace and medicare. Some carriers will pay for your AHIP classes. The senior market may be a softer start.

Get some life appointments and knock on some doors and see how it feels to you, try to get a policy issued and cash a check or two, and build from there. Just know insurance is a hard (but rewarding) paycheck, it's a get rich slow endeavor. Be thick skinned, you will get more no than yes. You will run into a lot of issues you gotta go through to learn. Get as much training as you can before you start, with a focus on marketing. Thats the biggest issue I see you might have is building a network of different PPB (P=People, P=Places, B=Business) to draw from. It's best to have that circle to network in whether it's the people you know saying "... hey you know mcompton1973 is in insurance..." or that place you go to a lot and people see you there regularly and may let you do some advertising or a business or business people groups like a chamber of commerce or rotary club. Good luck, just make sure you have a couple months bill money set aside, and hit em' hard.

 

[blue_wynd]

May I suggest doing P & C insurance? Think this field will fit you better. You can add life later if you want.

 

[Gooner]

May I suggest doing P & C insurance? Think this field will fit you better. You can add life later if you want.

Curious why you'd recommend P&C to someone who's not a good networker/hunter. Atleast with life insurance, depending on your specialty, you can buy leads...yes I know that you can do that in the P&C world too, but having done both...life insurance is easy as pie.

 

[MaryDallas]

I've been in insurance for decades: my credit was better pre-insurance primarily because of problems getting paid by insurance companies. Insurance companies are not really all that picky about credit. I've never had a problem getting appointed. I got into insurance 'thinking' about the stability ... that is laughable in itself. A lot of it is smoke and mirrors. Don't let the insurance industry intimidate you. Believe me, if you want them; they want you. You have more to offer them than they do you.

 

[pfg1]

Curious why you'd recommend P&C to someone who's not a good networker/hunter. Atleast with life insurance, depending on your specialty, you can buy leads...yes I know that you can do that in the P&C world too, but having done both...life insurance is easy as pie.

I don't do P&C, but a buddy of mine just went to work for Allstate office and he's getting salary plus commission. He works leads they give him, and obviously drums up his own. For him being new in the business, its more of a "job", and right now pays him like a job would. Of course getting $60k as a green ins agent probably unheard of, but I have no idea how P&C agencies pay.

Maybe that is why he suggested it?

 

[Integrus Financial]

I think it takes a lot of guts to pose your initial question to the group! From what I have gathered, you could get through any licensing process easily, so that's not a concern. However, jumping from an income of $0 to $5,000 per month is not an easy task and requires a great deal of pre-planning.

Is there any reason why you couldn't work/build your insurance business on a part time basis? I'm not suggesting one of the mlm organizations because I'm not sure you can own your book of business with them and the starting commission rates can be low.

I think you can find a way to make this happen as we have been able to help others in the same situation in the past. If you want it to be successful, then it will work. There must be a focus on the client and all good things will come!

I'd be happy to discuss opportunities if you would like.

Good Luck!

 

[audreykolb]

I don't know about the other companies that resemble MLMs, but I work with WFG and we do own our own book of business. Working with a company such as ours also gives discounts on the licensing/pre-licensing training that working on your own does not afford you. Yes, the commissions are lower, but we are also not obligated to fill quotas as you would working with most other companies, so there's certainly give and take on the advantages.