P&C Cold Calls: Time of Day

[ljneal]

I am newly licensed as an independent broker. The other agent in my office bought his book of business and relies 100% on referrals... he cant tell me much about his cold calling experiences, although he has told me ONLY CALL AFTER 5:00.

Can some of you who have been in my shoes share your opinions on his advice? What else do I do all day... if I dont have quotes I feel like I should be dialing but he tells me I will just be burning my lists and wasting my time.

Thanks in advance for any responses...

 

[Verbgravy]

Try calling at different times of the day and see where you have the most success. I think a lot of it depends on what product you're calling on. I'd probably call on med supp morning or early afternoon, but P&C I might only call early evening. Identify who your target client is and call when they are most likely to talk with you. Sounds easy on paper, lol.

 

[insurance1822]

Back in my early days when I worked leads for a captive their telemarketers had the most success between 9-11 in the morning & 3-7 in the afternoon (more in the 5-7 block.) If you're cold calling...man...please ask yourself why.

 

[Josh]

Activity is almost always going to be better than inactivity.

Typically reaching homeowners is going to be better evenings and Saturday's than during the day, but plenty of people are also home during the day. All theorycrafting aside, the only way for you to know how it will work for you is if you actually do it. Bang it out for a few hours at a time a few days a week and see what happens. I'd suspect you'll find better success 6:30-8:30 or so (that's what I experienced with aged internet leads calling for life insurance), but again, there are people home during the day.

 

[djs]

Its not just about how many people you reach, its about how many people you have a conversation with (and utimately convert to a sale).

Perhaps more people will answer their phone in the evening but those same people tend to have very hectic lives, on their way out the door with the kids to soccer/dance/swim/PTA/Bowling/gymnastics/baseball/football/cheerleading or whatever.

During the day, perhaps fewer people answer their phone, but maybe they have a minute or 2 to talk to you.

You won't burn through your lists (unless somehow you have dial only once lists). Try it out. Something is better than nothing.

Dan

 

[ljneal]

Back in my early days when I worked leads for a captive their telemarketers had the most success between 9-11 in the morning & 3-7 in the afternoon (more in the 5-7 block.) If you're cold calling...man...please ask yourself why.

As a new agent, why wouldn't I cold call? As one reply stated, it's activity, although I hate it (who doesn't).

What activities or things do other new agents do to get leads and appointments? Knock doors?

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Thanks for the replies...

 

[nyc2phi]

As a new agent, why wouldn't I cold call? As one reply stated, it's activity, although I hate it (who doesn't). What activities or things do other new agents do to get leads and appointments? Knock doors? ---------- Thanks for the replies...

Go network...

Need to build relationships in this business. Join a networking group such as BNI, stop in realtors office, etc.

Cold calling for commercial ex dates is fine, personal lines is tough with all the regulations.

 

[EugeneM]

Time of day depends on the industry you are calling and size accounts you targeting - small contractors with no office manager or anything needs to be called early morning 7-9 or 4-6pm

MFG, WholeS, Distributors etc 9-11 1-5pm

Restaurants anytime but breakfast, lunch and dinner rush etc... Put yourself in their shoes when they are most likely gonna take the call.

As a new agent cold calling gather effective dates and setting up follow calls is important. Make sure that you record every renewal date as you go for later use. Let me know if you want some tips - been cc'ing for a while