Sell Me On Setting Appointments

[onefastpony]

Depending how much your schedule will be affected, just door knock on Monday the leads from the prior week that you weren't able to get a hold of. Hire an appointment setter to start filling your day on Tues and then Wed. With 20, preferably more leads a week, a good setter should get you 8-10 appointments.

This would only commit you to the field for three days a week. Yet if you live close to your target area you could work those other days around your wife's schedule to maximize your time.

I have no qualms with door knocking. I feel that it is effective. However, there is nothing better than having 5-7 appointments a day and streamlines your business.

Remember, the setter is a tax write off.

 

[Agentguy5]

So give me some reasons to apt set vs keep doing what's working.

Here's the soft sell!
Try calling your leads for one week.
If you like it, keep doing it. If you don't, then go back to door knocking!
One of the pro's of calling is that you will be able to increase your weekly leads and get in front of more people.

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[m10509]

because you can write the same amount of business in a day and a half, that's why. when scheduling appointments, 25 to 30% will never answer the phone, so you door knock them when you get stood up.

I can have days where I write 5 to 6 with scheduled appointments. I have never had days like that door knocking. I started out in the insurance business in 1979 and we door knocked everything. Now I do it as a last resort.

The one thing I would say is when I door knock I seem to hit the bigger ones; $100 plus per month.

Football where you working now still in the creek?? Hope all is good

 

[jdeasy]

Setting appointments is far more efficient than DK'ing. And why you would need more leads to set appointments is a mystery to me. Someone would have to explain that to me.

Also the replacement question. I can't see how that is a factor at all. I do have to DK sometimes. I've never noticed one iota of difference in replacing on DK'ing vs set appointments.

And no way would I use an appointment setter. You would need more leads then. No one cares as much about your business as you.

Adding an appointment setter, especially if getting only 15-20 leads per week, just adds a layer of inefficiency to your business.

 

[nfl72]

Just started going back to Saginaw area. How bout you? If your in the area I usually stay there Wed night and am always looking for a drinking partner.

 

[theinsuranceman]

So here is the deal. I was trained to door knock my leads and do great at it. I work 15-20 fresh leads a week, plus any I didn't get to from the week(s) prior. I write well over 4k a week on four-ish days in the field. My wife's schedule will be changing soon limiting my field time part of the week and I've considered setting apt's to not waste time but why change what works?

So give me some reasons to apt set vs keep doing what's working.

First thing to remember is some agents are more effective door knocking vs appointment setting and vice versa. Great phone skills vs horrible phone skills when setting appointments. Great door knocking skills vs horrible door knocking skills when door knocking. One lead might tell you "no thanks" at the door or on the phone....yet that same lead will say "I wanted to find out more about it" to a more skillful agent at the door on the phone.

Second thing to remember is this is a business...your business. Don't just look at production or commissions. Look at "profit per hour". That's your true metric.

EXAMPLE....

Door Knocking Example VERSUS Appointment Setting Example
20 leads 20 leads
0 appointments, 10-14 appointments set
13-17 presentations, 8-11 presentations
4-7 apps closed ($50/app) 4-7 apps closed ($50/app),
$2400-$4200 AP, $2400-$4200 AP
field time invested=approx.4 days, field time invested=approx. 2 days
phone time invested=0 hours, phone time invested approx.1/2 day
$2400-$4200/4 days=$600-$1050/day, $2400-$4200/2.5 days=$960-$1680
/day

The above numbers are only approximations and of course do vary from agent to agent and area to area.
PROFIT PER HOUR IS KING!

 

[jdeasy]

So here is the deal. I was trained to door knock my leads and do great at it. I work 15-20 fresh leads a week, plus any I didn't get to from the week(s) prior. I write well over 4k a week on four-ish days in the field. My wife's schedule will be changing soon limiting my field time part of the week and I've considered setting apt's to not waste time but why change what works?

So give me some reasons to apt set vs keep doing what's working.

At $200k per year you are already way ahead of most of the FE agents posting here, probably ahead of more than 90% of them.

What you are doing is working well for you. If your time is going to be limited you just need to tweak your efficiency some. Don't do a major overhaul. You already have the knowledge and the results.

 

[m10509]

Just started going back to Saginaw area. How bout you? If your in the area I usually stay there Wed night and am always looking for a drinking partner.

Doing good moved to the U.P. in early summer now that aep is over got to figure out what to do, sell over the phone or drive, would be lots of driving up here, be safe in Saginaw, it's a zoo there

 

[SPUR CITY]

Anytime your schedule gets limited it is not ideal first off. Efficiency will be the most important thing going forward based on your new situation it appears. If you want to continue making the same amount of money with less field time, something will need to change. You will simply need to see the same amount of people in less time. Calling to set appts is the only way I see that happening. Order more leads to get to more low hanging fruit. You may even consider networking with a local FE agent to split cases with that you can't see during your off time so you can recoup lead cost.

Other options I see is selling more premium per appt which can be counterintuitive due to more potential drop offs/cancellations or Insufficient funds. Cross selling other products to obtain more premium within the same household is another tactic you could implement for those you feel could handle the extra premium.

Either way adjustments would have to be made in order to make the same money off less hours.

 

[Ksutton]

This is my experience running right around 20 leads per week.

I started off Door Knocking - I got very good at it and was able to maximize my profitability off of 20 leads... but it got "boring"

I learned to get good on the phones - I got very good at setting appointments... I found it to be much more efficient to set appointments by phone.

Now, that being said, there were still some weeks when I would call and only set 5 appointments because I could not get a hold of anyone. That's where I would clean up by Dking.

My most productive weeks are when im dialing and dkin - here is what it would look like


Ill dial Monday morning on a fresh set of leads and set as many appointments as i can for Tuesday and Wednesday. Ill even set a couple (if possible) Monday afternoon appointments)

Leave to go into the field after dialing through my stack of fresh leads and whoever i couldn't get a hold of last week. DK the leads I could not get a hold of. Either present or set an appointment. Dial in the car through the leads i have not got a hold of... repeat.

Tuesday run my appointments. If i get stood up ill dial and set for Wednesday if possible or DK - whatever i feel like.