Some food for thought when calling your leads!

[MHart]

Got this from my monthly Blue Cross Sales Rep:

Something for you to think about when you are calling your leads.

Call on good prospects as many times as it takes to sell them.
About 80% of sales are made on the fifth call or later, yet studies
have shown:
• Up to 50% of America's salespeople call on a prospect just
one time, then quit
• 18% call on a prospect twice, then give up
• 7% call three times, and then call it quits
• 5% call on a prospect four times before quitting
• Only 20% call on a prospect five or more times before they
quit
Here's the kicker: Those 20% of salespeople close 80% of the
sales in America! You don't have to become a dynamic personality
to sell. You don't have to put pressure on people or out-talk people
to sell. The most effective thing you can do is to apply your own
selling savvy, which adds strength to your persuasion, and then​

just keep selling!

 

[Frank Stastny]

Got this from my monthly Blue Cross Sales Rep:​

Something for you to think about when you are calling your leads.​

Call on good prospects as many times as it takes to sell them.
About 80% of sales are made on the fifth call or later, yet studies
have shown:
• Up to 50% of America's salespeople call on a prospect just
one time, then quit
• 18% call on a prospect twice, then give up
• 7% call three times, and then call it quits
• 5% call on a prospect four times before quitting
• Only 20% call on a prospect five or more times before they
quit
Here's the kicker: Those 20% of salespeople close 80% of the
sales in America! You don't have to become a dynamic personality
to sell. You don't have to put pressure on people or out-talk people
to sell. The most effective thing you can do is to apply your own
selling savvy, which adds strength to your persuasion, and then​

just keep selling!

That is so true. I know agents who spend hundreds of dollars each month buying leads and the ones they don't sell get thrown in the trash.

I told one of them to send them to me. I would get licensed in that state and sell the hell out of them. Sometimes it may take a year or so, but I will sell a fair number of them.

There are those who will say, "You can't do any good with a "cold lead". I don't care how old the "lead" is. It is still a name of a person who will some day will decide to change their insurance.

I sell insurance all the time to people that I have talked to over 12 months ago.

Give me your tired, hungry... and don't forget to send me your "cold leads". LOL

 

[tommyk]

No doubt about it...a lead is a lead until the beneficery cashes in their life insurance policy

 

[somarco]

I talked to an agent a few weeks ago who claims he buys 400 leads a month and only calls once.

I may go overboard with the number of times I call and the time I spend romancing the lead, but it does pay off.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I rarely call more than three times. Of course, I will email another 3-4 times (over a 30-day period).

After I have left messages (for example)...

on Monday June 1
on Wednesday June 3
on Wednesday June 10

and gotten answering machines each time...I just dread making that 4th call. But every so often (and I'm sure this has happened to you)...when I reluctantly call on June 17th...they say, "I'm glad you called. I was going to call you."

Oh...if only there was a caller ID system that told you what the person's response was going to be on the other line.

 

[Sam]

I basically only sell group health, which means that I almost always am able to contact my leads. Nevertheless, most of my sales seem to be a year or two after I first made contact.
The nice thing is that the renewal date is the same each year so you know exactly when to call them. It is only a matter of time before their broker pisses them off/they get rated to wazoo/the HR directors wifes doctor wasn't in network etc...

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Welcome back. Nice vacation?

By the way...thanks for the "parking" tips. I'm making about $10 per month for about 15 domains. But that's $10 more than I was getting!!!

 

[J.R.]

Welcome back. Nice vacation?

By the way...thanks for the "parking" tips. I'm making about $10 per month for about 15 domains. But that's $5 more than I was getting!!!

What parking tip are you talking about? Some tech term regarding website domains???

 

[somarco]

most of my sales seem to be a year or two after I first made contact

That's the way the group business is. Terribly long gestation period, especially for the larger groups. Even the smaller ones can take months to quote and then a few more months before the first commission check arrives.

The last time I started from scratch in large groups it took me 6 months to write my first case and 2 more months to get my first check.

I don't have that kind of patience any more.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

One of the reasons my closing ratio is so poor is because I don't do this. I don't call clients 5 times unless I know it's a deal - and I can tell. I especially don't call again when after the 1st call if they gave me a time to call back, I call back and they're very short:

"Listen John, I still don't have any time to go over this and I'm just swamped. I have your information and why don't I just give you a call after I've gone through the information."

Yes...I could call that person back in a few days, a week or a month later. I don't have the energy. ROI for me is simply too good even closing 1 out of 20 and I pay $4 for exclusive leads which means $80 returns $800.

I'd rather just get another 20 leads then spend my day entire day talking to jerks who love to put me off. My services are extremely valuable and I only work with people who want my services. For the record, I agree with this post. If you make call after call you will make a lot more sales. For me, 90% of all my leads never get a second call.