What To Do, What To Do?

[ROGCHAP57]

First off I want to say I have gotten some great advice from many of you out there and it has gotten me a long way in the decision making process! I am currently getting ready to go to my final interviews with NYL and Guardian on Monday, tough call on either but I'm leaning towards Guardian at the moment, just like their approach to the business a little better. My predicament is both companies really are in to this Project 200 thing and I'm just concerned that all my business is going to be coming from friends and family, I'm really not comfortable with that just starting out, and that might be the answer to my question in it's self, but I'm not sure I want to give up on this just yet. Am I reading to much in to this or are they expecting me to start out strictly on sales to friends and family and their referrals. Sorry to be so long winded about this, I'm just really frustrated, I figured big companies like these would at least have some leads to get their new agents going but maybe being a newbie to the insurance business makes me just a little naive. Oh well if anyone can shed a little light on this for me I'd be indebted to them. Again thanks to all of you that PM'ed me the info was a great help.
Later

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

I have always believed that you should never do business with family and friends. You also cant have more than 25% of your business be family.

 

[somarco]

Career shops have done this for at least 30 years, probably longer.

Selling life insurance is tough. Even tougher to F&F.

But selling to strangers via a lead program is not only challenging but expensive.

If you stay this course, my suggestion would be to SHOW F&F what you are doing and offer a free policy analysis. This relieves a lot of pressure on you and them. All you are really doing is:

Visiting with them in a non-threatening way (preferably withOUT your manager).

Asking them to allow you to conduct a financial needs analysis, no pressure, after all, you are just "practicing" with them.

Collecting the data and then returning for a follow up meeting with the analysis & recommendations.

Do not sell. Just review & suggest.

Whether they buy or not ask for the names of 5 people they know. This can be tougher than actually trying to make the sale. Hopefully they will assist when they see that you are sincere, you are not pressuring them to buy, and you are offering valuable information.

 

[James]

Yes, Somarco gave you good advice, just ask to practice and don't attempt to sell. You'll get a few that say "that makes sense" and end up buying. The references is what you want more then anything else. Then simply go out B2B walking and talking, it aint easy but it is quite rewarding after you get going. Then you simply reinvest your profits and start doing more expensive forms of marketing such as newsletters and letters.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Hi Rog

I am also located in Ohio and have been with the same company for 26 years. If you would like any additional info, feel free to PM me.

My roomie at Miami was from Marion and used to have the Marion Star delivered to the dorm.

 

[somarco]

Ed -

I believe you are with Snoopy, right? Do you consider your practice primarily life or health? Are they still doing the P&C gig?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Most, if not all of my day is spent on health products and individual financial planning.

For the first 18 years, I wrote a large volume of P&C and life products. But the last 8-9 years, health is now the focus.

However, for new people, they should stick to life and investment products. That is a requirement to keep their job.

 

[NHB_MMA]

Project 200 sucks, but it's basically the way most career shops work. There are leads that come in, but those are people that have contacted the company and those are usually considered to be pretty good prospects, since they've requested info. You won't get those for quite a while. The last thing they're going to do is give those to a rookie that does not have the higher probability of swinging the deal than the agents that have been there 5+ years.

Here is the bottom line: You will figure out how to make the business work. They'll give you great suggestions and some support, but it's ultimately up to you. The companies you mentioned are great companies and there are a handful of others out there too in the same league. All of them are going to target your friends and family...that's just how it is.

How do you feel about prospecting and how do you think you would relate to your manager(s)? Those are the key questions. I still have some doubts and uncertainies about prospecting and don't consider myself highly effective at it by any means. The verdict is very much out on whether or not I'm going to make it at this point, as it is for most people 2 months into the business. I definitely don't get along well with my manager and avoid him like the plague. If I had it to do over again, I would not have taken my position, but that has to do with my adversarial relationship with my boss and not the company at all. What's the alternative? Go indy with 2 months experience? Probably a 1 in 20 chance of lasting a year. The greatest question is do you feel comfortable with the people you'll be working with (I should have listened to my gut feeling and not how bad I hated my old job) and prospecting? Whether it's Guardian, NYL, Met, Northwestern, Mass Mutual, etc. is secondary.

 

[LaffAgent]

I can't say this is the right way or the wrong way, but this was my thinking when I started. I didn't want to approach F & F when I started because I knew I wasn't really good at doing this thing and I knew that they knew that. Over time, I got good at it and they knew it - not because I told them, but because they could see it - I don't care what you say, you can sense when somebody is knowledgable and competent in their field. It also doesn't hurt when somebody in your family happens to meet a client of yours and the client tells them how great you are. Before long, the f & f are coming to you.

In hindsight, I can also tell you that when you start with f & f you learn to sell in a way that doesn't work with "other" people. You learn how to sell to f & f and you make a living for 6 months or a year, but then you have to learn how to sell in the real world. My advice: dive into the real world and learn what you really need to do to survive and succeed in this business. Focusing on f & f only gives you a temporary job and postpones finding out if you're cut out for this business or not.

Just my opinion.

 

[NHB_MMA]

I can't say this is the right way or the wrong way, but this was my thinking when I started. I didn't want to approach F & F when I started because I knew I wasn't really good at doing this thing and I knew that they knew that. Over time, I got good at it and they knew it - not because I told them, but because they could see it - I don't care what you say, you can sense when somebody is knowledgable and competent in their field. It also doesn't hurt when somebody in your family happens to meet a client of yours and the client tells them how great you are. Before long, the f & f are coming to you.

In hindsight, I can also tell you that when you start with f & f you learn to sell in a way that doesn't work with "other" people. You learn how to sell to f & f and you make a living for 6 months or a year, but then you have to learn how to sell in the real world. My advice: dive into the real world and learn what you really need to do to survive and succeed in this business. Focusing on f & f only gives you a temporary job and postpones finding out if you're cut out for this business or not.

Just my opinion.

Another good post. I would recommend going ahead with F&F if you decide you're going to do this thing, but immediately start working the referrals you get, cold calling, etc. Do something else to generate activity because it will be very telling. For example, I'm booking seminar presentations left and right. I think my income will be there in 2-5 months. Now, how do I survive till then? Guess that's one of the challenges of the business.