Update - a call from a doctor

My phone rings - it's a doctor. Got my fax yesterday. She was on her husband's plan and her husband lost his job - got offered Cobra which they couldn't accept at $1,400 a month.

Their coverage expires on March 1st and she was actually asking about short-term plans because she doesn't want a lapse in coverage.

She's 52, husband's 52, two kids and she's only on a hormone replacement med - no issue there. She asks me how she can get covered by the 1st - I took her to my GR site - she's all over the Copay Select - even over the HSA since they used to pay $700+ for their coverage under the hubby's old job.

I never get through to doctors! I hit the secretary yesterday who just gave me permission to send the fax. On my old pitch it would have been "the doctor's busy - bye."

Wow...so this is actually a lead generate tool. Insane. After three days of sending faxes I have three deals working just from people who have contacted me. It's "permission based fax blasting."

leads from faxes

I had my system pretty well set with my other "send you information" pitch, then getting the owner's email - shooting out brochures then calling back to ascertain interest and qualify. Never once did anyone ever email me or contact me for quotes after I sent the email.

However, after three days of sending faxes I have 3 quote requests submitting through my site. One I got last night is a family of 4 paying $750 on Mega. I'm sure there's a deal there somewhere.

The bottom line is I so much more enjoy simply getting permission to send a 2 page report that I'm on the phones more often. No one's gonna put any significant amount of time into a marketing technique they think sucks.

Although I've always hopped on the phone and did what I have to do I already see far less anxiety before I begin my calls and zero while I'm on the phone. I flat out enjoy this pitch. I'm on and off the phone in seconds and the only thing I need is a fax number.

For those of you either doing this or wanting to do it don't forgot a cover page offering free quotes with your number and web address. You also want to use an internet fax service....unless you want to send 3 pages through your machine.

Sites for internet faxing:

http://rapidfax.com/homepage/index.html

http://www.myfax.com/

You simply upload your documents, type in all the fax numbers and click send. You don't want to be sending this by email if you can avoid it. I think a lot of you know hardly anyone reads the emails.

When it's sent by fax people will at least scan it and it gets passed around the office. You're looking for the information to get in front of as many people as possible.

Do what works for you

Yes....do what works for you and don't worry about what other's are doing. I'll talk about someone who contacted me a few weeks back frustrated and ready to quit.

He had joined an agency touting only buying leads and selling online. After over 200 leads purchased he had 3 deals put in the system, one of which blew up in underwriting. His "manager" stopped returning his calls and when they finally ended up talking the conversation was:

"Maybe this business isn't for you."

Now...saying that this agent (who doesn't want his name disclosed and I respect that) was a former sales manager for 8 years and used to train reps it's hard to believe he's not right for this business.

He brought up to his "manager" (as I use the term loosely) that he might be better off meeting with people. That idea was beaten down with a stick saying that's the "old method" that doesn't work and he'd just end up driving around and wasting gas.

After six weeks in the biz trying to call leads all day he had made a grand total of $1,100 or $180 a week. However, 200 leads X $7 = $1,400 so actually he was in the hole.

We had a few nice conversations and he continued to buy the shared leads. He was not interested in cold calling - which is fine. Turns out he had no problem getting a hold of people - just couldn't get them to commit over the phone and quite frankly just didn't know how to close people on the phone - felt very uncomfortable with it.

We tweaked his leads - I had him sign up with a few sources but all zips within driving distance. From that point he called his leads, gave them the "local agent" pitch and set appointments to meet 'em.

Last week he turned in $18K of volume - at 20% he made $3,6000 and is buying around 60 leads a week X $7 is $420 for a net of $3,180.

And yes, he drove all over the place - said he closed about half of the appointments he set. The point is obvious - not everyone is going to use the same methods and have the same results. You have to find and do what works for you.

Fantastic results with the "free report" script

Got an hour in today on Gary's dialer with the new script I'm using and the results are stunning. Almost an hour of calling and 11 leads.

This is over 50% of people who don't have group saying yes - and I've never had over 50%. Only 4 "bite me's" and to 11 yes's:

15 people who didn't have group
11 yes
73% yes

It's obviously very nice to telemarket when over 70% say yes. Now - I don't offer it to businesses with group because it's a flat out waste.

After I faxed everything out today I got a call from a lady working at a doctor's office - needs coverage. The fax got passed around the entire office.

I also got to pitch secretaries - which I stopped doing since they never put me through to the owner and the owner never checked the email I sent. However, now I can get permission to fax my reports and it's almost like leaving a flyer off going BtoB.

So now if a hit a gatekeeper who won't let me pass I ask her for permission to send the fax. The lady who called me today was working in an doctor's office where the secretary just told me to send the fax.

My pitch:

"Hi, I'm John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans and we've just issued a two page report on how people can save 30% or more off their health insurance premiums. At this time we'd just like to send the report to you and we can either email it or fax it."

100% said fax it - all 11. A few points:

• When you're telemarketing you're running into people who are naturally interested merely by making a high volume of calls. Those are the people who will strike up a conversation just by you mentioning health insurance. The problem is most agents don't do well with telemarketing so they never stick with it long enough to reach those people.
  

• This pitch puts your information in front of many people and you never know what will happen. Faxing is key because the entire office can read it and it gets passed around - unlike email.
  

• People will actually read this. Anytime you see "5 myths" or "5 ways to save" it's an eye catcher. I used to email brochures and obviously no one ever looked at 'em.
  

• You're not gonna telemarket in the first place unless you see action. When almost everyone is telling you no it sucks. However, almost everyone will allow you to send a free report.
  

• It's key in they pitch to say it's a two-page report. 4 of the 11 people double-checked to see how many pages I was faxing. If you just say "send you a report" people might think it's a small book and say no.
  

IMPORTANT: Faxing, unless you have permission, is illegal. I always take down the name of the person who told me I could sent it and always send it quickly so no one gets amnesia. A secretary could give you permission, the owner gets in the next day, sees the fax, call you and accuses you of blasting.

When I follow up it's simply "just checking to make sure the fax went through ok." Then I just get into finding out if I can help. I can also have them grab the "5 Ways to Save" and we can go over it looking for something that's a fit for them.

By the way, I'm faxing using this: http://www.myfax.com
Just type in the fax number, upload the docs and send. Very easy.

A friend of mine cleaned up the docs I'm sending the prospects so if you downloaded the ones yesterday these look much better.

Five Myths: http://www.savefile.com/files/1406599

Five Ways to Save: http://www.savefile.com/files/1406603

Using a "send you a guide" pitch for telemarketing

On the board yesterday my interest got peaked when Paul talked about typing up a "HOW TO SAVE MONEY" guide for health insurance and pitching the guide. Well if anything I'm always one to give anything a shot so I typed this up:

http://www.savefile.com/files/1404910

http://www.savefile.com/files/1404914

I actually love stuff like this "exposing myths" and "5 ways to save..." I think it's something people actually read...at least scan. Absolutely no one reads the brochures I send and they're not fax-able. Too many pages.

So my pitch today:

"....John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling because we just released a guide with tips on how to save 30% or more off your health insurance. The guide is free and we can send it to you by email or fax."

Results? 8 leads an hour. It's the highest "yes" ration I've had - over 60% said yes. This is truly "telemarketing light."

The other goods news is it's far less information then I've been sending so people are more likely to get their interest peaked. Of course, I'll follow up making sure they got the guide, then get into whether or not they want my help.

This also puts me in the role of an expert trying to get out information instead of the role of a salesman during the 1st call which is why the positive response rate was so much higher. We're not talking about plans or rates - we're talking about a free guide to help people save.

Of course, I was tearing it up with Gary's dialer today.

How this job works when you're selling what people actually want to buy

As many of you may know, we have MHIP in Maryland - incredibly affordable guaranteed issue health insurance and basically anyone with a condition qualifies. I signed up a lady yesterday and let's do the play by play so you can see what it's like to sell what people want:

Around 9am - Lead submitted through my site - lady, age 42 getting divorced with depression. Med's not working for her and she wants to go back to her doc to either adjust the dosage or get a new med. Obviously she doesn't qualify.

Told her about MHIP through Blue Cross - guaranteed coverage and $1,000 deductible for her was $242.

Interesting; although she runs a small business, amazingly she wasn't busy, didn't need to take my number, didn't need to research it, etc...

9:15 - we're at the MHIP site and I go over the plans and rates. She downloads the app while we're on the phone and the rest of the call was her grilling me about how to fill out the app.

9:20 - we're off the phone

10:15 - she emails me - a few questions about parts of the application.

10:40 - she emails me the application then calls - makes sure I got the application.

Interesting how this all works when you're selling affordable quality guaranteed coverage. People don't blink. Did I have to go over her health history? No - she could have brain cancer and it doesn't matter.

Qualification - the key to making this stress free

I learned years ago to take a lot of time and qualify people quickly. Chasing people are who are disinterested, uninsurable or who you can't help is a waste of your time and your prospect's time.

First of all, there are always rare exceptions to the rule, but the rule is if the first thing out of your prospect's mouth when you call is "you really got me at a bad time" it's over. Yes, do call again (I do) but what you're gonna find it is goes nowhere.

When you're calling interested people who want and need your help it's never a bad time. When it's legitimate and you really did catch them when they're too busy they will apologize and suggest that you call them back later the same day. Disinterested people will never suggest that you call them back.

Now....you're on the phone with someone who wants to talk with you and has some time - you need to qualify. It's not rude. It's a time saver for both parties.

You need to qualify for three things:

• Health
• Time
• Money

HEALTH

While on the 1st call I need the information necessary to work up quotes which is health history, height/weight and anything pending (testing, doctor visits, procedures.) For me it's as simple as this:

"I don't like to quote inaccurate rates - then I just get yelled at. So I just need some quick information so the rates I work up are accurate:

1. "How's your health? Are you currently on any medication? Do you have any diagnosed conditions - even small ones like allergies or asthma?"
   
2. "Do yo smoke"
3. "What's your height and weight?"
4. "Do you have anything scheduled like a doctor's appointment or testing?"
   

TIME

This is something I learned to do years back also - qualify for their time frame. You don't want to be sitting in front of your client after an hour presentation and hear "Well this is all great but we just paid for the quarter so we don't need to do anything until May. Got a card?"

My question is simple:

"Once you choose a plan do you want it to start within 30 days?

You'll be surprised at the amount of people who will say "Nah, I'm just shopping now and planning on doing something in the summer." Or "Right now we just want to look at some rates and we'll get back to you."

Those would have been all of your "You got a card?" people on appointments. I'm not running around to see someone only to find out they have zero interest in signing up regardless of the rates I show them.


MONEY

This is key especially for currently uninsured prospects. I'm not setting an appointment with anyone who doesn't have coverage unless I get an agreement that the range of rates I quoted is in their budget.

"Tim, since you currently don't have coverage now I want to make sure that the plans I'm quoting are in your budget. Depending on what you choose you're looking at $160 to $230. Is that in your range?"

I'm not wasting my time on a presentation only to find out he's looking to be under $100. For people with a plan, most of them are not going to switch unless you save them enough to make it a no-brainer.

If they're currently at $460 and the best you can do is $420 I guarantee that's not a no-brainer. That's a "we need time to think about it." I've found that you need to save people at least $100 a month before they're flinch. For qualifying people with a current plan I actually don't ask a question but gauge their response when I set up the appointment:

"Ok, you're paying $460 I have several plans to show you between $305 and $330 which means you'll be saving over $100 per month. All I need is 20 to 30 minutes and I'll sit down with you and go over your options.......what time is best for you?"

When I'm not saving them a significant amount of money I hear "Oh, this is a really bad week." When I'm right on the mark I hear "How about Wednesday morning?"

CALLING TO CONFIRM - THE ULTIMATE CONFIRMATION

Most of my appointment cancel. They cancel because of the kind of qualification I do - they know I'm not an information kiosk and I'm all about business; signing 'em up. Because of that a lot of people flake when I call to confirm appointments.

This is why I don't mind seeing people and a lot of agents simply hate meeting face to face. My closing is near 100% when I meet with people because they know I'm coming over to take an app and I know they qualify.

Agents who hate to qualify or don't qualify spend a lot of time running around and end up passing out a lot of cards.

Just realize that as uncomfortable and appointment is for you with an uninterested prospect they're more uncomfortable. It flat out sucks to sit through an entire sale presentation when you know you're not gonna buy.

Save you and your clients time and headache and get all the qualification out of the way before you meet.

Getting set up for business

I talked with a lot of new agents so I figured it would be nice to go over everything you need to get set up for business.

E&O
If you're a new agent, get E&O before you do anything else. Almost all carriers require it and you don't want to limit yourself to only selling the products of carriers that don't. It can take a few weeks to receive your certificate so apply now, then get everything else set up.


Email
Avoid a free account like Yahoo or Hotmail. It's simply not professional - Gmail would suffice if you have to use a free account. Other then that use your ISP account which should either be your name or your agency's name before the "@" - abcinsurance@comcast.net. If you're using Outlook make sure you have it set up to search for incoming messages often.


Phone
If you're brand new to this biz you'll be living on the phone. I'd suggest a land line with unlimited minutes. If you're using a cell just realize that you'll likely be on the phone at least 3 hours a day or 4,500 minutes a month.

If you're married or living with someone you'll want to discuss having two numbers if you're using a land line. We have two lines in my house - one for business the other personal.

Constant Contact
They have a free trial period and I heavily recommend them. They're fantastic for client newsletters and shooting out reminders to prospects.

Voice mail
One of the 1st things you should do when you get started is set up a professional voice mail greeting. I'm really amazed when I call agents who have been selling for months and get "please leave a message at the tone."

Call Forwarding
When you're out of the office during business hours always forward your calls to your cell. You want prospects and clients to be able to reach you at all times without hitting voice mail unless you're doing a presentation. You can list your business and cell number on your emails to prospects but I guaranteed you most prospects are gonna call your biz number and when they hit voice mail likely hang up. Even if they leave a message then it turns into phone tag.

Data Backup System
Have some type of system to back up your data. Some agents use flash drives, others upload it to file storage sites - I personally puts my spreadsheet and documents on Google. If your computer crashes you do not want to lose your prospect and client information.

For me, if the power goes out for some reason and I have appointments lined up anyone can access my Google spreadsheets - just call a friend and give 'em the password. I can also hit the library and pull up anything I need.

Toll Free Number
If you're just local business you really don't need one. If you're doing state-wide or out-of-state business you should have one. I used Ring Central but there are a lot of toll free services.

Fax
Choose some type of fax services - I use Efax. You'll receive a lot of faxes in this biz and a physical machine is a pain in the ass - paper jams, buying toner, poor quality, etc...

Business Entity
If you're gonna use your name "Pete Smith - Independent Agent" you don't need to do a thing. You'll just file as a sole proprietor for tax purposes and don't need to do anything extra. If you'd like an agency name you'll need to register it with the DOI and register your business with the state. You can still file as a sole proprietor so unless you're hiring people you don't need an EIN.

Website
Get one. In this day and age not having one says "new and broke." A website establishes that you're here to stay and give you credibility. If you're money tight this should be one of the 1st things to save for.

Business Account
Find out what your bank's requirements are and get a business account. When I first went independent all I needed was my state business filings (I had to register my business with the state) and my agency license. You really need to separate business from personal expenses and using your business account for all related expenses makes everything easy to track.

Receipts
It sounds obvious but most people don't do it - keep your receipts. I'd heavily recommend getting your taxes done - especially 1st year - by a CPA who will want to see your expenses. If you plan on deducting miles see the IRS rules - you need to keep a log of your business miles.

Meet with an Accountant
when you're new in this biz everyone's a tax expert. I heavily recommend paying a small consultation fee and sitting down with an experienced CPA who will give you scoop on what you need to do for taxes.

CRM
You'll need one for client and prospect management. I use and recommend YIO - http://yourinsuranceoffice.com

2 HSAs this week

Closed 2 HSAs yesterday from telemarketing - both in-person deals. Everyone here knows or should now that I close deals online and in person - I simply make a judgement call based on my conversation.

Neither of the deals I did yesterday would have closed on the phone. The "I only close by phone" agents will argue that if they can't sign 'em up online there wasn't enough interest in the 1st place so they lost nothing. Really.....go the dictionary and look up denial.

One appointment was actually very fun but long - almost 2 hours. The wife actually broke out her medical bills over the past year and say at the table with a calculator to run the numbers. Of course, they were paying just over $500 and the HSA came in just over $300 so she came out ahead.

My other client was a single guy - 52 and dropped Carefirst around 3 months ago due to cost. He simply didn't fully understand HSAs on the phone and doesn't use the net. He was only about 30 minutes and done.

Hey....I'll sell online when I can but I'll always mix and match it because frankly I enjoy getting out of the house during the week and meeting with clients. What I don't like about face to face is driving all over creation for 15 appointments a week, running night appointments, getting stood up or blown off.

But that doesn't happen when you have the ability to sign people up online. Well over 50% of your clients would prefer doing it online - they don't want to meet with you. I can also sense the level of interest and I'm simply not gonna drive and meet someone with "so so" interest.

And thanks to everyone who emailed me about the association I'm starting. I'm really trying to create something inexpensive that's valuable. For example, for anyone interested in Gary's CRM association members get it at $299 per month - $50 a month discount. Just for the $19.95 a month in dues your ahead $30 a month. And that's one benefit.

I'm going to be very busy building up more and more benefits. If anyone else has any questions about what I'm doing and offering just contact me by email or phone.

Independant Health Insurance Agents Association in pre-launch

Well....this has been kind of a secret - a bad one at that actually since I've been discussing it with a lot of agents now for actually well over a year.

Bottom line is simple; as independent agents we have no community - really no positive place to go for training, support and community environment.

Newer agents especially are left hanging out to dry. I really hate the emails I get talking about how agents got burned. There simply needs to be an organization to train and support new agents, get everyone together to trade ideas and start having some fun.

If you're one of those agents who are quite happy to just handle it all by yourself and be left alone this is not for you.

However, if you want year-round support and a community feeling without the "what's your production this week!" bull this is absolutely for you. If you feel that you can benefit financially by being a part of a supportive community this is for you.

I have a link on the top right going more into detail and if anyone has any questions just call me.

My entire system

Few emails asking some details of my system so here it is:

Goal:
I live in a pretty heavily populated city - right between Baltimore and Wash DC. There are thousands of businesses within a short distance from my house.

I think health insurance is a top concern for most people. Most people, if they knew they could better their situation without getting burned would jump on the chance. But that's not what we see - we talk to people day in and day out who we could save a significant amount of money yet choose to stay with what they have.

Why? Fear. Fear of....a lot of stuff - mainly fear that if they switch they'll regret it. With no established name, no reputation and no local presence you're fighting an uphill battle. You can use any marketing tactic you like but it's not gonna build up your name in the community and you are doing nothing to make this business easier for you down the road.

So while most agents are waiting for the next lead to hit their in-box someone one street away is looking for health insurance and don't know they exist. The bottom line is you can buy as many leads as you want - get used to it - you'll be buying them 5 years from now. Referrals from some random deal you closed online will be few and far between.

So my marketing plan is a heavy local focus by:

• Telemarketing local businesses
• Flyers put out in local businesses
• Door hangers for residential
• PPC campaign run locally
• Sponsoring local events
• Ads in local publications
  

I have done the telemarketing, local ads and flyers for the last 6 months and just now my phone's starting to ring during the week. I closed 2 deals last week from phone calls which is very significant. Most of this marketing is very inexpensive.

Notice I have no included things like radio or local TV ads. From the research I've done so far those methods are very expensive with low return.

There's a cumulative effect with local marketing and it takes time and patience. Most agents will give up on a local marketing campaign before it ever gets a chance to get off the ground. They think they'll gonna slap out 100 flyers and their phone's gonna ring. Ummmm, no.

Telemarketing Local Businesses

• I use MCS's auto-dialer CRM (click my link on the right for Marketing Campaign Solutions) and now use an exclusive HSA pitch which works well for small biz owners. I can generate 3 solid HSA leads per hour with is a lot.
  

• I shoot all my leads an instant email and also mail a letter the next day. The letter goes a long way to establish professionalism and legitimacy. It separates me from some "glorified telemarketer agent"
  

Here is the letter I mail: http://www.savefile.com/files/1387981

If you're gonna mail a letter don't make it an infomercial and don't beg for business. Stay away from phrases like "I've been trying to reach you" which makes you sound unsuccessful and desperate.

• I wait around three days to call back which makes sure they got the letter. At that time I ascertain level of interest, qualify then set either a physical or web appointment.
  

Flyers in Local Businesses

When I was new in the business I put out around 1,000 flyers per week - now that I'm off the ground I just put them out when I'm out and about however in the spring I'm going to look into paying someone to put them in businesses.

I used to highlight my website and generate leads but a lot of business owners are not web savvy nor are they going to go online and type in their personal information. I switched to promoting my phone number instead with very good results.

Flyer: http://www.savefile.com/files/1387989

For new agents who really don't want to telemarket and are buying a few leads but not enough to really write a lot of business, print off some flyers and hit the streets. Heck, put on jeans and a shit and just leave 'em with the person behind the counter if you don't want to confront the owner.

Your question:

"But what will the return be?"

My answer:

"Better then the return you'll get sitting in your office staring at your computer."


Doorhangers for Residential

I haven't done these actually in over a year since to be honest, it's tiring to walk up and down townhouse steps for 2 hours - it's like being on a stair master for 2 hours straight and you have to get out 1,000 to see the return.

That being said, if you're new they're cheap - 3 cents a pop at http://doorhangers.com

If you really hate the idea of telemarketing or don't have a lot of money then this very well might be the way to get you off the ground. You'll need a lot of townhouse communities - they do not work in single family home areas since it takes too long to put 'em out.

I slap up 200 per hour in townhomes and it's one deal per 1,000 placed. So 2 hours a day or 10 hours a week is one deal. To be frank, that's a lot of effort for one deal however the cost is $30, your effort is free and the average commission on a deal is $700. So that's $700 for 10 hrs of work and can be done early in the morning so it doesn't distract from your day.


PPC Campaign Run Locally.

I'm running a local pay-per-click campaign with nice results. I'm on the first page with 3 to 5th placement for health insurance quotes keyword at around $7+ per click and a 3 to 1 click to quote request ratio.

That means an exclusive lead is costing me just over $20 which I'll take. I'll keep the campaign going as long as it doesn't cost me more than $200 for a deal - which right now it's looking like about $140 for a deal.

My campaign is local - which means your IP address needs to be in a certain radius of my house for my ad to appear. Again, only going after local business.


Sponsoring Local Events

I've sponsored events before and have been successful each time. However, I always defaulted back into buying leads with the "why should I be out here" concept. That's the wrong concept and had I continued sponsoring local events over the past few years I absolutely would have a name in the community by now.

Also, sitting in your house on the phone all day honestly is boring as shit.

So basically I'm trying to brand myself locally - which is just barely starting to work. A marketing exec told me a couple of years ago that the average person needs to see your name at least 8 times before it registers.

UGA vs Time vacations

Well, we got our Time trip packet in the mail yesterday and my wife's thrilled - going crazy choosing the events and planning our trip. This will be my 3rd insurance trip in 4 years in the biz - Assurant only does trips every other year.

I thought it would be fun to compare the Time Manhattan trip to the UGA (Mega Life) Cabo trip. Very interesting comparisons that really tell you a lot about each company:

Airfare
Time - free
UGA - I paid

When we Landed
Time - Limo waiting for just me and my wife
UGA - everyone got on a "beer bus" and drank until we got to the hotel

Hotel
Time - St. Regis in Manhattan
UGA - Hilton

Activities
Time - Paid for 2 activities of our choice from a list of 6
UGA - paid for no activities - we laid around the pool all day

Dining
Time - one night at NBC's infamous Rainbow Room, one night at the Stock Market Exchange, one night gala ball (tux mandatory) at the St. Regis
UGA - buffet's at the hotel - all the pasta you can eat

Special Event
Time - Dessert cruise to the Statue of Liberty then launched fireworks while tenors on the boat sang opera
UGA - took us to Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo club and everyone got trashed

Telling - isn't it.

HSA telemarketing pitch

Sorry about having to move the webinar but I had a prospect move up a HSA webinar presentation. Very good presentation too - 54 year old lady, great health paying $390 through Carefirst and I can save her over $100 a month and lower her liability.

Initially she expressed a concern over paying more for her deductible - she has $750 deductible now with BX. However, what she didn't know was she also has a $2,500 OOP 80/20.

She tried to argue that point, standing firm that $750 was all she had to pay. Thanks to technology and desktop sharing I pulled up the Carefirst site and showed her she has $750 + $2,500 = $3,250 in liability.

She says "wow...I never knew that." So now she has less liability and over $1,000 a year in savings. Her only concern is her annual and I convinced her that a repriced annual is no where near $1,000.

Should be signing her up on Monday. I take my time with people and it hits when it hits. I am very uncomfortable "closing" people when they're not ready to sign up - and everyone's 6th sense tells them when they're talking to someone who's not quite there yet.

Good move to make? Crank out a "nice talking to you" letter and highlight some points you made. I mail prospects all the time. I really don't know if it has a direct effect since when I sign people up I don't ask "hey, did my letter make a difference?"

My theory is it's professional and goes far towards legitimacy. If I'm spending a lot of time with someone I can cough up the cost of postage.

I was back in the dialer today and tried a HSA script - great success. In fact, I like the HSA script far more than the "save you 30% script."

My pitch was pretty basic:

"Hi, this is John Petrowski with Maryland Health Plans. I'm calling because we're currently heavily promoting HSA health plans through the top carriers like Carefirst, United Healthcare and Time. On average they are 50% less expensive then traditional plans and I like to email you the information and rates."

When you're making calls the intro needs to be short and get to the point. If not you'll have a lot of people cutting you off - which sucks.

After a "yes" then it's time to slowly get more and more info:

1. I just need your age and zip code to work up the rates
2. Have you heard of HSAs before?
   
3. What do you currently have now?
   

As I get more and more info qualifying more and more drop out with "just send me what you have and I'll take a look at it." I'll always email the into to those people but not count them as a lead.

If they're unwilling to give me their age and zip it's pretty much over. But as you can see, I did just over 2 hours of calling today with 7 solid HSA leads.

This is cool. First of all, it's cool to have this CRM system where I'm talking to so many people I get a chance to play around with scripts. Secondly, I really enjoyed talking about HSAs to people today.

What made me feel the best was displaying to knowledge of HSAs. I pretty proficient on them, but not a total expert - need to do more research to get into some intimate details.

Webinar reschduled for Monday at 1pm

I have to reschedule today's webinar until Monday at 1pm. I have a HSA presentation to give today at that time.

Everyone who emailed me - I'll shoot you out the link on Monday. Time again:

Webinar
Monday the 18th
1PM EST
Info@marylandquotes.com to join

Webinar tomorrow and reality

We'll be having another shoot the shit webinar tomorrow:

Friday at 1pm EST info@marylandquotes.com if you want to attend

Even if you've attended past webinars I still need you to email me if you want to attend.

Now, a reality check. I got a great email from Al, a friend of mine out in CA saying he loves my blog but would like more reality about the ups and downs. I'm great about posting the ups, almost never post the downs.

First of all, here's what I got yesterday from Assurant. Yes, that's an unusually good week and I also have renewals in there.



However, my typical day is getting my ass kicked from morning 'till afternoon. I get blown off, stood up (for phone appointments) said "no" and anything else you can think off all day.

I'm on the phones in the morning calling past leads and following up. Almost all of my calls end up in:

"We haven't had a chance to look at the information but we'll call you back when we do."

"I think I'm gonna just stick with what I have now, but thanks."

"You got me at a bad time but I have your caller ID so I'll call you later."

"This all looks great but I really need to look it over and think about it. Can you give me a week or two?"

"It looks like we're gonna do this, but I don't have time right now."

That's over 90% of my calls. The truth is simple; 10K a week at 20% is six figures and 10K is only 3 deals a week. How many agents are actually making six figures? Dunno - not many.

IF you're ethical, IF you're doing a thorough pre-screen and IF you're only dealing with people where you're bettering their position 10K a week takes a LOT of work.

Don't pay attention to these agents you see doing "50K a week" selling online. Overwhelmingly they are slam artists, not agents.

Because agents avoid getting told "no" and because they avoid that they strive to speak to the least amount of people a day instead of the most amount.

I don't care what your lead source is - overwhelmingly 90% of your phone calls will end with no submitted application. A lot of people simply can't handle that and when they just start to realize those numbers they do something wrong:

They start looking at "what am I doing wrong" and second guess everything they say to prospects. And when you think what you're saying is wrong of ineffective it's a fast downward slide from there.

There's not too much you can say wrong to people who are buyers. They either really want coverage or really want to change what they have. I do far most listening them talking with people I close.

In fact, I pretty much know I don't have a deal when I'm the one talking. There's not an agent in this country closing better than 1 out of 10 leads from any source. Again, you pick up the phone and have a 90% chance of not getting the deal.

A lot of new agents look at senior agents and think we have our presentation so well honed that we get far more "yesses." No, we've simply learned to deal with high volumes of no's.

Today I have 6 people to call back to go over rates and quotes. 5 of those 6 won't go anywhere.

one shot one kill

I normally don't for for one-call closes but again, my phone rang today - even forgot to ask where she got my number but looking for coverage, one med, currently has Mega and anxious to get off.

I did a GoToMeeting and used the live desktop tool, showed her GR quotes, did the app online and it's done. Not a huge premium - $145 a month but from A to Z it took about 25 minutes. Tomorrow I'm gonna call her back and ask where she got my number.

I'm getting quite busy - I've had little ads out for months now - always put the flyers out anytime I'm out and about and I think my redesigned flyer for '08 is starting to pull. I have yet to actually go BtoB with them - just been leaving 'em in strip plazas when I'm running around.

I am very very excited about this year. I could increase my earnings by 100% if I keep tracking the way I've been going.

When it's all said and done, by April it'll be:

• Telemarketing - 8 to 10 hours a week
• Flyers at all businesses when I'm out and about
• Local events
• Redesigned quote page and work on my website for more traffic and quotes
• Mailers

I plan to crush this year. I want to be busy beyond belief. I have no eathly clue what'll happen to the health insurance market in the upcoming years but I'm certainly not gonna be left with my ass hanging out if the train comes to a stop. I'd like some cake in the bank so I could move to plan B without worrying about finances.

I'm sorry I haven't updated my Feb spreadsheet yet. I will. I use a much broader Excel sheet to track my leads and have to import only certain columns for privacy reasons and because you wouldn't be able to view it all at once. My spreadsheet has a lot of columns and I have to scroll over to see them all.

Flyer

Here's the flyer I use:

http://www.savefile.com/files/1373381

Fyers can be used many ways:

1. Going BtoB
2. Bulletin boards
3. Hand outs at events

If you're new, broke and not into telemarketing print off a stack and head BtoB. If you're doing fine with you current system it doesn't help to put them up bulletin boards.

For me, I don't do much formal BtoB since I' not new - already have renewal income. I'll go out if I'm bored but I'll also hit a strip plaza when I'm out and about. Takes literally minutes to walk into a few store and leave a flyer at the counter.

I also changed my flyer - actually many times to see if what was written had any affect on the results. It does - and dramatically. A poorly designed or mis-worded flyer will not pull hardly at all. You'll think it's the method that sucks when it's actually the flyer.

As can see, I'm advertising to call for quotes. This is because I'm tired of the web-submitted junk. There are obviously great leads through a website - those are also the same people who would have called you.

It's working well. It's cool for my phone to ring. I also have a factor that's specific to MD - MHIP. I can put anyone who's uninsurable on that program in 2 weeks - pays me $100. Although that's not huge money it at least means I can help anyone who calls and it at get some payment.

35K!

I had a fantastic week - just over $35K submitted with 7 deals. 3 of those deals were new from telemarketing, 2 were calls from flyers while and 2 were referrals. Only 3 of the 7 were telemarketed deals - the other 4 were people who picked up the phone and called me.

And by the way, this was an unusually high week. If I put in 35K a week every week it would be insane. I average $700,000 a year in volume which is only 13,000+ per week.

It's the 2 referrals I'm impressed with - I'm really trying to build a local name and it's just starting to pull results. Again, my goals have still not changed and I think there's enough people in my locality looking for health insurance to make a great living.

Telemarketing is a means to an end. I do not plan on telemarketing for years and years. It's a tool to use to get into your local market and start getting known.

Advertising without a reputation, as I've already seen, pulls low results. However, over time advertising my agency and website - as people see my name over and over and over pulls more and more and I'm just starting to see that.

I think the final key to all of this is participating in local events. Not only will that generate leads but also really get my name known in the community.

I'm more into having my phone ring then generating web traffic - which is more expensive however higher quality and a much better closing percentage. When you advertise your website "get free quotes" you're advertising for shoppers. I know that from my PPC campaigns.

However, when you're advertising to save money off your current plan you're advertising for buyers. You're also not advertising to people who currently don't have plans.

I switched my "free quotes" flyers and my website to "save money" flyers with my phone number. Web traffic obviously down, phones calls up and closing is up.

Really, my theory is kind of simple:

Put an ad out: "Maryland Health Plans - Get Free Quotes....blah blah blah"

- lacking results. No established name. No established reputation.

However:

Same ads placed every month
Doing all chamber of commerce functions
Mailers to all local small businesses
Showing up at all local events

Now someone sees that ad and it's "Oh, there's all over the place - just saw 'em at the last festival" and they now contact me.

I've been talking to a few agents lately about mailers, why most don't pull and mistakes people make when sending them. Turns out I'm a violator of everything I shouldn't have done with mailers.

I've been talking to one agent who's been pulling 1.5% which beats my typical .05%. He even admits that it's one arm of a local marketing campaign and mailers alone won't sustain an agent's income. Nice to talk to honest people instead of "here's my secret system to making a ton of money without working."

But even at 1.5% return is relatively low ROI:

1,000 mailers X 50 cents = $500
3 cents per record X 1,000 = $30
1.5% return = leads

I really hate to guess the closing out of that - 1 to 2...three would be a gift. I'd need two to make it really worth it.

They key to this of course is dumping profits back into all forms of local marketing so over time I become a recognized name.

There are things I'd like to do but I really don't know if the cost would be justified. I could pay anyone $10/hr to simply plaster businesses with flyers. They'd just leave a flyer but also be required to take a business card. So not only do I know they've actually placed the flyers but I can follow up by email or phone.

The math is impossible though; 50 flyers placed per hour X 4 hours a day is $40 a day or $160 a week with 1,000 flyers placed per week. Return? Again, low - 1% probably or 10 leads. However, $160 for 10 leads is $16 per lead - exclusive and local. These are also "phone ring" leads since my web address is just a small footnote on my flyer. Most web leads are junk.

However, does that beat mailers? 1,000 mailers would be $500+ - this would be $160.

Webinar, my son and Fidelity

Thanks to all who attended the webinar. I think it's really fun to get together and trade ideas and we'll definitely be doing it once per week.

I have to apologize that I was not my usual self - got a call this morning before the webinar from my son's kindergarten teacher that he was acting up today - which we've had issues with off and on throughout the year, and it's starting to get old.

In better news I lost a health deal but sold life! I've made it a goal this year to cross-sell life a lot more and so far it's been working very well.

For one of 10 different reasons I might not get the health deal but I've been pitching everyone on life. Most say "we're set with life" but all I need is a few deals to make it worth my while. Today was on of 'em - $42 premium and $500+ commission. Did the app online and that's that.

Another motivation for me is the upcoming election. I personally do not believe we'll see a "career altering" event in health insurance any time soon. But prove me wrong. If something goes south with health insurance, even if it's years from now I want to be well-honed and ready to go with another insurance product.

2 deals and a trip

I was slammed today - no time spent on the phone. I wrote two deals which took up most of my day - didn't even follow up with the leads I generated yesterday.

I also got my formal notification today that I won the Time Palm Springs trip in May! I'm very excited - 4 years in the insurance biz and this is my 3rd trip.

I absolutely love these trips - so does my wife. Looking very forward to it. The insurance industry really seems to do a great job of making it a real trip and not some kind of "junk" trip.

I won a contest before in another industry and won a trip only to find out airfare and food was on me. All they were picking up was the hotel. Gee, thanks. But the insurance companies pick up airfare, food, lodging and give you spend cash. Now that's a trip.

Tomorrow we're on for the webinar which I'm looking forward to. I'll be shooting out emails tomorrow morning with the link and number to call for all those who responded.

Webinar for Wednesday

We'll have another webinar:

Wednesday the 6th
1 PM EST

Just getting together, trade ideas on marketing, sales, and generally shooting the shit. Anyone who wants to attend needs to email me:

info@marylandquotes.com

And now I bring you truth in advertising

Results for today

My wife's still at work and my son gets off the bus soon so I have to cut today a bit short. I was on the MCS dialer for 90 minutes, got 7 leads. Not too bad. I updated my spreadsheet - just click "February Tracking" on the right.

I use an Excel sheet for detailed info but always import into Google just in case my computer crashes. Just so we can have some fun and track along with me I just put the very basic info.

Last week I said I was playing around with really getting into more qualification on the 1st call. Some people are up for that, other's aren't and the "if it's not broke don't fix it" saying comes into play. I've used a certain system for working my telemarked leads that's been getting me results now for over a year.

Step 1:
Generate the lead - soft touch

"I'm calling because there's a lot of new plans and rates in Maryland for individual health insurance from the top carriers like Blue Cross, United Health care, Time and Aetna. What I'd like to do is send you the information and you can see whether or not you can save some money. Do you have a group plan or your own?"

(ps: don't say "how are you today?" when making cold calls. It does more harm then good.)

I then get their email, I'll ask a few more questions to owners who have time, then end with "I'll follow up with you, probably in a day or two."

Step 2
Call back to qualify
As you follow my sheet you'll see this is the "separate the men from the boys" call. I'll be ascertaining the level of interest, dumping off those with little to no interest and heavy qualification. Set up a firm app't to go over plans and rates.

Step 3
Call or show up for appointment
Either log them into my webinar or show up in person for the presentation.

If it doesn't need to be more complicated then that.

As for a webinar this week - we'll have one and I'll post the day and time either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Tracking with me for February

Showing is better than trying to explain so since we've just started this month I'm going to share a Google spreadsheet. This way you can track the lead and deals. My main leads go on Excel but at the end of each day I'll import then into this sheet and update it.

The spreadsheet is here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p8HKIagCuSCgDt1YTvtg4DA

Obviously all personal info is gonna be blocked 0ut since I'll be putting detailed comments about each lead.

What you'll be able to see is "X" hours of generating leads = "X" leads which results in "X" deals. For those who have any misconceptions about what it actually takes to put in $700,000+ in volume this will be a splash of water on your face. I'll also be logging in time spent each day generating the leads.

I think a lot of agents think you get a few leads - 20 or so a week and all you really need to work on is your closing skills and pitch. If that's so you're far better than me. It takes a lot of leads and a lot of phone time to me to write a decent amount of business.

What you're going to see is that it's about lead volume. Since I generate my own leads it's a mixture of volume and quality.

Results are in - no office

The overwhelming response to yesterday's post was no store-front office. A lot of emails I got did indeed convince me that over-all it would be a waste of money.

Store-front expenses would be at least $4,000 a month and that would be for a small location including phones, utilities and a secretary.

I'm not sure how many people who walk in - probably few to zero. So if there's little to no walk in traffic then the only benefit of having store-front space would be setting appointments for clients to come in and meet with me. I think those results would be lacking.

If I just want to be around other agents for some atmosphere the best move would be office sharing. The problem with sharing expenses with other agents is being stuck with all the bills if they decided to pull the plug and go back to working from home.

My problem with sitting in my home office all day is about to be solved in the spring by attending local events - which is another gamble but one that I'm ready to take.

I really haven't met any agents who have consistently done trade shows, fairs, and other local events. I know when I was with UGA we did a large trade show at the Baltimore Convention Center and I had a 4 hour shift - got many leads.

I did a health fair sponsored by a local hospital - held in a fire station from 10am to 2pm and maybe a few hundred people where there. I wrote 7 apps spread out over the next month.

I think that fact that those apps were spread out psyched me into thinking that it wasn't effective. Especially since at that time there were no online apps and deals took from between 2 and 3 weeks to underwrite.

So from the day of the health fair to the day the last deal was approved was over 2 months. Also, these events are only as effective as you are. I don't see sitting in a chair behind a table and letting people grab the brochures and giveaways as effective. In fact, that method could result in zero business.

I think the method that works is standing in front of the table and at least handing flyers out to everyone that comes by and engaging the people who are interested.

An obvious down-side to these events is they're mainly on weekends and things like fairs and festivals run all day/all night. So either me or someone else would have to man the table or booth for possibly 12 hours.