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.