Insurance Sales Agent – Avoid Failure (Our Story)
Insurance Sales Agent – Avoid Failure and go Straight to Success
Insurance sales can be very profitable for anyone determined to be successful as an insurance sales agent. Unfortunately, we had to learn the hard way that there are a lot of ways to fail, and very few paths to success. In this article I’ll be sharing some of our mistakes, so that you can learn from them. And yes, I will also lay out the easiest way to become a successful insurance sales agent including earning a lifetime passive income with a six or seven figure lifestyle! In this article we’ll be going over the following information.
Insurance Sales Agent Licensing
Insurance Agencies to Consider Avoiding
Our Biggest Mistakes and Failures
The Sales System Used by Most Top Producers
Upfront Money vs Lifetime Residual Income Products
Selling Insurance vs Building an Insurance Agency
Why You Want to Become an Independent Agent
The Pro’s and Con’s of Being a Captive Agent
Lifetime Renewals as an Insurance Sales Agent
In my first 4 calendar years selling Final Expense insurance, I was the number one agent for the main carrier that my wife, Mariana and I sold. In 2014 we primarily sold Five Star Life Insurance Company’s final expense product. Then Security National Life’s final expense product the following three years! Everything I did was as independent insurance sales agent. While I was selling other final expense products, I still beat every single one of those company’s “captive” agents. I had broken both insurance carriers sales records. Accomplishing this was 100% due to the sales system that we developed along with some hard work. Since then, the word has spread. Now there are a lot of agents who have been able to accomplish similar success. Many of them are currently some of the highest producing insurance agents in the industry!
Become an Insurance Sales Agent – Licensing Advice
The first mistake I made was not getting the right insurance license. I was recruited into life insurance sales as a captive agent and was told to get a life and annuity license. Later I learned that I would absolutely need a health license as some life products have health related byproducts that can easily be added to a sale. My best suggestion is to get a License that has Life, Health, and Variable Annuities sales allowances. Interesting enough, I realized something important while studying. It is actually easier to pass the test for the license with life, health, and annuities, than it was for the Life only license. I also realized that it’s easier to learn when you go to a course that has face to face instructors, over studying and taking the pre-testing online. Instructors recommend what to study that will most likely be asked, on the test.
Insurance Marketing Organizations to Avoid
I believe that the MLM or Multi-Level Marketing insurance sales agent agency platform is non-transparent and manipulative. Yeah, that sounds really bad but it’s all due to my personal experience dealing with 3 companies. Let’s just say that I thought I could get what I needed from them in different ways and in the long run, I was wrong. MLM insurance companies tend to have a commission structure that starts below what I refer to as “minimum wage” and then some of the top levels are impossible to achieve for most insurance agents. Even top producers can’t achieve the highest levels unless they decide to build their own insurance agency. This is where the big fail begins because building an insurance agency is extremely risky. People that appear to have early agency building success often end up in debt and out of the business within a year or two.
I was willing to accept a lower commission from all three MLM companies in exchange for lead availability. The first company’s manager promised me that there were more Mortgage Protection leads available in my area than I could ever work. This was not true. When I asked to be released from my contracts, he wouldn’t do it. I had to wait out six months to move contracts. The second company, my first for Final Expense, offered me 100% free/exclusive leads for a low commission. 7 years later I needed a Medicare Advantage contract and found out that they marked me as having debt to them for those leads. I never signed anything. It was like dealing with the Mafia. The third company simply wouldn’t release my contracts and lied to my face about it. In each case, I was blatantly lied to.
The Goal of Becoming a Completely Independent Agent
After my experience with the MLM companies, I decided to help myself and put together a system that could easily be followed by other agents. It wasn’t easy and it took time. However, anyone with a decent work ethic can follow our system and have success as an insurance sales agent! Our platform has three things I couldn’t get anywhere else. Great training with access to a professional who knows the business. Fixed cost leads that are completely exclusive. This is super important. And the right products! We have the most competitive carriers and pay out some of the highest first year commission and renewals in the industry. Now agents can have access to everything they need without being jerked around and manipulated. Just transparency and access to a strong sales platform! We also have an open release policy for the insurance sales agent.
Your long-term goal in our industry should be to go independent over being a captive agent. Eventually, the last thing you’ll want is to be dependent on someone else for your success. Captive companies usually pay much lower commissions and often take years for vesting. The managers usually have their heads way up your bum too. This is good if you’re learning and need help but not good if you’re actually a talented insurance sales agent. A good independent agent platform like ours gives agents first day vesting and has an open release policy. This means if you make one sale and want to leave, the client is yours. It also means that we have no problem granting an agent’s release as long as the agent has no outstanding debt. This is how legitimate insurance marketing organizations work. Captive shops and multi-level marketing companies want you to depend on them.
Insurance Sales as a Captive Agent
This is extremely important. The only reason that you would ever want to be a captive agent is for training. If you’re looking at joining a captive company, just make sure they have a local presence with face-to-face training. You also want to make sure they have a proven sales system that other agents in that same office are using. Keep in mind that you are giving up a lot to work with that company. You most likely will not be vested for 2 to 3 years. This means if you leave before the vesting period starts, you will lose any backend months 10, 11, and 12 money. You’ll also be giving up annual renewals. In most cases, your commission will be so low that this money will be insignificant compared to what you’ll make as an independent insurance sales agent. Forget about the vesting. Just learn and leave!
Insurance Sales Agent– Selling the Right Products
When Mariana and I got into the insurance business, we started off selling life insurance. After a few years we worked our way into the senior market selling final expense insurance. Here’s what I love about this market. First, the people we sell to are a lot easier to sell than the professionals we used to meet with. Back when we sold Mortgage Protection! A lot of these people are living off of a very small amount of money and can’t afford much. Final expense insurance is often very important to these folks because the last thing they want is to leave their family with their debt. They will often figure out a way to pay for the insurance by giving up something else they don’t need. At first, this market didn’t seem viable, but the pay structure added to the need for this product says different.
Final expense insurance was just the start for us. We love selling final expense because of the large upfront 9 months advanced moneys. Interesting enough, the clients that our leads target are also the clients who need Medicare insurance products. Medicare supplement insurance and Medicare Advantage are 2 products that everyone over 65 will need to look at. Medicare is a great product for folks in this age group but it’s just not complete. For prescription medications to be affordable, the 65 and older crowd will need to choose between a supplement or an advantage plan. Both pay very good money for the insurance sales agent and cover an important need. Unlike with final expense insurance, most Medicare recipients will absolutely need to have a Medicare Insurance product. For most seniors, this will be the only way they can afford their healthcare which makes it an absolute necessity.
Insurance Sales Agent– The Value of a Proven Sales System.
Allow me to touch on some of the things that every insurance sales agent will need. At least for a higher chance of success! First, let’s talk about leads. Direct mail leads are the strongest type of lead for our market. The clients write down some information on a card and mail it in. This is important because you can show them their own handwriting when door knocking or meeting with them. Facebook leads are smart to generate on your own. We use a company that teaches you Facebook lead generating basics for a fee. Remember, Facebook leads are good as an Addition to your Direct Mail leads. There just isn’t enough data to generate lots of leads within driving range. I recommend no less than 30-40 exclusive leads every single week. Top producers might work around 50 to 60 weekly leads. Sometimes even more!
You’ll want to door knock all your leads for the first few months until you’re a master at the art. FYI, half of your sales could come from door knocking. Even if you’re a super talented appointment setter! The idea is to have 2 to 3 phone days each week so you’re in the field 3-4 days every week. Call through your leads 8-10 times on the phone days and door knock the leads that don’t take the appointments. With this system, you should have several appointments already set up on your field days and will do less door knocking. This is the system that we used. When we found a talented assistant to help set appointments, we were unstoppable. Mariana and I were the only insurance agents who both qualified for multiple insurance conventions, writing business with our own pens. This was unheard of until we did it!
Selling Insurance – The Makings of a Solid Presentation
When we put together our final expense presentation, I took parts of what another insurance sales agent was doing, then I did everything I could to make it better. That worked because most of the top producers are using it, or at least some variation. We make sure to build a lot of trust and rapport throughout the presentation. It’s how we seperate ourselves from all the other insurance agents that our clients meet with. The presentation should be designed in a way that smoothly allows the prospect to feel confident that you are there for an important reason and that they absolutely need your help. It might include a “personal commercial” so they know a little about you and why you got into the insurance business. I like to go over the differences between what we do as a broker, and what they area seeing on TV and getting in the mail.
Lifetime Residual Income as an Insurance Sales Agent – Medicare Advantage Sales
As I write this article, my wife and I are getting licensed to sell Medicare Advantage for the first time. We believe that this is the future for the insurance sales agent looking for a large passive income stream. As mentioned earlier, everyone who turns 65 will likely need a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicare Supplement plan. Approximately 75% of these folks will need a Medicare Advantage plan. As of today, these plans pay a $573 commission for the first year for new Medicare Advantage clients. They pay a lifetime annual renewal of $287. If you sell someone their first Medicare Advantage plan and they stay with you for ten years, your commission during that time period is $3,156. We already have agents on our sales platform that are selling 10+ plans every single week. With our Lead Credit program, exclusive direct mail lead costs are almost nonexistent!
