Don’t Become this guy!
Learn from Other Agent’s Mistakes!
There are a LOT of agents who find success in Final Expense Life Insurance sales…but the failure rate is HUGE. New agents fall into the same traps as those who failed before them.
Here are some things to avoid.
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Don’t start (now) if you are already broke- Selling Final Expense is a way to go into business for yourself. And it costs money to go into business. You can have the biggest commission contracts that exist and you’ll still go broke if you can’t afford to market your business. Agents who try to start broke are suckers for trap #2.
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FREE LEADS STINK! The easiest way for an agency to chew you up and spit you out is to offer you free leads. They will give you crummy (aka: low commission) contracts and once you’re under them they will give you the worst 3-year old, worked and re-worked stinky leads for people who didn’t want to buy the FIRST time an agent called them and they won’t the next 10-either. After you get burnt up working these agent-killers for three weeks and you have to power-close your Aunt Bertha on a policy she doesn’t want just so you can pay your back rent and not get evicted…you decide “Hey, I’m just not cut out for sales after all.” You never stood a chance working those “free” leads.
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There are no magic words- Some agencies will try to sell you on the dream that they have the “magic” presentation that makes people get their checkbook out and write you big fatty checks 90% of the time. (I guess 100% would be unbelievable.) There are no magic words that solve all objections and send people into action on every appointment. It’s all about seeing the people, communicating well, listening, and coming across as a caring professional who really can help them solve a problem. There are right ways and wrong ways to present things but there is no magic. Agents who are successful simply work a lot and have good communication skills.
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Don’t hitch your wagon to the wrong company- In order for a final expense life insurance company to be a good choice for you to represent it needs to have several things. First, the rates have to be somewhat competitive. Second, they have to have underwriting that is really SIMPLIFIED ISSUE. You should be able to ask the application questions and be able to tell how the applicant will be placed. There shouldn’t be too many surprises. Third, they need to at least know how to spell CUSTOMER SERVICE. Enough said on that.
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Don’t go captive by accident- When you are new you probably don’t know the difference between a captive agent or an independent one. That little tidbit of ignorance can really cost you a lot of money. Captive= Someone is limiting the products you sell and setting the rules for your business. They often slant your paycheck heavily in their favor…especially what happens to future income once you leave. Sometimes they provide leads and training. Captive is often called “career” by recruiters. Captive might be OK with some types of insurance but it’s terrible for Final Expense agents. You need to have a selection of competitive companies to sell. And you need to run your business the way it makes sense for you. Make sure you know if your commissions are paid to you directly from the insurance company or if they are assigned to your up line. You ALWAYS want to paid directly from the insurance companies. A lot of us started captive and moved later to independence…but a BAD captive experience can bring your whole insurance career to a crashing halt.
- Don’t fail to ask about releases up front– Do NOT sign ANY paperwork until you ask about the exit plan. Will they sign a release if you decide to move your contracts? This is a huge issue. The more shady an IMO is the less likely they will allow you to take your contracts and go sell somewhere else. With our agents they can be assured that if we turn out to be the wrong IMO for them, they won’t be trapped. We just require that your new IMO accepts all debt responsibility from the day of your transfer. Many agents make the mistake of responding to some great sounding e-mail they got and sign up with blindly with whoever sent them the email. The agent is excited and all this is new and he didn’t check out who he is dealing with and now he decides he wants to come to us. Guess what? That IMO you signed up with now OWNS you. He won’t release your contracts. And the only way you can get away is call each insurance company and cancel your contract for 6-months and wait it out. Then after 6-months you can re-sign up through us. Do NOT take the decision lightly about who you sign up with. They all claim to have Lead Programs, Top Commissions and Great Training to offer you but once they own you the “leads” can be old worked and re-worked dogs, the top commissions are 20% less then everyone else gets and the “great training” is a webinar from a guy that couldn’t sell his way out of a wet sack. BEWARE of what you are doing.
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Don’t chase too many different rabbits- When you first get your insurance license it’s a confusing time with all sorts of decisions. It seems like you should get contracted with every life insurance company, health insurance company, Medicare, Annuities, Long Term Care…STOP! Slow down! No one can chase everything out there and do any good with any of them. You have to choose your specialty and get real good at it. That’s the road to success! If the specialty that you have chosen is Final Expense Insurance, you have found the best place to be. If it’s something else…we are the wrong place for you. You can sprinkle in some obvious additions like Medicare once you are up and going with your final expense sales.
- Don’t fall for the “We have no contract” scam: Bad IMO’s want to keep you ignorant about how things work. One big one pitches “We have no contract that you have to sign.” Sounds good right? NO, it’s just lip service to get your guard down. No IMO’s have you sign a contract with the agency. What you will sign is the contracting with the insurance carrier. And THAT contracting is what will keep you from moving on for 6-months if you aren’t happy with who you signed up with. So if ANYONE ever tries to recruit you by saying “You don’t sign any contracts with us” just be aware that he’s trying to pitch you with fake BS because he doesn’t want to explain to you how releases work.
- DON’T SIGN ANYTHING without having your commissions (1st year and renewal) in writing!!! Lot’s of seemingly good IMOs will brush over the commission topic. “Oh yeah! We pay top commissions” they sez. Your 1st year commission level with FE at most agencies should be at least 100% (and higher than that if you choose National Underwriting Service, LLC/FexContracting as your IMO.) We start agents at 115% with most companies and 125% on others. Do NOT accept a “verbal” agreement on your commission levels. Once you have signed that paperwork a shady IMO can put you at any commission level he wants to regardless of what he told you. And shady IMOs are plentiful and they won’t release agents once you have contracted with the carriers. Print out our starting commission grid and compare it to EVERY agency that are considering. Taking less commission can be a disaster to you surviving in this business. See commissions here: https://fexcontracting.com/final-expense-commission-levels/
