Many insurance agents don’t know how to get insurance leads that are worth their time and money. Many agents follow the idea that free insurance leads is the best way to go. Most times anything free is good but this is not the case when it comes to getting insurance leads or new customers. The problem with free sources and avenues is there have been many attempts to contact this customer before you have tried. I think if you where the customer or the lead, would you appreciate the phone calls all the time from agents looking for your business. Probably not.

That is why you have to know as an agent how to save time and delegate resources to make you more money. Being an insurance agent is a tough and competitive field to be in but a very lucrative job when times are good. You have to save your time and spend more time selling insurance policies rather than looking for them. The benefits of delegating or having someone else searching for leads for you outweighs wasted time and money. You can save time and money with the help of online insurance companies who gather insurance information from people looking for insurance coverage. This is a great way to free up your time as well to get in contact with potential customers who really want your help.

The question you have to ask yourself is, what do you want out of life? Do you want to have more free time to spend with family and friends or would you rather be working?

It does not matter if you have been in the insurance game for a few months or years. If you do not know how to get insurance leads you are going to suffer and most likely hate your job. A job is never fun when you’re frustrated, depressed and disappointed with the results that you may be getting. The key to being a success insurance agent is to get leads from companies that are collecting leads daily.

There is no need for you to continue on your present course if you are not succeeding and selling insurance policies. Why would you want to waste more time on something that is not working?

As many things change in our world due to technology the fact remains that one medium still has enormous marketing power and 100 years of proven performance: Radio

I am in the business of marketing and selling annuities and over the years I have used many sources of lead generation but dollar for dollar….Radio is the best value.

I am not talking radio advertising, those 30 second SoundBits that are sandwiched in between music plays. I am talking about your own radio program and actually being on the radio. Does it sound difficult and away from your personal business experiences? It certainly is that!

What I am talking about is using a system that is turn key and provides all aspects of your own radio show for you. Scripts, media buys, management, and lead harvesting all in one simple to use and simple to manage system. The key is a total outsource to professionals who do this for a living which will allow you the time to do what you do for a living: sell annuities.

The advantage of outsourcing allows you to minimize your time commitment to the radio show. Plus, media buys can be very expensive if they are done incorrectly. Allowing a professional to manage your media buys will assure you that the correct target market is reached.

The end result of using radio as your marketing source for annuity leads will be a much higher quality of lead. The people who respond to your offers will have a genuine interest in your message and the appointment ratio will be solid.

Think “outside” the box at an old idea which has a proven track record and a solid provider of annuity leads.

For the last 10 years insurance customer clients have wondered if a financial advisor or financial adviser before them is an expert or a fake. Find out how to tell the expert financial adviser from the insurance agent fake. It is like being operated on by a meat butcher instead of a certified surgeon.

The doctor shortage could end in a hurry if after a very brief training, new hired by want ad “doctors” were given a waiting room of patients to practice whatever skills they had learned. Moreover, management told them yes you are a doctor, so they do not hesitate in performing their duties. Locally there would be very few return visits from customer clients, and hardly any would be completely confident in following the new doctor’s advice. Nationally you would have medical security in a state of turmoil, and irate professional doctors and surgeons.

Well this is a real life game being played out with unaware insurance customer clients thinking they are planning their financial future with expert financial advisors or financial representatives. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of a clients personal financial assets could change directions due to the advice of a new financial adviser. Did this new customer just have financial surgery from an expert of at least 5 years or a new trainee of a couple of months? They can both wear identical suits, have identical haircuts, and have business cards with just about the same wording. Financial advisor, adviser, consultant, representative, specialist, analyst, sales representative, guide, producer, or what. Pick you name title.

IS THIS FAIR TO AN INSURANCE CUSTOMER, CLIENT, OR EVEN PROSPECT?

Do not expect the major life insurance companies to be of any assistance. In fact they are the cause for much of this name title confusion. They started the name game. Sudden agents that passed their life insurance exam and worked for a life insurance company were no longer called life insurance agents. Instead they were financial representatives and financial agents, immediately capable of providing financial advice as an advisor. Sometimes in a hospital in might be hard to tell a registered nurse from an LPN. Here it like walking into a field of active sheep and seeing which ones still have immature pink pimples on their butts. I wish all insurance agents well, but I personally would not want a rookie just scraping by on paying bills to give advice and make decisions on my lifetime accumulated assets. The rookie has to make a sale(s), good or bad.

The REAL Financial Advisor

One this is for certain, he or she are not a naive captive insurance agent that does not know the difference between an insurance suspect, prospect, or client. If this adviser has 5 years experience currently, there is an ongoing continuing education in financial issues slated for the life of the career. Knowledge is a never ending process. Along the way certifications like CLU, CHfC, CFP, RFP, and dozens of new ones are available for the learning. Even though giving financial advice requires being quite a perfectionist on uncovering a wide spectrum of products, the real financial advisor has substantial errors and omission insurance. The majority of true insurance financial advisors are proud to be independent. This allows offering a variety of producers from a range of different insurance carriers.

FINANCIAL PRISON?

It would be easy if all so called financial representative under 4 years experience were required to wear a prison striped suit so they could not fool customers and clients with a good con line. Since the big union of old insurance companies hiring these “non-insurance” agents would be ready to have their lobbyists attack the white house, a different method would have to be used. My suggestion is a very simple one and would still avoid the suddenly lower-class name of insurance agent, plus it would be easy to enforce. Since no one but an out of space alien knows the difference between the word advisor and adviser, here is the solution. All real financial advisors with at least 4 years experience and one earned designation would retain that name. All the rookies with stars in their eyes and holes in their wallets would be called advisers.

No more deceptive name games please.

Have you heard the term we are your personal insurance agent?

What does that mean?

How many times have you spent countless hours on the phone with your insurance company trying to get the information you need?

How many times have you gotten the automated voice response system that does not understand proper English and had to scream at a machine?

Have you had to handle a claim and completely gotten the run around with no end in sight?

Have you had a claim denied by your insurance company and tried to find a legit reason as to why?

Have you had to cover emergency costs because your insurance was not accepted at the place where services were rendered?

If you answered yes to any of these, You DON’T have an Insurance Agent, You have an Insurance Sales Person!

What’s the difference?

Well Your Insurance Sales Person shows up and performs a “spectacular insurance presentation” on the best product ever to hit the streets! Puts some pressure on you to get it now because the rates are just for this week and they are going up because they can’t keep the policies this affordable that long.

You signed and you’re thinking, AWESOME! I have the best coverage available and it’s affordable!

Three weeks go by, now you need to go to the doctor and for some reason they won’t accept your insurance. So you call the insurance sales person and he gives you a 1-800 number and assures you they will take care of everything. So now we are back up to the original questions!

You also find out the medicine you need is also not covered under the superb limited time insurance you are paying top dollar for.
Now what’s the real difference.

Now, what an independent insurance agent is.

Someone who is not required to push one product. They have the ability to shop multiple insurance carriers that are available in your area and within your budget.

When we sell you a insurance policy, we have shopped around using various companies to ensure you get the best coverage with the best company for the best price!

When you have an issue with a claim, an insurance agent helps you solve it. We can make one phone call to a “human” and get it resolved in minutes rather than hours. The process is; you call your insurance agent and talk to them on the phone, the insurance agent calls your insurance company to get the answer for you, while you are still going on about your day. After the issue has been handled, the insurance agent calls you back and tells you the new status and whether or not it is solved.

Insurance Agents, Calls, Visits, Gives you donuts and Asks about your family! And Most of All GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR YOU and to Keep your business!

When you doctor does not take your insurance, you have to spend hours finding one that takes your insurance card. But wait, instead you can call your insurance agent and within minutes you now have a list of all the doctors in your area that accepts your current insurance carrier. In some situations, all that is needed is a phone call from your agent and a few forms to get your current physician to accept your new coverage.

You can call your insurance agent and ask them what medications are covered and if their generics are covered instead of name brand medicines.

Now you’re responsible for the emergency care visit you had to take while you were on your Easter vacation in Missouri at your in-laws house. With an Insurance Agent You can call and let them know what happened and you give them the papers you received for the care provided and they fight for you against the carriers. A lot of insurance agents know local physicians and use them frequently for advise and references to fight for you to get denied claims covered.

You go to your pharmacy two weeks after you signed for your new coverage, Not the new company denies your medicine, You can call your insurance agent and have them talk to them and get your meds covered! Even though they were not responsible for 30 days! It Sometime happens this way!

Is this a requirement for an Independent insurance agent? NO! I probably shouldn’t be telling you the dirty little secrets about insurance sales persons, Then again I don’t care about them, Just you! Am I Biased you ask? Who’s side am I on! The Insurance Companies or the Consumers? Is it not obvious yet? Well I guess you need to read on then.

Now why I say this!

I started in the insurance business as a “Insurance Salesman”!
After 1 extremely brief month, I had met a few other people in the Insurance business. I was able to learn allot from them.
I Learned I was not selling the latest and greatest health insurance product nor was it the most affordable.

I left the insurance sales business. And began my career as an insurance agent.

I opened an “Independent Insurance Agency” Called Today’s Insurance Solutions .LLC.

*Do you know when you buy insurance from your local independent insurance agency usually it will help put money back into your community; rather than funding a community you will never get to see or enjoy?”

Little do people know, there are a limited number of approved insurance companies specific to each demographic. Most independent agencies will carry the best and most competitive companies available for the area.

Now, for the people that think going to the internet and getting insurance are saving hordes of money are often mistaken. Internet insurance agencies like esurance.com and thegeneral.com, are selling the same products they can get by going down the street to their local insurance agent. Now they have made the sacrifice of having no insurance agent working for them. Would you rather someone sitting in an office on the other side of the world try to relate and understand what their dilemma is and not giving a crap if it gets resolved or not?

Do you think you would go to these sites knowing you could have the same coverage at the same cost with 100% more support by calling or visiting you local independent insurance agency? I would love to think you wouldn’t, but sadly enough a few people will read this and still go to these sites because the commercials told them to.

I don’t know about you but the last time I listened to a talking lizard I was so drugged up pain medicine that I don’t even remember escaping from the hospital I was checked into.

*Did you know that when you go to most of the sites at the top of the search engines for insurance quotes aren’t there to provide you insurance? What they do is take the information and sell it to 10-15 agents within your area for prices ranging from 5-70 dollars, just for the chance to give you a quote on your next insurance product.
I bet you didn’t know you were giving away money like that did you?

I have made it a mission to try to explain the reasons to all of my customers, present and future, the importance of using an insurance agent to handle their needs and why it’s more beneficial to do so.

At the end of the day, I don’t cry if they don’t buy from me; I know having this new knowledge under their belt is beneficial. It will come up in conversation at their next gathering. Everyone likes to sound intelligent, now they will tell their friends and family what I told them and why they need to use an insurance agent and not an insurance salesman. I won right? Probably not. The people are getting lazy and mostly rely on what commercials tell them.
You can SAVE 5 million dollars by switching to acme insurance company, now you are in good hands. “RIGHT.”

Tips: Search your favorite search engine for a “local independent insurance agency,” then contact them for free quotes for coverage you need for your life. A lot of independent agencies carry life Insurance, health Insurance , business/commercial Insurance, auto insurance, and Home insurance.

I apologize if a was ranting, But I am trying to vent while helping to inform our consumers about their local Insurance resources that they might of now known else wise.

In today’s economy selling anything can be tough, but it doesn’t have to be; it takes a lot of hard work to sell insurance, especially if you are not targeting the right customers and meeting their needs.

But don’t give up; if you work hard enough at it, you can succeed in whatever you do. Selling insurance is probably one of the hardest things to sell. But if you figure out the right way, you can and will succeed. Here are some ways that will help you.

1) Come up with a pitch that will capture and intrigue your customers’ attention. The quicker you have their attention the better your chance is of keeping them interested.

2) Act interested in your customers need and wants.

3) Always try to find a way to make sure you are benefiting the customer. Customers like it and appreciate it when they feel you are saving them money, especially in these times.

4) Think of the best policy you can offer them (i.e. involving their spouse or children). Some people like to get a family policy.

5) Always be honest. People will respect you more when you are honest. Most people can tell whether you are sincere or just trying to tell them what you think they want to hear.

6) Use statistics, compare different plans you have to offer, give people a choice. Make people believe that there are different options available for them to choose from. Let them know that one policy might be better for them then another.

7) Find the clients that you think will be the best ones for you to create a business like friendship with, look for the ones who are seriously interested in your product. Although every client is a potential customer, grow a bond between you and your clients. Figure out who is sincere and who might not be as sincere, be persistent but don’t be over bearing, as this will drive a potential customer away. Always think of your sincere customers as a client you can keep for a long time.

Do you like internet sales leads?

Many insurance agents say they do not like internet leads. Personally, I now love sales leads that I generate from my own network of websites. When I used to buy them from a company that also sold them to 3 other agents, I was not that crazy about them though. I think that my new enthusiasm comes from my ability to generate my own exclusive prospect list from highly motivated consumers that tend to turn into sales for me!

The Internet Sales Conversion Process

Imagine 1,000 web surfers who might see your message. They could view a link on another website, and advertisement, or maybe read your article. Out of those thousand, it might be realistic to assume that 5% actually click that link to see what you have to say. You have now attracted 50 visitors to your website. And you did it without having to speak to the thousand who were really not interested! Doesn’t that sound great? It is.

Those 50 website visitors now get to view your message. They can determine if they trust you, want your products, and feel as if you can help them solve the problem that motivated to visit your website in the first place. Again, let’s be realistic and say that out of 50 website visitors, you get 10 of them to take another action. What is that action? They may call you with a phone number you have posted, or they may fill out a lead form or email you! You have a contact from a lead that called you, and not the other way around!

Good Internet Insurance Sales Leads That Are Exclusive To You!

Now you have generated 10 great sales leads. These were the people who moved through the whole conversion process and actually took the trouble to contact you about your product or service. Is this process easy? Well, I will be honest. It takes some work to get your system to function, but once you do, you really do have an online, 24/7 sales machine that only works for your business.

A Successful Internet Sales Machine

* A compelling message that attracts website visitors.
* A website that looks interesting and trustworthy.
* A clear call to action.
* You! A salesperson able to handle those leads that actually contact you from your website.

You need to do three important tasks to get this to work for you. You need to have a clear message you can place on other websites. You need to have a website promotion strategy that can distribute that message around the internet. And you need to have a website that directs potential clients towards the action they need to take in order to buy This may seem simple, and it can be. But this process, if done right, can explode your insurance sales. And of course, this process can work with other products or services you may want to offer.

You can use this process to gather leads, make direct online sales, or spread any type of message. People should not arrive at your website by accident, but because they figured you could answer their questions and solve their problems.

Every experienced insurance agent has tips and advanced secrets on what makes closing sales easier. Few secrets concern heading off buying objections. See how buying objections hurt closing sales of insurance. Discover why purchasing a jumbo book on the secrets of handling objections is a waste of your time and money.

Insurance sales agents, advanced or trainees, now their income hinges on closing sales effectively. The approach on treating buying objections however varies widely. A vast number of agents think that objections are part of the sales process. With this logic, they spend their short or lifelong career thinking of ways to outsmart a prospect whenever a sale is made. Some are even told that the secrets of closing sales lie in turning the objection around into a sales advantage. Not that many agents are able to do that consistently.

I take a much more advanced approach in discussing the insurance secrets of closing sales. It is very simple. I just do not accept buying objections as a means for a prospective client to get in the way of making a sale. What do I personally think of the concept of not stopping under you have heard “no” eight times? Three thoughts. First, I think the sales person is ill prepared to be an insurance salesperson, and should find another occupation. Next I believe that the agent if receiving buying objections because they are a suspect, and not a qualified prospect worth spending time on. Last, the agent is lacking the personality traits of strong self-confidence, motivation, adaptation, and determination to walk out with the sale.

How to handle buying objections:

Never let them come up. Before you make an appointment make sure you have a strong prospect. A prospect must have a desire to want to hear what you have to say, and know that there is an important emotional need to fill an insurance gap. If do not know this, ask your prospect to acknowledge there is an awareness before confirming an appointment and wasting gas and valuable time. If you control the source of the lead, you should already know if the client could, if convinced, afford it.

Go through the objections in advance

The bulk of the main objections fall into the range of: price, indecision stall, unconvinced of need, think it over, don’t need it right now, want to compare, and call you later. Do you think you could sell more policies if you never received these objections? Do you believe an 80% or 90% closing ratio can actually be a reality? If so, read on, otherwise my secrets of closing sales will merely turn to stone. The first step is not to treat a lead like gold and rush to make an appointment. Are you absolutely sure you have a true lead, and not a look-alike suspect?

Establishing a true lead

The problem comes with so many wishy-washy insurance agents tying to turn suspects into prospects into buyers because they think they have a lead. A person that lets you discuss insurance is not a lead. It is this kind of person that will give you every buying objection possible to prevent a sale. A true lead is not afraid that they suffer from a gap in their insurance and need to talk about it. Next is where your personality sales skills reflect the outcome. A prospect can immediately feed if you are strong in your convictions or week. The prospect can sense you amount of knowledge, and enjoys dealing with people much smarter than them on that subject matter. They want to be treated on the same level as a trustworthy friend, which you must establish before the presentation begins.

Where are the buying objections?

If you followed the simple secrets above you will quickly become an advanced salesperson. You will notice when this occurs as getting objections becomes a rarity. Ask yourself what reason a true prospect has to object. The two of you together are teaming together. Both of you are working on designing the best plan of filling insurance needs within a certain budget. Sorry, you are no longer buying objections. You are assisting the prospect to buy insurance.

The marketing analysis study of clients’ insurance leads is very revealing. I call the study of obtaining clients as “Leads and the Clueless Dummies” in a sincere manner. Review my analysis to see how agents confuse ordinary people, (suspects) with insurance leads (probable buyers).

There is a gigantic spectrum of insurance sellers that do not know what an actual lead is. It runs from new trainees, to experienced sales agents, to product marketers, and circles around to managers who want their sales agents to be lead clueless. This is true of any industry that expect sales people that are not order takers to develop client leads guiding to sales. Here you have the clueless playing a live game of Clue. This analysis study will give you the clues to quit guessing suspects and finding clients with a motive. Otherwise, you will get a bushel basket of objections keeping you from locating and making winning sales.

Why you do not know what an insurance lead is composed of. The majority of life and health insurance sales agents start working for a home office based insurance career, captive insurance agency. The agency tries to get its representatives pumped up, by providing insurance leads marketing ideas that are full of faults. Sales agents need ideas that willing lead to people willing to buy the products they offer. Let us do a study analysis of these tips, and ideas that range from having gaping holes to those that require a little extra sales or personal skill to turn into a sale.

THE 100 MAN LIST This list is an easy way for the agency to confuse the agent with smoke and mirrors. The sales agent provides a 100-person list of personally approachable people. This includes a lot of friends, relatives, relatives of relatives, neighbors, old associates, and some businesses. The agency manager tells them they are excellent leads. These are not leads. Instead, they are suspect acquaintances. These people often have no shown a need for obtaining added insurance, and are few are willing to do so right now. Many do not trust your knowledge to provide the correct benefits, and others do not have the financial means to do so. You have four strikes against you. The only way to turn these suspects into buyers is with “pity sales”, they buy to help you get your career going.

REFERRALS There is a misconception purposely provided in the business that each sale you make should result in three referrals. In other words, you new client is pressured into trying to provide you with the contact information of their personal connections to make new sales. When a food vendor convinces you to buy a hot steaming loaded hot dog, do they drill you for referrals? Remember that referrals owe you nothing. Like the 100 man lists the names provided can have the same 4 non-buying strikes. You earn referrals, you cannot demand them.

COLD CALLS The most stupid prospecting method of insurance leads marketing of the last 100 years. This is Leadsan Dummies, Chapter 1 material. You start with a list or directory of complete unknown strangers – suspects. You sudden sales strategies are suppose to turn them into interested leads willing to hear about your product, and you sell them insurance. In fact you even have a telephone script to handle every objection that is thrown at you, or you get 8 “no’s” whichever comes first. If you ever sweat before, this will soak your shirt or blouse like a rainstorm. A cave man using a club probably would have achieved better results.

You are bothering your prospective clients. Sure, they might realize that insurance is important, and even that they might need to have more of it. However, are they will to earnestly willing to talk about it, make a commitment to buy, pay for it, and then continue to keep the insurance in effect? Will they have enough trust in you and your experience to make a commitment? Most important can you accomplish this feat without applying pressure so it does not backfire. These are the nine essential ingredients of a true insurance marketing lead.

PERSONALLY KNOWN SOCIAL ACQUAINTANCES These are not natural leads. However, awareness of working together in a church, charity, or business group they gradually know what you do, and like you enough to ask for your assistance. The major problem is how long. You cannot forcefully cause these contacts to blossom into one of your qualified insurance leads. A great system, where you should devote time, but not too much of it.

HANDING OUT BUSINESS CARDS Please do not do this at your place of worship. This, like cold calling can stink of pressure, unless handled very lightly. Purchasing 4 inexpensive lottery tickets and winning over $100 three times, compares closely to what you should expect from your efforts. Do not expect anything and feel blessed if you get a call.

EMAIL BLASTING FOR INSURANCE LEADS Over 2 out of every 3 emails are blocked by the internet service providers. Many recipients who do not personally know you consider this junk email. In additional the quality of the list used commonly is under 20% targeted accurately for the right prospects. Is sounds easy and quick, but often ends up very costly and ineffective.

COMPANY RATE QUOTE RESPONDER Here is a two-sided sword where you can easily be injured. This is often not a lead for a few reasons. You have a person wanting to slash life rates down to the bone, and looking for any company to do so. Other insurers or agents may have been called to rate compete. Do you want a cheap sale that did not handle the person’s needs? Remember realizing the true need and be willing to discuss it is part of an insurance lead. An analysis shows that doing your job might lose a sale to a competitor, who may keep the temporary client for a year and make a small commission.

COMPANY PHONE CALL IN These can be a great lead or only a suspect. Be careful the person is not just a rare shopper or not hiding a medical condition. Otherwise, this is a green light to a sale.

INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING Joining a business intenet social group and joining some inter-clubs is a giant step in the right direction. Here you will spend lots of time and true group devotion to getting yourself and business talents recognized. Time however can work very fast to plant the roots and start cultivating social connections to do business with. Not only will get sales opportunities, but some groups have virtual gurus that provide tips and ideas on unique ways to promote your services. These are not current leads, but a terrific source of future leads.

COMMON INTEREST PHONE LIST This produces ten times the dynamic force of cold calling. That is because so many reasons for objections are eliminated. You find on an internet search a list broker. Tell him or her that you are looking for something like this (using your comfort specifications). Married couples between the ages of 25 and 40, living in certain zip codes, owning their own home, with children, and both employed. These are excellent candidates for life insurance and mortgage disability coverage. You have a ton of information on them and use it. You know there is a need to take care of it now; you have different options so they can afford it, so there is no reason not to discuss it.

Never sell on the phone, and Never Ever push the appointment. Your prospect list is not a lead list. It is a numbers game and with the right touch enough could turn to appointments and then to profitable sales.

INTERNET BASED SALES LEADS Hardly any of the firms selling these leads have a successful insurance background using them. Profit is the name of the game, with you being the source of profit. It is almost like the carnival peddler or minute television product pusher working on you. You are hawked all the possible benefits, but never all the disadvantages. How qualified are these ready to buy people. Depending upon the price of the lead, they usually fall between tire-kicking shoppers to partially qualified lead. Study the nine signs of a quality insurance lead, and determine how many they meet.

COMMON INTERNET MAIL LIST The list is and qualifications are the same as mentioned in the common interest phone list. Take 1,000 prospects and send them at standard rate, a smaller size envelope with reply card. (Ask the mailing company for simple assistance). The better qualified the list, the higher quantity and quality of leads. The superiority of this method was a combination of two factors. That consisted of pre-qualifying the prospects and applying no pressure to respond.

YOUR OWN CLIENTS After a year has elapsed, any analysis will show these are hands down, the best leads obtainable. You have already demonstrated the necessary product knowledge, confidence, and skills to your clients. Now set up a policy review, and fill any gaps or replace any outdated coverage.

Study all these insurance lead methods. (There are even more). No system of sales leads is 100% guaranteed to provide only fully qualified leads of people ready and able to buy. If so, sales would not be such a severe challenge that few sales agents can turn into earning insurance sales professional status.

There are few Americans that have not heard of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, more recently heavily promoted as MetLife. My personal review of MetLife covers concerns about losses effecting financial ratings and value of stocks. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has a load of positives also worth a closer review.

Over 140 years ago, with the use of debit agents, National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company were started, then renamed National Travelers Insurance Co. Shortly later in 1868 it was reorganized as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Before the 1960′s started, there was intense competition with Prudential Life Insurance Co to compete for life insurance agents and brag not only about the size of the agency force, but also the amount of assets belonging to the two jumbo life insurance writers. Picking up General Motors as a client and pushing group benefits kept Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in a top position.

Reviewing agent stability shows that the 1970′s reflected horrible retention due to agent selection, larger policies pushed, overly restrictive underwriting, and an abundance of managers. The 1980′s showed significant company growth that was handcuffed temporarily in the early 1990′s due to a widespread review of deceptive sales practices. Already owning Texas Life Insurance Company and merging with New England Mutual Life, it then bought out Charter Security Life Insurance Companies and sold off some unprofitable units.

By the mid 1990′s many of the top insurance financial ratings, companies considered MetLife to be an extremely sound financial carrier. MetLife is actually a separated insurance company from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In 49 states it is officially MetLife Investors USA Insurance Company based in Irvine, California. In the state of New York it is known as First MetLife Investors Insurance Company. Since the 1980′s, Snoopy and other famous Peanuts characters provide an identity image for them. In addition, MetLife Investors has represented a majority of the companies business provided by independent brokers.

My review of the MetLife and Metropolitan websites would get an A to A+ rating, something I rarely give. The reasoning behind this was the extremely professional design layout of the website with extreme ease for finding information. Many large insurers compete with their own agents to sell insurance direct to the client. The MetLife website allowed inquiries about life, disability, long-term-care, auto, home, boat, and excess liability coverage whereby a representative would contact the internet searcher. The separate sections for brokers and agents were also nicely laid out.

The only downside of my review would be regarding financial ratings and stock prices. It is estimated that nearly a billion dollars of financial exposure is to AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, and Washington Mutual alone. Although stock prices at MetLife showed sliding stock price fluctuations, there are still strong financial assets and decent operating revenues.

Personally, I do not right now see a repeat of the AIG fiasco, MetLife has the management and backing to look like they can pull through with some share selling. However, my company review currently recommends keeping the traffic light on caution.

This marketing analysis is focused on the needs of middle class insurance customers. Find out why insurance sellers ignore marketing to this large class of buying customers with definite coverage needs.

The bulk of the blame goes both to the insurance companies and to insurance product agents. Starting with the insurance product agents it is first a manner of obtaining enough insurance customers and premiums to make it through the first four years. My marketing analysis shows that currently only 7 out of 100 agents last this long. In addition, their income even with subsidies is $15,000 below the national per capita income in most states. Surprisingly to some, the agents selling customers financial related plans are more apt to fail quickly that those selling automobile, homeowners, life, and health products.

THE AGENT LOGIC COMMISSION TRAP Since an agents income is supported by income and premiums, a false perception is easily conceived. If the agent receives 20% commission for selling home owners insurance, agents insuring a $800,000 home, get up to six times the compensation as marketing one $150,000 home owners policy. Using the same analysis, the life insurance agent selling a $4,000 annual premium life policy may make $3,200 instead of $800 for a $1,000 life policy. GREED SELLING instead of needs selling to the middle class insurance customers.

THE AGENT BIG HEAD TRAP In a recent study, I came up with 130 substitute titles and variations for “agent”. It appears that a vast number of agents want to call themselves specialists, professionals, advisers, counselors, designers, advisors, planners, consultants, and experts among others. Added too frequently to all this is the word “financial”. Financial is inappropriately substituted for risk, as they think these are words that customers desire to hear. The agent is falsely preying on making prospective clients feel they are dealing with a financial expert no matter what product they are selling. Wealthy customers want financial professionals to deal with. EGO SELLING instead of need selling to middle class people requires insurance risk protection.

THE INSURANCE COMPANY NAME GAME My info here can be verified by looking at the front page of insurance company home office websites. This is especially true with companies holding a history of over 100 years of existence. Hardly a single carrier states they are looking for new “agents” to hire. Regardless of products sold, they rave about the opportunities existing for new “financial representatives.” Why? They want to ignore the middle class insurance customers and go after the wealth and jumbo premiums. A new agent is no more qualified to sell financial products and give investment advice than they are qualified to sell birthday balloons. It takes years of continued education, experience in full scale planning, and plenty of errors and omissions coverage. Talking with prospects about changing hundreds of thousands of dollars with asset strategy is not for the inexperienced. Forced PREMIUM SELLING to the wealthy, as opposed to serving middle class customers properly.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS In an analysis of my personal insurance selling career, 90% of total premiums and close to 97% of my sales were to middle class people. I enjoyed a successful career because of realized the value of making so many marketing presentations. Giving 20 appointments weekly to middle class prospects that had genuine needs was the solution. False hope is trying to create the emotion need and buying urge in a few wealthy clients that are being over pursued. Besides that a close to 90% closing rate, sure beat 35% to 45% by more than double. The safety in numbers also reaped in benefits often not realized. There were many multiple policy sales, shorter presentations, and the need for later profitable policy review work.

MIDDLE CLASS NEEDS There are few middle class people insurance education on properly protecting their most important assets at a reasonable cost. The agents trying to look after the essential needs of life insurance, major medical, car, home, some disability benefits, and hopefully long-term care face little competition. The needs and money is there, where are the agents? It is time to fill the donuts. HONEST SELLING to middle class insurance customers equals quality agent rewards.