A Day In The Life Of A Life Insurance Agent

I'm going to write a bit off-the-wall today, and it follows up a Seminar I just did to a bunch of struggling Final Expense Agents ...

This is kind of what I started with, when I was at the podium ...

So let me guess, you’ve been selling life insurance for 12 years and the business has been good to you. Today you are reminiscing about the first few years in business. Yes, it took hard work to get things going but in just a couple of short years, you seemed to have the hang of things.

After much practice, your prospects were highly receptive to your presentation.?Partly due to the nature of your leads, the selling may have started getting easier for you.?

You see, you figured out the “lead” game.

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You are always experimenting with mailers.?About the size of a large postcard, these mailers would hit targeted areas of your market.?And boy were they targeted! The mass mailing vendor knew exactly what age group, income level, and exactly which cities to mail to …. The result?

Prospects would walk out to their mailbox and see an envelope that looked “Official.” Almost as official as a piece of “Government” correspondence. Naturally, they would almost always open the envelope. When they opened it up, it read …?

“You may qualify for a state-regulated program to pay for your final expenses.?It’s important to know how to qualify for this life insurance benefit available for you.?This benefit will pay for 100% of all funeral expenses up to $30,000. The payment is tax-free for North Carolina Residents” …

“You are entitled to receive no-cost information as a resident of North Carolina.?

IMPORTANT - Return this postage-paid card within 5 days …”

The prospects would read this copy and chances are … they’d fill out their personal information on the right side of the card and send it in right away!

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Back to you, the agent …

You finish your breakfast of scrambled eggs, a bowl of corn flakes, and coffee. You move to your desk in the next room, pull out a file labeled “this week’s leads” and begin to make calls …

Out of about 20 leads you reach 9 prospects.?It’s definitely a good day because you are able to set 4 appointments - 2 for today and 2 for later on in the week! You’re on the road now to make it to your first appointment at 9:30 in the morning. Did I mention the appointment is in a town that’s about an hour and a half away??

It’s no wonder you must wake up at 6am to be on the phones by 7 and out the door by 8.?

You get to your first appointment to meet Mildred, a 68-year-old widow who’s been living alone for the last 8 years. Her kids are close by but rarely visit. She’s put off getting life insurance until now. Mildred’s health has been slowly declining which has put the fear in the back of her mind that her kids might have a festering worry that her death will bring a financial burden they cannot handle.

You knock and Mildred opens her door.?

She seems very excited and anxious to listen to what you have to say. She’s smiling, she’s involved with the presentation, and the “burden” seems to be less of a weight already for Mildred ...

You know you have this sale “in the bag” ...

So, you pull out the short application and put your best “close” on her. Mildred balks.?She begins to stutter.?In what seemed like a millisecond, Mildred’s demeanor takes a 180.?

You try again.?She says she wants to think about it. You give her all the right reasons not to wait.?You even get HER to say it. But with each swing… you miss.

And she still doesn’t buy.

You head back out to your car.

That’s not the end of your day, though.?Let me fill you in on the “rest of the story.”

You see, your next appointment isn’t until 5:30 later that day. And since it’s in the same city (an hour and a half away from home) it doesn’t make sense for you to drive back. You get an early lunch then head out to tackle the rest of your leads.?

You got it.?Those leads that either said no or did not answer the phone … Like the peddlers of ancient times … You’re out to show up at their doorsteps.

Door-knocking! There’s no such thing as a “No” until they’ve called, knocked, called again, and knocked again … and again. Right?

And while they’re knocking on doors … why not knock on the neighbor’s doors as well.?Hell why not knock on the doors across the street too! It’s a true GRIND for these agents still today.?And few people are cut out for the job!

Because you will go to your next appointment and whether you get the sale or not is up in the air. In fact, hours of traveling, hours of door knocking, and hours of seeing prospects may or may not result in sales!

In fact, Mildred’s reason for not committing to you is because she has two more agents lined up to see her that same day! (Remember this)

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And as a result, you can still get sales and many still get paid well.?But the effort required … the time prospecting required … and the rejection necessary ... is much higher today than ever before ...?

Resulting in …

● Higher stress at work and at home for Life Agents

● Less time seeing their kids and the rest of their families

● Higher frequency of burn-out

● Less career fulfillment??

How’s that for positive programming ...

There is one more result that is 100% positive though …

A deep-seated desire to find a better way