Should you be cold calling in 2019?
It’s not fun, but a lot of insurance agents say they’re broke and aren’t sure what to do to maintain activity. So, if you want to be successful and make money without paying for leads, you need to have the mentality to do whatever it takes.
Cold calling is still an effective way to generate leads and set appointments. In fact, as a new agent, our founder Cody Askins used it as a strategy to earn $100,000 in his first year.
Cold Calling Nights
Cody still pitches “Cold Call Nights” in his coaching programs as a way to generate lots of leads for not a lot of cash.
Every Monday night from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Cody would have a team of three to five college kids hop on the phones and try to set appointments for him to run later in the week.
He’d give them a script, cubicle, a phone, a data list, and let them get to work.
For the first two appointments set he’d give them $10. Then, for every appointment thereafter, he’d give them $20.
To help get them excited he’d have some spiffs sometimes or have a night where he bought pizza for all of them.
Also, he hopped on the phones with them. You need to lead by example. You don’t hire people to do a job that you wouldn’t do yourself.
What to expect from Call Nights
Cody was doing these Call Nights for final expense insurance. However, he recommends this strategy for any line of insurance — especially Property and Casualty.
At the end of every Call Night, Cody would leave with anywhere from eight to 20 appointments. Now, about 50-60% of these appointments would no-show. That’s just the nature of cold calling.
We’re not saying this is the best way to go about prospecting. However, if you don’t have the budget for leads and are looking for a unique, cheaper alternative, this is one strategy we recommend.
If you add in your warm market and door knocking to this strategy, you’re going to generate a lot of leads at an extremely low cost. In fact, these three strategies are what Cody did to earn $117,000 in his first year as an insurance agent. He wasn’t allowed to purchase leads. He was forced to be creative in his prospecting strategies.
However, mixing in even a small amount of insurance leads while also cold calling is the most optimal strategy.
