Direct Response Selling - How Tough is it?
By Richard H.
 

For sometime now, I have been looking for a home based business which is virtual, has unlimited income potential, could be built at my own pace, and would have the ability to survive for years. 

Last January, I met a childhood friend, who is a CPA in Beverly Hills, for a Sunday brunch.  I told him that I thought that my current employment at that time would soon come to an end.  I was correct about the job ending and in the latter part of February my position was eliminated.   

My friend told me that he had a client in the San Fernando Valley who had a background similar to mine.  He told me that Lenny had been selling life insurance for several years through the Internet and that it might be worth a call to him to learn more about this new way of selling.  It seemed like a perfect fit.  

And so I called Lenny 

I called Lenny and he introduced me to Only Financial Group and their collection of resources, services and support for new agents like myself.  By mid March, I was able to begin an almost full time effort with this endeavor.  I realized that it was a start up business and did not expect it to cash flow before the first year.  Further, I knew that the start up expenses would be in excess of $15 to $20,000 in the first year.   

Because of my previous business experience I did not feel this was too large an initial investment to start a new business from scratch and one that could last for the rest of my life.  The Internet is not going away anytime soon and life insurance is here to stay forever. 

My issues were that although I have been insurance licensed for years, I had never actually sold any life insurance.  Also, I knew nothing about LeadBoss, the lead relationship manager utilized by agents with OFG for tracking leads and sales. 

So how painful was it? 

The first 6 weeks were really tough because I had to learn both LeadBoss AND how to sell life insurance.  However, making lots of dials to leads is not difficult for me—I love working on the phone—and fortunately I had good sales training in this area from previous work.  Overall it was a painful process and if it had not been for Elaine Leonard's kind support and encouragement, I could have easily washed out.  Also, Nick Hauther was most understanding with the way I purchased my Quote Request Leads.  I took them in an uneven manner and at times had so much to work that I had to stop the lead flow just to get caught up on the paper work.  Mark Meurer was also helpful by directing me to the library of audio files at the OFG site so I could self train and learn more.  I especially liked his advice on how to set the appointment for the physical exam.  That has proven invaluable 

After 250 leads and a good number of conversations with prospects, the process came together for me in about the 7th or 8th week.  I find the assistance with the training and the appointment process with the companies to have been invaluable. 

My career now and going forward  

My days are not long enough to do all the dialing I want, with the burden of processing the 13 cases in underwriting, 27 cases which have scheduled parameds and scheduled call backs.  So I’ve decided to expand so that I can focus solely on selling.  I was lucky this week to hire a very experienced processor part time to handle the paper work.  My goal now is to build a virtual agency with 12 selling agents and adequate processing staff to support them. 

In the mean time, I am enjoying the challenge of building a business that has an unlimited potential. Oh, I’ll be at the Summit too; I encourage you to consider that small investment in your future success…………. 

- Richard H 

Editors Note:  Richard “plugged in” from the beginning and it was easy to assist him as he engaged each of us in the OFG office.  He was quick to learn and had a deep desire to make this successful.  I’d add that he was one of the FIRST to sign up for The Summit, even before things began going more favorably for him.