
[Sales Journal]: Goal of $40,000 to $50,000 in New Business in 10 Weeks
Greetings,
I have decided to start a sales activity log for the next 10 to 12 weeks to catalog my sales activity.
The reason I'm doing it is two-fold;
1) Finding Improvement in my Game: Keeping track of my own activity is a personal shortcoming, despite knowing that doing so allows me to improve. So I will keep track of total leads, total appointments, total door knocks, total sold policies, and total first year new business going forward.
2) For the New Guys: Obviously, this is somewhat of a business opportunity forum, where most are looking to sell various web design services. I wanted to share my business model more in-depth here because selling my product parallels some of the benefits of pitching web design, and might be of interest to some folks.
In a nutshell, here's my line of business:
I see final expense life insurance to folks 55 to 75 years of age, within a 30 minute radius of my home. The people I see largely are on a fixed income, either on disability or Social Security. Most have little to know life insurance, and no plans in place to pay for final expenses, like burials and cremation.
Here's are the 3 primary ways I develop prospects:
1) Direct Mail -- This will account for 90% of my prospects. I mail several thousand business reply cards weekly to my list of suspects (55-75, $0-$60k household income). These cards have a detachable part which they can fill in their name, phone, and age, and send back postage-paid to me. Three weeks later from the time we mail, I begin to receive the reply cards back to me.
2) Teleleads -- This represents 5% of leads or less. I will use teleleads to cover any slow-downs in direct mail response to keep me busy.
3) Telemarketer-generated Press-1 Leads -- This represents 10% or less. These are leads called on by a telemarketer, where the telemarketer plays a recorded message about burial insurance to the suspect if they agree to. The suspect then chooses to leave a voice mail by pressing 1, leaving their information and a preferred way to get back in touch with them. These are excellent leads and will be testing them out several weeks down the line.
Here's my Goals:
Over the next 10 weeks, I am looking to close $40,000 to $50,000 in new business, which breaks down to $4,000 to $5,000 in new business weekly.
I will be in the field Tuesday through Friday. I will be out all day Tuesday, and will end by 4 or 5 Wednesday through Friday. This should give me a good opportunity to hit 15 to 20 appointments, with the goal of 20 weekly.
My anecdotal metrics are about a 50% close ratio per appointment. The average final expense policy is $600 in annual premium (what the client pays in total yearly).
Doing simple math, If I hit 16 appointments per week, I should close 8 policies, for a total of $4800 in new business. Obviously, I can make a good bit more if I can hit 20 total.
As you will see, from week to week, weekly new business will vary wildly, with the average over a half dozen weeks falling more in line with my expectations.
For example, I closed $10,000 on 10 apps in new business about 4 weeks ago over 3 days in the field; the following week I did closer to $5,000 in new business over 7 or 8 policies. Sometimes I will only close $3,500 on 7 or 8, but doing enough activity, you will run across some "slack-adjusters," or "whales," which will drive your averages up, and make up for light annual premium weeks.
As far as back-office support, I am using a professional appointment setter who's responsible for setting about 10 to 12 appointments weekly; he's pretty good at getting them, too. I will make up any spans of non-appointment time with door knocking leads we have not reached and getting in the house, on-the-spot.
I will report daily my results, specifically:
a) Total Appointments
b) Total Applications Signed
c) Total New Business
d) Total Door Knocks
e) Total Applications Closed Via Door-Knocking
Feel free to join along in the fun, and ask any questions about my business, such as prospecting, sales, closing, and follow-up. I'll go into more detail about the business as the weeks go by.
Also, if you find you're interested in learning more about this business, feel free to send me a PM; I'm more than happy to share my experiences.
What if they're not stars? What if they are holes poked in the top of a container so we can breath?
A1backlinks.com
In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. ~ Theodore Roosevelt