Realistic Expectations for an Agent Marketing Online

I speak with new agents all the time and a popular question is “how much can I expect to make my 1st year in the business?”

That question is so loaded, I usually turn it around on them and ask, “how much time and money are you willing to invest?”  Because that’s the key ingredient here – activity (time) and money.

Those who don’t have much money to invest can make up for it with high activity and time.  Activity can be in the form of marketing and sales calls.  Those agents willing to invest their money and set aside a healthy monthly budget will excel MUCH quicker.

Realistic 1st Year Numbers

Lets work the numbers backwards:

$384.  That’s what you have to place every day, Monday through Friday in 1 year to place $100,000.

365 (days in a year) – 104 (taking weekends off) = 261 working days…..$100,000/261 = $384

To place $384 on average every day, you have to factor in that you’ll place around 50% of the applications you submit when you’re new (more experienced agents are 60%+).  So you’ll need to submit $768 of business every day Monday through Friday.  That just happens to be the average annual term life insurance premium.

So all you have to do is find a way to write 1 application every day, Monday through Friday.  Let me tell you how EASY that is online.

This is VERY realistic for those marketing life insurance online.  It may take 3-6 months of marketing before you hit the 1 app/day cycle if you’re hustling hard – but it’s doable and I’m seeing it being done all the time.

How Do You Write 1 Application per Day?

I understand life insurance agents new to the online world may think is unrealistic.  However, to agents who are deep in their online marketing efforts, it’s easy.

I’m not going to tell you what most uplines will tell you, like “buy more leads”, “see more people”, “make more calls”.  Times have changed.  Sure these methods can still work, but their not as efficient as marketing online.

You have to wrap your mind around the fact that marketing for life insurance online is different than the old school face to face methods.  You’re going to have to embrace the online world and re-invent your life insurance business.  If you don’t know where to start, that’s what we’re here for.

To write 1 application per day, you’ll need a marketing plan based on your strengths and execute it every single day (which we put together with our agents that have the time and money to invest).  It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen in the near future.  In my business, I’m repetitive.  I do the same things every single day to grow my online marketing which are outlined in my marketing plan and standard operating procedures.  I’m suggesting you do the same thing.

It will involve investing in your marketing and not buying leads.  Leads are great to teach yourself how to sell over the phone, get comfortable with the process and make a good ROI.  Beyond that, they’re a crutch and you shouldn’t be buying them if you want a sustainable business.  If you do buy them, make sure you’re spending enough time on your own marketing so you can get off that nipple.  After all, you don’t have a sustainable business when you’re relying on someone else’s marketing.

In other words, you’re going to have to learn some online marketing practices which really just involves investing your time to get to that 1 app/day milestone.  To this day, I still invest hours every day staying on top of what’s new in online marketing and technology.

I know how abstract this may sound to many of you not integrated in the online world, but new agents are doing this and building their online life insurance business.  They’re making more every single month.  They’re learning new skills and applying them daily into their business and seeing results.

There’s some rising stars out there and they’re no different than you.