It is a terrible way to start a career as an insurance agent. It is a terrible way to impede agents’ thinking processes. It is a terrible way to discourage new agents from selling insurance. This is the only proven way to get a jump start.
Who is the dictator who punishes? Your Insurance Company Career Life Insurance Manager hired you. You must first study for the state exam. Then you will be given the sales presentation from the insurance company to remember. Your sales manager will give you a 50-page binder with company-endorsed colorful photos and information. This is his personal copy, he says. It looks almost new to you.
Your presentation, license exam graduation, and 100-man list will all launch your $100,000 income. It is the old bull talk that you must follow company instructions, word by word.
You are now confident, excited, and have your state insurance license. You must complete the 100-man list. This is how “all” life insurance agents are successful. This sheet is due by 6 days. You must also master the presentation and company speech. Tell your spouse how helpful you are. You can take your spouse on vacation this year. Also, you will soon be able to watch the new 60-inch television that you have always wanted.
It’s time to get started on the journey. Get your 100 man list. This is your golden list for insurance prospecting. The process is straightforward and there are no instructions. Each line should be filled in with the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and information about how you know them. The first step is to ask your spouse for the holiday cards list. You quickly fill in the names of all your family members, friends, and wedding guests. You will only see 30 of the 100 slots on the man list.
You can start over again the next day after you have completed your training session for career insurance agents. Your mind begins to blur. Dollar signs can be seen, but you cannot see new names. You can expand your knowledge by looking at the 30 original names. Spend three hours slowly writing down aunts or uncles. Your list can be expanded to 45 names by using your brain.
Instead of counting sheep, you sleep restlessly and count people. Your manager asks you if your 100-man list is complete at work. Your manager asks you if your 100 man list is complete. You answer nervously that it will. Your spouse tells you that you are too stressed and that you should go look at a magazine. Your mind is playing a lot of tricks when you pick up “People Magazine”. It almost entices you to list names in the magazine.
Now, let’s get back to the truth. You call your parents and ask for their names. Your spouse begs her parents to give you more. You add names from your former job in a flash of light. When you ask her about her co-workers’ information, it is almost like a spousal dispute. She yells at a few people before heading to bed with a headache. Total lines completed equals 70. You will have a migraine headache the next day and you can put aside your insurance prospecting list.
It’s weekend, it’s time to get out and enjoy a few beers. While you’re asleep, flashes of golden nuggets start appearing and then disappearing. Grab a pen and the 100-page man sheet, you attempt again. Trance is like staring at names after names. Your pen will not move. It’s like watching a horror film where someone loses their memory. The yellow pages directory can be seen if you look closely. Five people are added to the directory if you do business with them. Five hours of work will net you five more people.
Sunday is the last day of your life insurance sales career. There are only 30 more. Your spouse and you walk down the street. You run back to grab the 100 man list. 7 more slots have been filled. Mission impossible becomes a measly 23. Panic sets in, your eyes glaze over, your stomach aches, you feel dizzy, and your heart rate increases.
Your spouse has a life-saving idea to make sure your husband doesn’t go mad. She takes you to the local white pages, and randomly selects 23 names for the nightmare. This could jeopardize your chances of reaching life insurance salesperson heaven. But the list is complete.
Monday morning, you eagerly await your manager’s 100-man list miracles. He says you could sell 1/3 to half of the products, plus many referrals. The sales manager cancels. Two new potential career insurance agents are available to interview. Friday, he will meet with you. You will be instructed to call for appointments to sell while you wait. Once you have completed your initial training, the 100-man list will make prospecting for insurance easy.
Many people are not available to answer the phone and some are not interested in making calls. Four appointments are set up over the next four days. Two sales of premiums below average result from family members who want to give you a break. Friday, you have two appointments scheduled. The last one is with a relative. Your sales manager tells you that he will be meeting with a couple who want insurance the agency manager gave him.
Your last meeting is over, and your sales manager has returned. He says to you that he will make a sale. He doesn’t use the sales presentation binder. He also doesn’t use the company presentation. He offers a plan with a high premium that your family can’t afford. He keeps pushing them for hours. He brags about how he keeps pushing them until they are not heard ten times.
You keep pounding your 100 man list. 25 hard-earned appointments leads to 8 sales. It’s enough to make you forget everything. It turns out that your relatives and friends are not required to purchase. Your sales manager keeps harping on you with negatives. This advice is to push for more appointments and increase sales. You will doubt your ability to sell if your ego keeps diving down.
Salvation is available. You are tired and in debt. So you look at the Sunday help needed ads. A job posting is for licensed agents at a smaller company. Interviews revealed that the 100-man list was not mentioned. You will be able to get leads from sincere individuals looking for insurance information by this company as a co-op. You will be hired if you are determined to succeed.
Now you know where to put that 100-man list. One year later, you find out that your ex-insurance manager and all 15 of his agents have left the company. Many career life insurance agencies still refer to the 100 man list of the greatest money-makers ever created. You can keep looking for the best life insurance salesperson within your agency.
You also have to feel sorry for all those insurance agents who believe that the magic 100 man list will make their insurance prospecting a success.
