How to Succeed with Final Expense Sales Training

Do you want to make tons of money while working on your own schedule?

Selling final expense insurance can be a fantastic career option, especially if you run your own business. You can work flexible hours and be your own boss while still making six figures a year and supporting people in the most vulnerable times of their lives. But starting your own final expense insurance business is a tricky proposition and one that can cost you big if you don’t handle it right.

Having the right final expense sales training can make the difference between a business that makes you millions and one that costs you thousands. Read on to learn how you can succeed in the world of final expense insurance.

Get Your License

Before you start selling final expense insurance, one of the first things you need to do is to get your license. In order to sell final expense insurance, you’ll need a life insurance license since final expense is a subset of life insurance. In general, this process will involve a variety of required education, a licensing exam, and a background check. 

Which courses you need to take to get your life insurance license will vary by state, so be sure to check on regulations in your area. Your state may also have a licensing option that covers life and health insurance, so you may want to explore that option.

Once you pass your licensing exam, you’ll need to pass a background check, and you may need to have your fingerprints taken. 

Know Your Target Market

After you get your life insurance license, your next step in the process should be to learn more about your target market. You can’t successfully sell a product if you don’t know the people you’re selling to. Your target market will determine everything about your sales strategy, from the distribution channels you use to the approach you take with your sales pitch. 

It should be no surprise that the target market for final expense insurance tends to be people looking toward retirement and end-of-life plans. The final expense insurance market also tends to trend towards lower-income households since higher-income families can afford funeral expenses.

You should focus your sales on people between the ages of 50 and 80 who make less than $50,000 a year.

Plan for Upfront Costs

When you first start your final expense insurance business, there are likely to be a number of upfront costs you’ll need to pay. These can include the costs of getting an office running, lead generation, marketing, and more. You need to plan for these up-front costs so that you can budget appropriately at the beginning of your final expense insurance career.

In the beginning, you should make a commitment to get twenty new leads each week, many of which may be purchased. You’ll also need a solid communication infrastructure, including wifi and a fax machine, among other things.

Also, you may need to pay for software, insurance, and other such costs that you won’t recoup for a little while.

Make an Investment

Although these upfront costs can seem like a lot to spend, it’s important that you put this investment into your business at the beginning. If you want to set yourself up for success, you need to make sure you have the right tools at your disposal from the start. These tools cost money, and it’s important to view these as an investment in the future.

Yes, at first, you may be paying $500 a week for lead marketing, but without those leads, you can’t get new clients.

Each client could generate thousands of dollars of revenue for you, and if you manage things well, you could find yourself making six figures within your first year. Keep track of these expenses as an original business investment and pay them back to yourself as those investments start paying off. 

Pick the Right Companies 

Once you’ve figured out your upfront costs, you’ll need to decide which insurance companies you want to sell. When you’re going through this selection process, you need to consider what will be best for your customers in your area. You want to aim to pick about four companies that will provide the best combination of coverage for your customers.

The biggest thing you’ll need to consider when picking which companies to sell is what kinds of policies they offer. In final expense insurance, you’ll get four different types of plans: level, graded, modified, and guaranteed insurance. Make sure you get companies that offer a good combination of coverage options, as well as a good range of benefits for your customers.

Start Small

When you first begin a final expense insurance company, you may be tempted to try to be everything to everyone. You might have visions of an empire that can be people’s one-stop-shop for insurance needs and a team of talented agents protecting customers in their most vulnerable moments. But if you go too big too fast, you’ll wind up overextending and setting yourself up for failure.

Instead, be patient and keep things small in the beginning. Keep your focus on final expense insurance products only, and resist the urge to bring in a team of agents for a while.

Once you get your business on solid footing and your business demands outstrip your capacity to meet them on your own, then you can start growing your empire.

Stick to the Rules

One of the best things you can do to make your final expense insurance business a success is to stick to the rules. There are proven systems that work well for getting an insurance business launched and growing. There’s no point in trying to figure out those rules by trial and error when you can learn from other people’s experiences.

Look around in your area for a successful final expense insurance agent and ask them if they’d be willing to mentor you. You can also look into joining a field marketing organization (FMO) / an insurance marketing organization (IMO) that can help guide you on your way. By following conventional wisdom, you’ll save yourself a lot of money, time, and frustration.

Consider Using an FMO/IMO

When you’re first getting going with your business, joining a field marketing organization (FMO) or an insurance marketing organization (IMO) can be a great way to get the extra guidance and support that can lead you to success. Think of these groups as a sort of insurance agency without all the limitations and downsides. Some companies only work with insurance agents if they are connected with an FMO or IMO. 

If the idea of an FMO/IMO doesn’t appeal to you, there are several other types of wholesalers you can work with. You may want to sign on with a general agent, a brokerage general agency, or other such wholesalers. Be sure to investigate what sort of group your desired companies require you to work with if they have such requirements.

Find the Right Leads

Perhaps the biggest thing that will make the difference between success and failure in your final expense insurance business is the quality of your leads. Leads are the foundation you’ll grow your client base on, and while every lead won’t turn into a sale, all your sales will come from leads. Making sure you get the right leads can help you maximize your investment and grow your business more quickly.

In general, you want to aim to have at least fifteen to twenty new leads each week so you can keep a steady stream of incoming clients. You’ll also want to think about what platform you want to use to find your leads. The four most popular options are social media (especially Facebook), direct mail, telemarketing, and door-to-door leads. 

Work Your Leads 

Of course, getting those leads is only the first step in growing a successful final expense insurance business. You also have to be sure to follow up with those leads and work to develop them into loyal clients. In general, you should aim to follow up on at least thirty or forty of your more promising leads every week.

Make sure you tailor your follow-up strategies to each different type of lead you get; you want to follow up through the same channels that originally got you the lead. And be sure to keep your leads’ needs at the forefront of this process. The more you listen to these concerns and address them, the more likely you’ll be to convert these leads into loyal customers. 

Get the Right Final Expense Sales Training

Starting your own final expense insurance business can be a challenge, and you’ll need to do a lot of hard work in the beginning. Putting in the initial investment will help set you up for success, so you have what you need to find and pursue leads. Make sure you keep your focus small, to begin with, and get connected with an FMO/IMO that can give you the final expense sales training you need. 

If you’d like to find more ways to grow your final expense insurance business, check out the rest of our site. We can help you jumpstart your final expense insurance career using a proven sales system. Sign up today and start mastering the art of final expense insurance with step-by-step agent training and support.