Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Cold Call?

I certainly was, this inanimate object taunted me every time I sat down at my desk. Cold calls are not exactly essential to this business, but if you find yourself task-less in the middle of the day, then you better be able to pick up that receiver and start dialing. Calling random business owners is the name of the game, and you need to be a high roller if you expect to make one appointment out of one hundred calls. (Yes, it may take that long, if not longer!) When I first started picking up the receiver it seemed easy enough,"Piece of cake!" Or so I thought. The phone was weightless, easy enough to hold in my one hand. Yet the longer I made calls, and the more the rejection came, the heavier the phone receiver became. The word "cold" literally made me start to get goosebumps, because that's exactly how it was, people can be just plain cold, and at times very cruel too.

When first starting the cold calling, I felt as if I needed to say as much as I could. I would try to get my foot in the door before it was slammed on my poor toes. My pitch sounded something like this:

"Hello Mr. Business owner, My name is Allyson and I'm with New York Life. How are you?

*pause*

"I'm calling you today, because I work with some of the business owners in the area with their insurance needs, and I'm wondering what you already have in place."


This script was definitely not me, crazy, zany, quirky me. Nonetheless I kept using it, using my net to catch anything that seemed to get snagged on it. Soon these words became heavy in my mouth, as heavy as the receiver. After crying in the bathroom a few times, and making myself feel better by deciding that ALL people sucked, I did feel some weight fall off my chest. I figured sniffles therapy was going to be my remedy for release, since my workouts didn't seem to help.

One particular Monday this month, I asked my co-worker next to me, "What should my script be for today?" He smiled, and said the script that made so much sense to me. "Just ask if they have an insurance agent, and then ask if you can apply for the job." Finally, something I could insert my personality in, and very straight to the point!

Now mind you, I still get rejected, and people still hang up on me, but I will get a chuckle or two before then. I realize that laughter is a better remedy, and my mascara definitely does not need a second applying when doing so.

I still prefer being outside and meeting business owners than calling them, which I do at times. Right now I'm interviewing co-workers I want by my side when doing so, but still haven't found anyone as of yet that I would enjoy being around for 3-4 hours at a time. Until I find my other "walk and talk" half, I'm a little stuck with my my ear and mouth glued to the phone.

At least I feel a little more light-hearted now, and I will say that I've started figuring out how to get prospects snagged on my words. The minute a prospect starts opening up to me, I can connect with them, put them at ease. As I listen to my fellow cold-callers, I realize this is something no one else seems to have been able to accomplish here. I need to keep believing that I'm selling something that could help save lives. I need to remember that I can truly make a difference, it might sound cheesy, but hey I love cheese! Cheddar, Swiss, goat, they just pair well with my eggs!

If I keep this mindset going, then I think I'll be able to make it. I just have to remember to keep climbing this sales mountain, because when it comes to reaching to the top, the sky is the limit...And if I could truly believe in this, then I might as well go beyond the sky, reach for the stars, and then see if I can go even higher than that.

"He that can't endure the bad will not live to see the good."
~Yiddish proverb

Remind Me Why I Chose This Career Again?

I don't think anyone wakes up one morning and says, "You know what? I wanna sell Insurance for a living!" When children in kindergarten are asked by their teacher, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Has any child in history ever proclaimed "I want to be an insurance agent!"?? Not any child that I've ever heard of. In fact if there ever was one, I'm sure he was quickly chosen for a stoning afterwards. So when I ask myself why I suddenly decided to get into this industry, my mind quickly races to "money!" After all if you become good at this business there's an abundance of it.

Let me give you some background about myself, I grew up in a very religious Jewish home, with parents of New York descent that were extremely indecisive about where to live. I grew up in a number of different states, and also in the land of Israel. I never minded not having roots, I have always considered myself a very well adjusted child, one that could make friends in a desert. At least that's what my dad likes to say, and you know what? It's probably true. I enjoy the company of people, in fact people have always been my passion. I enjoy starting random conversations with people in an elevator. I ravish in checking out what's in someone's grocery cart, so I can lure the person in front of me at the checkout line into an interchange. I always seem to have an ear open to outside conversing of random people so I can possibly interconnect. Actually that's pretty much how I met my wonderful and very supportive soul mate. Believe me when I say in this industry you need all the support you can get! I pretty much am a closeted yenta as well, probably the Jewish New yorker side I've inherited from my parents.

Many would say I definitely do not have the characteristics of a typical insurance agent. For one I have no background in finance, and numbers, especially BIG numbers are not my friends. I am not the most assertive, organized or money driven person, definitely personality traits that are essential to this business. Paying my bills and improving my financial situation definitely provoke my morning wake ups, yet I find it hard to get up at times. This job has the ability to leave you feeling beaten up, sometimes so badly that laying on the floor just seems more appealing than making cold calls.

To my dismay I had to move back in with my parents at age 30 (I'm 31 now) since I couldn't afford to be on my own at this point of my new career. Please don't get me wrong, my family is very pleasant to be around, and not having to pay rent doesn't hurt either.

So what really keeps my train choo choo-chooing, you ask? I guess I'm hoping to be of some help to people. I want to feel like I'm really giving people the protection they need, and get paid really well for it. I mean there shouldn't really be a price on protecting your family in case of an untimely death, right?

If you were wondering what I was doing for a living before I came upon this "very bumpy start industry," I was actually working with Autistic children. You would think a job that is so high in demand right now would pay more than minimum wage. Unfortunately you're only paid extremely well in gratitude, and alas I am not Mother Teresa.

Since I so enjoy complaining, and making jokes about my career choice, I have decided to share it with an audience who feels as much frustration as I do from an industry that sells a product that everyone needs yet no one wants. I will be writing about unsatisfied customers, quirky prospects, my sales pitches and endeavors, and definitely about my many failures and very little successes. So please feel free to sit back and watch the show....

“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”
~Woody Allen