Warrior General Games

Originally posted by foshizzel17
if he is truly making good money, then he does WAY more than you think he does. does he generate his own sales leads or is he getting them from a 3rd party?

I'm sure he does. And, he's well-known in the community. (I know him because he does live spots at one of the stations I work at.) He's kind of grandfathered in the community, so I know he's got a bunch of clients.

I wouldn't want nearly that amount of clients. I just mean, the actual work he does, isn't much. The insurance companies do all the work, he just shows people the plans. But, those companies outsource their calls to agents. So, my thought process was I wouldn't have to activiely go out and seek clients. I would get the occasional caller sent to me and hopefully sign them up. And, it wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't get much clients because I already have a full time job.

It's mostly an idea for thinking/talking about. I doubt I'd ever do it tbh. I just wanted to hear others' opinions.

You'd be better off DJ'ing then cold calling. Cold calling is a volume game. You lose 99% of the time so you have to churn out call after call after call.

Originally posted by Karate_Koala
I'm sure he does. And, he's well-known in the community. (I know him because he does live spots at one of the stations I work at.) He's kind of grandfathered in the community, so I know he's got a bunch of clients.

I wouldn't want nearly that amount of clients. I just mean, the actual work he does, isn't much. The insurance companies do all the work, he just shows people the plans. But, those companies outsource their calls to agents. So, my thought process was I wouldn't have to activiely go out and seek clients. I would get the occasional caller sent to me and hopefully sign them up. And, it wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't get much clients because I already have a full time job.

when you are first getting started, you would have to generate your own leads. the Insurance companies arent going to send you hot ones when they can give those to a proven closer. you would have to prove yourself and then they would start kicking some your way. probably not what you are looking for

True

Originally posted by Karate_Koala
It's mostly an idea for thinking/talking about. I doubt I'd ever do it tbh. I just wanted to hear others' opinions.

If you have free time and no hobby, I guess there are worse ways to spend that time while making a little extra dough.

I just can't think of any right at the moment.

Here's the 'start a business' spiel.

Look at all the markets/industries (and proximities to)that your experience touches. Things where you've got 'inside information' and 'expertise'.

1. Identify tensions and pain points that people have in those segments.
2. Solve one or multiple of those tensions in the form of something that you think someone will pay money for.
3. Go ask target customers if they'd pay money for such a solution. Probe how much they'd pay.
4. Model your business from a financial standpoint for viability. How much do you have to sell to make it profitable? What kind of startup $ to you need for a minimally viable solution (basically a pilot to prove your market)?
5. If your financial model checks out, go get the $ you need. Self, friends, family, mentors, etc.
6. Start and sell sell sell. 'Hustle' is probably more defining than 'sell'. You make the business work or not work.
7. Prove your business and then plan to blow it out with additional $, this time significantly larger than your pilot.

Originally posted by Karate_Koala
I'm sure he does. And, he's well-known in the community. (I know him because he does live spots at one of the stations I work at.) He's kind of grandfathered in the community, so I know he's got a bunch of clients.

I wouldn't want nearly that amount of clients. I just mean, the actual work he does, isn't much. The insurance companies do all the work, he just shows people the plans. But, those companies outsource their calls to agents. So, my thought process was I wouldn't have to activiely go out and seek clients. I would get the occasional caller sent to me and hopefully sign them up. And, it wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't get much clients because I already have a full time job.

We used to get new real estate agents in my company all the time who basically started a career because they saw a successful person and felt they could replicate the superficial parts of his personality. They did not take into account the 20 years of experience that got him to that point.

The guy who is now making a great living off of referrals was once door knocking and cold calling. Also, don't underestimate the amount of hand-holding and other nonsense you will be doing to keep a referral base.

Originally posted by foofighter24
We used to get new real estate agents in my company all the time who basically started a career because they saw a successful person and felt they could replicate the superficial parts of his personality. They did not take into account the 20 years of experience that got him to that point.

The guy who is now making a great living off of referrals was once door knocking and cold calling. Also, don't underestimate the amount of hand-holding and other nonsense you will be doing to keep a referral base.

Yeah. You guys all make great points. It certainly wouldn't be anything that I'd invest a lot of myself into. Although....

I kinda hate to admit this, but I can be a hell of a salesman. Doing ads in radio for over 12 years really helps. A few months ago I was improving a live ad during my show (enter a contest, win donuts) and the station manager believed my love of that place's donuts that he gave me 2 certificates for free dozen donuts. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I've never had their donuts before.

Originally posted by Karate_Koala
Yeah. You guys all make great points. It certainly wouldn't be anything that I'd invest a lot of myself into. Although....

I kinda hate to admit this, but I can be a hell of a salesman. Doing ads in radio for over 12 years really helps. A few months ago I was improving a live ad during my show (enter a contest, win donuts) and the station manager believed my love of that place's donuts that he gave me 2 certificates for free dozen donuts. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I've never had their donuts before.

You will get out of something what you put into it. I was a really productive real estate agent because it was my life. When I lost the passion for it, it was time to move on.

I would suggest your are very good at radio because you are so passionate about it. I am not getting that same vibe about you selling insurance. Find something else you are passionate about and turn it into a moneymaker.

I truly believe that the key to success in consumer mid-to-large ticket sales is a 300 person data base. If you have or can get reasonably quickly 300 people who know who you are and know what you do for a living, and you're willing to put the effort in to remind them once a month religiously what it is that you do, then you can do extremely well.

If you can't do that, you just have a skill that not enough people know about to make good money.

Unrelated to the current topic:

We're supposed to get a big very turbulent very extended storm in here from Saturday through Monday and the weather forecasters are going bonkers.

The biggest model I saw had us at 29", the lowest had 4". Currently, the most accurate/popular weatherperson is saying 6-12" with a chance it fucks up and gives us only a couple, while the NWS is saying 11-21". So basically we can expect something between a couple inches and some wind to 2 feet.

Originally posted by Larry Roadgrader
I truly believe that the key to success in consumer mid-to-large ticket sales is a 300 person data base. If you have or can get reasonably quickly 300 people who know who you are and know what you do for a living, and you're willing to put the effort in to remind them once a month religiously what it is that you do, then you can do extremely well.

If you can't do that, you just have a skill that not enough people know about to make good money.

I agree. I believe he has a secondary problem in that his identity is so tied to his current career. It is gonna be tough to get people to accept "JJ the radio guy" is suddenly "JJ the guy I trust for my insurance needs", if he is still working full time in radio.

Time is weird.

Was reading about Neanderthals, and interbreeding with modern humans. People say it's unlikely, despite the fact that they lived in the same area for around 5,000 years. Not much compared the the estimated 250,000 year timespan of the Neanderthals existence, right?

But when you considering that all recorded history is approximately the same time frame of 5,000 years...it's crazy.

Like, think about everything you know about history. Dark Ages, Pharaohs, various empires taking over large swaths of the world. Various Native American tribes, the Mayans, Aztecs. Pirates. Industrial Age. Kings and Queens. Space flight. Landing on the moon. Rovers on different planets. Nuclear bombs.

All of that happened in the same time frame as Neanderthals and modern humans living in the same relative area. Kind of weird thinking that there might not have been interbreeding between the two species. It's insane thinking what can happen in that small blip in the timeframe of life.

Originally posted by Corndog
Time is weird.

Was reading about Neanderthals, and interbreeding with modern humans. People say it's unlikely, despite the fact that they lived in the same area for around 5,000 years. Not much compared the the estimated 250,000 year timespan of the Neanderthals existence, right?

But when you considering that all recorded history is approximately the same time frame of 5,000 years...it's crazy.

Like, think about everything you know about history. Dark Ages, Pharaohs, various empires taking over large swaths of the world. Various Native American tribes, the Mayans, Aztecs. Pirates. Industrial Age. Kings and Queens. Space flight. Landing on the moon. Rovers on different planets. Nuclear bombs.

All of that happened in the same time frame as Neanderthals and modern humans living in the same relative area. Kind of weird thinking that there might not have been interbreeding between the two species. It's insane thinking what can happen in that small blip in the timeframe of life.

hippy, why don't you smoke some pot about it.