The L.A. Report – Part 17
01-24-2011
Hey Everybody,
No good news but so much has been happening lately
I thought this would be a good time for an update.
My contract at Union Bank was originally scheduled
to end November 30th but a few months ago we were told it was being
extended through at least February because we would be needed on a very high
priority $200 million project when we finished the 6-month project we were
hired for. Just before the contract was
to end, we even pre-signed our timesheets through December. When they started the first phase of testing
on the $200 million project the results were not good so they got nervous and
cancelled the project. Which meant they
would no longer need us. They gave me
one day’s notice that my contract wasn’t being extended after all and that the
next day (November 30th) would be my last day (the other guys on the
team were also let go within a couple weeks).
And I was hoping it would transition into a perm job, too.
I’ve had so many bouts of unemployment in the last
10 years – mainly because of outsourcing (and insourcing) - that I’m fed up
with it. I thought, maybe it’s time to
try something new.
Since my resume is on CareerBuilder and Monster, I
got an unsolicited e-mail inviting me to an informational interview for
insurance sales. I got it the same day I
got laid off so I treated it like a “sign” J
The interview was a week after I got laid off. The company is called UIG (United Insurance
Group) and it specializes in insurance products for seniors (an exploding
market) like Medicare supplements, long-term care, final expense, annuities,
etc. It didn’t sound like the
traditional high-pressure, cold-calling, bug-your-friends-and-family–type job
so I decided to explore the possibility.
First you need a license to sell life and health
insurance in California (and most other states as well) so I found a site
online that offers the 52-hour training you need to be even eligible to take
the state license exam. It was only
$80.00 and I could do it entirely at home through the Internet. So for a couple of weeks, I studied my ass
off and miraculously passed the state exam two days after I finished.
I told UIG that I passed and they told me that
their next training session was scheduled for the next week. It was down in Irvine but it was only two days
so I stayed down there for two days and nights.
But at the end of those two days I didn’t feel like I got nearly enough
training so I thought about quitting.
On a hike that weekend, I told a hiking friend of
mine my concerns and he suggested I try another company. That hadn’t even occurred to me. I did remember getting a similar e-mail from
a similar company in the past month or two so I dug through my deleted
e-mails and found it. They had informational presentations similar to
the UIG one I attended and the next one just happened to be the next day. I made a reservation and went there the
following morning.
This new company was Bankers Life and Casualty and
they also specialized in the senior market. The big difference though, was that they do
tons of training; they don’t even let you out in the field the first couple
weeks.
Everybody at the presentation had to take a
personality test and from that they would decide if you’re a good candidate or
not. Apparently I was, so they asked me
(and one other guy) to start the next day.
It probably helped that I already had my license (but maybe not because
the other guy didn’t).
For the first 5 days I did nothing but review the
basics and learned more about their products.
There was so much to learn I felt like I was in medical school. Then I started the prospecting process. Aack!
They don’t call it cold calling but that’s essentially what it is. They do huge mailings to lists of people aged
64 and up. Then they give you part of the
list, and whether the senior has responded or not, you’re supposed to call and
ask if they received it. No matter what
they answer, you try to set up a meeting with them in their home to discuss the
changes to Medicare in 2011 and show how Bankers’ Medicare Supplement products
can fill in the gaps that Medicare doesn’t cover. Over a period of two days last week I made
about 325 phone calls and only booked 5 appointments.
On Friday, the last day of my 2nd week,
I went out on my first sales calls with one of their experienced agents.
We visited three homes. Not only did we not sell anything, it was
miserable. Every one of them was dirt
poor - including one on Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid). One neighborhood was so bad they had
bulletproof glass in front of the counter staff at Taco Bell; they passed the
food though a little bulletproof door. I kid you not. On top of
that, one of the appointments was about 30 miles from the other two. To make matters worse, for some reason they
waited until the last minute to find an agent to go out with me (about an hour
before I wanted to leave). And the one they picked is a very good
salesman but, by my manager's own admission, has horrible time-management
skills and is always late. And I don't just mean 5 or 10 minutes; I mean
two or three hours! So for my very first call we were over three hours
late!
Granted, that may not have been a typical day, but
it really showed me what it could be like, day-in and day-out. The worse part was the prospecting. I personally hate getting those kinds of calls
at home so I don't want to "inflict" that on other people (in fact,
I'm surprised that more people don't have their numbers on the Do Not Call registry).
I realize I'd have to do less and less of that as time goes on but at least for
the first six months or a year, I'd have to do a lot of it.
Secondly, I don't love driving to appointments that
are scattered all over town, taking a half-hour or an hour between appointments
sometimes. And some areas are not exactly "scenic", as I
indicated earlier.
Thirdly, I'm just not assertive enough to pull
people's financial and medical info out of them, and then persuade them to buy
stuff that maybe they can afford but it maybe would not be a high priority.
Lastly, to really make good money, you can’t work
just 40 hours a week, at least in the beginning. I don’t mind working 50, 60, even 70 hours a
week if the job is something that I love, or even just like. But not for
this one.
So I decided this business just isn't for me and
resigned Saturday, less than three weeks after getting my license. L
Did I quit too soon? I don’t think so; at 52, I know myself pretty
well. Was it a waste of time? I don’t think so; I proved to myself that I
still am a good learner and still ambitious and it kept my mind off my
worsening financial condition!
I’m trying to do more auditioning again but the
only thing I’ve done lately is an audition for a program on The History Channel
about Custer called “Custer’s Last Man”.
I didn’t get the part, though. I
also did a one-night workshop with a casting director who casts Pushing
Daisies, King of Queens and The Practice.
About the only good news is that my health is still
good. One day a couple months ago, I
hiked four miles in the morning, ran six miles in the afternoon, hiked seven
more miles in the evening, then danced for two hours at night! My M.S. is still very mild (knock on wood)
and this joblessness stress doesn’t seem to have made it any worse.
Speaking of hiking, that was my main pastime this
past year. There are at least ten hiking
groups in Meetup.com so I hike pretty much every weekend, often both days,
sometimes even three hikes in one weekend!
There are so many scenic areas in and around L.A. County and the people
in the Meetup groups are really nice.
And of course, except for a few recent rainy weeks, the weather is
usually beautiful. I even ran without a
shirt on the day it got down to 46 below zero in Minnesota! I don’t mean to gloat, though; if I don’t
find a job soon, I may have to move back to the Midwest! L
Jay