|
Sales Success
Skills 101:
How To Get More
Insurance Sales From The People You Meet!
Over the years there have been
numerous surveys concerning the honesty and ethical conduct of business
professionals. As you are probably well aware insurance agents and car
salespeople are consistently ranked at the bottom of the list in these
surveys.
However, you can change people's
perception in your world, your community, if you'll take a few minutes to learn the
insurance sales skills that will have your prospects thinking differently
about you. And, you can quickly become the trusted advisor people want to
see.
But, only if you'll follow these 10
insurance sales success strategies:
1. Resist the
temptation to talk about yourself.
During the first few minutes you are meeting with a prospect,
whether it's in an elevator, at your workshop, or during the initial
fact-finding meeting resist the temptation to talk about yourself, your
insurance products or services. No one cares how great you are until they
understand how great you think they are! Ask questions to get them to talk
about themselves and what they really need and want. Resist the temptation
to throw out any "sales pitches" about your product or service. At
this point, what could you possibly talk about? You have no idea how or if
you can help them!
2. "Telling
is not selling!"
If you tell the prospect something, they may or may not believe you.
Remember, in their eyes you are just another insurance agent trying to make
a sale. If you want to sell most of the people you meet with, then you
have to get your prospects to "tell themselves" what's important to them
and their family. To do this, you need to get fascinated with your prospect;
you need to ask questions with no hidden agenda or ulterior motives.
3. Pretend
you're on a first date with your prospect.
Get curious about your prospect. Ask about their dreams, concerns and
problems. The more you get them to talk about their dreams, concerns and
problems the more important they become to them, and the more they'll want
to find a solution. Then ask... What insurance products and services are
they already using? How did they happen to choose that product or service?
Are they happy? Is it too expensive, not reliable enough? Find out what they
really want. If not from you, then perhaps from someone you could recommend.
4. Speak to
your prospects as you would speak to your family or friends.
This isn't the time for you to switch into the "insurance sales mode"
with heavy-handed persuasion techniques. Speak normally, like you do when
you're around your friends and loved ones. Keep it simple. Don't try to
impress people. And, don't use technical jargon. "If you speak at
sixth grade level, then even the college professors will understand you!"
5. Listen...
Pay close attention to what your prospect is and isn't saying.
Most insurance agents are so concerned about what they're going to say next
that they forget that there's another human being involved in the
conversation.
6. If you're
asked a question, answer it briefly and then move on.
This isn't about you or your knowledge; it's about whether you're right for
them.
7. Asses
their needs and wants before you talk about what you are offering!
Only after you've correctly assessed the needs and wants of your prospect do
you mention anything about what you're offering. Again, keep it simple.
Don't try to impress people. And, don't use technical jargon. "If you
speak at sixth grade level, then even the college professors will understand
you!"
8. Refrain
from delivering the three-hour product seminar.
Don't ramble on and on about features and benefits of your insurance product
that have no bearing on anything your prospect has told you. Pick a handful
of benefits you think could help with your prospect's particular situation
and tell him/her about them. And if possible, reiterate the benefits in
their own words, not yours.
9. Ask the
prospect if there are any barriers to them taking the next logical step?
After having gone through the first eight steps, you should have a good
understanding of your prospects needs and wants in relation to your product
or service. Knowing this, and having established a mutual feeling of trust
and rapport, you are now ready to bridge the gap between your prospect's
needs and wants... and what you're offering. You're now ready to…
10. Invite
your prospect to take some kind of action.
If you learn and use the previous nine 'Sales Success Strategies' you'll
obliterate the need for any of "101 closing techniques" you've learned,
because the ball is now placed on the prospect's court. Using a "closing
technique" keeps the ball in your court and puts the focus on you, the
insurance agent. You don't want the focus to be on you. You don't want the
prospect to be reminded that he or she is dealing with a "salesperson."
You're not a "salesperson," you're an advisor helping them to solve
their problems by offering a particular product or service.
The Bottom Line... If you want
more people to buy from you, then you must get them emotionally involved!
People buy for many reasons, but they all boil down to avoiding pain or
gaining pleasure, which are emotions. To get people emotionally involved,
you must ask open ended questions so they will see and understand the
dreams, concerns and problems they have. The more emotionally involved
people are in the sales process, the more likely they are to take action.
Jeremy & Alex Villa
'The 9 Out Of 10 Guys'
Marketing and Sales Coaches
Message to
Financial Advisors…
You have the choice to be successful, or not to be successful. It's entirely
up to you! You can sit back, do nothing and hope that things will change.
Or, you can take action right now to make things change! What have you done
in the last sixty days to increase your sales? Why not learn the marketing,
prospecting, appointment setting and sales strategies that most of the
leading agents and advisors on the planet use?
______________________
We are here to help you, please drop us a
comment on our blog or
visit our Facebook page! |
