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How
To Sell More Insurance...
By Saying Less!
by Ken Varga
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Here's a well-known
proverb you've probably heard of...
"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."
This statement has been heard by many, and quoted countless times by speakers, educators,
and trainers for many decades.
Yet, as recognized as this statement is, salespeople in all types of businesses,
industries, and professions violate it every day in an untold number of situations.
Failing to follow its basic premise can be a deadly mistake when it comes to selling
insurance.
I'm sure you've seen selling situations (perhaps you've even been in one, yourself)
where the salesperson tries to impress their prospect with how much they know about
their products or services, instead of trying to find out what their prospects' needs
or wants are.
What usually happens is, either the salesperson tries to sell their prospect the
wrong product or service, or the prospect, sensing the salesperson cares more about
a sale than satisfying the prospect's wants, terminates the interview and goes elsewhere
to look for a salesperson who will listen and help them find the product or service
that's best for their particular need.
The most important thing an agent can do during the first meeting with a prospect...
is to find out what that prospect's needs or wants are, and then figure out a
way to satisfy those needs or wants.
Now, here's an important point, and it's one that needs to be indelibly etched
in the mind of every agent...
If the prospect's needs or wants can be satisfied through the products or services
the agent sells, that's great. Both the agent and the prospect benefit.
But, if the products or services the agent offers are not the best solution for the
prospect's problems (and the agent knows it), he or she will do a disservice by trying
to sell them to that prospect. In this case, the agent should refer the prospect
to another agent who can better serve the prospect's needs (even if the agent doesn't
make any commission on the sale).
As an agent, in order to determine whether the products or services you offer will
be in the prospect's best interest, you must be customer-focused, and not product-focused.
And that requires that you ask questions and listen carefully to what they say.
As an example, let's say Helen Prospect walks into your agency. The very first thing
you want to
do... is acknowledge her presence. There are a number of ways to do that.
If it's appropriate, you might get up out of your chair, look directly at her as
you approach her, then smile, shake her hand firmly, and enthusiastically say...
"Good morning, Helen! Welcome to our agency. How's your day going?"
If you're on the phone and can't get up right at the moment, at least look at her,
ask the person on the phone to excuse you for a moment, then say to Helen, "I'll
be right with you. Please sit down." Then proceed with your phone conversation.
From the very first moment you lay eyes on Helen, your goal should be to build rapport
with her.
Rapport is a pleasant feeling of mutual trust and friendship established through
verbal and nonverbal means.
Here's an interesting fact about what influences human beings.
In his book, Silent Messages, Dr. Albert Mehrabian suggests...
You
can influence people about 7% through the words you use (what you say), 38% through
your voice quality, speed, tone, and pronunciation, (how you say it), and 55% through
physiology or how you look, or what you do (your body language).
Because most agents
try to influence or motivate their prospects to purchase by using words alone, they
have to work extremely hard to close just a small percentage of their prospects.
If you want to improve your closing ratio, rather than learning more closing techniques,
which is what to say, learn to improve your voice quality, or more importantly, your
body language. Here are...
Four
simple ways to improve your body language...
1. Always sit (or
stand) erect, leaning slightly toward the prospect.
2. Never fold your arms (doing so indicates you're keeping the prospect out).
3. Never cross your legs (doing so indicates you're holding back information).
4. Watch the prospect attentively, carefully listening to what he or she is
saying.
Of these four ways,
the most important is the last one - number four.
The majority of sales are lost because of two reasons. Either the agent talks too
much without listening to the needs and wants of the prospect, and the prospect turns
off the conversation in their mind, or the agent talks himself into and back out
of the sale.
In every interview...
You
Should Try To Listen Your Prospects Into A Sale...
Rather Than Talk Them Into One!
Back to our example
with Helen. After your initial greeting, you begin by asking her non-threatening
questions about herself and her family, and then listening carefully to her answers.
Once you've gained her trust and confidence, you gently lead into your fact-finding
interview. When you understand what her needs and wants are, then, and only then,
do you analyze her present insurance policy (whether that happens to be life, auto,
disability, health, commercial, or LTC) to see if that policy gives her the best
protection for her particular situation, and for the best price.
If your analysis indicates she would be better off with an increase or decrease in
coverage, or perhaps a different policy altogether, you can recommend it to her.
Conversely, if you can see Helen already has the best combination of policy, coverage
and price for her situation, compliment her.
Now, to provide Helen with the greatest service, you should offer to analyze her
other insurance policies to make sure she has the right coverage and is paying a
fair premium for each one.
If you sell only a single policy, such as life, LTC, or disability, you may not be
qualified to analyze Helen's other policies like auto, homeowners, or commercial.
In this case, you can refer her to another agent who specializes in these types of
policies. And this agent could be one of your strategic partners.
When Helen sees you are concerned about her as a person, and you're more interested
in making sure she has the right policies for her needs or wants than trying to sell
her another policy, she'll be more inclined to do business with you, even if your
policy is the same as the one she now has.
Let's suppose Helen does have a good policy at a good price, and she doesn't switch
to you, what do you do?
Well, because you've developed a relationship with her, and have been honest and
up-front with her, even though she doesn't buy from you, she still may refer other
people to you. And, if she has a falling out or a disagreement with her current agent
or company, or perhaps a rate increase, she will remember how well you treated her,
and so she likely will do business with you.
Remember, in the interview process, you should talk only 20% and listen 80% of the
time. By doing so, you'll make Helen feel special, letting her know you care more
about helping her get the best insurance protection than the commission you'll make
on the policy.
As I mentioned earlier, some agents talk too much during an interview. They try to
let their prospects know how much they know about their products or about some other
topic, and as a result, they end up talking the prospect out of the sale.
If a prospect shows you a picture of their children, it's a natural temptation to
take out a picture of your children and show it to your prospect. But, that's the
last thing you should do. You want to avoid any feeling or appearance of comparison
or competition, or of making your prospect feel inferior in any way.
To make your prospect feel good or special, you must make him or her the center of
attention by letting them talk about themselves, their family, and other things that
are important to them. And you listen to them attentively, both with your ears, as
well as your body language.
When I was selling life insurance person-to-person, many years ago, believe it or
not, I closed many sales without even talking about life insurance with the prospect
during the first meeting.
Once I was able to get my prospect to tell me about themselves, they'd usually end
up not only talking about themselves, but also their spouse, their children, their
job, their hobbies, and a number of other topics for the duration of the meeting.
And, at the end of the meeting, they often said to me...
"You're one of the most interesting agents I've met. Let's get together tomorrow
and write up the application."
Can you guess why they told me I was one of the most interesting agents they'd met
when I'd hardly said anything during the meeting?
If you said, "Because you actively listened to them," you're absolutely
right.
In other words, because they felt good talking about themselves and the things that
were important to them, they formed a great impression of me, even though I had said
only a few words.
Please always remember this statement...
Your
Ability To Make Friends With Your Prospects Fast... Will
Let You Close More Sales Than Your Ability To Use Every
Closing Technique Available On This Planet!
Sales are based
on friendship. Your prospects won't buy from you until they're convinced you're their
friend and are acting in their best interest.
So, before investing more time, effort, and money learning more closing techniques,
I suggest you first improve your ability to make friends with your prospects. You'll
achieve much better results by doing so.
In your own frame of reference, you probably know of an agent who has less product
knowledge and knows fewer closing techniques than you... but makes considerably more
money than you.
One of the reasons this happens is that some agents know how to make friends with
their prospects... quickly, easily, and effortlessly.
In addition to having a positive attitude and outlook, good body language and a winning
smile, one of the best ways to make friends with your prospects almost instantly
is to develop great listening skills.
Think about yourself for a minute.
Who do you like to be around?
What kind of salesperson do you like to buy from?
Like most people, you also enjoy associating and buying from people who like you
and show an interest in you, right?
Your prospects feel the same way. They, too, are put off by salespeople who don't
listen, who talk about themselves, who have their own selfish interest at heart,
and who care more about the next commission than helping them solve their problems,
needs, and wants.
Avoid being that kind of salesperson or agent at all costs.
Instead, take a consultative role with your prospects. Let them tell you their needs
or wants, and then do your best to help them achieve their goals.
Of
all the sales skills I've learned in the last three decades, being able to listen
well is the most important skill by far.
Sadly, although
having good listening skills is one of the keys to success in almost every endeavor,
including the insurance profession, most agents have poor listening skills.
Ask yourself these questions...
"Have I really
been listening to my prospects and clients?"
"Have I really been listening to my employees?"
"Have I really been listening to my spouse, children, and friends?"
"Have I really been listening to everyone I've been in contact with?"
If you can truthfully
answer "yes" to all of these questions, then you have great listening skills,
which will allow you to become very successful in your business and your personal
life.
On the other hand, if you answered "no" to even one of these questions,
you'll need to improve your listening skills in order to become more successful.
Let me share with you....
Seven
Tips For Improving Your Listening Skills...
1. Spend more than
60% of the time listening. Wait until the other person has finished before offering
your opinion or idea.
2. Listen with an open mind. This allows you to concentrate and focus on what
the other person is saying.
3. Listen for ideas, not just facts. In most cases, listening for facts alone
will interfere with the meaning of the message.
4. Pay attention not only to what the other person is saying, but how they're
saying it. Stay interested in what a prospect or client is saying. Watch for body
language.
5. Avoid jumping to conclusions. Never anticipate what a prospect or client is
trying to say. And, never finish the other person's sentence for him or her.
6. Let the speaker talk at their own pace. Don't interrupt or change the subject
for them.
7. Let the speaker know you're listening to them by nodding or smiling, or using
any other appropriate body signals. Every speaker is important, so give him or her
your full attention.
Believe me, if you
start following even just some of these suggestions, you'll become a better listener
in no time. And you'll shoot your income to the next level.
Ken Varga was in the insurance business for 33 years and had insured 459,182
policyholders for his agency, which he sold in December 2001 for many millions of
dollars.
As a payback to the insurance industry, he spent almost three years developing turnkey
programs - based on the sales, marketing, and agency management secrets he used to
build an agency with almost half a million clients - to help agents become more successful
in their insurance profession.
To discover how you can use his million-dollar ideas, secrets, and systems to DOUBLE
your income within 12 months... while working up to 20 fewer hours each week, visit
his website:
http://www.sellinsurancelikecrazy.com/a/1029
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