Quality insurance sales training is one of the most important aspects of keeping an insurance business profitable and creating a good name for yourself within the community you serve. There are several key components of quality insurance sales training, including needs analysis, features and benefits, objection handling, and closing skills. In addition to these common things, however, a good insurance sales training program will teach the prospective insurance salesperson how to reach out to the customer and build trust.
The first four components of insurance sales training is textbook sort of stuff. A prospective insurance salesperson will need to learn how to evaluate the needs of a potential client. Any insurance sales training class or manual should place this skill right out front. This means imparting to the prospective insurance salesperson the knowledge of how to figure out what a potential client needs. In order to do this, the insurance salesperson needs to figure out things like how much, if any property does the potential client own, and does that client own or rent his or her residence. The family situation must be taken into account as well the insurance salesperson will need to know if anyone depends financially upon the potential client. While each case in particular is pretty standard, being able to look at all the needs of a potential client, as a whole, can take some time and training.
Features and benefits is closely related to needs analysis. Insurance sales training should include as part of the curriculum, how to quickly and accurately identify a policy that will fit best with the potential client. It should be a close fit for your potential client, but perhaps most importantly, the insurance salesperson should be able to identify the right policy without looking through a bunch of manuals or giving the client any reason to doubt the insurance salesperson’s knowledge or ability.
This leads into the next key component of insurance sales training, which is objection handling. If the insurance salesperson has quickly and accurately identified a policy that will fit the potential client, a couple of things will result from that. First of all, the fact that the insurance salesperson is quick and accurate will remove some doubts and objections all on its own. Secondly, having identified the right policy will also remove objections, since it should include everything the potential client is looking for. Of course, there may still be objections, but a quality insurance sales training program will prepare the insurance salesperson to deal with all sorts of objections in from many different types of people in many different situations.
Once all the objections are handled, it is time to close the deal. Learning to close the deal is, obviously, a very important thing, as all types of sales and a quality insurance sales training program will recognize this. If you don’t learn how to close the deal, then learning all the other steps is a waste of time. All good insurance sales training programs will spend a good amount of time teaching potential insurance salespeople how to close a deal effectively.
There is one other element that successful insurance salespeople have that should be included in a high quality insurance training program. That is the skill of building a trust and rapport with the potential client. This is a process that supersedes all the other processes, happening while all the other steps are taking place. If an insurance salesperson builds up a trust and positive rapport with a client, it makes all the other steps just that much easier. For example, needs analysis is easier if the potential client will open up and talk about his or her lifestyle and concerns. Connecting personally with clients is one of the most important things an insurance salesperson can learn in an insurance sales training program
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Insurance Selling Forecast
People often buy home insurance or car insurance off the internet. When they started doing so, it was predicted that insurance agents would be put out of business. With the appearance of ads and websites for life and health insurance quotes, many thought doomsday was fast approaching. Insurance companies that thought they could bypass agents, were burned when producers got angry and stopped selling their products. If anything the internet had enhanced insurance sales, by making a higher public awareness of the need for it.
Clients buying the lowest quoted policy, especially with auto insurance, started getting burned. They learned that you get what you pay for. No service or poor service added to wide loopholes at claims time switched them back to using insurance agents. Any good agent worth staying in the business should easily be able to replace cookie cutter coverage where an agent was never involved. In fact, there are quite a number of insurance sales representatives making a high percentage of their income by concentrating of these policyholder.
The Income of Agents
You would think that with more and more life insurance selling agents entering the financial planning arena, income of insurance sales representatives would start increasing at a rapid pace. Unfortunately that is not true. To develop the immense study information required takes years. In addition, you would want to obtain a couple credibility designations behind your work, They are typically obtaining by continuing education. The average life insurance selling rep has an income similar to a typical workplace worker. Only 10% or the reps eventually earn a high middle class or higher income. With the income predicted to increase about 15 % in the next few years, probably lower that the rate of inflation.
The Quantity of Agents
The Bureau of Labor Statistics proposes the work force of insurance sales representatives will increase 13% during the next few years. Since that will remain very close to the predicted population increase, the ratio of agents to population will barely change. Too bad the insurance sales work force does not decrease 30% in the near future. While there is an over abundance of agents, there is no shortage of prospects. The mid to high middle class is being over targeted. Agents must emerge forward by concentrating on writing large quantities of insurance to families currently being ignored.
What the Insurance Selling Forecast Does not Show
The agents that start to target the large quantity of prospects over the age of 60 exclusively will do very well. Seniors of today and tomorrow do not have the luxury or senior age pensions and comprehensive health care coverage compliments of unions. The retirement age population is finding many circumstances require reentering the work force. Upcoming health advances will keep them in better physical and mental condition. Planning must start now, and it must revised every few years. Agents selling to seniors are no longer just sales people but well versed consultants and planners.
Insurance Agents will not get replaced by computers.
A LOT of senior managers will get replaced. Data generated by computer programs will show how ineffective old selling techniques are. Career agents will become independent quicker, wanting a bigger share of the market commissions, and new concept policies to over their prospects
Clients buying the lowest quoted policy, especially with auto insurance, started getting burned. They learned that you get what you pay for. No service or poor service added to wide loopholes at claims time switched them back to using insurance agents. Any good agent worth staying in the business should easily be able to replace cookie cutter coverage where an agent was never involved. In fact, there are quite a number of insurance sales representatives making a high percentage of their income by concentrating of these policyholder.
The Income of Agents
You would think that with more and more life insurance selling agents entering the financial planning arena, income of insurance sales representatives would start increasing at a rapid pace. Unfortunately that is not true. To develop the immense study information required takes years. In addition, you would want to obtain a couple credibility designations behind your work, They are typically obtaining by continuing education. The average life insurance selling rep has an income similar to a typical workplace worker. Only 10% or the reps eventually earn a high middle class or higher income. With the income predicted to increase about 15 % in the next few years, probably lower that the rate of inflation.
The Quantity of Agents
The Bureau of Labor Statistics proposes the work force of insurance sales representatives will increase 13% during the next few years. Since that will remain very close to the predicted population increase, the ratio of agents to population will barely change. Too bad the insurance sales work force does not decrease 30% in the near future. While there is an over abundance of agents, there is no shortage of prospects. The mid to high middle class is being over targeted. Agents must emerge forward by concentrating on writing large quantities of insurance to families currently being ignored.
What the Insurance Selling Forecast Does not Show
The agents that start to target the large quantity of prospects over the age of 60 exclusively will do very well. Seniors of today and tomorrow do not have the luxury or senior age pensions and comprehensive health care coverage compliments of unions. The retirement age population is finding many circumstances require reentering the work force. Upcoming health advances will keep them in better physical and mental condition. Planning must start now, and it must revised every few years. Agents selling to seniors are no longer just sales people but well versed consultants and planners.
Insurance Agents will not get replaced by computers.
A LOT of senior managers will get replaced. Data generated by computer programs will show how ineffective old selling techniques are. Career agents will become independent quicker, wanting a bigger share of the market commissions, and new concept policies to over their prospects
Sales Success
How you track your sales funnel and sales cycle can significantly impact your career sales success. All too often the way you track now is complicated and cumbersome when a simple system would be more efficient and effective. You need to know at a glance exactly who is in your sales funnel, where they are in your sales cycle, their contact information, the result of your last contact, and the next action on your part. And you need all that information in one place.
Sales is a hectic fast paced business. You need to know exactly who your prospects are at any given moment. When you try to track all your prospects in your day planner, a call sheet, or many CRM's you really can't access everything you want and need to know quickly and easily and everywhere you are. Using a single sheet to record all the required information in your sales funnel can make this whole tracking process much easier for you. Plus it provides everything you need in one location.
It would be great if your prospects entered and exited your sales funnel as customers in one step. But that's rarely the case. Most sales cycles are multi-step processes that occur over a period of time, sometimes a very long period of time. Here's where there's a big glitch for many sales professionals. You haven't taken the time to actually identify all the required steps for advancing the sale, and all the possible steps for advancing the sale. You're the professional. If you don't have a feasible next step option for your prospect you can't expect them to come up with one for you. Without clearly defined advancement options you don't have a sales funnel you have a sales sieve. You're unnecessarily losing potentially valuable prospects because you aren't proactively controlling the sales process.
How often do you find that months have passed without you taking the appropriate next action for individuals in your sales funnel? Probably more often than you'd like to admit. When you allow these time lags to occur you almost have to start over from ground zero because the tenuous relationship you once had has almost vanished making it even harder to move the sale to closure. When you track where everyone is in your sales cycle including your next actions you have this happen far less often. Because you're on top of the whole sales process and your sales funnel you increase your sales success.
You need to know exactly how many people you need in your sales funnel at all times to get the sales results you want. A sales tracking system helps you to improve your results because as soon as you close one prospect they drop off your sales funnel and you know you have to enter a new prospect into your funnel. You also learn your capabilities and limits. You begin to develop a feel for the flow of lead generation you can handle and that you need to create, so your sales funnel always has the right number of people entering and leaving to achieve consistent sales success
Sales is a hectic fast paced business. You need to know exactly who your prospects are at any given moment. When you try to track all your prospects in your day planner, a call sheet, or many CRM's you really can't access everything you want and need to know quickly and easily and everywhere you are. Using a single sheet to record all the required information in your sales funnel can make this whole tracking process much easier for you. Plus it provides everything you need in one location.
It would be great if your prospects entered and exited your sales funnel as customers in one step. But that's rarely the case. Most sales cycles are multi-step processes that occur over a period of time, sometimes a very long period of time. Here's where there's a big glitch for many sales professionals. You haven't taken the time to actually identify all the required steps for advancing the sale, and all the possible steps for advancing the sale. You're the professional. If you don't have a feasible next step option for your prospect you can't expect them to come up with one for you. Without clearly defined advancement options you don't have a sales funnel you have a sales sieve. You're unnecessarily losing potentially valuable prospects because you aren't proactively controlling the sales process.
How often do you find that months have passed without you taking the appropriate next action for individuals in your sales funnel? Probably more often than you'd like to admit. When you allow these time lags to occur you almost have to start over from ground zero because the tenuous relationship you once had has almost vanished making it even harder to move the sale to closure. When you track where everyone is in your sales cycle including your next actions you have this happen far less often. Because you're on top of the whole sales process and your sales funnel you increase your sales success.
You need to know exactly how many people you need in your sales funnel at all times to get the sales results you want. A sales tracking system helps you to improve your results because as soon as you close one prospect they drop off your sales funnel and you know you have to enter a new prospect into your funnel. You also learn your capabilities and limits. You begin to develop a feel for the flow of lead generation you can handle and that you need to create, so your sales funnel always has the right number of people entering and leaving to achieve consistent sales success
Could you sell Insurance ?
Don't confuse a positive attitude with a selling attitude if you want career sales success. You can have the most positive attitude of anyone in your field and absolutely stink when it comes to results. Don't try to talk yourself into a positive attitude get a positive attitude. You get a positive attitude from the results you achieve when you have properly developed your selling attitudes. Your selling attitudes are really habits of thought that are demonstrated through your behaviors, that lead to the actions you take and the results you either get or don't get. So, if you aren't getting the results you want it might be time to take a look at your attitudes and habits.
Develop an attitude of persistence and determination. That means that wherever you are on your journey to sales success you will persistently do what you need to do to become a top professional. You will have the determination it takes to try and try again until you discover the approach that works for you, and enables you to connect with your potential customers. A persistent and determined attitude will allow you to look at every experience as an opportunity to discover the skill you have within you to be better than you are today.
Develop an attitude of superior quality. Approach each day with the intention of performing your work to the best of your ability. This requires attention to detail. It requires being fully aware of yourself and your prospects at all times, and focusing in on the needs of those prospects. It requires understanding your prospects on a deeper level than your competition. To be the best sales person you have to focus on developing the attitudes, habits, and skills to be the best.
Your career sales success will depend on your attitude about being willing to do more. You have to be willing to do more than you're paid to do. Through the quality of the work you do, through the service you provide, to the level of understanding you have about the prospect, and to your commitment to your own growth and development. If your attitude only supports doing what's expected you'll never obtain more than average results. It isn't until your attitude supports doing more than your paid to do that you'll get better than expected results.
A selling attitude requires that you're always pleasant even when others aren't. There will be times when you are ill used and abused by prospects and customers. You can't control their attitudes and behaviors, so you have to control your own. Your pleasant selling attitude is one of the quickest ways to diffuse and disarm those with a nasty attitude. Your pleasant selling attitudes are your first opportunity to establish rapport so you get the chance to use your selling skills.
Develop an attitude of persistence and determination. That means that wherever you are on your journey to sales success you will persistently do what you need to do to become a top professional. You will have the determination it takes to try and try again until you discover the approach that works for you, and enables you to connect with your potential customers. A persistent and determined attitude will allow you to look at every experience as an opportunity to discover the skill you have within you to be better than you are today.
Develop an attitude of superior quality. Approach each day with the intention of performing your work to the best of your ability. This requires attention to detail. It requires being fully aware of yourself and your prospects at all times, and focusing in on the needs of those prospects. It requires understanding your prospects on a deeper level than your competition. To be the best sales person you have to focus on developing the attitudes, habits, and skills to be the best.
Your career sales success will depend on your attitude about being willing to do more. You have to be willing to do more than you're paid to do. Through the quality of the work you do, through the service you provide, to the level of understanding you have about the prospect, and to your commitment to your own growth and development. If your attitude only supports doing what's expected you'll never obtain more than average results. It isn't until your attitude supports doing more than your paid to do that you'll get better than expected results.
A selling attitude requires that you're always pleasant even when others aren't. There will be times when you are ill used and abused by prospects and customers. You can't control their attitudes and behaviors, so you have to control your own. Your pleasant selling attitude is one of the quickest ways to diffuse and disarm those with a nasty attitude. Your pleasant selling attitudes are your first opportunity to establish rapport so you get the chance to use your selling skills.
Insurance Sales Training
There are three ways customers exit your insurance sales process. At the close of the transaction the customer can be: dissatisfied, satisfied, or loyal. If you want your insurance sales training to yield the best long-term results your goal should always be to close the transaction gaining a loyal customer.
How can you close a transaction with a dissatisfied customer? Dissatisfied customers can result from:
the way the customer felt they were treated during the sales process that you’ve learned as a result of your insurance sales training,
the customer feeling misunderstood,
and/or from the way you handled the transaction itself.Dissatisfied customers aren’t happy with their experience, they tend to complain about everything, it’s unlikely they will ever do repeat business with you, they won’t ever refer anyone to you no matter how much pressure you try to exert, and they will replace you at their earliest convenience.
Hooray, you have a satisfied customer. Wrong, a satisfied customer is just as happy to do business with anyone else as they are to do business with you. A satisfied customer will do business with the person who is more convenient or has the lowest price. A satisfied customer won’t give you qualified referrals and will be reluctant to refer you to anyone.
The gold ring you are after is the loyal customer. Insurance sales training that helps you to obtain loyal customers provides a system for both current and future success. Here’s why loyal customers are so critical to your future success. A loyal customer will gladly do repeat business with you, they almost never complain and are quick to sing your praises, they will refer highly qualified prospects to you voluntarily and will have them call you, and they will tell others about you. You have to earn loyal customers, but they are definitely worth the effort.
Bottom line there are 3 ways a customer can exit your sales funnel and only one really benefits you. You want every customer to exit your sales funnel as a loyal customer. You may think that’s a really hard thing to do, but it isn’t. You should be learning through your insurance sales training that the best way to gain loyal customers is through understanding and giving the customer exactly what they want exactly the way they want it.
How can you close a transaction with a dissatisfied customer? Dissatisfied customers can result from:
the way the customer felt they were treated during the sales process that you’ve learned as a result of your insurance sales training,
the customer feeling misunderstood,
and/or from the way you handled the transaction itself.Dissatisfied customers aren’t happy with their experience, they tend to complain about everything, it’s unlikely they will ever do repeat business with you, they won’t ever refer anyone to you no matter how much pressure you try to exert, and they will replace you at their earliest convenience.
Hooray, you have a satisfied customer. Wrong, a satisfied customer is just as happy to do business with anyone else as they are to do business with you. A satisfied customer will do business with the person who is more convenient or has the lowest price. A satisfied customer won’t give you qualified referrals and will be reluctant to refer you to anyone.
The gold ring you are after is the loyal customer. Insurance sales training that helps you to obtain loyal customers provides a system for both current and future success. Here’s why loyal customers are so critical to your future success. A loyal customer will gladly do repeat business with you, they almost never complain and are quick to sing your praises, they will refer highly qualified prospects to you voluntarily and will have them call you, and they will tell others about you. You have to earn loyal customers, but they are definitely worth the effort.
Bottom line there are 3 ways a customer can exit your sales funnel and only one really benefits you. You want every customer to exit your sales funnel as a loyal customer. You may think that’s a really hard thing to do, but it isn’t. You should be learning through your insurance sales training that the best way to gain loyal customers is through understanding and giving the customer exactly what they want exactly the way they want it.
Insurance Sales Success
Your insurance sales manager is on a mission to build champions. Make sure his or her mission is in your best interests. It's not uncommon for insurance agents to be forced into master mind groups. I say forced because your attendance and participation is mandatory. Master minding can be an excellent idea if properly understood and applied, but when misapplied it’s potentially a very destructive experience.
Napoleon Hill may have been the first person to write about the concept of a master mind group. According to Mr. Hill, “a master mind is a mind that is developed through the harmonious cooperation of two or more people who ally themselves for the purpose of accomplishing any given task”. As you read that definition there are a couple things you should notice. First, he talks about harmonious cooperation. Anytime something is a mandatory job requirement it defies the concept of harmonious cooperation. Second, the purpose is to assist each other in the accomplishment of any given task. Your objective is more sales yet your trying to master mind with your direct competition, and it’s only natural that the members of your group will have more vested in their own interests than yours.
Building champions for insurance sales success, or indoctrination? What happens when a good idea is improperly applied? You know exactly what happens, you just aren’t talking about it? What should be a master mind opportunity for a group to help each other to generate more sales becomes almost abusive. Some are held up as super stars because they follow the company rules for achieving success: making tons of cold calls, pressuring people to give referrals they don’t want to give, and holding appointments with anyone who can fog a mirror. When someone doesn’t want to do things the company way they are pegged as a loser, and all “failures” are held up as an example for the rest.
Real insurance sales success is earned through the development of a unique position in the market. Anyone trying to do anything different is frowned upon because everyone has to do the same thing. But those who succeed in spite of the enormous odds against them eventually do so by establishing a unique position in the market, and focusing on specific targets. So, what can you do to protect yourself from the mandatory sales master minding group? Remember you can’t change anyone else, and that your success isn’t determined by their opinions. Do what every disenfranchised employee does, quietly disengage. Above all your objective here is to protect yourself and stay under the radar.
What’s the real key to driving your insurance sales success? Marketing. Marketing is the driver that puts qualified leads in your sales funnel, so you have real prospects to sell to, and you put real money in the bank. As you’ve known since you started in this business, if it is to be it is up to you. Seek outside help from those who really understand how to market you the person. Traditional marketing is a waste of your hard earned time and money because it doesn’t generate an immediate direct response, and you absolutely have to have an immediate direct response to put food on the table. If you want to form a real master mind group, focus on finding others who aren’t your direct competitors, who also want to learn how to effectively market themselves for immediate results.
Napoleon Hill may have been the first person to write about the concept of a master mind group. According to Mr. Hill, “a master mind is a mind that is developed through the harmonious cooperation of two or more people who ally themselves for the purpose of accomplishing any given task”. As you read that definition there are a couple things you should notice. First, he talks about harmonious cooperation. Anytime something is a mandatory job requirement it defies the concept of harmonious cooperation. Second, the purpose is to assist each other in the accomplishment of any given task. Your objective is more sales yet your trying to master mind with your direct competition, and it’s only natural that the members of your group will have more vested in their own interests than yours.
Building champions for insurance sales success, or indoctrination? What happens when a good idea is improperly applied? You know exactly what happens, you just aren’t talking about it? What should be a master mind opportunity for a group to help each other to generate more sales becomes almost abusive. Some are held up as super stars because they follow the company rules for achieving success: making tons of cold calls, pressuring people to give referrals they don’t want to give, and holding appointments with anyone who can fog a mirror. When someone doesn’t want to do things the company way they are pegged as a loser, and all “failures” are held up as an example for the rest.
Real insurance sales success is earned through the development of a unique position in the market. Anyone trying to do anything different is frowned upon because everyone has to do the same thing. But those who succeed in spite of the enormous odds against them eventually do so by establishing a unique position in the market, and focusing on specific targets. So, what can you do to protect yourself from the mandatory sales master minding group? Remember you can’t change anyone else, and that your success isn’t determined by their opinions. Do what every disenfranchised employee does, quietly disengage. Above all your objective here is to protect yourself and stay under the radar.
What’s the real key to driving your insurance sales success? Marketing. Marketing is the driver that puts qualified leads in your sales funnel, so you have real prospects to sell to, and you put real money in the bank. As you’ve known since you started in this business, if it is to be it is up to you. Seek outside help from those who really understand how to market you the person. Traditional marketing is a waste of your hard earned time and money because it doesn’t generate an immediate direct response, and you absolutely have to have an immediate direct response to put food on the table. If you want to form a real master mind group, focus on finding others who aren’t your direct competitors, who also want to learn how to effectively market themselves for immediate results.
Adapting to Insurance Sales
Insurance representatives earning a good income possess sales ability skills, and personal ability skills. The professional earning a substantial income has also mastered adaptive selling skills. You could constantly question yourself why you missed getting a sale. Alternatively, see how vital being adaptive is to consistently producing sales. As a sales person your goal is always creating higher insurance production.
Starting out as a career insurance trainee you are instructed to memorize word for word a sales presentation that the company has used for generations. This also includes a jumbo pictorial presentation binder. Now you go through what should be called a show and tell presentation. Prospects are not overly fond of your "one size fits all" show book or your presentation that does not flow like you would naturally talk. They are uncomfortable and your highest level of perspiration activates by starting the presentation..
To end up with presentations that results in a sale you need three skills that you cannot rely on your career office to teach you. In fact, the high majority of your fellow sale people end their career without realizing their importance.
Sales Skills These are the tricks and tips of the trade. Some are discovered only by trial and error. Several you become skilled at through constant repetition. Various others are mastered by trying new techniques other insurance professionals have developed. Once you obtain a sales skill, it allows you to learn another and another. Sales skills are a career long building process.
Personal Skills These are up to you to learn on your own. Confidence, motivation, and inspiration are three of the major ones. Many self-improvement books can significantly improve your personal skills, with little time or money invested. Remember that your clients can see right through you, without conquering these personal skills few sales are made.
Adaptive Skills There are two different types of adaptive skills to you need to triumph over. Each of your clients is unique, and what they want from you differs widely. You must adapt yourself to every prospective client you are proposing selling insurance to. The second adaptive skill is adapting your presentation to capture your prospect's interest. Then you take control so that instead of selling the prospect is buying from you.
Adapting You Personally Let me give this example from personal experience. On my first appointment with a senior couple on looked and felt very uncomfortable. I wore a vested business suit, lugged a suitcase-sized briefcase with tons of product information, plus my crammed presentation book. I entered a house with the temperature blazing at 85%. I was completely over dressed and over packed. In addition, I felt a little easy each time the elderly spit tobacco juice into his handy tin can. Quickly I got into a set presentation and soon after left without a sale.
Either you need to adapt your attire up a notch or more casual depending on whom your clients are. They want to do business with someone they feel closer to their level. Also, you need to adapt your pre-presentation manner. The relationship scene before the presentation must be where you want it. That means that the prospects not only like you, but also feel you are trustworthy. For a senior, you focus on finding about their favorite collection or hobby. Have them show you their favorite piece and talk about it. Even take a phone picture of them showing off their prized possession. You can ask any prospect what they are most proud of.. Few will take this as an annoyance, instead is it personal adapting yourself to them, thereby winning them over.
Adapting Your Presentation Developing an adaptive sales ability is not that hard once you understand the reasoning for it. The first presentation you memorized was suppose to serve all purposes but instead served none. There are two major areas of importance, where you must adapt your presentation to match the situation.
Emotional Need Adapting Every person has six major unique emotions. However, they are only likely to buy if your presentation provides them with the benefits they need to cover the emotion they are concerned about. Too many insurance sales people just keep on talking and talking about every possible benefit their insurance could provide. The prospect get bores and starts to throw out objections just to keep the salesperson from rambling on. The two most common emotions you face in insurance selling are fear and greed.
Right at the start, you MUST find out how your prospect is hurting. Is there a fear or worry that if they die or get sick they will not be able to pay their debt obligations? Alternatively, is it a greed feeling to accumulate wealth and security by seeing their nest egg grow. Never think there is a close correlation between the two. Your prospect certainly does not. Upon finding the problem, you adapt your full presentation. The client only needs three or four good reasons how your insurance product can solve the problem.
Next, you must adapt your presentation to the product you are selling. Choose two or three products, instead of a whole product line. Learn enough about them until you feel and sound like an expert. Concentrate your prospecting to finding people want to find out more about these products only. Strip down your presentation material to a simple yellow pad and folder for each product. Leave the overnight suitcase in your car where it can be used as a storage bin. Now develop a separate presentation of your own just using the materials you are taking in to a prospect's home. You will see how easy this is, and how much more relaxed you and your prospects will feel.
Considering emotions and insurance products, you might have six adaptable on the spot presentations. Many parts will be interchangeable. There are key phrases and selling methods you consistently use. An added advantage is that your presentation time is now 1/2 what it use to be, creating much higher insurance production.
Starting out as a career insurance trainee you are instructed to memorize word for word a sales presentation that the company has used for generations. This also includes a jumbo pictorial presentation binder. Now you go through what should be called a show and tell presentation. Prospects are not overly fond of your "one size fits all" show book or your presentation that does not flow like you would naturally talk. They are uncomfortable and your highest level of perspiration activates by starting the presentation..
To end up with presentations that results in a sale you need three skills that you cannot rely on your career office to teach you. In fact, the high majority of your fellow sale people end their career without realizing their importance.
Sales Skills These are the tricks and tips of the trade. Some are discovered only by trial and error. Several you become skilled at through constant repetition. Various others are mastered by trying new techniques other insurance professionals have developed. Once you obtain a sales skill, it allows you to learn another and another. Sales skills are a career long building process.
Personal Skills These are up to you to learn on your own. Confidence, motivation, and inspiration are three of the major ones. Many self-improvement books can significantly improve your personal skills, with little time or money invested. Remember that your clients can see right through you, without conquering these personal skills few sales are made.
Adaptive Skills There are two different types of adaptive skills to you need to triumph over. Each of your clients is unique, and what they want from you differs widely. You must adapt yourself to every prospective client you are proposing selling insurance to. The second adaptive skill is adapting your presentation to capture your prospect's interest. Then you take control so that instead of selling the prospect is buying from you.
Adapting You Personally Let me give this example from personal experience. On my first appointment with a senior couple on looked and felt very uncomfortable. I wore a vested business suit, lugged a suitcase-sized briefcase with tons of product information, plus my crammed presentation book. I entered a house with the temperature blazing at 85%. I was completely over dressed and over packed. In addition, I felt a little easy each time the elderly spit tobacco juice into his handy tin can. Quickly I got into a set presentation and soon after left without a sale.
Either you need to adapt your attire up a notch or more casual depending on whom your clients are. They want to do business with someone they feel closer to their level. Also, you need to adapt your pre-presentation manner. The relationship scene before the presentation must be where you want it. That means that the prospects not only like you, but also feel you are trustworthy. For a senior, you focus on finding about their favorite collection or hobby. Have them show you their favorite piece and talk about it. Even take a phone picture of them showing off their prized possession. You can ask any prospect what they are most proud of.. Few will take this as an annoyance, instead is it personal adapting yourself to them, thereby winning them over.
Adapting Your Presentation Developing an adaptive sales ability is not that hard once you understand the reasoning for it. The first presentation you memorized was suppose to serve all purposes but instead served none. There are two major areas of importance, where you must adapt your presentation to match the situation.
Emotional Need Adapting Every person has six major unique emotions. However, they are only likely to buy if your presentation provides them with the benefits they need to cover the emotion they are concerned about. Too many insurance sales people just keep on talking and talking about every possible benefit their insurance could provide. The prospect get bores and starts to throw out objections just to keep the salesperson from rambling on. The two most common emotions you face in insurance selling are fear and greed.
Right at the start, you MUST find out how your prospect is hurting. Is there a fear or worry that if they die or get sick they will not be able to pay their debt obligations? Alternatively, is it a greed feeling to accumulate wealth and security by seeing their nest egg grow. Never think there is a close correlation between the two. Your prospect certainly does not. Upon finding the problem, you adapt your full presentation. The client only needs three or four good reasons how your insurance product can solve the problem.
Next, you must adapt your presentation to the product you are selling. Choose two or three products, instead of a whole product line. Learn enough about them until you feel and sound like an expert. Concentrate your prospecting to finding people want to find out more about these products only. Strip down your presentation material to a simple yellow pad and folder for each product. Leave the overnight suitcase in your car where it can be used as a storage bin. Now develop a separate presentation of your own just using the materials you are taking in to a prospect's home. You will see how easy this is, and how much more relaxed you and your prospects will feel.
Considering emotions and insurance products, you might have six adaptable on the spot presentations. Many parts will be interchangeable. There are key phrases and selling methods you consistently use. An added advantage is that your presentation time is now 1/2 what it use to be, creating much higher insurance production.
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