What
do computers, monkeys, and my 7 year old grandson all have in common?
They can all sell insurance on price
alone.
A professional insurance salesperson
(like you) must be able to connect with prospects and help them
understand and internalize the value of the insurance you’re selling.
If you only sell insurance on price,
you will eventually be replaced because:
- There will always be another company with lower rates.
- When people buy from you just to save money, they’ll leave just as fast.
- A call center employee can quote more people faster and cheaper than you.
- A website can give millions of quotes per second even faster and cheaper.
I’m not an idiot. I know that price
is the primary driver of insurance sales. But I also know that selling on price
alone will be the downfall of you, your agency, and the entire agency sale
model.
Here are 14 tips you can implement
today to sell insurance on value. Not one of these tips takes more than a
little conscious effort.
1)
Talk About Claims
When shoppers come to you for a
quote they’re only focused on one thing – the price.
It’s your job to make them recognize
and internalize the fact that they’re making a decision about more than just
how large of a check they’re going to write every month.
Explain the claims process and how
your agency helps guide customers through it as smoothly as possible. Use a
specific example of how your process helped a previous client have a better
experience.
Find every way possible to talk
about claims – it’s the best way to get people thinking outside the price box.
2)
Ask Why They Bought That
When you find out what kind of car,
home, motorcycle, etc. the prospect owns ask them: “What made you choose that
one?”
It’s very rare that someone responds
with, “It was the cheapest.” Instead, they’ll say, “It had the best crash test
ratings” or “It’s is in a really great neighborhood with amazing schools” or
“After all these years of working hard, I deserve a few nice things”.
An expensive insurance policy is
certainly not as cool as a brand-new Harley but getting prospects to answer
this question aloud will remind them that they don’t make every purchasing
decision on price alone and you will activate the part of their brain that
makes more value-oriented decisions.
3)
Ask about the worst accident they’ve seen
What’s the worst car accident you’ve
ever witnessed? Seriously… stop reading this article right now and think about
it in your head…
Got it? Have you re-lived it in your
mind’s eye?
Now tell me you don’t care about
anything but saving 15% off your car insurance.
Of course this example is geared
toward auto insurance, but you could adjust the concept for property, life,
disability and just about any other type of insurance.
4)
Ask About Communication Preferences
During your sales conversation, ask
your prospect how they like to communicate with companies they do business
with. Do they prefer to use the phone, send emails, meet face-to-face, online
accounts, text messages?
Once you understand how they like to
communicate, it’ll be a lot easier to frame the benefits of your agency around
that. Make sure your prospect knows that you’ll be there to communicate with
them in the way that fits their life.
Don’t brag about your iPhone app if
the prospect doesn’t have a smartphone and don’t oversell the convenience of
visiting the office if your prospect is more of an “I’ll do it online” type of
person. In either case they’ll perceive that they’re paying extra for benefits
they don’t value.
5)
Educate Your Prospects
No matter what your prospects tell
you, most of them don’t understand how insurance works. If you can explain it
to them in a way that makes sense without being condescending you’re already
providing an incredible amount of value!
When clients see how well you understand
insurance they’ll feel more comfortable about the decisions you’re guiding them
to make and they’ll feel more confident you’ll be a positive resource in the
event of a claim.
Experts don’t just spit out a bunch
of terminology. The mark of a real expert is the ability to explain a subject
to anyone regardless of age, background, or education. Don’t lecture; ask
questions and engage.
6)
Explain The Discounts
When you identify discounts your
prospect qualifies for, take time to explain how much money each discount
saves, why they qualify, and why the carriers offer that discount.
People love discounts, and when they
see how well you understand discounts they’ll trust that you’re getting them
all the discounts they’re entitled to and will see the value in buying through
an agent like you.
Explain to prospects that you
regularly check their policy to make sure they’re getting every discount they
deserve.
7)
Talk About Your Experience
If you’ve been in insurance for a
while, find ways to get this point across to every prospect. One way to do this
is by identifying something that your prospect is very experienced in to make a
comparison.
If you’re brand-new, that’s okay
too. You can reference the combined experience of all your coworkers. “In our
agency, we have over 30 years combined experience in insurance.”
If you’re inexperienced and so is
everyone else, well… I guess you can just skip this one.
8)
Explain That Having an Agent Doesn’t Raise The Price
Okay, so YOU know it’s not more
expensive to have an agent but everyone else doesn’t.
In fact a lot of people assume
buying through an agent is more expensive. (Of course, it doesn’t help that
some rotten insurance companies have developed marketing plans around this lie)
Explain to prospects that agents are
field underwriters who allow carriers to provide more accurate rates for every
risk. There’s a lot more room for fraud when people get insurance through a
website and that makes the honest people pay more.
A good agent who understands rating
criteria and discounts can be a real asset when it comes to getting the
cheapest price. Make sure your prospects know this.
9)
Explain Your Licenses and Certifications
Most people have no idea how hard it
is just to get licensed to sell insurance. They also have no idea how many
hours of continuing education you’re required to keep up with and some of the
advanced designations have taken you years to achieve!
Don’t be afraid to toot your own
horn. Just find a way to work it into the conversation naturally.
10)
Ask About Their Last Claim Experience
It’s probably already part of your
quoting process to find out about the last insurance claim. Ask a follow-up
question like, “How did your claim experience go?”
Sometimes you’ll get lucky and
stumble into someone who had a bad experience and your claims handling
processes might offer clear advantages. But even if they had a wonderful
experience, forcing your prospect to mentally “re-live” the claim experience
will pull them further from the “only price matters” mindset.
11)
Ask About the Potential Cost of Not Buying
Compare how much money someone could
save by not buying your insurance policy with the potential cost of not buying
it.
“If you don’t buy this life
insurance policy you’ll save $25 a month… But what’s the potential cost of
being diagnosed with cancer after making that decision?
“If you don’t purchase higher
coverage limits you’ll save $10 a month… But what’s the potential cost of
becoming disabled in a major accident after making that decision?
When you pose questions like this,
make sure you let the prospect think through and answer themselves before
stepping in. It’s important for them to internalize the point of the question.
12)
Ask Questions and Listen
It’s hard to sell the value of your products
and agency when you don’t know what’s most important to the client.
We’re inclined to believe everyone
else thinks just like we do. Most salespeople mistakenly believe the
product features and benefits most appealing to them will also appeal to our
clients and this can lead to selling the WRONG value.
To find out what product values to
focus on ask more questions. Here’s an example: “What’s the second most
important thing to you about insurance? I’ll assume price is number one…”
13)
Help Clients Earn More Discounts
I’m not talking about identifying
new discounts or educating clients about discounts (I mentioned those both
earlier). I mean actually helping them get discounts that they don’t currently
qualify for.
Will an online defensive driver
class save your clients some money? Email them a link to a website where they
can earn it online.
Client can’t afford life insurance
at the smoker rate? Connect them with a local or online
program that can help them quit.
Can a home security system drive
down the price of their policy? Refer them to a local security company.
BONUS TIP: try to get your clients a discount with the other service
to deepen your value even more.
14)
Don’t Apologize For Your Price
I get it. I know everyone wants to
save money on insurance – me too. I also know most of your sales happen because
of saving people money. But guess what:
Sometimes
nice things cost more.
Does the Mercedes salesperson
apologize because you can’t get an S-Class for the same price as a Kia Forte?
Of course not, he believes it’s a better car and it’s worth the extra price.
If you don’t believe your product is
better than everyone else’s and worth the price either convince yourself
otherwise or don’t expect long-term success.
I’m confident that local insurance
agents will survive against threats like online direct writers and call centers
but it will not happen unless you can sell value.
Start selling more VALUE today or
we’ll all face the consequences tomorrow!
