Turkey Calls

Everyone sends Holiday Cards or Christmas Cards.  Many send birthday cards and then there are those who send "thank you for your payment cards."  Few though, if any, send "Thank You" cards at Thanksgiving.   Wait a second, I thought Thanksgiving was supposed to be about "Giving Thanks?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009, I received a phone call from my Insurance Agent who left the following message on my voicemail:

"This is Jeff, your Insurance Agent calling.  My team and I wanted to call you today to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.   If you are traveling this weekend please travel safe and most of all....enjoy those you will be with, including family and friends.   Please keep our phone number (555-1212) handy this weekend and know that you can call us at any time this weekend should you need our help.   We appreciate your business...Happy Thanksgiving!" 

I have received the same, or similar, message from Jeff each year since. My bank doesn't call me at Thanksgiving.  Nor does my phone company. Or the gas company.  Jeff is unique in that he is the only person I receive a phone call from at Thanksgiving! 

I did some homework and came to find out that Jeff sends this message to his 2,000 households for Thanksgiving each year.  All 2,000 households received the same message.  All 2,000 households hear from their Agent each year!

Have you called ALL of your customers this year? If you’re like many agency producers I coach...you have NOT called all of your customers this year.  In fact, I will bet some of your customers haven't received a phone call from you in two, or three years.

If you haven't been able to call all of your customers in the past year, or two, how did Jeff do it?  How does Jeff make 2,000 phone calls every year for Thanksgiving?   Jeff uses a Call Center to make the calls for him....using his voice!   Are you ready for this....it costs Jeff 12 cents per call....or $240 to call all of his customers.

A Call Center?  Yes indeed....a call center such as www.voiceshot.com or www.callfire.com.   There are a bunch of companies out there that can provide a similar service. I've come to like Voiceshot and Callfire the best.   

I highly recommend following Jeff’s lead in calling your current customers this Thanksgiving.  For twelve cents per call, it is a simple way to reach your current customers at an important time of year and when they least expect the call. 

Note....Jeff is only calling his current customers and these are NOT Sales Calls.  This is a simple "Thank You" call to existing customers.

For help in setting up Thank You Calls this Thanksgiving, simply call me for assistance.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and THANK YOU for reading our work!

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Long term care is becoming an increasingly more important issue in this country. The aging baby boomer population in the United States is approaching 80 million. As Americans continue to live longer, millions may face the prospect of needing or providing long term care at some point in their lives. November is Long Term Care Awareness Month and is a great time to focus on spreading the word about the need to have a plan for long term care.

https://www.genworth.com/sales-center/long-term-care-insurance/education/cost-of-care.html#

7 TIPS for Boosting Your Year-End Numbers

With fewer than ten weeks to go in 2013, I've put together a list of the most effective ideas for my agent friends to boost their holiday sales.

1. Keep your schedule filled with appointments. If your goal is 8 appointments, don't "try" to keep 8 - keep them. If you need to fill your time slots with existing clients, turn those visits into referral opportunities.

2. Look through the information you've taken from existing clients to determine if there's any way in which you haven't yet served them. Maybe you need to discuss converting an existing term policy. Maybe you haven't discussed long-term care with them. Is there a client who wouldn't be helped by increasing his or her liability limits? Find out!

3. "Up" your offers. A client who needs $300,000 in life insurance might agree to $500,000 if given the option. A client who can put aside $300/month for investing might be able to stretch that to $500, if you explain the benefits. Just ask. If 1 in 4 prospects says "yes", your year-end numbers will increase dramatically, just like that.

4. Ask for referrals as a way of helping someone start next year with a bang.

"Joe and Betty, thanks for letting me know how helpful I've been to you in getting your insurance protection plan in order. With the end of the year coming, I'll bet you have at least a couple of friends who might like to get a new start on their financial situation for the New Year and may want the kind of service you're getting. Who comes to mind that could use a hand?"

5. Focus on reaching out to people with whom you already have a connection. How many people gave their names to you at the county fair or a Home Show who you couldn't reach right afterward, so you then just dropped those leads? Instead of cold calling people you've never met, revisit those "failed" contacts, starting with the most recent. If you can't reach someone by phone, or drop a quick email. If you do connect, those people who you have met at least once are far more likely to agree to make an appointment with you than total strangers are.

6. Slow your fact-finding interviews down. It may seem counter-intuitive, but you'll turn more first appointments into [first and] second appointment sales if you ask more questions, especially about consequences of acting and not acting. It's not good enough to ask how someone feels about a million dollar insurance need. Dig deeply into the consequences of not having that insurance in place. (If they can't keep the house, where will they live? Is that okay with them?) Then, make sure your presentation addresses the consequences that they brought up in response to your questions. (This will ensure that they can stay in their house, at least until the kids start college.)

7. When it comes to services they need, don't please your prospects or clients, and don't sell to them, serve them. If they're telling you that they're going to put off applying for the insurance they need, and you believe that the delay does not serve them, tell them passionately that they're wrong. Be proud of being in sales, but don't sell, and don't put having them like you above doing what's best for them.

Put your emphasis on existing clients - the people who already do business with you and will be joyous to rave about you to those they love. If you need more tips on serving up the right surprises, contact me.

Either way, keep delivering what you do best, and keep REACHING...

 

15 Tips for 4Q2013 Success:

1. Review all closed proposals for ‘wait to do’ items.
2. Spend 2 days on your calendar closing lingering pipeline proposals.
3. Offer options the prospect can chose from. Two options, one good and 2^nd one better.
4. For all proposals closed through the year, go back and up-sell add-ons you thought would inflate your original solution. Did you leave off Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) or Cyber?
5. Sell one more policy to each household or account.
6. Conduct a review meeting with your top 8 clients. Schedule the 8 appointments for one focused week and if time allows, schedule the next tier of 8 top clients over one additional week.
7. Look for clients with remaining budgets. Don’t leave anything on the table; clients are considering taxes and their 2014 budgets.
8. Remind clients you welcome referrals; then ask for them.
9. Call every client you haven’t talked to in the last 90 days. Offer your assistance as they plan for 2014.
10. Call all the prospects that have been pushing you off – start a conversation – ‘has anything changed?’ or ‘checking in with you for yearend updates.’
11. Review your forecast and identify the steps to close everything – then execute!
12. Enlist you manager’s support with roadblocks holding prospects back.
13. Enlist collaboration partners’ support with closing tough prospects.
14. Prospect hard through OCTOBER. (focus 1 day each week)
15. Stay your goal – don’t stray or be distracted. Take tings off your plate and delegate to staff so you can find and close more business.

Finish 2013 Strong so You Can Start 2014 Right

The end of the year is right around the corner, which means there’s still time to finish strong!

One of the most important reasons for finishing strong in 2013 is it becomes a springboard for starting 2014 right.

I always find it ironic that at this time of year, many agents either go into panic mode or they go into coasting mode.

If they go into panic mode, it’s because they are now feeling a sense of urgency to make their annual numbers. The problem with panic mode in the sales world is that agents tend to do stupid things.

Mainly, they offer too many discounts or other concessions (strip coverages) that ultimately destroy profit and diminish the confidence the customer has in the agent and/or the policy protection.

If, on the other hand, they go into coasting mode, they start doing an internal dialogue with themselves that is along the lines of, “If I can’t hit my numbers in 2013, I’ll just make up for it in the first quarter of 2014.”

Don’t get me wrong — I want you to hit the gate running in 2014. I just think if you coast now, you won’t be able to psych yourself up enough to compensate for your poor performance in the 4th quarter of 2013.

My suggestion?

Don’t panic. And don’t coast.

Instead, begin right now to mine your current customer list and your prospecting list. Set weekly goals that are slightly above the goals you would normally have for this time of year.

Stop “preparing” to make calls, and just make them. Challenge yourself to make at least 5 phone calls before 9 a.m. each day.

Even if you feel you are skilled at questioning, review your current list of questions and add at least 2-3 more questions that will better reveal the customers’ needs and pains.

Believe that you can get full price. If you are like many consumers, you may associate the 4th quarter with deep discounts and holiday sales. The only way you are going to break that association is to replace it with something else. I suggest you replace it with the belief that not only can you get full price, but that you are worth full price as your clients’ trusted advisor.

Stop hanging out with negative people. If there are negative colleagues in your office with whom you daily connect, change your routine or simply consume yourself with being on the phone with prospects and customers.

You cannot afford to have negative people moving you into panic mode or coast mode.

The above are just a few suggestions that will help you finish 2013 strong so you can start 2014 right. I’m sure you could come up with additional ideas that more uniquely fit your selling situation.

I have 15 additional tips I'm willing to share with you. Let me know what I can to to remove the roadblocks holding your prospects back.

4 Reasons that Your Follow-up Fails

Why is following up so difficult? Insurance agents today often struggle to follow-up and prospects continue to fall through the cracks. Here are four reasons why:

1. Lack of prioritization
If you’ve been in insurance sales for a while it is impossible to touch everyone personally by telephone. You simply don’t have the time. Many agents, however, treat every prospect exactly the same way. They follow up with every prospect in exactly the same manner. They follow up with teeny tiny opportunities the same way that they follow-up with huge opportunities.

The harsh reality is: All prospects are not equal.

All prospects do not require the same follow-up. Spend the bulk of your follow-up time with those prospects that are most likely to buy from you.

2. Lack of organization
Following-up effectively takes organization. You need to know which prospects you are following up with, what has already transpired and what the next step is in your sales process. Appropriate software solves many of these problems. Today it is simply too difficult to rely on Excel spreadsheets or your notebook.

3. No system
In order to follow-up effectively, you’ll need to determine: How will you follow-up? What are your goals for each communication that you have with a prospect? How often should you contact your prospects? When should you let a prospect go? These questions, along with many others, need to be answered before you even begin. Most do not take the time to develop their process and so are left winging it every time. When you have a process in place with scripts and templates it is much easier and far less time consuming to reach out to the prospects you need to contact.

4. Fear
The fear of rejection can keep insurance agents from following up adequately, or at all.  Many worry they are being “too pushy” or think, “If the prospect is interested, they’ll call me.” Some fear the anticipated devastation of having a prospect say, “No.”

Prospecting and follow-up are business transactions. Prospects may say “no” to your offering. They are not saying “no” to you.

Failed follow-up can be fixed. One by one, step-by-step, take each of these reasons and address them. Eliminate these reasons that your follow-up is failing and see the results in your bottom line.

 

10 Tips for Leaving a Good Prospecting Voicemail

Voicemail is a tool you can use in prospecting.
Key is to leave a voicemail that reflects you in a positive manner. This does not mean you leave a message about how great you are. Instead, you leave a message that offers the other person something of value.

Here are 10 Tips for Leaving a Good Prospecting Voicemail:

1. If your goal is to get the phone call returned, don’t leave enough information to allow the person to make up their mind. Leave them with only enough information to return the call. (You must create a reason.)

2. Repeat your phone number twice. If the person can’t write your number down easily, you’ve given them a perfect reason to not call back.

3. Messages left on a Friday afternoon are the least likely to be returned. For most people, Monday mornings are very busy and, as a result, only high-priority activities will get their immediate attention.

4. Do not leave voicemail messages at odd hours of the night.

5. The best hours to leave voicemail messages are from 6:45 AM to 8:00 AM and from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM.

6. Voicemail messages are an excellent way to introduce yourself to a person. Be personable, yet professional, and link your message to something of interest to the person you are calling (such as another person or event).

7. When leaving your phone number, do not leave your website or email address as well. This will only give the person an opportunity to make a decision about you without calling you back.

8. Use the person’s first name at least twice in the message.

9. Avoid leaving messages that are longer than 20 seconds. The optimal voicemail message is between 8 and 14 seconds.

10. Do not leave the same voicemail message more than once for the same person. Always provide them with a new urgent reason to call you back.

Here’s a sample of a message I might leave someone: Hi Ron, this is Doug Myrick, Pro Advantage Services. I have some new information about cyber coverages and controlling insurance expenses for your business. Ron, I’d be happy to share it with you. Give me a buzz at 515.395.7715. Thanks again! This is Doug Myrick, 515.395.7715.