Setting Appointments or Just Pitch and Try to Close on the Phone?

[myonbroker]

I think the closing ratio is way higher selling across the kitchen table however,
is it truly the best option? In my state (New York) you don't have the option, you must witness the client signature.Recently though I have made sales in states I have a non resident license and the carrier allows telesales. I was just curious if anyone on the Forum has tried both and have an opinion as to which is the better option?

 

[dstrack]

Everyone has their own opinion. Try both and see what you like.

Personally... I would NEVER sell in person unless they come to me. My time is to valuable to spend doing minimum wage work such as time spent driving to an appointment.

...not to mention gas prices and wear and tear on your car.

With e-apps, phone apps, join-me, and skype I can't imagine a good phone agent would ever be out produced by a good face to face agent.

There is only so much time in the day and you only make money when you are writing an app.

 

[myonbroker]

I have had friends go on appts and the prospect not answer the door even when it was confirmed the prior day. I guess I am just lucky its never happened to me.
My point is in this day and age more and more people are afraid of strangers coming to their home , especially the elderly. I need to adapt

 

[Josh]

I'm a huge believer in telemarketing, but most agents do a lot better with their close rate/retention at the kitchen table. I'm heading to NYC this week and I'm originally from upstate, what part are you in?

It also tends to depend on the product. Transactional/commodity type products tend to be better over the phone vs life insurance and annuities.

 

[DHK]

Depends on your selling style.

Are you doing a full fact-finder along with presenting various financial concepts? That's probably best done at the "kitchen table"... or even in a skype conference setting.

If you're ultimately quoting and presenting... then the phone would be more efficient... and you can sell in your 'underwear'.

 

[FRJ]

I give and get as much information as the prospect allows for and will set up a face to face to finalize. That leads to, roughly, a 95% closing ratio when I sit with a prospect. If the prospect doesn't sound committed, I'm not driving more than 10 minutes.

 

[Josh]

I give and get as much information as the prospect allows for and will set up a face to face to finalize. That leads to, roughly, a 95% closing ratio when I sit with a prospect. If the prospect doesn't sound committed, I'm not driving more than 10 minutes.

Rearden tried it both ways, ended up going with the "see them all" approach. That was for FE, I suppose it might be different depending on the product.

 

[dstrack]

I have had friends go on appts and the prospect not answer the door even when it was confirmed the prior day. I guess I am just lucky its never happened to me.
My point is in this day and age more and more people are afraid of strangers coming to their home , especially the elderly. I need to adapt

I saw a recent survey… can't seem to find it right now. Most people prefer to do business over the phone vs a stranger coming into their home.

Even for financial services type products.

I agree with josh the phone lends itself to commodity type products better but with all the technology available you can build trust, credibility, authority, etc.. just fine for bigger and more personal products/services.

Sure you might have a slightly higher closing ratio face to face but that is only half the story. I rather have 5 good prospects to talk to every day and close 3 then have only 2 and close both face to face.

With proper marketing systems to get them in the funnel already feeling warm and fuzzy and post buying systems to keep them convinced you are "their guy" for me its a no brainer no matter what product I sell.

But everyone is different and has different approaches.

 

[EugeneM]

I believe the dollar amount really determines if in person is necessary - I would find it hard to let someone review anything that costs me 50K+/yr without meeting then in person. personally.

If it was 10 or 20k a year in little payments i could see someone just handling it over the phone but a on most significant expenditures people typically will prefer in person.

 

[Experienced Agent]

If your selling to seniors, go f2f. It's daytime work and these people are generally home. If they are not, just go back again. I promise you you"ll get them; they do live there.