What is the psychology behind final expense??

[jody108]

somarco ...

makes sense ... that takes the stress out of sale ...

so how do you get your foot in the door ...

do you use the traditional sales call/door script ... hi ____, this is _______, The reason I'm calling/stopping by ________ ....

This is my biggest block ... the fear of rejection ... not getting through that 4inch block ... or whatever ...

 

[Mark]

somarco ...

makes sense ... that takes the stress out of sale ...

so how do you get your foot in the door ...

do you use the traditional sales call/door script ... hi ____, this is _______, The reason I'm calling/stopping by ________ ....

This is my biggest block ... the fear of rejection ... not getting through that 4inch block ... or whatever ...

50% of the job is getting your foot in the door. Also don't be afraid of rejections. It is just part of the job. You will be rejected a lot in this business. But they all won't reject you. Don't give up. In cold calling, most of them will reject you, but it only takes a few of them not rejecting you to make a living. It is a numbers game. The more you see or talk to, the more you will sell.

I do not believe in scripts. I use what I call a game plan. I know what all things I want to say to them, but not in any order. I might not say everything that I have wrote down. It is a game plan, not a script. I don't want to sound like I'm reading them something, like a robot.

I get those types of phone calls myself from telemarketers and I hate it. You can tell they are reading it from something.

 

[somarco]

Jody -

Learn to ask questions.

Most salespeople are taught what to TELL the client. Telling doesn't work as well as ASKING.

No one likes to be told what to do.

People like to feel their opinion is valued, so when you learn to ask questions, you are on the right track.

It also helps to keep in mind you are not selling insurance. You are selling yourself (as someone said earlier) and offering a solution to their problems.

The classic example is the hardware store. You don't want a drill, you want a hole. The drill just happens to be the way you get the hole.

People don't want insurance, they want peace of mind. Insurance is one way (usually the least expensive way) of addressing their concern.

 

[GreenSky]

You don't want a drill, you want a hole. The drill just happens to be the way you get the hole.

Damn! I love it when you talk dirty.

Rick

 

[ddelp]

Also be sincere and come into their home with a "consultant" type of attitude. Its easier for them to buy from you when they tell you care.

 

[HomeService]

You're dealing with folks that haven't planned up to this point and the purchase will be made based upon a gutteral emotional response. It's a tough spot they're in and not taking action does have tough consequences on the family.

I'm not dealing with these people, most of the time. You have put seniors in this box here, and it's a very narrow box to be in. It's frankly kind of insulting to seniors. I am telling you I sell to young moms, mostly. And the occasional senior. And I use whole life. Most of the time. I have sold term- at times.
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somarco ...

makes sense ... that takes the stress out of sale ...

so how do you get your foot in the door ...

do you use the traditional sales call/door script ... hi ____, this is _______, The reason I'm calling/stopping by ________ ....

This is my biggest block ... the fear of rejection ... not getting through that 4inch block ... or whatever ...

I just ask who they have their life insurance with... the last two people told me they had it with a friend of mine...a guy whom I know in the "hood" who knocks doors as I do. {It's terrible grammar, "who do you have your life insurance with"}

I should be saying, "with whom do you have your insurance..." ha ha
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oh, and btw, rop was always a huge huge ripoff in my mind, HOWEVER, I must say, the latest premiums I have seen on some of them have come down, so maybe not such a ripoff.

When it first hit the market, it would turn a $40 premium into a $140 premium in a hurry. It never took off around here.... maybe now it may have a chance. This is 2008 and things are changing.

btw, term insurance got a bad name back in the AL Williams days. Now a lot of folks seem to be {trying to } give whole life a bad name, but that bad name does not take hold in the minds of my clientelle. Term, on the other hand, not good in most of their minds. I of course ask most of them about term as an option, and it gets totally knocked off the table. {By them, not me.} I let them- tell me.

 

[kuhn123]

Jody, Just keep in mind what your marketing/prospecting approach will be, and then you will understand what advice to listen to in this post.
If you will be strictly cold knocking and canvassing neighborhoods, then doing a comprehensive needs analysis makes sense.
If however, you will be using a targeted marketing/lead generation approach like many who focus on final expense, then the majority of your needs analysis has been done for you. I can tell you with confidence, that if you head out to work final expense leads, your conversations about large term policies and funding education expenses will be few and far between.
It is an emotional sale; not because you make it that way, but because funerals and dying tend to be that way for most folks.
If you are going to focus on final expense, you will find that it is very simple stuff (simple presentation, sale, underwriting, application, issue, etc.). Simple, but not necessarily easy, don't confuse the two. Keeping the aforementioned areas simple, allows you put your focus into making a connection with your client and forming the trust that will get them to allow you, to help them. After you've made that connection closing becomes a painless process.

All that being said, make sure your ready to accept failure. There will be MANY (most) clients that just won't let you help them, you have to be able to let that slide off you back, put your happy face on, and get down the road to your next client. The quicker that you can develop that resiliency, the better off you'll be.
If I can help you out in anyway as you get started in final expense, feel free to drop me a line.
GOOD LUCK!!

 

[HomeService]

I will admit, I only use the complete needs analysis when talking with a higher income prospect. I should use it more out in the field. I do have "in mind" what I'm selling, most of time.

My main problem I have with putting life insurance "into a box" { like having just mortgage protection or just final expense} is that it seems too narrow of a focus to me. I have sold UL before. For instance. And, whole life that is not final expense, I.E. a 100k fully underwritten whole life. So, life insurance does not always fall into a category.

 

[360]

btw, term insurance got a bad name back in the AL Williams days. Now a lot of folks seem to be {trying to } give whole life a bad name, but that bad name does not take hold in the minds of my clientelle. Term, on the other hand, not good in most of their minds. I of course ask most of them about term as an option, and it gets totally knocked off the table. {By them, not me.} I let them- tell me.

What rock have you been living under? A.L. Williams never gave term insurance a bad name. A.L. Williams brought term insurance into the mainstream. The only people who thought it was bad were whole life agents. The only problem is that the message never made it to the hood.

When your "young mom" doesn't want enough term to provide for her kids in the case of her death and instead wants to buy policies on those kids...it may be true...but it doesn't make it right. The only other person on the planet that thinks it's right is the agent sitting across from her making his living.

 

[HomeService]

win, I have got to think maybe you are younger than me or maybe started within the last five years. It is very well known in the business that AL Williams and then primerica gave term insurance an abolutely horrible name out there in the field, where it counts. This has been ongoing since the 1980's. The problem was, and is, the "buy term and invest the difference" idea. Which would be good, except people never did invest the difference. Then they were stuck with this term policy - and with no cash value. The agent, who has since left the business in a lot of cases, is gone as well. So these people are sitting there, sometimes 20 years later, with no cash value. And they don't remember the "buy term invest the difference" thingy from 20 years ago. So, they think term is bad, even though it really is not. And, to top it off, a lot of people dropped their whole life- to get term.

Look, I don't personally think term is bad. I think the way AL williams did it was bad, and it gave term a bad name. I obviously do not think they meant to do it, it was an unwanted side effect. Really, al williams and primerica should have the bad name only, but it bled over to term.

My clients remember stuff like this. I remember stuff like this. So, I generally know who to suggest tem to- and who may toss me out on the street -if I even bring up term.

Oh, and 20 years ago, term was higher in premium. It has come down since then. So yes, now a young mom can buy way more life with term for the $$$. But some of these folks are really traditional and sentimental or whatever, and they just won't have it. The term that is. They just won't buy into it, even if it's a way better deal, now. I can't help it if people are stuck in another decade ...{ heck, I'm stuck in the 1980's} ... but I can recognize it and roll with it.