The Most Important Part Of Sales Is...

[Guest]

Of course, what if someone is seeking a lower price due to a rate increase, you're not going to ask what they're premium currently is or what it went up to? That's preposterous.

Yes it is an art, but on this forum there are too many finger painters LOL

Rob this is spot on! I love talking to people on the phone after a few minutes I know what they are paying! And I ask 100% of the time what are you paying or do you know what you are paying? Some of the ladies that work for me don't like to ask but I tell them to ask every single person. Very seldom do I get anyone that says what do you need to know that for and if I do I just tell them to do an accurate and honest review of their current policy I would like to know what they are paying because if I can't save them enough Money or give them better coverages I will recommend the keep their current policy. I consider myself a master on the phone with people I will tell you the mistake most "sales" people make...they don't "listen" to what the client is saying. I would say that 98% of people tell me what they are paying! It truly is an art!

 

[houcoogster]

Rob you said:
"This is a common and tremendous mistake I see in most sales realms. The salesperson immediately tries to see if there's a sale, rather than working to gain a client."

Are you saying you have clients who have not made a purchase with you?

Then you say:
" they can tell you are trying to fish for a sale."

What do they think when you call them? That you want to deliver some information?

And then you say:
"EDIT: the more I read #7 (the 2nd one) the more it's wrong, the client has to decide to do business with you, they pay you, it's not the other way around, this one is just bad advice."

How much time are you willing to invest with someone who has no interest in what you have or has no pain with what they currently have? We have to draw the line somewhere otherwise we would all just be spinning our wheels.

 

[Guest]

First, without going into crazy detail, last year I spoke to a client who found me on this very forum, she told me a few other agents told her that her and her husband would not qualify for a new plan and were told "don't bother" but they were paying $1500 a month. By doing a proper needs analysis, I found out they were late 40's, preferred height and weight, she had one medical condition, he had one also, both minor. She saw me on a thread about mini med plans, which she thought was her last resort. Well, my intent was to see if I could get them a major med plan, after over an hour, low and behold we submitted an app, they took an HSA qualified plan for just over $600 a month, and they're still on it today. They got issued in 4 days and they sent me a Cheryl's Cookies gift basket to thank me because now they could stay retired!

Here's the question:

Do you think the other agents who told them "don't bother" were trying to zip through people to find a sale or they actually cared about investing time to properly help these people? Those agents lost a pretty sweet commission for minimal time/work and some tasty cookies.

Now to answer your questions:

Are you saying you have clients who have not made a purchase with you?

I'm not sure I understand this question and forgive me if this isn't what you meant, but of course, you can't write everyone you speak to, so yes there are consumers who have not made a purchase from me.

What do they think when you call them? That you want to deliver some information?

Not sure this is too clear either (to me) but simply put, they think whatever I inform them about the purpose of the call.

For example:

"Hi! My name is . . . (what?) My name is . . . (who?)
My name is . . . Slim Shady"



Seriously, the point is that trying to disqualify someone in a hurry creates the mindset that you should just blast through people to find the next buyer or what I'll call, the easier sale, where the interest is obvious. So what an agents says reflects that attitude, then investing time in someone to truly find out if you can help them is often dismissed. The line of questioning and the tone is different in both cases. One shows you care about helping the client, the other shows you care about helping yourself or as I said "fishing for a sale." It's as if you don't want to waste time if you won't make money. Everyone on this forum has probably experienced many a salesperson who has done this to them and likely felt disgusted saying "I'll never buy from them."

How much time are you willing to invest with someone who has no interest in what you have or has no pain with what they currently have? We have to draw the line somewhere otherwise we would all just be spinning our wheels.

I invest no time in someone who says "I'm not interested" and hangs up. And in order to see if you can help them takes more than 60 seconds (or as you said if they have a pain) again I was addressing the need for speeding through to the next person on a list or lead.

But if someone stays on the phone past the first minute or two where they clearly have an understanding of what I do and why I'm calling, wouldn't you say they're at least interested in seeing what I have to offer?

You see, by disqualifying people, you are spinning your wheels. It can get frustrating and then agents say people are time wasters, tire kickers etc, but often the reality is that the agent is wasting the client's and their own time.

If you don't know my history, I have been in sales over 24 years, the last 8 or 9 in insurance, all telephonic, I helped two call centers launch (both became top producers in 45 days or less) I also successfully trained others for about the last 4 years, call centers, indie agents and some of the biggest insurance carriers and agencies you know and love have hired, me recommenced me or consulted with me. Within that time span I've listened to recorded calls and live calls of insurance agents doing presentations so when I say there is a big difference between serving the client and serving your wallet, I'm not just spitting out some baseless insight.

But hey, forget what I say and keep leaving sales on the table my agents love it!

Rob you said:
"This is a common and tremendous mistake I see in most sales realms. The salesperson immediately tries to see if there's a sale, rather than working to gain a client."

Are you saying you have clients who have not made a purchase with you?

Then you say:
" they can tell you are trying to fish for a sale."

What do they think when you call them? That you want to deliver some information?

And then you say:
"EDIT: the more I read #7 (the 2nd one) the more it's wrong, the client has to decide to do business with you, they pay you, it's not the other way around, this one is just bad advice."

How much time are you willing to invest with someone who has no interest in what you have or has no pain with what they currently have? We have to draw the line somewhere otherwise we would all just be spinning our wheels.

 

[HomeService]

What if I knock doors and I don't have a good phone number for these people!! ha ha

 

[Frank Stastny]

What if I knock doors and I don't have a good phone number for these people!! ha ha

Then you are "old school" and everyone knows that being "old school" and selling insurance the way that is the most comfortable and convenient for the prospect, not the agent, is just not the way things are done anymore.

It doesn't matter that Mrs. Smith is 74 years old, doesn't hear or see very well anymore, only knows how to receive e-mail and play solitaire on her computer and needs some special attention to help her understand that she may have better options.

How dare you even suggest such a thing? You're in real trouble now. LOL

 

[houcoogster]

Rob,
I didn't ask for your life story or a resume. Nice cookie story though.
I asked you 3 questions in plain English. You gave 7 paragraphs of double-speak peppered with insults.
Nice job of obfuscation!

 

[GreenSky]

Rob,
I didn't ask for your life story or a resume. Nice cookie story though.
I asked you 3 questions in plain English. You gave 7 paragraphs of double-speak peppered with insults.
Nice job of obfuscation!

I thought I was the only one to realize this.

Rick

 

[Guest]

Well, your questions were a bit vague and to me, your choice of phrasing seemed argumentative, so I felt that to express my thoughts more clearly would help you to understand, and also qualify my experience in the field. That obviously failed.

So since it seems that you're the only one that questioned my response when others seemed to get it (in case you missed reading the other posts), and now you're accusing me of insults in my response to you and also double speak (feel free to point out where I did that) I'd say with your latest reaction, I'm pretty well convinced that you were indeed posting in an argumentative manner, not really seeking to understand anything, so I'm glad you liked the cookie story at least, hopefully you got something out of it.

Rob,
I didn't ask for your life story or a resume. Nice cookie story though.
I asked you 3 questions in plain English. You gave 7 paragraphs of double-speak peppered with insults.
Nice job of obfuscation!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FYI agents still go face to face, just because you may not do it any longer doesn't mean they don't.

Then you are "old school" and everyone knows that being "old school" and selling insurance the way that is the most comfortable and convenient for the prospect, not the agent, is just not the way things are done anymore.

It doesn't matter that Mrs. Smith is 74 years old, doesn't hear or see very well anymore, only knows how to receive e-mail and play solitaire on her computer and needs some special attention to help her understand that she may have better options.

How dare you even suggest such a thing? You're in real trouble now. LOL

 

[houcoogster]

"So since it seems that you're the only one that questioned my response when others seemed to get it"
FALSE ;see greensky's post

"your questions were a bit vague and to me"
FALSE: Plain English to the point questions.

"and now you're accusing me of insults in my response to you"
TRUE: See the Slim Shady remark and the only thing I care about is my wallet and so forth.

Why can't you just answer the questions?

 

[GreenSky]

"So since it seems that you're the only one that questioned my response when others seemed to get it"
FALSE ;see greensky's post

"your questions were a bit vague and to me"
FALSE: Plain English to the point questions.

"and now you're accusing me of insults in my response to you"
TRUE: See the Slim Shady remark and the only thing I care about is my wallet and so forth.

Why can't you just answer the questions?

Let me suggest that when you want to "insult" someone, just put a smilie after it. Rob does that and it makes it all better.

See what I just did?

Let me try again. Agents like you make it easy for my team to steal your clients.

Let this be a lesson to you.

Rick