Trying to Save Senior Money on Their Monthly Premium

[mikeincolumbuso]

I need some advice. While I was cold calling this morning, I spoke with an 74 year old man that has had a Bankers Life policy for several years. He and his wife are both covered. They each have $10,000 policies that cost about a total of $215/per month for both policies. He says they are both healthy. He didn't want to meet at all so I told him that when I was not busy I would "run" the quotes. The lowest rates I found were with Lafeyette Life. The premium for him is $77/month for $10,000 and hers at age 74 is $66/month. That is a savings of $72 a month. When I shared the info with the prospect at first he thought there was a "catch". I went thru all of the info regarding how this is perm insurance with all of the guarantees etc. He asked me to call back in a few weeks. Anyway, I get the sense that he isn't interested because if he switched, he would have to admit that he made an expensive mistake. Is there any advice to improve my chances of closing this man and his wife? It seems to me that the savings alone would be sufficient to convince him. Please help.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I would show him the range of quotes from all the companies and let him see how they range in price. Explain how some are brokers like yourself who work for the client and shop for the best rate. Others are agents who sell one or a few companies going with the one that pays the best commission or helps them win a trip. Also show him the complaint ratio's on companies from the Ohio DOI so he can see it's a good company. You can even give the insurance company phone number to verify what you say.

I doubt he's afraid to admit a mistake. I bet he thinks if it sounds too good to be true it must be.

ALSO: you could also show him the amount of coverage he can get for the same money he is paying now and ask him if he would like his wife to get that additional money when he dies, Is she worth the few minutes of time, one time, to get that extra money.. hehe

 

[Newby]

I need some advice. While I was cold calling this morning, I spoke with an 74 year old man that has had a Bankers Life policy for several years. He and his wife are both covered. They each have $10,000 policies that cost about a total of $215/per month for both policies. He says they are both healthy. He didn't want to meet at all so I told him that when I was not busy I would "run" the quotes. The lowest rates I found were with Lafeyette Life. The premium for him is $77/month for $10,000 and hers at age 74 is $66/month. That is a savings of $72 a month. When I shared the info with the prospect at first he thought there was a "catch". I went thru all of the info regarding how this is perm insurance with all of the guarantees etc. He asked me to call back in a few weeks. Anyway, I get the sense that he isn't interested because if he switched, he would have to admit that he made an expensive mistake. Is there any advice to improve my chances of closing this man and his wife? It seems to me that the savings alone would be sufficient to convince him. Please help.

He hasn't bought you yet. People ALWAYS suspect that if they are paying less for the same thing there MUST be a catch. But once he buys that you know what you are doing and can honestly help him, he will do an application.

Just make sure you know what you are doing and you use a company that will actually approve him for what you are saying or you will lose him. You probably won't get two chances.

 

[G.Gordon]

People ALWAYS suspect that if they are paying less for the same thing there MUST be a catch. .

My biggest thing to get past when trying to get someone to switch medsupps.

 

[jdeasy]

I need some advice. While I was cold calling this morning, I spoke with an 74 year old man that has had a Bankers Life policy for several years. He and his wife are both covered. They each have $10,000 policies that cost about a total of $215/per month for both policies. He says they are both healthy. He didn't want to meet at all so I told him that when I was not busy I would "run" the quotes. The lowest rates I found were with Lafeyette Life. The premium for him is $77/month for $10,000 and hers at age 74 is $66/month. That is a savings of $72 a month. When I shared the info with the prospect at first he thought there was a "catch". I went thru all of the info regarding how this is perm insurance with all of the guarantees etc. He asked me to call back in a few weeks. Anyway, I get the sense that he isn't interested because if he switched, he would have to admit that he made an expensive mistake. Is there any advice to improve my chances of closing this man and his wife? It seems to me that the savings alone would be sufficient to convince him. Please help.

They should also have a fair amount of cash value in those polices that they could put in their pocket.

Doesn't matter though if he won't meet with you. You should never give the quotes over the phone. Stuff like this needs to be shown to the prospective client.

If you can't sit down with them and have a discussion, it's just a bunch of numbers.

Tell him that you need to meet with him to go over all the numbers and his options. If he won't meet with you, move on to someone that will.

 

[mikeincolumbuso]

I know what you are saying about not giving out quotes over the phone. But I am doing pure cold calling from a list I bought. It took me 5 minutes to put the #s together and I honestly don't blame people for hesitating about meeting an insurance agent that called them out of the blue to buy life insurance. If I can continue a conversation with someone on the phone for several minutes then it is just a few minutes of my time and may result in a nice commission, and we are talking about a pretty good/decent premium/commission so having a conversation with someone that might end up buying from me is not a bad way to spend my time compared to getting a bunch of people to hang up on me. On the next call, I will insist on a face to face appointment and I do not do phone sales so once I have built up trust he will need to be willing to meet with me.
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Thanks for the good advice Mustfastpitch. I will follow up on with suggestions.

 

[Russ]

He hasn't bought you yet. People ALWAYS suspect that if they are paying less for the same thing there MUST be a catch. But once he buys that you know what you are doing and can honestly help him, he will do an application.

Just make sure you know what you are doing and you use a company that will actually approve him for what you are saying or you will lose him. You probably won't get two chances.

Then he's already lost him. For the man to say..."call back in a few weeks"....translated, probably means...I'm not buying from you.

 

[Josh]

At least part of your problem is a credibility issue. Here is a part of that problem:

I honestly don't blame people for hesitating about meeting an insurance agent that called them out of the blue to buy life insurance.

When you're on the phone you need to have the confidence, reassuring confidence, that they should feel 100% comfortable with what you're doing. Often times people will mirror the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of those around them (no matter what they say), so if you're calling them up with the attitude that you don't blame people for hesitating to meet with you after you called them out of the blue, they're going to pick up on that. It may be subtle, it may not always make a difference, but that attitude you carry with you when you're dialing can make a huge difference.

Another flaw in the way you're doing things is you didn't get a commitment before you gave them a number. I have to agree 100% with jdeasy that you should never give a quote over the phone (if you're goal is to do a f2f sale). If you are doing a quote over the phone (which is the majority of what we're doing now) you need to set an expectation before you work for them. "Bob, if I can get you the same coverage you have now with another great company, would you be interested in saving money or would you rather use those savings for more coverage?"

 

[ksigmtsu]

Another different approach, and this is just my technique because I'm not a high pressure sort of guy, when talking to someone about their life insurance and they tell you what they're paying, make sure you immediately explain that something sounds high when it sounds high, then when you quote, quote every carrier you have access to with a similar product.

I never try to get a commitment prior to anything, I always focus on how I want to help them.

You can use either angle, I wouldn't really suggest combining them, but they do both work.

I think the commitment before the quote is a better approach to telesales of a single line, and the way I do it is a better approach to multiple item cross selling.

I've never tried the high pressure way because it feels unnatural to me.

 

[Newby]

Also when you are initially feeling them out, I wouldn't shoot for a company that has real unpredictible underwriting prior to meeting with them. Just give them a rough estimate of how much you can save them and be conservative because when you really get there and go through the health questions some things usually crop up.

You want a more forgiving company rather than jump to the absolute lowest premium that will get them a possible decline.