LIFE/HEALTH PROSPECTING & SALES TIPS
Here's a sampling of several sterling selling tips from some of the country's greatest Life/Health salespeople:
At the close of a session with a friend who is a chiropractor, I turned my business card over, handed him a pen, and said, 'I want you to write the name of three people you know who are in a position to pay you your salary (or commission or income) if you can't work for the rest of your life.' Of course, he looked at me strangely, and I urged him more, 'Go ahead, just name one. No family? Friends? Business associates? Well, I know one, Matt. Turn the card over. And then we talk benefits!'
-- Joan Halstead, CLU
To get new Group Employee Retirement Benefit plans, I simply ask employers by telephone, mail, or in person: 'Are you interested in hearing about my Wreath Policy?' Without fail, they ask what a Wreath Policy is. I respond, 'If one of your employees dropped dead right now, what would you do, apart from arranging to send a wreath and attending the funeral? Would you: Pay his widow his wages up to the minute he died or to the end of the day, end of the week, end of the month, end of the year?' The usual reply is 'I don't know because it has not happened to me yet, thank goodness.' I then give a rough estimate of the cost to provide one year's salary on death at an hourly rate per employee.
This approach to getting new Group Life at a very low cost to the employer has given me the opportunity to introduce retirement benefits later. This simple sales idea has gotten me to the Top of the Table for the last four years. (In 1998, membership in Top of the Table calls for $325,000 in first-year commission, some six times the amount needed to qualify for membership in the Million Dollar Round Table.)
-- Peter Pond-Jones, FLIA
What do you consider your most important selling skill? A poll by a Chicago company of 1,500 sales managers asked that question. More than half the respondents cited pre-call planning as their top selling skill. But we don't need national surveys to tell us this. Many years ago, we learned that the sale is made in the office before we meet the client.
For example, some years ago, when my secretary visited the office of our company's field force leader, she learned that almost every appointment was organized around a notebook. We copied that idea, and this blue folder has done more for my production than any other sales technique I ever used.
Probably the most important piece of paper in the folder, other than the application, is the first page, which is an agenda. Preparing an agenda forces me to think through the upcoming interview and state succinctly the subjects planned for discussion. When meeting with a client, the first thing we do is look at the agenda to make sure that the client is in agreement. The agenda shows the client that you have prepared, gives the client an opportunity to add another agenda item so all of his or her concerns are covered, and allows the client to know when the interview is half over and when all topics have been discussed. I make notes on the agenda as we go along and check off each item as it's covered. After the sale and policy delivery, these agendas go in my file and serve as minutes of the last meeting.
The next three sections have illustrations, policy summaries, and/or charts. These items will generally be covered with a clean sheet of paper so I can control when and if we look at the numbers. Finally, on the last page of each folder are attached all the application pages for the subjects under discussion.
Why does this blue folder work so well? First, it is an organizer, forcing me to plan well for the upcoming meeting. Second, it gives me a track to run on. Third, everything in the folder is two-hole punched and attached to the folder. Nothing falls out or looks sloppy. Fourth, I always have applications handy, even on routine annual reviews.
Remember, the sale is made in your office before you ever meet with the client, and this blue folder can help keep you focused on that theme.
-- Walton Rogers, CLU, ChFC
This first idea can add a minimum of $1 million to your annuity sales. Add this question to your fact-finder: 'Do you have any interest income that you don't need currently?' After you ask the question, shut up and listen. As you get into it, it's easy to explain that deferred interest grows more quickly than interest that is not tax deferred. For example, on a $30,000 CD earning 4%, the $1,200 of accumulating interest is taxable; in a 25% bracket, the actual interest would be only 3%. On the tax-deferred annuity at 6%, the money, of course, is not taxable until taken out and used.
This second idea is probably the one I use the most. In every interview, when it comes time to close, I walk out of my office or out to my car; in short, leave the clients alone for a minute or two. Sounds simple and even strange, but it keeps people from using the excuse, 'We want to think it over.' When I come back from the other part of the office, or from my car, I reaffirm the plan and assume that they are going ahead with it.
-- John Utz, CLU