The Dominant-Needs Sale: Module Iv-B

THE DOMINANT-NEEDS SALE: MODULE IV-B

This 'Sales and Marketing' module has from the beginning stressed using the two-call sale (with a qualifying interview, a between-interview period, and then a buying interview). The reasons for this are explained in the introduction to 'Sales and Marketing.' We have mentioned, however, that a 'dominant-needs' sale may be appropriate in certain situations.

In the dominant-needs sale, there is no interval between the qualifying interview and the buying interview. In fact, the qualifying interview is usually shortened by skipping all the fact-finding questions. The presentation and close follow directly after this interview, with no need for you to go back to the office and come up with a plan for the prospect.

Certain types of coverages don't require that you spend a lot of time in your office working out the details of a complicated Life insurance plan.

These include:

• Term insurance
• Term conversions
• Mortgage Redemption or Mortgage Acceleration insurance

Your carriers' Term and Mortgage plans are no doubt straightforward and easy to explain, because that's the nature of the coverage. Most Term insurance prospects (who tend to be young and unable to afford permanent coverage) can be sold in a dominant-needs interview. If your agency is conducting a campaign to sell Term, or to round out accounts with Mortgage Redemption coverage, plan on conducting only one interview per prospect instead of two.

Your agency may also be conducting a campaign to convert Term policies you sold to clients when that's all they needed or could afford. In this case, you already know the prospect's history and you probably know to what policy the Term will convert, if your carrier has a specific conversion plan. You can set up the appointment with the expectation to sell the converted plan in one interview.

You may enter the qualifying interview thinking that this will be a two-call sale and then find, because of information you gain and from your general conversation with the prospect, that a dominant-needs sale is appropriate. The prospect may reveal very low discretionary income, but have a need for insurance protection. The prospect may have just taken on a huge obligation, like a home mortgage, and is still adjusting to making payments. Or, the prospect may immediately exhibit all the qualities that you know fit exactly into a certain program your agency uses. In all these cases, you can determine during your qualifying interview to make the close at the same time.

You may be conducting a campaign in your agency to sell a certain type of coverage. During this campaign, CSRs or others may be prequalifying prospects over the phone. For example, you may want to sell Single-Premium Whole Life. CSRs might be calling prospects and asking them about CDs, plans for children's educations, and indicating that the agency has a plan that could help them. If you're in a situation such as this, a one-call sale can be appropriate.

You'll most likely conduct two types of dominant-needs interviews:

Even if you go into the interview knowing that this will be a one-call sale, you need to go through some of the processes of the qualifying interview. If you remember, your first few steps in the qualifying interview were:

You still need to go through these steps. You may already realize what the prospect needs, but you still have to sell it. If the prospect doesn't trust you, recognize that need, feel comfortable about premium, and agree to look at your plan, you can't make the sale.

During the second step of this process, getting the prospect to recognize a need, you ask probing questions designed to reveal the importance and intricacies of Life insurance, and to give you an idea about the prospect's view of Life insurance (see the section entitled 'Action Step 4: The Qualifying Interview' for more information). When you know you will be making a dominant-needs sale, you may want to modify these questions not only to probe, but also to gather some basic information about the prospect's present Life insurance policies, if he or she has any. In many cases, the prospect to whom you sell in a dominant-needs situation will be a first-time buyer. Once you have established the need and obtained the information you need, make a transition to the presentation/close, using language such as this:

'[NAME], do you have any questions? Based on our conversation just now, is there anything you'd like to know about your Life insurance policies?'

Answer any questions the prospect raises, looking for key responses that could affect your presentation. Then continue:

'I'd like to congratulate you on the policies you own. However, I have noticed one thing about your program. It doesn't provide [DESCRIBE BENEFITS OF YOUR PROGRAM].'

If the prospect doesn't presently own Life insurance, say this:

'I'd like to congratulate you on your foresight in realizing that Life insurance is an important purchase. Let's discuss how our program can be of help to you.'

Move into your presentation/close. The steps presented under the section 'Action Step 5: Presentation/Close' apply just as well to the dominant-needs sale as they do to a two-call sale. Review that section for tips on your presentation and closing the sale.

You may go into your qualifying interview and realize, while going through the first four stages of this interview, that there is a dominant need. You may even get into your in-depth fact-finding process and all the way through the interview before you realize that you can make a sale that fulfills the prospect's needs, right then and there. When this happens, you're going to have to readjust your thinking and make a transition to the dominant-needs sale. Your language will vary with the situation, of course, but basically you want to say something along the lines of:

'It seems clear to me that you need [DISCUSS DOMINANT NEED]. Do you agree? How do you see the situation? (Response) The policies you own go far toward covering that need, but one thing I have noticed is that [DESCRIBE GAPS].'

'Now you can move into your presentation/close, using the language and techniques we described earlier in the section 'Action Step 5: The Presentation/Close.'

While we recommend the two-step sale in a P/C agency, for reasons discussed at the beginning of this 'Sales and Marketing' section, the dominant-needs sale will crop up, and you should know how to handle it. The techniques and language of the qualifying and buying interviews still apply. You just need to make a proper transition between them.