Use this “one-two” technique to wedge your way into taking accounts from your competitors.
The best Commercial Lines selling “Wedges” have five well-articulated components:
- Who: The incumbent agent.
- When: The perfect time, as defined by you.
- What: Payroll review, claims review, marketing strategy, annual service plan, and Workers Compensation mod worksheet.
- How: The meat on the bone, the process by which the service was performed.
- Why: The trouble or pain the buyer would have if this service were not provided.
This article will focus on two Wedges: The Marketing Strategy Wedge and the Renewal Spreadsheet Wedge. Here’s an example of how you can use the Marketing Strategy Wedge on a Commercial Lines prospect:
“When your agent came out about 90 days before renewal to do your marketing strategy, they got out a list of all the companies they represent. They told you which companies have a huge appetite for this type of business, which ones do good loss control and safety, and which ones the agency had a good relationship with, so that they could get them working against each other to drive the price down. You asked your agent to pick the three to five top markets from this list so that they could get the best price and you wouldn’t have to worry about overpaying for your insurance. [This is the “Why.”] I’m curious, were you comfortable with how he went through that list?”
Ask this wedge question as if you were telling a short story, rather than asking a run-on question. You need a little acting ability to put emphasis and drama into the question (most of your competitors bore their prospect to tears with monotonous presentations about their greatness). With a little practice, adding this emphasis should become easy.
Here’s why this Wedge works. Ask yourself: Why do people hate insurance, and what do they hate about how they get pricing from an agent? The average agent has been taught to go in as the expert. For example, the agent will tell the buyer, “I recommend these three markets because... ” The problem is that failing to explain why the producer doesn’t want to use the other markets keeps buyers from making an informed decision. They hate insurance because they don’t understand or control the markets — and that makes them feel latent pain in their minds.
Follow up the Marketing Strategy Wedge with the Renewal Spreadsheet Wedge. Your presentation to the prospect might go something like this:
“When your agent came out about two weeks before renewal to go through the renewal spreadsheet with you [use pantomime to hold a spreadsheet and go through the columns], they went through the spreadsheet to see which carriers they had gone to [point to the first column], the coverage they offered [point to the second column] and the pricing for each [point to the third column] — so it would be easy for you to see which package was best for you and you wouldn’t worry about overpaying for your insurance or making a last-minute decision. Were you comfortable with the way in which your agent went through that spreadsheet?”
Again, this is not a run-on sentence. Talk about the spreadsheet as if you’re truly holding it. Ask yourself: What’s the latent pain you’re trying to uncover?
- People hate to overpay for anything.
- People hate being crowded into last-second decisions without having enough opportunity to examine the factors involved.
Agents are notorious for putting buyers into this situation, often blaming their underwriters (sometimes justifiably). But the truth is that most agents wouldn’t make a presentation early even if they had it. They’re afraid that bringing more information to the table would mean losing control over the prospect. Of course, this feeling of being controlled is exactly what the prospect hates about dealing with insurance. Your job is to expose, elicit, and intensify this latent pain — then use it to “wedge” your way into getting the account.