In a soft market, don’t sell your clients - help them!
“The only thing we have to sell is price-competitiveness.”
“The only thing the client cares about is the lowest price.”
“They already have the right coverage. We have to compete on price.”
If you believe these statements, please stop reading; pick up a magazine or a good book, or lose yourself in that “reality” show on TV. This article will bother and frustrate you. Since I write about this subject frequently, I know that I’ll get between 10 and 20 calls and e-mails ([email protected]) from readers who must straighten me out about how I’m not living in the real world.
I do — and I run agencies that successfully write a substantial number of new clients; although price is important to each of them, they buy from me because: (1) they’ve grown to trust me; and (2) they feel that I understand their situation and can help them. In other words, they see me as a consultant.
Although each of you still reading this is (I’m sure) a wonderful person, prospects don’t know this when you’re introduced. You’re just another one of those salespeople trying to get them to waste their money on insurance that they don’t want, don’t really need, and will be a hassle if they ever have to use. You are the insurance company (as far as they’re concerned) and, like the IRS, no matter what the carriers say, the customer knows that you’re not there to “help” them ? you’re there to make money. And the way you make money is by collecting premiums and not paying more in claims than you have to.
Is there anything in this paragraph that’s not accurate? To overcome this reality and get the prospect to buy insurance from you, don’t try to get them to buy insurance from you!
Instead of selling, approach every prospect as a consultant would, with the attitude that you’re there to help them. Concentrate on protecting the client’s assets. After all, isn’t that supposed to be your responsibility as an insurance professional? However, because your clients don’t know this, you must present them with a model that concentrates on their needs, not on your personality or your products. Keep using this approach until they understand your motives. Never give in to a prospect telling you that they’ll give you a chance to quote. Your business is not quoting or selling — it’s making sure that your client’s assets are protected.
SOMETIMES THE BEST SALE IS NO SALE
I’ve seen a surprising number of clients won over by agents who review and confirm that their current policies and coverage are appropriate. These agents don’t ask for a fee —or suggest Broker of Record letters. They tell the prospect, truthfully and honestly, that their only concern is for the proper protection of their clients. If the current coverage is adequate and the price is fair, the producer will say so and offer to review the account again in a year. Meanwhile, since they’re already there, they also ask to review the client’s other insurance policies to confirm their appropriateness. In the process of not selling, these agents achieve their greatest success ? making a friend and confidant.
Instead of becoming the “next” insurance agent for the client, they become their consultant, risk manager, and friend. That’s how every new client should consider you within a year or two from the time you meet. Your greatest challenge is working through the client’s perceptions and baggage about you as an insurance agent. Once you’ve crossed this bridge, the client will ask you (with greater frequency and urgency) to take over their insurance. Agree only when you’re convinced that you have made a believer out of them ? that they no longer perceive you as the agent who “shopped” the insurance best this year.
THOSE WHO LIVE BY PRICE, DIE BY PRICE
Consultative salespeople must shop for fair and competitive products. If your offering is 25% higher than the client’s current program, are you doing them (or you) a favor by replacing their existing coverage with yours? Are you providing them proper asset protection? If not, don’t push the issue. Price is transitory, while loyal customers (not built on low price) are not. The other agent won’t always have the lowest price; and your consultative approach will have the client looking for ways to join your customer family.
If you sell on price, you’ll eventually lose your customers on price (“Live by the sword, die by the sword”). Sales-oriented agents don’t believe in loyalty because they’ve been burned so often by long-term clients leaving them to save $100. This upsets the agent because they successfully lowered or “managed” the client’s premium for many years. Yet because they concentrated only on price, the client felt no compunction about letting that other agent in the door to provide a “free” quote, as well. After all, they have to keep their agent honest, don’t they?
Consultative agents have “fired” clients who suggest that the agent isn’t working hard enough to manage the client’s premiums. That’s because consultative agents are actually doing what customers should expect from an agent: Reviewing and analyzing all aspects of risk and determining the best coverage and the best carrier for the client every year. If the client doesn’t believe this, then you, as the agent, haven’t communicated what you do; the client has the wrong agent, or the agent has the wrong client. If that’s the case, a parting of the ways is far better than constantly pushing underwriters to keep lowering rates. This doesn’t make the underwriter your friend — and won’t save the client in the long run.
Consultative sales aren’t for everyone. You must have the confidence to sell without the crutch of price as your only weapon. But if your goal is to help the client, rather than to sell them, and if your method is to make friends instead of impress the prospect, you’ll probably make an effective consultative salesperson.