Do you want to make money selling insurance policy online from home? If YES, here are 50 ideas, tips & tricks to help you sell more insurance 3x faster over the phone. In the past, face-to-face marketing was the norm in the insurance industry but these days, most consumers prefer to shop for insurance over the phone because it saves a lot of time and seriously, why would anyone want to commit several hours to driving down and sitting for a meeting just to buy a product that can be easily and successfully bought over the phone?
Why Sell Insurance Online or Over the Phone?
Time is a valuable resource that most people cannot afford to waste and that is why buying and selling insurance products over the phone is becoming increasingly popular. Selling insurance over the phone is also cheaper than going on several face-to-face meetings and you can easily reach more customers without moving an inch.
However, selling insurance over the phone is not as easy as buying it. As an insurance marketer, you may have to make a lot of cold calls and if you do not master the right techniques and strategies; you may find it very difficult to get successful results from selling insurance over the phone.
You don’t have the advantage of body language, personal charm, good looks, powerful dressing skills and all those other subtle tricks you can use to get a potential client to like and feel compelled to buy your products when you are selling face-to-face.
Because of this, we have put together 12 surefire tips and tricks that you can use to increase your chances of getting a yes from your potential clients when you try to sell them insurance over the phone.
12 Tips and Tricks to Help You Sell Insurance Over the Phone
- Get all Your Tools Ready
Selling on a phone is different from selling face-to-face. To successfully sell insurance on phone, you would need:
- A Computer: These days, people need to hear specific prices and very quickly too so you need to have all your comparison and quoting tools ready. This is why you need a computer with quoting software and CRM software installed on it. This would make it easy for you to answer all the clients’ questions regarding costs, premiums and value. You would also be able to easily record and access personal details of your client so that you can easily follow up with them later.
- Underwriting Guides and Questionnaires: Expect your potential clients to have a lot of questions for you, so make sure you have the necessary underwriting guides for the type of insurance you are selling and a document that has most of the frequently asked questions answered. It helps to study these guides and questionnaires before you start making calls so you can have most of the answers to the questions on your mind and avoid awkward pauses, silence and stammering that would make you appear unprofessional or unsure of what you are preaching to the client.
- A Phone with a VOIP system: With a VOIP system, you can easily make calls from your computer and forward your business calls to your cellphone when you are away from your computer.
- A Website: Your potential clients would want to find out more about you and your insurance company before they buy insurance from you so get your website ready and make sure it has a lot of details and tips that would make it an interesting and educative read for customers. This helps to reassure them that they are dealing with an experienced insurance agent.
2. Organize Yourself First
Before you place that call, get ready; turn on your computer and test your software to see that they are functioning correctly, study all professional questions and master the answers and keep everything else you need to use beforehand close. You should also get a notebook to record anything you don’t want to forget like all the points you need to hammer on, and the tricks and techniques you want to use.
One tip I usually recommend is to get a phone, record your speech beforehand and see how you sound. This is very helpful for giving you a confidence boost because you can always adjust your speech, sound and what you plan on saying until you feel that everything is perfect.
I also recommend learning a thing or two about your potential client too so you can have the perfect ice breaker and conversation starter.
3. Hone Your Listening Skills
Hey! Don’t just go on and on about why they should buy from you and all the benefits your products have for them; slow down and listen to them so you can figure out how your client thinks and how you can convince them. When you listen, you would be able to figure out their needs and fears.
Remember that people buy insurance for various reasons, Jack and Jill may be buying same insurance product but while Jack wants the lowest price he can find, Jill might prefer having the highest-quality protection. This is why I recommend a question and answer approach; ask your client questions and come up with a sales rap that takes their fears and needs into consideration.
4. Be Easy to Talk to but Professional
When you start your conversation with them, use the right conversation starters or deal breakers that would make them feel like they are speaking with a friend. Make them feel comfortable talking to you- you can find out something that they like, maybe a hobby or an interest and come up with a funny question or discussion along that line. If you can’t learn anything about the client, look for a general topic, maybe a trending news or topic that you can use.
Start with this interesting topic and then work your way gradually to selling your product. However, you need to be very professional with your conversation; it is safe to avoid slangs and sensitive topics because whether you realize it or not, the person on the other end of the phone is judging you- they can’t see you so they’ll judge you based on what you say to them.
5. Be Prepared to Handle Objections
This is a given in insurance marketing; your potential clients would most likely raise some concerns and outright objections. This is where your skill as a marketer would come to play because you would have to allay their fears and convince them.
If your client raises concerns, that is a good sign because if they weren’t remotely interested in buying, they wouldn’t bother wasting their time raising objections. Objections are a good sign as long as you know what to do to convince them.
If the client says something like “I need to think about it”, it might mean that the client doesn’t feel like they have sufficient information to make a decision at that point. If they tell you to give them time to think about it or talk to someone else about it, maybe their spouse, it means the client is interested but stalling for some reason which could range from inadequate information to fear of making commitments.
It is your duty as a marketer to understand what a client is really saying when they utter some certain words because sometimes a client who out rightly says “I am not interested” might end up buying because the marketer was able to gain a beyond-the-surface understanding of what they were really saying.
6. Don’t Expect a One-Call Close
Yes, they do happen but very rarely. You are most likely not going to get a nod from the customer after the first call. When you are contacting them for the first time, you are a stranger and you are likely to meet with some stiff resistance because of that. But after calling them the second, third or more times, you are no longer a stranger and they would be more likely to open up to you about their fears, needs and concerns.
7. Avoid Complete Cold Calls
If you don’t want to waste your time and end up frustrated, try to pre-qualify your prospects before trying to sell them insurance. Don’t just pick out numbers and start calling them to sell something to them that they do not need. You could get lucky anyway but it is mostly a complete waste of time and efforts.
Pre-qualify your prospects and be sure that they are really looking to buy your products before you start calling them up.
8. Put Your Client’s Needs First
Don’t be so eager to sell that you ignore your client’s needs and interests; you have to be empathetic and put your client’s needs first at all times. Listen to them, know what they want, make helpful recommendations and offer them the best quotes you can find.
Why? Because you never know when that referral would come knocking at the door. If a client is happy and satisfied with your services, they would be open to referring someone else to you in the future.
9. Assume the Role of an Advisor
You have to show your potential client that you are an expert and authority at this. A lot of people understand next to nothing about the technicalities of underwriting and insurance and you would gain their respect more if you can patiently educate them.
10. Highlight The Benefits
Focus less on the features of your products and more on the benefits. You should help your prospect understand how your product would be helpful to them and improve the quality of their lives. Don’t focus on how cheap the product is or the discounts you are offering, hammer on the benefits more.
11. Offer Them Something
A free eBook that they can download, a bulletin, magazine or some inexpensive gift that you think your prospect would find very useful, helps a lot. I personally recommend free eBooks that they can go on your website to download so that they can learn more about you and your company and gain some trust and confidence in you.
12. Use Their Name During Conversation
When you are talking to them, it helps to use their name at least three times during the call and repeat their words and phrases. This helps them pay more attention to you and develop more interest in the conversation because they would feel like you are listening to them and paying attention to them too.
In conclusion, closing deals over the phone is very possible and effective too. Although you have no benefit of body language, you can use the right verbal cues, listening skills and confidence to score more deals and make more money.