by Rick Blaine » Mon Jan 29, 2007 06:04 pm
Let's talk a little about health or life insurance prospecting ideas and what you should expect and how to prospect in the proper manner. In any well thought up plan I highly suggest having at least three marketing schemes operating simultaneously to assure a plentiful amount of leads you can prospect too. The three I would recommend or will expand on is Circle of Influence, Business to Business and Telemarketing.
The number one thing you should never do, do not attempt to sell. In fact I suggest never selling; it does seem counterproductive but let's look at several factors that will lead most to failure. Here we have to have some honesty and inner reflection. I'm not sure about you but myself, I feel depressed when I attempt to convince someone to do business with me! I can attempt the 10 No's to get 1 Yes. I can go in and keep talking and bringing up points on why they should do business with me, yet even if I'm successful it feels like I worked hard for so little at the end of the day, in other words there is more to success than just the dollars received. This is what I consider the emotional drain that leads many to leave the selling world for greener pasture. I've known more then a few seemingly successful people in various sales positions that left stating it just wasn't worth the emotional drain.
I have in my prospecting simply changed my attitude; I'm not looking for sales but likely prospects that show interest in my product. That is likely why I have a low "lead" result per prospecting campaign. Yet my leads turn into sales at a ratio of about 50% plus, which makes my efforts worthwhile and I position myself as a Consultant not a Salesperson yet it is the same thing in all aspects except for the emotional package. I'm simply doing work for them not attempting to sell them anything! In the first prospect contact, if I'm selling Health or Life Insurance that day I ask them what they expect, once they tell me that, I ask for a commitment that if I meet their expectations, will they purchase. Now this only works if you are totally honest and you have total expectation that they are honest, if not get out, don't waste your time! In other words do not fall into the adversarial trap. That reflects the correctness of your health or life insurance prospecting ideas.
The number one thing you should never do, do not attempt to sell. In fact I suggest never selling; it does seem counterproductive but let's look at several factors that will lead most to failure. Here we have to have some honesty and inner reflection. I'm not sure about you but myself, I feel depressed when I attempt to convince someone to do business with me! I can attempt the 10 No's to get 1 Yes. I can go in and keep talking and bringing up points on why they should do business with me, yet even if I'm successful it feels like I worked hard for so little at the end of the day, in other words there is more to success than just the dollars received. This is what I consider the emotional drain that leads many to leave the selling world for greener pasture. I've known more then a few seemingly successful people in various sales positions that left stating it just wasn't worth the emotional drain.
I have in my prospecting simply changed my attitude; I'm not looking for sales but likely prospects that show interest in my product. That is likely why I have a low "lead" result per prospecting campaign. Yet my leads turn into sales at a ratio of about 50% plus, which makes my efforts worthwhile and I position myself as a Consultant not a Salesperson yet it is the same thing in all aspects except for the emotional package. I'm simply doing work for them not attempting to sell them anything! In the first prospect contact, if I'm selling Health or Life Insurance that day I ask them what they expect, once they tell me that, I ask for a commitment that if I meet their expectations, will they purchase. Now this only works if you are totally honest and you have total expectation that they are honest, if not get out, don't waste your time! In other words do not fall into the adversarial trap. That reflects the correctness of your health or life insurance prospecting ideas.
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 02:42 pm Post Subject:
Oh do not get me wrong I am investing in my business...these are just some of the things that are manditory with the contract for the first year or two. I have better luck calling upon past clients and getting referrals myself...but I also need to find some ways to get new clients....
I was referring to new agents, most don't have the money to invest in a solid DM campaign or ads that give questionable results. Yet though I can't think of a better way than going B2B either walking or calling, both very low cost.
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 08:23 pm Post Subject: Find the fish
Yeah, I heard it said that you should "Find The Fish Instead Of Trying to Convert The Heathens."
And I think that's very true, because I would much rather crawl through broken shards of glass with my bare hands and feet than deal with a difficult customer!
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 05:50 am Post Subject:
I agree...so what are some other low cost insurance prospecting ideas that work?? I need to know I don't want to spend any more money till I make some!!
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 07:39 pm Post Subject: prospecting
There could be many life insurance prospecting ideas. But i think the best one is by either getting someone you have sold to refer you to someone else or if you have sold to a company,you may make your main market in that company because if you tell people that you have sold to their collegues also,then they will know they are not the only ones in the program.They will want to ask their fellow colleagues about the product and that makes your work easier.
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 06:33 am Post Subject:
This is very true stella however....this all goes along the lines of referrals. Lets talk a little about people that are just getting into the business that have no clients and are just starting ( I know a lot of people in this situation and fail because of this) how should they prospect and get clients, money is tight so it is hard to market for them, and friends and family are well not an option because they are not in this area. So what would you do or suggest to these people? People ask me all the time....I have been fortunate that I have clients and friends in the area but what about people who do not?
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 02:57 pm Post Subject:
Hi Monique,
You look really good in your pic.
For those people who are just starting into the business, it is really hard to find prospects at first. But when we come to think of it, there are many people who can be a potential prospect. All we need to do is to list all of them. But the problem is; "who are these persons?" Aside from family and friends, we can also consider our doctor, accountant, teachers, co-employees, neighbors, home designer, business partners, and even other people whom we have past business transactions. That person can be a real estate agent where we buy our property, car dealer where we bought our car, or even the manager of the store where we regularly buy our groceries. If we would think of connections, we can find them everywhere we go. People are connected with people and that is one edge that an agent could use to find an endless stream of prospect. This can be a good start. List all these people, classify and evaluate them and then put the number one person on the top of the list, and put the least person on the bottom of the list (don't delete them). Never delete a person on your list, even though you feel that this person is not a qualified prospect. This person can refer additional people in your prospect list in the future. Consider all these people valuable in your insurance business.
I think this is the basic thing that an agent would do in starting up and building his prospect list. The tip here is to list first before qualifying theme. An agent could start from the names of people that are listed in the phone book. I would assume there are almost hundreds of them. :wink:
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 04:28 pm Post Subject:
I agree Joven...and thank you about the complement on the photo I am thinking about using this on my business cards.. what do you think?
Anyway back to prospecting, I have found talking with the newer people that the phone book is not a great approach because of the DNC (Do Not Call) list. Many of the people are now on this list and you cannot call them. It is frustrating to them and me when I have to cold call.
Any other ideas besides the list? How can I help these people make thier phones ring???!!!??? Has something worked for someone?
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:37 pm Post Subject:
There really isn't a way for the new agent with little money to invest to market, its just not possible. 98% of all new agents will be out of the business because the fact is their telephone will not ring.
Acitivity of cold calling or cold walking is the only way. Than from there you work on your Circle of Influence as noted by the previous poster. There is no secret way to create business or magic bullet.
Activity is the name of the game.
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 04:53 am Post Subject:
Yes Rick I think you are correct. I think you have to be motivated and go out and get the business. I think that going to network events or finding groups in the area to find COI is really the only way to go about doing it. Activity is the name of the game with out it you can not do anything!
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:04 pm Post Subject:
I would suggest to have COI and Networking on list below cold calling and cold walking. First thing is first, first you cold call and walk, create some business than invest time and money into other legs of marketing.
That should include an online presense.
Ad (limited in local papers)
Flyers (you can do an insert within the paper on the weekend for next to nothing!)
Newsletter
Networking and of course COI.
First thing is first, creating a feasible income is first and the most important aspect for success. The quickest and cheapest way is to cold call or walk businesses.
Or and you can buy internet leads, telemarketing leads but these cost money. If you have the money to invest great but I would still have them cold call and do a time certain on that and learn about selling the product before investing good money on leads. Nothing worse than buying leads and than figuring out there is a learning curve on how to sell the product.
Plus if you really want you can go do differing Agencies that supply leads for free! Now usually you'll give up a hefty portion of your commission, usually half at least and that isn't cheap. Of course you pay in the back end but you pay up the whazoo for it.
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