The leads that drag on have a lower likelihood to close and can take your time away from prospecting or working on closing other business.
In insurance, for many agents, we lean on education as the cornerstone of our sales process. We want the client to understand their risk but also help them to make the best decision. In some cases this means we can be used as a resource rather than an opportunity. There are two key questions we encourage every agent to consistently use in their sales process.
Tip: The word "consistently" is critical. You can't merely use these strategies only when your sale is in jeopardy.
We must start by identifying when you, as the agent, have control. You have control when you are gathering information and you lose control when you present pricing. As a strategy you want to gather information before you present pricing. This is when the prospect may present you with objections from their reaction to the price that can present as blow offs (a blow off objection wastes your time because they haven't given you a clear no!)
Question 1
Pre-Pricing Delivery: How are you going to be making your final insurance decision.
This is key to ask before you reveal your pricing because it will be an honest answer. After pricing is presented you may get the "I need to speak with..." which can mean I'm not interested but I'm too much of a chicken to tell you.
You are going to get some clear rules of the road here which may include:
- I need to speak with my spouse/business partner
- I'm going to call 2 other agents
- If you can save me X we can do this today
- I'll review it and get back to you
But now you know clearly what you are up against to position your sale.
Question 2
Post Pricing Delivery: What do you think about the quote?
Seems like a simple enough question, right? You want to get their temperature on their initial reaction to the quote. For some more direct people they may end it with you right there. Not a bad thing! You can move on or take a swipe at overcoming their objection. Either way you are leaving with an indication of their likelihood to move forward.
If it's not seeming positive, pull out all the stops and put your sale on life support. You have nothing to lose!
Tip: You should leave every unclosed sales call with a clearly agreed upon time and date to follow up. Agreed upon by both parties. This is not an "I'll call you next week". This is "We will catch up Tuesday @ 2pm."