But with insurance agents like you, giving up happens even before, for the simple reason, no one likes to hear or continue a conversation with an insurance agent.
Have you noticed why this happens?
How many times have you dodged or ignored or cut off a call that you’ve received from an insurance agent?
What made you conduct this action?
As a potential prospect as well, the main concern is insurance agents just start the call with what they’ve practiced in their sales pitch and this doesn’t go down well with multiple prospects, ‘’What do buyers want from sales pros? 69% say, “Listen to my needs.”
The problem here isn’t your practice, rather it is how you exhibit or conduct it.
Cold calling is one potential sales technique that won’t fade away and when it comes to the insurance industry, it can play a vast role, Bob Freedman in his quora answer justified the same,
‘’You must be very comfortable on the phone. You must know that if someone answers your call, you will be able to schedule a meeting with them. Cold Calling is the best way to get comfortable with this. Will you be able to set meetings with every cold call? Nope. But, you will learn to talk to people, learn to separate real issues from fluff, and learn how to present yourself as a professional.
When you get started, there is no better, more cost-effective way to grow your business. And, the long-term benefits are huge. Remember that none of your clients are going to come back in a year and say, “Oh, you cold called me! I don’t want to work with you anymore. Happy clients will be happy to give you referrals…that you still need to call.’’
You can excel as an insurance agent with cold calling and we guarantee you that after you complete reading this article. We have covered all the topics that will help you on this journey.
Let’s get started.
The number one thing that your prospect wants to hear first is the simple fact of who is on call and why the person on the other side wants to speak to them.
If you’re going to start your cold calls as ‘Hi, This is Tom and I have this insurance’, the moment your lead will hear the insurance word, they will know it is a sales call and move away.
It is important that you conduct the call in such a manner where the prospect understands that this is an insurance call and that you are calling them with reference to their need.
Let’s understand this with an example:
‘’Hi Bob, this is Max calling with reference to your recent actions where you enquired on this social media platform about xyz insurance. Our firm ABC believes that we can help you with your queries, would you like me to continue with the details?
Not all your clients are the same if you have client A with you and client B on the other side. Client A would expect some details on your insurance while client B would be more interested in what makes you different from your competitors.
Each prospect of yours will be different which means they need to be catered to differently.
To conduct such an action the following steps can help you get started:
While you have moved forward to conducting the call after your first line, the next thing that needs to come out of your mouth is what value you will be offering to your prospects?
Let’s understand this with an example:
Adam is in need of life insurance where he understands that it’s easy to conduct the payments and offer good benefits as well. Adam is on the lookout for such insurance brands that don’t have to burn a hole in his pocket yet it provides good benefits in return.
You being the insurance agents are well aware of it, now you also understand that Adam has gone through multiple insurance agents which means you need to add 2x more value to what you’re offering to him.
When you get on the call you understand that you need to start comparing your solution with your competitors, for instance saying things like, while ABC can provide you 5% interest with 3 benefits, we can do the same only with double the benefits.
When Adam hears this, he is bound to be more interested in you as what your offering is matching what Adam is expecting from a life insurance solution.
The best way to create an efficient insurance cold calling script is to not just speak about the insurance at all times. You need to also realize that you got to make the prospect more comfortable when engaging with you. You can move ahead of the insurance topic and ask your prospects how they have been, or speak about the recent news.
Hubspot in one of its blogs shares examples of how you can get started,
There can be moments when a person realizes that you are comfortable and easy to speak to, so when you contact them next to or continue the conversation, in this case, the calls get longer and the insights even more deeper. This can play a huge role in converting that prospect into a qualified lead sooner.
“What differentiates sellers today is their ability to bring fresh ideas.” -Jill Konrath
It is important that you add in the recent news or normal casual conversations in your sales pitches time and in between to make the cold call sound more genuine.
While conducting insurance cold calling scripts is great, it is also great when you conduct the same via video calling.
Curate insurance cold calling scripts that can guide you via such meetings so that you don’t appear frozen or lost. You could add the following such as:
In our present situation with the virus being around for long, it can take time for face to face meetings to take place physically, if your prospect is convinced to conduct a face to face meeting online, take this as a golden opportunity to make the conversation more personalized.
The more personalized this becomes, the better are your chances of taping such leads in.
Lastly, ensure that you can push your prospects further to book another session with you. It is not possible to convince the prospect in one day’s time to invest in your brand, there is going to be multiple follow-ups for them to convert into a sales lead, ‘’Don’t give up. 50% of all sales happen after the 5th contact, but most reps give up after just 2.’’
During the end of the conversation, you can end the communication with, ‘’Well this was a great call, why don’t I schedule another insightful call so that we can upgrade you to our set of new features to help you understand better about our solution and then you can make a call, it will be easy for you.’’
Now that you have the measures required to start your cold calling, there are a few ground rules which if you apply before every cold calling taking place, can benefit you with better lead attention retained for longer and easy conversion rates taking place.
Also Read : Perform better than your Competitors in Outbound Calls: Here’s How
Cody Askins, in one of his youtube videos, shares the top pointers:
Let’s understand this with an example:
Adam is your prime prospect and you are aware that if you convince him, he can be of great value to your brand. Your research about Adam and you understand who he is, what he does, and realize he is the decision-maker you need to tap. When you get on a call with Adam ensure that you start your line with ‘Hello Adam’, instead of ‘Hello, is this Adam.’
The first response adds more confidence and lets you take forward with the call more better.
You need to understand that your prospects when engaging with you, will not remember half the things you speak to them, what they will remember is the solution you’re offering them and how it can benefit them. This clearly states that just introducing yourself with your first name is enough as we are all prone to remembering just that.
Ignore stating your last name and company name as it holds no value since the prospect will not remember it.
This statement is great because you are giving your prospects the impression that since they have a query, you will reach out to them for the purpose of assisting them to clarify their needs. This strikes a good impression in the minds of the prospect as it will be evident that you’re reaching out to them for the purpose of helping them achieve their needs closer.
If you can go ahead and meet the prospect over physically or over a video call is great because then you have more chances of converting them into a sales lead. When you drop off information that could be even your card, you are increasing your opportunity to engage with your prospects once again.
The question is a great way to get the prospect thinking of what just happened, or what they heard. The question could be things like, ‘ What is your opinion on this?’, ‘What do you think of this?’ and more. When you leave such questions, you’re making your prospect think over and this can help you schedule another call to answer their queries more.
When you pause during a conversation with your prospects, you’re displaying a lack of confidence. The only time you should pause is when you question your prospects so that they can get the heads up to start thinking and answering your question.
Your prospects are well aware that this call is being conducted for a purpose than in such a situation when you ask the question’ how are you?’ it sounds like this is a formality being asked. Your prospects understand that how they are doesn’t matter as much as what you want to convey. Move away from such phrases.
Now that we have this sorted as well, let’s help you understand better how you can create insurance cold calling scripts the right way with the help of efficient examples.
Leadheroes shares a great example, “Hi Bob? This is AGENT; you won’t recognize the name because I’m just cold calling off a list, and I hate making these calls as much as you hate getting them. Would it be ok if I take 30 seconds to tell you why I’m calling and then you can decide if you want to hang up on me?” (The vast majority of people will laugh and say, “Go ahead.”)
“I’m a life insurance agent in your town and a lot of our clients used to be worried about not having the right amount of coverage, if any; some were confused about what was the right coverage for them, and others were just paying too darn much for what they had. Are any of these a concern for you?”
Pipedrive too shares multiple of its examples via different mediums,
‘’Hello, my name is James. I was wondering if you could help me. I looked on the [COMPANY] LinkedIn page but I couldn’t find your name. Are you usually the person who answers the phone? I’d feel much better if I knew your name before I asked my favor.
I’d like to speak with [NAME OF PROSPECT]/person in charge of X. What’s the best way to make that happen?’’
’’I understand this may not be a top priority right now, or perhaps you don’t see the value. Several people have said the same, but once we had a brief discussion they were thrilled to learn more. Give me two minutes of your time and I promise you’ll be clear on whether or not this is a good use of your time.’’
Uplead in one of its blogs too shares great insights that can help you create better insurance cold calling scripts.
Salesmate shares an example,
‘’Me: Hello, am I talking to Gary Vaynerchuk?
Gary: Yes, speaking.
Me: This is Kay from Salesmate CRM. There has been an inquiry from your end for Salesmate. Can I take your two minutes?
Gary: Oh yes Kay. Please go ahead.
Me: First of all, loved all your recent posts on Linkedin content marketing strategy. I have been following your videos on Youtube for a long time now.
Gary: Thank you, Kay. That really means a lot to me
Me: I understand VaynerMedia deals with a lot of services simultaneously and you strongly need a solution that can provide multiple pipelines. Salesmate can perfectly help your business with that.
Gary: That’s great. How can I sign up for the demo?’’
You now have better clarity on how you can get started with your insurance cold calling scripts, to excel better in your cold calling actions, we do have quick tips shared by the experts themselves so that your great insurance cold calling script can match your cold calling actions.
An online article shared the information as shown below:
1. Mike Scher, CEO and Founder of Frontline Selling stated,
‘’Cold calling should be included in every sales strategy. The creation of demand is absolutely crucial, and calling is the most effective way to connect with potential clients.
Social networks and other channels of active selling are far more popular these days, but cold calling still shouldn’t be left to the wayside.
Bad cold calling results identify unprofessional managers, not inefficiency of the channel.
Cold calling should be done responsibly. That’s the core reason as to why you need to have a structure for all your selling processes. When I say everything, I mean that you have to take care of all of the processes, from information search and mailing or calling the subject, to the frequency and intervals between the contact points.
Properly written instructions of cold sales will allow managers to solve problems, correct mistakes, and easily create “appropriate” habits.
More personalized sales processes will be created if the marketing and sales flood increases in the email. The managers who mastered cold calling will be 10 steps ahead of their competitors.’’
2. Joel Goldstein, President of Mr. Checkout Distributors stated,
‘’I communicate with 30 to 40 entrepreneurs a week. Those who can talk to an unknown person on the phone as if they were best friends are the most successful.
The most important skill for any good sales manager is the ability to establish contact from the very first seconds. One more important skill is the ability to listen and understand how the product may alleviate the client’s “pain”.
Don’t start by telling your potential client all about the product you offer, statistics, or facts. Let the client speak. Learn to listen, otherwise successful deals will be a stroke of luck and not a usual thing.
Include suggestive questions in your sales script. While answering them, the client should realize that your product is exactly what they need.’’
Also Read : How A Callback Software Can Capture Your Prospects’ Interest In 5 Seconds?
Your leads will pick your cold calls, don’t let go of such an opportunity.
Cold calling is here to stay and it is still being considered as a good sales technique to capture leads.
The old days of not being able to contact leads or capture leads are behind you now, the above information has everything you need to get started with cold calling.
So tell us, what did you think of this article? Was it helpful? What caught your attention the most?
Share your answers via a tweet.
, January 11, 2021, LimeCall Team
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