The Insurance Agent's Resource
What kind of a commitment do you get from your prospect at the end of your prospecting call? If you’re like most sales reps, the answer is, ah, none. Or, it’s an undefined, “Well, I’ll follow up with you next week…” If this sounds familiar – or if you’re a manager and it sounds like your whole team! – then you’re not alone. You see, many sales reps haven’t been taught how to properly qualify prospects and they especially haven’t been taught how to ask for and … [Read more...]
People like to talk about themselves. It makes us feel important, needed and liked. By asking questions, you put the prospect in the limelight and get them talking. That is what you want. The more questions you ask, the more they talk and the more likely you are to find that “hot button” that will lead to a sale. If you are talking more than twenty percent of the time, you are talking too much. The more you get clients to talk about themselves, the higher the probability that they will give … [Read more...]
As much as we all hate the idea of entering a period of inflation, indicators are showing that there is very likely going to be one in the not-too-distant future. I don't want you to be caught by surprise or to wonder how to make sales during an inflationary time. The recent Great Recession has been tough enough. Let's be well-prepared to sell during the projected upcoming inflationary times. The Inflation Close is used to help people rationalize parting with their money for something that … [Read more...]
The actual closing of the sale is by far the most important step in the selling process. I teach lots of techniques for prospecting, meeting people, qualifying, presenting, demonstrating, and overcoming objections, and they’re all important. But, unless you can close, you’re like a football team that can’t sustain a drive long enough to score. So, welcome to the delightful world of closing. If you don’t love it now, learn to love it, because that’s where the money is. The biggest … [Read more...]
For many salespeople who were trained (or not trained, as the case may be) in the ’80s and ’90s, certain "closing techniques" were considered gospel. I myself, I must confess, attempted to master these "closes" when I was learning the profession; that is, until I realized that they were as manipulative as they sounded, at which point I quickly abandoned them. In the famous GlenGary Glen Ross scene, Alec Baldwin trots out the then-accepted mantra, "Always Be Closing." While that advice … [Read more...]
Here is an interesting question: Why is it that we, as salespeople, invest so much time, energy, preparation and effort on the phone with and in front of prospective customers, only to let the sale go away — or even worse, go away to one of your competitors? Why is it that we place so much emphasis and commitment on the process of moving the ball down the field, but yet we design so very few plays actually to take the ball into the end zone? We need to realize that whenever we do not … [Read more...]
