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Within a few months of beginning to sell on the phone you will notice
that it is easier to get a commitment from your prospect to buy than it
is to place the business. I have seen many broken dreams and heard many
horror stories of agents being excited about writing a lot of business on
the phone only to find that very little of it went paid. We’ve known
agents that experienced as much 90% of the written business not going
paid. At Term.com we paid for only 273 policies out of our first 1,000
written.
Why is
this so? The answer is quite simple. It is easier to sell to Internet leads
than it is to get the cases paid for.
Don’t
despair. The solution is quite simple. There are a number of techniques the
can easily double and possible triple your paid business with no increase in
lead cost. These methods were developed over 1,000’s of cases sold at
Term.com as well as conversations with dozens of insurance company
personnel, agents, and case managers.
Don’t
make the same mistake that other agents have made. They got so excited about
how easy it was to get people to fill out apps on the phone that they
figured enough would go through to pay for their time. They waited until
they had dozens of application pending before they looked at the
administrative mess they were creating. They experienced the heartbreak of
loosing tens of thousands of dollars of potential commissions before they
made the adjustments to their selling styles and administrative procedures
necessary to be successful in this business.
Using
the following simple concepts have more than doubled the placement rate at
Term.com.
Explain
The Process Over and Over
Buying
life insurance on the Internet with a follow-up telephone call and a
paramedic picking up the application is a relatively new paradigm. As a
result most people don't know what to expect. It is very important that you
explain the process to the client over and over again during the sales
interview. In this method of selling, the sales person’s job is to make sure
that the prospect understands exactly what will happen after you hang up to
telephone and get their commitment to follow through. This includes any
follow-up telephone calls they must respond to, the proper handling of the
forms, and instructions regarding the paramedical exam. Let your prospect
know that they have purchased a life insurance policy on this telephone call
and now your job is to help get it issued and placed. Never assume that they
understand the process. Question them and get their commitment at each step
in the process until you are sure they understand.
Listen
for Red Flags
During
the conversation with the client be constantly on the alert for any Red
flags that tell you that client is not committed. Beware of statements from
the client indicating lack of commitment to completing the transaction. Also
listen for the client sounding wishy-washy such as squabbling about the exam
date or other requirements. It is much easier to go back and resell it now
than it is to get off the phone and try to salvage it later. The difference
between a wishy-washy client and a committed client is the difference
between getting paid and not getting paid.
Preset
the Exam
Negotiating
the exam date with the prospect as part of the closing sequence is one of
the most important things that you can do. This may be the only opportunity
to smoke out the objection that needs to be addressed before you get paid.
Remember, you are the salesperson. You need to handle ALL the objections.
The case manager, scheduler, or examiner may not have the sales skills get
the client to take their exam.
Get
Prepayment
People
who buy things on the Internet have a whole different way of buying than
people who shop and traditional manner. Basically, they shop until they make
a commitment to buy. If you take an application without taking a prepayment
the Internet prospect does not feel committed. They will continue to shop
until someone gets a payment. This requires you to collect a prepayment on
every application. At Term.com we were afraid we would make less sales if we
asked for payment at the point-of-sale. After experiencing a high not-taken
rate we decided to require each applicant to prepay either by credit card or
phone check. What we found was, not only did it not decrease sales, but it
also solidified the sales we were making. Everyone agrees that it was the
best rule we made to improve the quality of our business.
Using
a Checklist to Solidified the Agreement
1.
Verify e-mail address -- much of the communication that is done with online
term insurance buyers can be done by e-mail. As a matter of fact, it is
better if it's done by e-mail because that is the way that Internet clients
usually communicate. If you do not have the correct e-mail address, it
impossible to do this.
2.
Verify best time to call -- all of the follow-up work that needs to be done
by telephone can be done much more efficiently if you have the best
telephone number and the best time to call your client. You will save your
administrative staff many wasted phone calls. If you have to call the
prospect back to place a rated policy or save the case, you will save
yourself extra dials.
3.
Verify age, classification, face amount, premium, and premium mode –This is
to avoid any misunderstandings when its time to place the policy.
4.
Verify one more time that the client understands the process
5.
Never Assume -- Always Verify
How
To Make Z-App Make You More Money!
Another
pitfall of selling insurance online and on the telephone is the amount of
forms, applications, and paperwork that gets generated by doing business
with multiple companies in multiple states. This monster of a headache can
be avoided by using Z-App.
With
Z-App you to enter the information for the client on an Internet form, and
when you push “send” it immediately gets transferred over the Internet to an
underwriter at Zurich Life. You then transfer the client to the 800
toll-free Internet line for Z-App. After introducing the Zurich underwriter
and your client to each other, you then review what was purchased one more
time. You then tell the Zurich underwriter how the client is paying for the
case and when he has requested to take his physical. Then, after saying
goodbye, you ask both the new client and Zurich operator to hang up so the
Zurich underwriter can call the client right back and complete the long form
application.
If for
some reason your client is unable to speak with the Zurich underwriter at
that moment, make an appointment with your client for you or your Admin
person to call back and make the 3 way call to the Zurich TeleLife
underwriter. You must put a backup time for Zurich to try to reach your
client on the Z-app. They will attempt to call your client back two times.
If your client does not return the call, Zurich will return the application
to you for handling until you call them up with the prospect. Do not rely on
Zurich to track your client down. You won’t get paid!
Follow-up – Follow-up – Follow-up
The
final item that you must do is stay in communication with the prospect
during the underwriting process. We mail, call and/or email the client every
time we have an excuse. That includes sending copies of the proposal and
application as soon as we get off the phone, after notice that the TeleLife
Interview went well, before and after the scheduled exam date, when the
policy is issued, when we receive it and mail it, and repeatedly until we
receive any outstanding requirements. We also update them weekly if there is
no progress. You cannot follow-up too often.
The
purpose of these ideas is to share some of the things we have learned the
hard way. Hopefully you can learn them this way.
Bill Zimmerman
LifePro Financial Services, Inc
225 West Plaza, Suite 400
Solana Beach, CA 92075
(858) 793-5999 Local
(888) LIFEPRO Toll Free
(858) 777-3333 Fax
WWW.888LifePro.com
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