Studies show that people buy after 7 touches, yet most sales reps stop following up after 3 touches. When you stop before 7, all you're doing is prepping your prospects to buy from your competitor! Think about it, if someone contacts you, interested in an insurance quote, then they are probably going to buy insurance at some point in the near future. However, people buy on their own terms and time frames. The secret in closing more sales is to stay positioned in front of your prospects until they are ready to buy, and that usually takes place after 7 touches.The typical transaction: A new prospect is referred to your office for auto, home and life insurance. You have a nice conversation with them, put together a proposal and review it with them. When you follow up a few days later to answer any questions, "I've been extra busy at work and didn't have a chance to think about it" is the response you get. No problem, you'll just get a hold of them after the weekend. Your call on Monday gets you the same response, too busy to look. One more try a few days later and after they're still too busy, so you give up and write them off as a waste of time.
Sound familiar? When you stop following up, you're quickly forgotten by the prospect and you're pretty much guaranteed to NOT make a sale. The prospect really did get too busy dealing with things to stop and think about their insurance program (that's real life). A month later when things slow down and they're ready to make a move, they've already forgotten about you because you gave up too soon.
You need a 7 step system to stay in front of prospects until they make a decision! There is no SIMPLER way of increasing sales than by positioning yourself to be in 1st position when your prospect thinks about insurance. You position yourself through a 7 step process that consistently reminds your prospect that you are there, ready to help, when they are ready to buy. Positioning yourself simplifies your sales, but simple does not necessarily mean the same thing as easy!
You can't just call your prospect twice a week until you've contacted them 7 times. Although it would probable work better than doing nothing, you don't want to annoy your prospect into buying. Even if you do, the referrals and and cross-selling opportunities will be pretty limited. You need a well thought out, multi-media, multi-step process of staying in front of your prospects that communicates in different ways and provides information the prospect wants. You need to show your value through:
- Calls
- Letters
- Reports
- Testimonials
- Videos
- Emails
- CD's
You need to delight and surprise your prospects by reaching out to them in new and unexpected ways so that when the time is right, you're the first agent that comes to mind. If you put together a 7 step process, you'll not only be the first, you'll probably be the only agent that comes to mind because no other agents out there will be communicating like you.
The bottom line is that people buy when they're ready to buy, not when you're ready to sell. And, people prefer the familiar over the unfamiliar, so make sure you put a plan in place to become familiar to your prospects. It's all about the positioning!
