Why Else?

If you’re trying to wrap up a sale with a new client and the final decision comes down to price, you’ve only got a 50/50 chance of winning the business. If your price is better, you win and if your price is worse, you lose. If you want to increase the odds of closing more sales, you need to up your game a little bit and get the focus away from the price. One way to do that is by asking “why else?”

If a prospect (or client) tells you that they have a proposal from someone else with a similar or better price, don’t get defensive or assume you’ve lost the sale, as price is only one factor in their decision. Instead of throwing in the towel, ask them “if the price was the same, who would you rather do business with and which policy would you rather own?”

There are two ways that this could go. Either they will tell you that they would rather do business with you or they’ll tell you they’d rather do business with your competitor. Whichever way they answer, your next question should be “why is that?”

When they give you a reason why, your first instinct is probably going to be to interject and add your own opinion, but this would be the WRONG approach. This isn’t the time for you to be talking, this is the time for your prospect to be talking. Your job is to keep asking the right question in order to gather enough information to overcome the price as a reason to buy somewhere else. So, your next question should be “why else?”

When they give you an answer, ask them again, “why else?” Repeat this process until they run out of reasons why. If they stated that they would rather work with you if prices were equal, you’ll now have a bunch of reasons why they should work with you even if the prices are NOT the same. For example:

Them: “I’d rather work with you because you’re more knowledgeable.”

You: “Why Else?”

Them: “Your policy has better coverage for…”

You: “Why Else?”

Them: “I like the way your coverage extends to…”

You: “Why Else?”

Them: Your office is closer and you were recommended strongly by my friend, they said you really take care of them well.”

You: “Why Else?”

Them: “That’s it.”

If the prospect gives you 4, 6 or 8 reasons why they would rather do business with you, you now have 4, 6 or 8 reasons why your price SHOULD be higher or why they should move forward even though your price is higher!

If your prospect tells you that if the price was the same they would rather work with your competitor, repeat the same process as above until you have the list of reasons why you’re being beat out by your competition. You now know exactly what needs to be overcome or, worst case scenario, how to improve so that you’re NOT beat out the next time you find yourself in the same situation. You will probably find that the information they have from your competition is somehow flawed or missing important pieces that will help you overcome the price.

You may also find that you’re offering the wrong product all together if there are aspects of the other policy that they prefer over yours. You now have the opportunity to either adjust your offering or recommend something all-together different that meets your prospects needs better.

Knowledge is power and, no matter what you find out when asking your “why else” questions, you’ll now have more knowledge about how to close the sale you’re working on AND how to improve with your next client. 

Getting "Social" With Your Insurance clients

If you've known me for any length of time or if we've had the chance to talk at all then you probably know I spend a great deal of time, energy and money on my current clients. In today's environment of rising insurance prices and declining persistency, every client renewal is almost like finding a new client. In fact, since insurance rates in the state of Colorado have gone up 50% (or more) over the past few years, every 2 client renewals is - financially - the exact same benefit as finding a new client. That is why I devote as much of my time to increasing my client persistency as I do to finding brand new clients.

When it comes to keeping clients happy and feeling loved, it all boils down to communication. How you communicate, how often you communicate, how enjoyable your communication is and how relevant your communication is to your client's lives all play a big part in whether or not your clients will stick around during the next cycle of rate increases. One of the many ways to improve your communication is to make sure it is both personal and business oriented. In fact, finding the right mix of business and personal communication is vital to your communication success. Here are a few tips to get more out of your "social" media:

1. Remember, it's called social media, not insurance media, education media, sales media or business media. While you can, and should, use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to grow your business, their primary purpose is for people to be social. This is your opportunity to lighten up a little and have some fun with your clients! Use your social media outlets to share personal stories and photos in addition to things that are more business related. Clients and prospects want to know that you're a real person, just like them. I used to pay a company to produce 6 insurance newsletters for me per year and mail them to my clients. I never heard from anyone to let me know they appreciated it or even read it. But when I started writing my own newsletters that had stories about things I was doing and the adventures my family were having, I immediately started getting great feedback from my clients. I also started getting more referrals and better cross-sales too! Try to keep a 60/40 mix of business and personal in order to keep your clients interested and coming back for more.
2. Get your clients involved. You want your social media to be a two-way street with your clients. The more interaction you can get, the better. Use contests, surveys, jokes, comics or anything else that fits your personal style to get involvement from your clients. Have your clients post pictures and stories to your Facebook page as a part of a contest so you can learn more about them as well.
3. Find the right media to reach your clients. Not all clients like to get on Facebook, and age has nothing to do with it. One of the fastest growing Facebook crowds is the over 65 year old folks. People like to get information in a variety of ways, so give them a variety of ways to get information from you. You can share the same story, article or contest through many different formats. For example, starting a contest on Facebook and then promoting it through an email blast and discussing it in your printed newsletter will get 3 different segments of your clients to participate. People want to be reached on their terms, so give them plenty of options. Consider sending out a survey to all of your clients (or your best clients) and asking them how they prefer to get their information. There isn't one media that is any better than another. The best media is the one your clients pay attention too, and that is going to be different for each of your clients.

As you implement new ways of communicating with clients and start turning up your social presence, keep in mind that anything you do is better than most of the other agents around town, because most other agents won't do anything at all! Start communicating and reaching out to clients on a more consistent basis and you'll see big, positive changes in your agency. Test your messages to make sure they are a good mix of business and personal and test out different ways to reach folks. The more you do, the easier it becomes and the better you become too.

The Power Of Engagement For New Referrals

There is a big difference in the number of referrals you receive from clients and referral sources that are satisfied with your agency to those that are engaged with your agency. In fact, a study by Advisor Impact called "Anatomy of the Referral" shows that almost ALL referrals come from people who are actively
 engaged with you or your agency at some level. I had a good reminder of this fact last week when I hosted a contest for National Jelly Bean Day on April 22nd.

During the last week and a half of April I gave my clients and prospects the opportunity to celebrate jelly bean day by guessing how many jelly beans I had placed in a jar (pictured below). The closest guess took home the jar of beans and an Olive Garden gift card that I had placed inside. During the 10 days that I accepted guesses, I had about 50 clients place their guess for the number of beans. However, during that same 10 day period, I received 5 new referrals from clients who had participated in my jelly bean contest! But that's just the half of things.

 Last week I took my jar of beans out to see 10 referral sources that I am trying to build relationships with. I let them and everyone in their office place a guess for the jelly bean contest. The result was fantastic, with 5 new client referrals during the 4 days that followed my visits! That's a total of 10 new client referrals in one week from a very easy and inexpensive contest. Why such good results? Because all of these people were actively engaged with me and my agency. They were participating and it was allowing us to have a good dialogue and a little bit of fun together.

It's great to have referral sources and clients who are satisfied with your agency, but it's something completely different when your clients and referral sources are engaged with your agency. Although jelly bean day has come and gone, there is always something you can do to get some participation from the people you work with. Take the initiative, find new ways to engage people with your agency and watch your referrals go through the roof!

Change Your "But" To "And" To Overcome Objections

If you've been selling for long, you already know the first rule of overcoming an objection - empathize and understand where they are coming from and agree that the objection exists. A lot of agents start this process off on the right foot but then screw it up because of their "buts." If you agree with a prospect about an objection and then finish the statement with a "but", you negate everything that came before it and let the prospect know that you think they are wrong for objecting at all. "Buts" mean there is something bad coming. For example, if a guy asks a woman out and hears, "You are a really nice guy, but..." we all know that guy is toast!

If  a prospect tells you "it costs to much", a good way to get on the same team as your prospect is by saying "I understand how you feel, it is a large investment. A lot of my clients have felt the same way AND that is why..." or you can say "I can appreciate that AND it makes sense to..."

By changing your "but" to an "and" you are no longer negating your agreement with them. You are giving their thinking validity AND getting on the same side as them to work out the objection together. It is much better to working with your prospect towards a solution you will both be happy with than arguing with them over their incorrect thinking. Even if you win the argument, you'll probably lost the sale!

Once you've agreed and empathized, don't forget to isolate the objection to make sure there is nothing else holding them back. "I understand how you feel, it is a large investment and a lot of my clients have felt the same way. Is there anything else about my proposal that you don't like or is it just the price that is holding you back?" Once you know what the true objections are and if there are any hidden objections, it is a lot easier to work through them and close the sale.

After you've isolated the objection you can now reframe it and put it into a new perspective. If the price was the only objection, you can now reframe it and focus on the value or extra benefits that make the price less relevant in the decision. Of course, if you're trying to sell a $10,000 per year product to a $1,000 per year buyer, nothing will help you get it done. But if you are working with a qualified prospect and you are confident that your recommendations will make their lives better, you have a responsibility to be a professional and make sure the sale closes. Changing your "but" to an "and" will help you get that done!

If It Takes 7, Why Do You Quit After 3?

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:

1. Calls
2. Letters
3. Reports
4. Testimonials
5. Videos
6. Emails
7. 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!

You've Done A Great Job, But...

One of the best things about being an insurance advisor is knowing that you are really, truly helping your clients protect the things that matter most to them. Their cars, their homes, their boats, motorcycles and other toys will all be repaired or replaced if something happens because you've done a great job of helping them protect those things.

But what about their retirement plans? Are your clients protected from losing something just as important as their cars and house - the money they plan on using for retirement? Our job as advisor is to protect our clients assets - including their retirement accounts! Most advisors don't ever think about insuring their clients retirement, and most clients never think about it either. If you change your mindset from helping your clients INVEST for retirement and instead start helping them INSURE and PROTECT their retirement account, a whole new world of opportunities will open up for you!

In-sur-ance: The act or system of protecting against loss or harm arising from specified contingencies, in consideration of a payment proportionate to the risk involved.

Here's a new conversation starter you can try with your clients this afternoon, whether in person or over the phone. The result (if done right) will amaze you:

YOU: Mr. Client, you've really done a great job with your insurance program. Your cars, your house and your motorcycle are very well protected from loss in case something happens to them. May I ask you a question? What are you doing to insure your your retirement account to keep your money protected from loss in case something happens with the economy?
CLIENT: What do you mean insure my retirement plan, is that possible?
YOU: Well let me ask you, is that important to you - to protect your retirement plan if something happens in the economy?

There are a lot of different ways you can respond with this opener, and the bottom line is that you CAN protect your clients retirement plan and insure that it never loses money. We have the products and the strategies to available to give our clients safety and guarantees and, as Van Mueller always says, our company and our industry were made for times like these!

Stop worrying about investing your clients money, and start concentrating on protecting it. Your clients will thank you and your production will skyrocket!

Blogging For Client Retention - Part 2

Hooray, you've decided to add blogging to your repertoire for 2012! I'm proud of you for making such a wise decision, now let's talk about a few tips on how you actually get it done. Blogs do NOT have to be painstaking or take an abundance of your time. In fact, you can put out 2 blogs a month (that's 24 client touches a year) in less than an hour! Here are some practical tips to get your blog up and running:

1. Where To Blog: The first thing you need is a place to do your blogging. I don't mean a place to write, like a coffee shop vs. your office, I'm talking about a place to host your blogs where people can go to find them on line. The easiest and most user friendly place for people new to blogging (or even not so new) has got to be blogger.com. It's designed and set up to get you blogging in a matter of minutes with a couple of clicks and it's completely free. You get to name your blog whatever you want AND you can have as many different blogs as you want.
2. What To Blog About: Once you get your free account up and running (2 minutes), it's time to start picking the topics for your blogs. This is very easy to do for at least the first 50 or so posts. Put a pad of paper next to your phone at the office. Every time a client calls in with a question write it down on your pad of paper and then answer it in your blog. Clients ask the same questions over and over again, you might as well type the answer once and then send the answers out to all of your clients before they get around to asking you. You can also find a topic or two every month just by paying attention to the news and posting about an insurance topic you see come up in the headlines.
3. How To Write: Make sure you write the blog as if you were talking to one person. Imagine yourself sitting across from your favorite client and answering their question and type it out as if you were talking. You want your blogs to be very readable AND you want them to have your personality sprinkled throughout so that your clients can actually hear you talking when they're reading your blog.
4. It's Not Just About The Words: Spice up your blog and break it up with a photo or video. It's easy to add both with blogger by clicking the image or video icons on the tool bar.
5. You're Not Writing A Novel: People don't have the time or desire to read an insurance book, so keep your posts short and sweet. Think "Reader's Digest." Keep your articles short enough to read in 3 minutes AND try to throw in a personal story or experience every once in a while to let your clients get to know you better.

That's it! A few simple steps and a few tips to follow and you'll be a blogging pro in no time. There's one last tip to make sure you follow, don't give up! Blogging is something you do on a regular, on-going basis as a way to communicate and retain your clients and build strong relationships. You can't do that if you write a blog or two and then quit. Commit to making it a normal part of your agency and it'll take you a long way!

Good luck and good blogging,

Robert Edgin

21st Century Communication Part 2 - Video Mail

Every Insurance Agent Sends Emails. You Can Be

Different And Stand Out With Video Mail!

How many emails do you receive every day? How many do you receive that you actually remember? How many do you receive that you look at more than once and then forward to your friends? The average person sends and receives 228 emails per day, spending almost 50% of their work day dealing with emails. The email open rate has fallen to 17% in 2011 which means people are overwhelmed and inundated with an excessive amount of email and they are choosing to ignore most of it.

If you have a marketing piece or something important you need to send to your client there is a good chance they won't even see it unless you find a way to stand out and get your email noticed. Fortunately, there is an easy way to do that! There is a way to get your email opened, read (repeatedly), and then forwarded to their friends. It's called video mail, and the response you'll get from using it will blow you away!

Since we're talking about video, I'll let a video explain how important a video mail system is and how impressive you can be to your clients by using this simple tool.

What should you use video mail for:

1. Policy Information
2. CashBack Notices
3. ID Cards
4. Billing Notices
5. Setting Up P.I.R.s
6. Welcome Emails
7. Thank You's
8. Get Well/Thinking Of You
9. Monthly Insurance Tips
10. Happy Birthday's
11. Anything Else You Can Think Of!

I've sent  video mail that was watched by a client 8 times and then forwarded to their friends who called me to discuss their insurance coverage. The reason? Their current agent isn't doing anything near as cool as video mail. In fact, they're agent probably doesn't contact them at all so when they see a live human being, personally interacting with them and delivering a message to them it really stands out!

Can you think of a simpler way to connect with your clients and let them get a little of your personality and character while doing something as simple as emailing them? Think about all of the personal touches you can make in a very short amount of time without ever leaving your desk!

Video Mail Services: There are plenty out there to choose from ranging in price from free to very, very expensive. I settled on a service called eyejot.com ( http://www.eyejot.com/affiliate/acr419ifick/join ) and paid the $99.95 per year to get the Pro Plus version. The $99.95  keeps my emails free of adds, allows me to send videos that are as long as I want them to be and to as many people as I want to send them to AND allows me to customize and brand the page that the person receiving the email will see. Mine looks like this:

It has links to my social media sites as well as my personal web site and has a personal message on the side. Again, there are plenty of services out there to use, this one just seemed to be very simple and user friendly for me and the people I send video mail to. To join them: http://www.eyejot.com/affiliate/acr419ifick/join

Video mail is just one piece of the 21st Century Communication puzzle, but it is a very good first piece. Just adding this one thing to your office will give you the opportunity to be different and touch your clients far more often and in more ways than most other agents in town.

By Robert Edgin