One of the most difficult parts about selling insurance is setting the appointment.
In fact, the number one reason insurance agents fail is because they do not see enough people per week.
What can you do to fix that?
Stop making these mistakes during the appointment-setting process:
Weak intro
Secure Agent Leads would venture to guess about 90 percent of insurance agents start a call to their insurance leads like this:
“Hey, I’m looking for Betty Smith…”
Then, if they don’t get hung up on, they follow up with
“Yeah, this is Cody Askins with Secure Insurance Group and you put in your information saying you wanted a quote on life insurance *pause*…”
An intro like that shows a severe lack of confidence.
Instead, when your insurance leads answer your call, assume the right person is answering the call!
If you’re calling Betty Smith and a woman answers the phone just say, “Hey, Betty!” If a male answers say, “Hello, Mr. Smith!”
Now, they know you know who they are and aren’t just some telemarketer. It also shows greater confidence.
Using your full name
Go by a first-name basis!
They don’t care what your full name is. It’s too much information.
It keeps the call more of a conversation and doesn’t make it feel like it’s all about selling insurance.
Keep it simple and gain control with your confidence.
Asking “How are you?”
What telemarketer hasn’t asked this question?
You shouldn’t say anything that doesn’t positively impact your goal to set the appointment.
Adding this cliche into your call begs them to bring forth an objection.
Pausing without asking questions
It’s a mistake to pause and wait for your insurance leads to speak without asking questions.
Once again, they’re going to insert an objection.
Asking questions keeps you in control of the call and leads them to your objective of setting an appointment.
Selling a “meeting”
Our key to selling insurance is selling them a “drop-off time” on the call instead of trying to close them over the phone or telling them you want to set time for a meeting.
A meeting sounds like an appointment with the doctor.
However, a “drop-off” time makes it sound like less of a commitment.
Tell the prospect you want to drop off some information and give them a couple days to pick from.
Then, ask whether the morning or afternoon is better and pick a time.
Here is the correct way to set an appointment
*prospect answers*
“Hello, Ms. Betty!”
*prospect identifies themselves*
“This is Cody. I’m getting back to you about your request for the new final expense information. Now, Betty, I’m the local field underwriter. I’ll be out in your area on Friday. Should I drop this information off in the morning or afternoon?”
Now that you can avoid these appointment-setting pitfalls, you need to make sure you have enough prospects to call!
