Succeeding in Insurance Sales

Succeeding in Insurance Sales

There are many books written today on success. It would appear that most of us want to know how to find success in our chosen fields of endeavor.

 

I want to take this article and discuss how to find success in Insurance sales. I have chosen Insurance as a cornerstone for my own personal income and as such believe that knowing how to make it work is paramount to my future and the security I seek for my family.

 

What is Insurance Sales? It may seem like a simple answer "sell insurance". But it is much more complicated than that. Many people do not like to be "sold" insurance. When a persons' budget gets tight, insurance is one of the first items to be dropped. It is often categorized as OK to let go of.

Instead of selling people insurance agents need to learn how to listen to what people really need and want. Then, if the situation warrants, show the customer how insurance will get them what they want. For example, if a person is looking to have money to care for their family in the event of their death, insurance is the best vehicle to do that for the least amount of money. We must help people discover how to use insurance to accomplish their financial goals.

 

Any sales career is motivated by hitting goals and objectives. Insurance is no different. But instead of breaking everything down to just money, try to break it down to productive activity that produces commissions. If you know that you need $1000 a week to live and that your average commission is $500, you need to find out how many presentations do you need to give in order to hit 2 sales a week. You may need 10 presentations a week to hit 2 sales a week. How will you get to 10 presentations a week?

 

Let me offer two thoughts to get to that 10 presentations a week (or whatever you need to present in order to hit your sales goal);

 

1) Pursue quality leads - sadly a lot of the leads offered to agents today are garbage. I mean, agents are given cold leads (people who have not expressed an interest in their product) and expected to warm people up to buy. That proves to be a colossal waste of time. Agents who spend 90% of their time prospecting rarely make it in this business. You have to seek out higher quality leads so that the likelihood of closing a sale is great. Referrals are great but you have to position yourself to receive them. Focus your attention on getting the best quality lead you can. That is a lead where people have expressed an interest in your product at some time and you are talking to someone who is still interested.

 

2) Improve your closing ratio- the better you are at closing the sale, the quicker you will hit your goal and the more money you will make. In our example we said 10 presentations equal 2 sales. What if you closed 3 sales on 10 presentations? You would make 50% more money and not have seen more people. What if you close 4 sales on 10 presentations? You just doubled your income.

Practicing the things that happened during your closed sales is one of the best ways to improve you closing ratio. Commit to becoming great at your profession. Pay the price to learn what you do well. Become an expert at your job.

 

And remember, your job is selling; insurance just happens to be your product of choice.