Avoiding Replacement on Price. What's the Threshold?

I love the Big Number v little number presentation.

$11,500.00 @ $75.
Or
$10,000. @ $76.00

More for less.

I did a policy delivery a week or two ago - a real shady, filthy apartment with too many people to count, apparently all related to one another living there. As I walk in I see a large dirty envelope beneath a plate covered in crusty food from who knows when, and I see the Royal Neighbors logo on it. I get to going over the policy I just sold the wife. After I finish, I say "not to be nosey, but I saw a Royal Neighbors envelope under a plate on the shelf by the door. Is that an insurance policy?"

The husband nods and tells me that was his wife's old policy.

"Old policy?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says, "We cancelled the payment on it after we found out you got her approved for that one."

So I shake my head and I say "Didn't I ask if you had any insurance when I was here the first time?"

"You did."

"Why didn't you tell me about it when I asked?"

"We wanted to make sure we'd get the best deal!"

I just sort of chuckled a bit and shook my head, thinking that I did not fill out a replacement form and that's not good, while also feeling once again like the car salesman I used to be (folks are afraid to "show their hand" to salesman, you know). "Well," I asked, "did you get the best deal?"

"Oh yes," his wife said, "you got me $3,000 more benefit for about the same as I was paying for that other one!" She's quite pleased, I can tell.

You know that Big Number vs Little Number is a powerful tool when the customer uses it on themselves and you have no idea that they just, in fact, used it on themselves.
 
I did a policy delivery a week or two ago - a real shady, filthy apartment with too many people to count, apparently all related to one another living there. As I walk in I see a large dirty envelope beneath a plate covered in crusty food from who knows when, and I see the Royal Neighbors logo on it. I get to going over the policy I just sold the wife. After I finish, I say "not to be nosey, but I saw a Royal Neighbors envelope under a plate on the shelf by the door. Is that an insurance policy?"

The husband nods and tells me that was his wife's old policy.

"Old policy?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says, "We cancelled the payment on it after we found out you got her approved for that one."

So I shake my head and I say "Didn't I ask if you had any insurance when I was here the first time?"

"You did."

"Why didn't you tell me about it when I asked?"

"We wanted to make sure we'd get the best deal!"

I just sort of chuckled a bit and shook my head, thinking that I did not fill out a replacement form and that's not good, while also feeling once again like the car salesman I used to be (folks are afraid to "show their hand" to salesman, you know). "Well," I asked, "did you get the best deal?"

"Oh yes," his wife said, "you got me $3,000 more benefit for about the same as I was paying for that other one!" She's quite pleased, I can tell.

You know that Big Number vs Little Number is a powerful tool when the customer uses it on themselves and you have no idea that they just, in fact, used it on themselves.

I also like the way Newby drops the premium a bit and increases the benefit. It is a benefit sale not a price sale.

BTW, only a suggestion, I would have also picked up the policy and asked if I could check something out. Maybe if they got the correct Cash Surrender Values. I would try to find the agent's card or go to the app and get his / Her name. " Sue Brown?" I don't think I have ever heard of her" Has she check up on you much over the years?" " Other than to sell you that is?" Well she will probably call you now" If she is an independent she could have gotten you this better deal and saved you money years ago." " If she has any questions or harasses you, give her my number and I will take care of it."












"Oh, Oh, I almost forgot. ....." (In my best Colombo voice)
 
I never even give replacement a thought when I write business.. Over the years, no matter if I were working with a high priced captive company where I had no choice on price or working a an Independent, I have been replaced very little...I have business lapse but most of the time it is not due to replacement..

First of all, the competition has to find your client and there just aren't that many agents looking anymore compared to years gone by. It is certainly not going to happen all that much if you are prospecting using some manner other than Direct Mail.. DM does make it a little more likely you might have another agent show up due to some clients being serial mailers..

Just write the business with the company you want use. Service it well and don't waste time or energy worrying about replacement. Consider this, if replace due to price took place as often as some on here imply, Lincoln Heritage would not be experiencing the premium growth they have experienced over the years..
 
I also like the way Newby drops the premium a bit and increases the benefit. It is a benefit sale not a price sale.

BTW, only a suggestion, I would have also picked up the policy and asked if I could check something out. Maybe if they got the correct Cash Surrender Values. I would try to find the agent's card or go to the app and get his / Her name. " Sue Brown?" I don't think I have ever heard of her" Has she check up on you much over the years?" " Other than to sell you that is?" Well she will probably call you now" If she is an independent she could have gotten you this better deal and saved you money years ago." " If she has any questions or harasses you, give her my number and I will take care of it."

"Oh, Oh, I almost forgot. ....." (In my best Colombo voice)
And, certainly pressed hard to find out if there were other polices .. perhpas on him.. kids, gradkids, etc. that they ahd not told me about... "Perhaps, I can give you a better del on then"..
 
And, certainly pressed hard to find out if there were other polices .. perhpas on him.. kids, gradkids, etc. that they ahd not told me about... "Perhaps, I can give you a better del on then"..

Absolutely.

That is where my Columbo comes in. I want the whole family and the family's family. I am not only putting a wedge between them and the RNA salesman.
 
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BTW, only a suggestion, I would have also picked up the policy and asked if I could check something out. Maybe if they got the correct Cash Surrender Values. I would try to find the agent's card or go to the app and get his / Her name. " Sue Brown?" I don't think I have ever heard of her" Has she check up on you much over the years?" " Other than to sell you that is?" Well she will probably call you now" If she is an independent she could have gotten you this better deal and saved you money years ago." " If she has any questions or harasses you, give her my number and I will take care of it."

I would do that in every case. I thought real hard about in this case. But it really wasn't the cleanest home I'd ever been in. And if you would have seen the envelop, and what was on top of the envelope, you likely would have passed as well. Now, had I had another set of nitrile gloves on me ...

And, certainly pressed hard to find out if there were other polices .. perhpas on him.. kids, gradkids, etc. that they ahd not told me about... "Perhaps, I can give you a better del on then"..

I did write the husband a GI policy (HIV, Hep C), and I did prospect the other family members. As I was leaving the husband did mention that not only did his wife get a much greater benefit for the same premium, but that they liked me because the other agent told them that he had no coverage for the husband because of the husband's AIDS and they were happy that I was able to get him something even if it has a two year waiting period for the full benefit.
 
$10/month or less is stickier on a replacement attempt.

As Lee advised, consider selling MORE for the SAME price.

Or, offer at the close:

1) SAME Coverage, LESS Price.
2) MORE Coverage, SAME Price.
3) MORE COVERAGE, MORE Price.

It's always a good strategy to let the client make that decision.

Yes but to fine tune it just a bit more, you will see that in my and Lee's examples it works even better to come in with more coverage with just a bit LESS price. Even if it's 50 cents less compared to 50 cents more for the extra coverage. Any time they can pay less AND get more there is no way they can turn that down.

It's splitting hairs but if they have been paying $82.40 for $10,000 you will see a more positive reaction if you come in with what $81.XX will buy rather than $83.

It's pennies. But in my experience it's psychologically huge.
 
Man that's almost 3 packs of smokes.

Better odds with 17 lottery tickets and you won't get cancer.

I'm looking for that spot where replacement isn't very tempting for the customer.

If you can't create the value you bring to the table it doesn't matter what your competition is offering. Most of the tme the product I suggest is not the lowest price nor is it offered by a household name.

Yet people buy and rarely leave.

I noticed you use customer and not client. May be just semantics or working FE leads.

Good catch.

Customers usually buy on price and are here today and gone tomorrow.

Clients last forever most of the time.

Many agents don't know the difference.

The term that get's me everytime is "deals".

How many deals did you get?

That's car salesman talk.

It is also used to describe a customer, not a client.
 
Better odds with 17 lottery tickets and you won't get cancer.



If you can't create the value you bring to the table it doesn't matter what your competition is offering. Most of the tme the product I suggest is not the lowest price nor is it offered by a household name.

Yet people buy and rarely leave.



Good catch.

Customers usually buy on price and are here today and gone tomorrow.

Clients last forever most of the time.

Many agents don't know the difference.

The term that get's me everytime is "deals".

How many deals did you get?

That's car salesman talk.

It is also used to describe a customer, not a client.

So you don't like the phrase "There is an ass for every seat." either I bet.
 
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