B2B Prospecting

[theinsuranceman]

If you call you can always walk in later and they'll never remember you.

That's another reason we sell over the phone.

 

[Full Throttle]

I am a new agent experience < 1 year. I am looking for your advise on approaching businesses. Quite frankly business is slow. no money to spend on mass junk mail. The way I see it I have 3 options.

1. Face to face going into businesses and talk to decision maker.

2. Cold Calling

It makes sense to do both. Set some appointments over the phone in the morning, then get out of the office. In between meetings or if you have an appointment cancel, go B2B. You're out there already, what else are you going to do that is more efficient?
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But would like the "experts" opinion on how to do this.

Walk in, introduce yourself, tell them what you sell, see where it goes. Don't over think it. My approach:

Opening line to whoever greets me first: "I'm your favorite kind of visitor, an insurance salesman (said with a grin)."

Their reaction tells you where to go from there.

I usually follow it up with: "I sell life insurance, but do a lot of other things as well. The last thing I want to do is suprise you with an unexpected sales pitch. I wanted to see if I could schedule a time next week to stop back for 5 to 10 minutes to show you a few ideas?"

Those that will become leads take it from there. I walked into 30 businesses today, saw 11 owners, got 3 strong leads. A group health plan prospect, a family medical plan prospect, and a life insurance prospect. I don't know if I'll close all three, but I have a decent shot at all three of them (they passed my basic qualifiying criteria). The phone is great, but the fastest way to get apps submitted is B2B in my opinion.

best times of day etc...

While the owner is there. 8am to 5pm is a good bet. Again, don't over think it.

 

[robtmccarthy]

Thanks for all the input!

Full Throttle, thanks for the tips. Guess maybe I am slightly over thinking things.

 

[need2know]

Letter campaigns can be quite good