Call Reluctance - Just Plain Fear!

[ccIowa]

There's an article on the IncreaseSalesCoach.com/blog that deals with exactly what you're talking about "7 Killer Sales Fears Part 5", you should be able to find it.

Hope it helps.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

There's an article on the blog that deals with exactly what you're talking about "7 Killer Sales Fears Part 5", you should be able to find it.

Is that more Frank Rumbauskas, Jr. material that you re-jiggered?

 

[ccIowa]

No. I know he's the anti-cold calling guy and I certainly agree the way most people approach cold calling is a low form of entertainment disguised as work.

However, I don't know him well enough to be "re-jiggering" his stuff.

 

[Frank Stastny]

There's an article on the IncreaseSalesCoach.com/blog that deals with exactly what you're talking about "7 Killer Sales Fears Part 5", you should be able to find it.

Hope it helps.

You are obviously on here to attempt to position yourself so you can promote your "Coaching" website. I find your attempt to start off pretending to be here to "offer advice" as though you were an insurance agent very deceptive.

I have reviewed all of your posts and not once have you told us who you really are.

Above you refer to your website without identifying that it is your website. I find this at best as marginally unethical. You apparently think that agents are not intelligent enough to realize it.

You have also tried to offer advice regarding what I need to do with my website, advice implying that you are extremely knowledgeable about SEO. I think Dave pretty well cleared that one up.

Why don't you do what you should have done in the first place? Place your information in the "Offers" section so everyone here knows exactly who you are and why you are here.

You may have a valuable product but by taking the approach you have, you have lost a lot of credibility as far as I'm concerned.

It is not nice to try to fool insurance agents.

 

[FL P&C Broker]

I had 4 different interviews, and all the companies wanted me to call on my family and friends. I decided not to go this route. I can't stomach having to call on them, I would rather cold call.

 

[beatuplunchbox]

I have told new agents to use friends and family to Practice their presentations with, they will usually give you an honest review...
but I definitely don't agree with these companies telling you to sell to them (even if the product is great - leads to problems later if they have some kind of problem with it) Those companies that do that are using you as a disposable marketing tool instead of treating you as someone wishing to develop a career. Sad that it is all too common.

 

[somarco]

F&F is a good way to assure you will be banished from any social gatherings. Delta's approach is the least threatening and most folks will eventually get over it IF you do exactly as promised and don't try to sell them.

Too often the agent feels the pressure of a need to make a sale and starts to push. Sometimes it is overt, sometimes more subtle.

When that happens you have lost the opportunity to grow your business.

Direct mail works if you have lots of money and lot's of time to wait on it to work. Depending on your product and skill, you may realize a negative ROI if you are not careful.

Don't buy into any hype about customers calling you. Won't happen for a very long time. Do you think anyone can open up a State Farm shop and just wait on the phone to ring?

Won't happen and SF is one of the most recognized names and logo's in the industry.

I don't believe you have indicated which carrier, or which line of coverage, but in home appointments indicate life insurance, something in the senior market or (God forbid) Mega . . .

Nothing wrong with in home F2F sales appointments. You have to learn somehow. Hopefully you have solid training by someone who really knows how to help clients and you at the same time.

If you are stressing over making those calls it will come across and you will be less effective. The more relaxed you are the better chance you will have of putting them at ease as well.

If you are stressing, it is because you really don't believe in what you are doing. You are approaching this as a job, just a means to earning a buck.

Cold calling, even to F&F, is stressful for most folks. But if done properly, it can also lead to success. If you are good, you won't be banished to cold calling forever.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Already stated but let's drive the nail farther into the board: DO NOT call your friends and family. Aside from the stated reasons, your best friend may not want you to know about his wife's private health conditions. You may even have family members with private health conditions.

It's good enough to simply let people know you're now in the insurance field and let them contact you.

 

[EFLTEACHER]

Delta makes good points. As a new agent, less than a year, I've had some of the same concerns as you.

First, is it really fear? If so what are you afraid of? Second,instead of fear, it may be that you are just uncomfortable. Moving out of one's comfort zone is not always easy, but the more you do something uncomfortable, the easier it becomes to do said task.

If calling strangers, what do you have to fear or be uncomfortable about? They don't know you, they may need your product and if they say no, you will probably never meet anyway.

I don't fear cold calling, I just get discouraged easily, that is what I still deal with. But, I have to keep in mind that one cold call can lead to an appointment like I just got with a 45 life group. That was worth the pain and I just have to remember that at all times.

Good luck!

Great points. Now I need to apply them to the distance learning course I am taking at my alma mater for a second major.

Financial Accounting sucks!

 

[Frank Stastny]

First, is it really fear? If so what are you afraid of? Second,instead of fear, it may be that you are just uncomfortable. Moving out of one's comfort zone is not always easy, but the more you do something uncomfortable, the easier it becomes to do said task.

Great statement.

In my experience a good portion of it really is fear, but not the kind of "fear" that most think it is. With a lot of agents is appears to be fear of rejection but I believe it really is a fear that the prospect is going to voice an objection that the agent has no response to.

Having extreme product knowledge about the kind of policy the agent is selling can go a long way in squelching that fear. It is that knowledge that will give the agent the confidence to smoothly handle any objections the prospect can come up with, well almost any.

Before attempting to start cold calling the agent should come up with a list of the most frequently voiced objections and write down an response to them. If they have not talked to a lot of prospects yet then the agent should write down the objections that he/she would use if an agent were calling them.

After every call take a few minutes to make a note of the objections that particular prospect voiced. After a while the agent will see a pattern developing and be able to come up with a list of the top ten or twenty objections and the response that works the best.