Cold Calling Opening Question

[Zac]

Frank,

Does your system work for any other type of insurance ( of course with a little modifications) or is it explicit to MedSup.

Regards.

 

[briko3]

Go to his website and download a free trial. It's pretty much for all insurance, but not P&C from what I can tell.

 

[ksigmtsu]

See I think you gave me the answer I was looking for there Frank. I needed an opening line and a question. My phone presentation skills are actually decent, I just work internet leads right now and my opening is basically "Hi, mr or mrs so and so, Im calling you because I got an internet request that you needed help on your medicare supplement, how can I help you?" That question gets an answer, basically every time, sometimes it's a soft no that I can turn around pretty easy, sometimes they tell me they already took care of it, which is the "what company did you decide on?" Which is always followed by "You could save x by switching your supplement to ___, they're the most affordable in your area."

I just was trying to limit my cold call dials where I got a "not interested"/"go to hell"/"don't call me" because they had not requested the contact, rather than initiating a conversation. My close rate is similar to yours on internet leads for med supp if I get them on the phone at all I close around 25%, I believe my close in the home is actually over 100% after I've set the appointment, if you factored in that I sell sometimes 4-5 policies on one lead once I get there, since December I have never set a med supp appointment that I got stood up at. Makes my ROI huge for those, I'm buying 7 vendors worth now. Just I was concerned that if my opening line on purely cold calls wasn't decent I'd get hung up on 90% of the time because I cannot tell them they initiated the contact. I mean, I could, but I'm not going to call them and lie. Leads have slowed down since AEP is over, just needed a solution to getting in front of more warm bodies so to speak. Starting a dual pronged marketing campaign doing b to b in mornings and going to do med supp at night, which is so bizarre because right at 1 year ago I was recruited to sell life and only got the health license because the online course was only 10 dollars or 20 dollars more to get them both instead of just life. Funny how things work out I guess.

So, to wrap that up, a good opener is

"Mrs. Smith my name is Frank Stastny, the reason I'm calling is to bring you up to date with all the changes Medicare is going to make in the next several months. Do you recall who you have your medicare supplement with?"

I can react after that to everything else.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Frank,

Does your system work for any other type of insurance ( of course with a little modifications) or is it explicit to MedSup.

Regards.

Thanks Briko3, I appreciate the mention.

-----------------------------------------

It will work with anything you are selling. I actually have a fair number of P&C agents using it. Those who do not need all the back office functions like billing.

I also have beauty shops using it, a private detective, a trucking company and salespeople selling all kinds of products. It has a lot of flexibility built into it if the user can remember what they are using a particular field for. For example, the policy number field could be used for a customer number.

Go to my website, download the demo and read the User Guide. It will better explain all the features and functions the program provides.

--------------------------------

ksigmtsu, glad I could help.

 

[HarryRenard]

So, to wrap that up, a good opener is

"Mrs. Smith my name is Frank Stastny, the reason I'm calling is to bring you up to date with all the changes Medicare is going to make in the next several months. Do you recall who you have your medicare supplement with?"

Your first line is correct, But you forgot the golden rule of sales, Never ask a question that you do not know the answer to. If they dont have a med supp you would have lost control and with it being so early in the call you might not get it back.

My suggestion would be to call Frank and see what you can work out instead of trying to get the free version on the forum. Or use the search function here and you will be surprised at how many med supp scripts as well as other lines are on here.

Either way good luck to you.

Who knows maybe a donation to a Frank S approved charity will get you some help.

 

[ksigmtsu]

Your first line is correct, But you forgot the golden rule of sales, Never ask a question that you do not know the answer to. If they dont have a med supp you would have lost control and with it being so early in the call you might not get it back.

My suggestion would be to call Frank and see what you can work out instead of trying to get the free version on the forum. Or use the search function here and you will be surprised at how many med supp scripts as well as other lines are on here.

Either way good luck to you.

Who knows maybe a donation to a Frank S approved charity will get you some help.

Nah, no matter the answer to that question I have a response to it. That question is working fine. They can say, I don't have one I have a healthspring HMO. The NEXT questions is "what made you decide on healthspring?" My interest isn't even the answer to that question, I don't care what their answer is specifically. I just want them to talk so I can talk back to them. I just needed a question that people would answer that feels ok for people to answer. Really I just wanted a shortcut that felt right when I said it that I thought wouldn't be asking something too personal too fast or make them hang up on the first thing out of my mouth.

Heres an example..

They say Oh, I have a bluecross blueshield of TN supplement, or they say I just have origional medicare, or I'm still working and I have an employer group plan, or I have a HMO with healthspring. The answer does not matter.

Lets just go back to the first answer, they say "I have a bluecross blueshield plan f" (now I know their plan price) I say "What made you decide on that" They say "Oh, I always had bluecross, they have good claims department, they always pay, I had that insurance at my job before I retired and I really liked it there", I ask "oh, where did you work?" What does your wife do, do you both have the bluecross plan f? (now I know their marital situation and if they're both eligible) how well do you understand how supplements work? did you know all the letter benefit policies are required by law to have the same benefits no matter what company? Did you know that the carriers cannot choose to deny claims as long as they're medicare approved?

Now it turns into a statement.

Right now, Gerber and Admiral are about 360 dollars per year less for you and your wife each, than bluecross for that same plan f that you have now. I could save you 720 dollars a year on your supplement by just changing who pays the government after you go to the doctor. I don't know about you, but I could use 700 dollars a year extra in my pocket, that's like a weeks extra pay. (and yes I know full well its 2 weeks worth for most seniors its the first thing they say) Now, (name), Just so you know a little bit about how I do business, I call all my clients in october each year to get lists of drugs to check and make sure they're in the correct drug plan, and that nothing has changed, and when I see that someone needs to move into a new plan to save money, I don't mind replacing my own policies. I'm independent, I don't work for any of these companies, I work for you. I work out of my home, my address is (home address). If you need something done on your policies, you can call me, I might not always answer but I will get back to you within a day and do my best to help you. I'd like to be your agent. I can draw up the policy we just spoke about and bring it up and meet you and (wifes name), and get this all taken care of in about an hour.

Then I just wait. Sometimes they want mailed quotes, I say sure, I'll put those in the mail with a few business cards so you can give them to anyone else that you know that might need my help, and I will call you back next week (at a specific time and day) to set an appointment to come meet you and take care of your supplement.

The trick to all that mess, I let them think the whole time they're driving the motorcycle, when really they're just riding in the sidecar. Sometimes this takes me an hour on the phone because people get sidetracked talking about grandkids and how they liked their old job. I talk to them. Frankly I enjoy talking to them. Sometimes I don't make a sale to them that day, but I damn well have the name of their insurer, their wifes insurer, their birthdays, their medical underwriting situation, meds, dosages, ect. Documented, with reminders set in my CRM. I probably know their kids names, their dogs name, their favorite sports teams, their career, and their hobbies too. I document most of that too. The way I close my sales is I ask them what they have, then I point out the flaws, or I just tell them I think they made the right choice in what they have but if anything changes I'll call them to keep them informed. Then I do what I said I was going to do. I have taken someones client till they win them back from me. To win them back they're going to have to outwork me.

I listened to agents 2 or 3 times on the phone as the clients were asking them to give a notice of plan cancellation from this old coventry MAPD plan that was around tennessee last year that the bankers life people immediately turned into one of their Med Supps for outrageous rates say things to the clients I just took from them like "are you sure you understand the difference in the plan you're taking" when I was changing them from a G to a F and saving them 50 dollars a month or more. They did. I just spend 30 minutes showing them the flaws in the other guys work and how to fix it, and told them I wouldn't have done anything like that in the first place. Good luck coming in behind me and doing the same thing.

The question worked fine I just couldn't figure out a good opening question that got a high response rate, I knew where to go after that. Like I said before, I didn't really need a script I just needed an opener. I had a developed sales approach from working internet leads already that worked I just needed to get them to start that conversation.

Imo, the people that can't sell med supps are the same guys that can't get laid in a bar. They either don't ask questions and get the person talking, or they don't tell them what they want in return after they gain trust. It's 60% gaining trust and 40% asking for something in return for the trust you developed.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

I could have sworn Frank just wrote that....

 

[ksigmtsu]

I could have sworn Frank just wrote that....

Comedy of it is, that was my selling style from just learning on the fly what people responded to. I've never talked with Frank other than via this board.

 

[Lloydlofton]

Your getting a lot of great advice here, from producers who know as much about what does not work as what does work (sometimes knowing what does not work is the most important thing to know).

A couple of tips I might offer would be:

1. What are the two things people like to hear the most?
a. They like to hear their name
b. They like to have their opinion asked

2. When you think of insurance you might think from the point of view of the consumer and not the product. Think about how people use health insurance, the things they use the most, in the order they use them? A rule of thumb might be:

1. Doctors
2. Prescriptions
3. Accident
4. Wellness
5. Hospitalization

So you might talk to people about the things they use the most.

So once we understand "how" people use their insurance then what would be the things that are most important to them when considering making a move, in other words what are the events that trigger most people to consider making a move?

My experience is people consider making a change to either increase their benefits or reduce their cost.

So if that rings true maybe that would be the beginning of an approach script. Not saying this is the best or the one that will work for you, the truth is you will most likely have to try a few scripts to see what works best for your selling style.

"Is John Smith in? John? Hi John, this is Lloyd Lofton with American Eagle Consultants, I have here that you recently requested some information to either increase your health benefits or lower your cost, do you recall that. John do you find your paying for benefits your not using or paying more than you expected for your health insurance?"

Now whatever their answer the next step is to transition to the qualification process to either sell over the phone or set an appointment....so

Consumer: "My rates have gone up and I hardly used my plan"

Agent: "I understand John, that can be frustrating, now when you think about your increased premium what are you most interested in saving money on, the hospital, doctor or prescription part of your plan?"

So no matter what they say to this question your next question would be in this format: They mention doctor visits -

"Ok, now when you think about the doctor visits how many times have you gone to the doctor in say the last year?"

For illustration purposes let's say they mention having only gone a couple of times in the last year. Then you might follow up with a tie-down question like:

"Then on any new plan you design today you would want to make sure doctors visits are included?" or

"Then on any new plan you design today you want save your premium dollars by not having doctors visits and using your network discount when you go to the doctor, is that what your saying?"

Then follow the same format for doctors, prescriptions, accident, wellness and hospital, gathering information to help you know how to build them a solution.

From there it depends on how your selling, on the phone, scheduling an appointment.

I know there's a lot more and most of the professionals can give you great advice. Just offering a few suggestions.

Good luck and keep falling forward.

 

[johndale]

Go to his website and download a free trial. It's pretty much for all insurance, but not P&C from what I can tell.

I'll do same thing. I have to revise something about my opening questions as well.