First Week With Fresh Leads

[Rearden]

You can't create needs; only uncover ones they didn't realize they already had.

IE -- they just bought a Wanker's Life policy or Lincoln Heritage policy yesterday and thought they were getting a good deal for a fixed income senior before you showed them how to double their benefit for the same premium.

Bottom line -- the two most crucial questions to ask a suspect is -- what were your thoughts and concerns when you sent the card in, and (assuming they answer positively to the first question), why is that important to you?

 

[Toranaga]

I just listened to this Zig Ziglar podcast again this morning and immediately thought of what Zig said when I read about your first week with fresh leads. You may find it helpful.

"The REAL reason they don't buy"
Inspiring Words of Encouragement

Perfect message. Thanks. I listened to a few more, just cuz I never knew Zig had a podcast before.
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What did the lady have to think about?

Better yet, why did she send the card in?

And for what reason did the others have to cut you short? Did you schedule the next appointment or leave it open?

1. Cause I didn't help her find a way to want the insurance
2. She sent the card in because she has had term for a while and it's about to expire. The real question is why she should care. That's what I failed to ask her.
3. THe others all had the same objection. "I want insurance but I can't do it right now. I need you to come back later." So I would basically run through the three reasons again and get them to say they needed it. But the the close would stall.

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I don't care for your presentation. Make it more consultative. The 3 reasons and 3 choices thing sounds so doom and gloom and too much like a sales tactic they can pick up on IMO.

I let people know I have a needs analysis worksheet I like to use that briefly explains final expense, and when I leave today you will know all that you need to know about insurance.

Yeah, I did a bad job of paraphrasing as I knew it was going to be a long post. The three reasons are designed to start uncovering a need.
Mr. Prospec, I find that most folks send in this card for one of three reasons...which one sounds the most like you?

I run that conversation for a while, asking a lot of "why" questions and it usually ends with kids who have live of their own and shouldn't be expected to foot the bill for final expenses.

I like your approach too, though.
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Well the original post leaves out the three reasons/need and just says three options. What kind of verbiage are you guys using to create a need?

It might be a bit of what I already say I'm just not putting the 2 together here because it's different when you type it all out and simplify your pitch.

Believe it or not, the three reasons, three options approach is not a great deal different than what you proposed. Most of the time is on the three reasons. Finding out why they sent the card. Cuz they don't have insurance.
"Why do you need insurance?" etc.
I'm trying to get them to say it. To hear themselves say it. I learned this from Rearden.
One the three options, it is very consultative. I lay out pretty simply and clearly what happens, in order, if they
Do nothing
Buy a Prepaid plan
Or buy whole life.
Each step of the way, I have them tell me what they are thinking about each option. At the end, I ask which makes the most sense to them. THey all choose the FE plan.
Then I we talk a little about the cost of final expenses. I have a little chart I show. I ask if they've ever been responsible for a funeral before. Very conversational.
Finally,
I ask a few health questions and build the three choice close on paper. This is where they hang up on me. But I've gotta believe the sale is being lost much earlier. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[jdeasy]

There are 5 reason that people don't buy;

1. No Need.

2.No Trust

3. No Money

4. No Urgency

5. No Desire

The hardest to overcome is No Trust. The only one impossible to overcome is No Money. And I mean really no money, not the general objection of no money or "insurance poor" crap that you will hear a lot.

Of course to find out if it's really no money there has to be a meeting of the minds and trust earned for them to show you. I've had people get their checkbook register out and hand it to me and say, "if you find a way for me to pay for the ins in there then I will buy it".

My whole presentation and warm up is designed to address all 5 of these reasons. And these are "reasons" no objections. I firmly believe that there is only one real objection and it's money. It will come disguised as many other things but the real objection is money. I've had people argue that with me and say that "need to talk to the kids" is a real objection. I disagree. If you were giving them a $10,000 burial plan for free they would not tell you they need to talk to kids first.

For the op, you say you are using the Tim W. one page thing. That's good but Tim W is far more that presentation. You are talking about a guy that does over $450,000 ap in personal production every year that he's in the field as a producer. He is a pro' pro. His warm up, {he calls it his "commercial on himself"}, is as key to what he does as his presentation. He also does a money purchase close which is how he gets higher sales than any other agent. Including the ones following everything he says and does to the letter. I know dozens of agents using the Tim W method and none of them are getting close to his kind of production. Bottom line is it's not what he says, it's how he says it. Basically, it's just him. He could take anyone elses's presentation and have the same results.

I have his one page thing and I rarely use it. The only time it's of use to me is when I run across people that that have looked at preneed or considered it. That's rare for me to see those people, {Newby gets all of them}.

I don't think it matter so much what technical presentation you use if you can connect with people. Tim W is a master at that and he has almost 30 years of experience to back him up. I know Tim very well and he is the type that you just know he knows what he's doing as soon as you talk to him. If I wasn't an agent myself I would want to do business with him.

For me, the key is finding out why they sent in the card. I am not a good enough salesman to sell something to uninterested people. If they can't give me the reason, or a reason, for why they sent it in then I don't make a presentation. I leave and go to find an interested person.{As a rule that is, I get fooled still sometimes, I misread a situation this past week where I went over the reason and she told me "all of them" and I didn't nail it down and went through a whole presentation and then found out she only had the Direct Express but then she said, "I didn't know this was going to cost something". Even after I had probably said "life insurance" 25 times, the card she mailed in said it was about "life insurance" and when I scheduled the appointment the day before I had told her I was calling about "life insurance"}. That's the nature of this business.

Bottom line, I think you should spend more time on your warm up and needs analysis than on on any particular presentation.

 

[Toranaga]

JD. thanks for the reply. I think you'right on the money. Its about money and trust.

I've got fresh leads for tomorrow and will go with a new presentation focused on the warm up and needs analysis. I've listened to and read your presentational multiple times in recordings and you've even given me a good synopsis of it on the phone. I don't think I have the right demeanor to use that approach. I have incorporated some of your language, i dont know if it works for me. But I know this. The Tim Thing is for Tim. Not for Toranaga. I won't be giving the same presentation this week.
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JD. I've heard you say many times that people fail in FRbecause they don't understand the market. What do you mean by that?

 

[jdeasy]

JD. thanks for the reply. I think you'right on the money. Its about money and trust.

I've got fresh leads for tomorrow and will go with a new presentation focused on the warm up and needs analysis. I've listened to and read your presentational multiple times in recordings and you've even given me a good synopsis of it on the phone. I don't think I have the right demeanor to use that approach. I have incorporated some of your language, i dont know if it works for me. But I know this. The Tim Thing is for Tim. Not for Toranaga. I won't be giving the same presentation this week.
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JD. I've heard you say many times that people fail in FRbecause they don't understand the market. What do you mean by that?

The FE market is different that any other market. I'm talking about the people that send in the lead cards. Not to be confused with the whole general population that should have something in place to take care of their funerals.

They are world class procrastinators. They didn't get to be 60-80 years old and not have their funerals planned or at least financed because they have been good planners or good with money. Most times it's both, they don't plan and they are terrible with money. Those are my people.They will become your people if you are to make in this market.

There's another poster here that I won't mention by name but he has the ability to be a terrific insurance agent and also a terrific FE agent. But he has decided to focus on other markets. Not because he couldn't understand the FE but because he did understand it and decided that's not where he wanted to spend his time and efforts.

That's a natural thing. My wife would not do my job and she would tell you that herself. Even Newby says he wouldn't go into some of the homes that I sell, much less the ones I don't.

Getting back to Tim W. There's one thing about Tim that I didn't mention before. As for all his talent and skill, which is considerable, he is the hardest working agent I've ever met.. I do not work anywhere near as hard as he does and have no intentions of doing so. Even without his skill and knowledge he would be successful because of his work ethic..