How to deal with prospects ghosting you after a quote?

[Kenneth Andrews]

I'm running into this problem where people will let me run a quote for them, no problem. But when it's actually time to pull the trigger they ghost me with no explanation. I know it's part of the business. But it's annoying and disrespectful. I don't appreciate running free quotes all day for people, actually saving them money and then having them waste my time with a game of hide and seek. I can't even get people to sign a simple AOR change request. And this is my warm market. I don't understand how someone wouldn't sign a single piece of paper to support their cousin's business after wasting 20+ minutes of his time answering questions and letting them quote you. I have other people to call, and time I waste quoting time wasters is time I could be calling more prospects.

I wouldn't be so frustrated if it was say, even half of my quotes. So far it seems I'm closing maybe 10% at that stage. I'm about to just consider my warm market useless and move on since it seems total strangers are more friendly and respectful of my time. At least when they say no it's before I waste 20 minutes on them.

How do I respectfully tell them to buy or don't waste my time?

 

[Travis Price]

Definitely move on from warm market.

Nothing ends relationships faster than trying to sell them. Let then come to you.

 

[Kenneth Andrews]

Definitely move on from warm market.

Nothing ends relationships faster than trying to sell them. Let then come to you.

I think I agree. But to be honest. If they come to me down the road when I'm busy calling commercial clients that are actually worth my time, I'll probably send them packing to someone else.

 

[goillini52]

I'm running into this problem where people will let me run a quote for them, no problem. But when it's actually time to pull the trigger they ghost me with no explanation. I know it's part of the business. But it's annoying and disrespectful. I don't appreciate running free quotes all day for people, actually saving them money and then having them waste my time with a game of hide and seek. I can't even get people to sign a simple AOR change request. And this is my warm market. I don't understand how someone wouldn't sign a single piece of paper to support their cousin's business after wasting 20+ minutes of his time answering questions and letting them quote you. I have other people to call, and time I waste quoting time wasters is time I could be calling more prospects.

I wouldn't be so frustrated if it was say, even half of my quotes. So far it seems I'm closing maybe 10% at that stage. I'm about to just consider my warm market useless and move on since it seems total strangers are more friendly and respectful of my time. At least when they say no it's before I waste 20 minutes on them.

How do I respectfully tell them to buy or don't waste my time?

Sounds like you need to get new cousins.

 

[LostDollar]

Caveat, NOT an agent.

not sure these are helpful remarks, but:

Perhaps thinking about the "real" definitions of prospect and friend for your situation would be in order.

And maybe setting some boundaries about how far out into your warm market you are willing to go with friendly actions.

You are not the first person to whom this has happened. Your story is straight out of the pages of old threads on Insurance Forums.

 

[Life Hawk]

And this is my warm market.

This is what I refer to as "fishing in your own pond."

To be a professional at this business you MUST be talented enough to engage total strangers and build trust... quickly. MUST!

You are working your warm market harder than you are on yourself. Grab some Jim Rohn vids off youtube, get a piece of paper and a pen, and learn from a master.

Strangers by the way are great... cause there are so many of them.

 

[whatyouwantfinally]

I'm running into this problem where people will let me run a quote for them, no problem. But when it's actually time to pull the trigger they ghost me with no explanation. I know it's part of the business. But it's annoying and disrespectful. I don't appreciate running free quotes all day for people, actually saving them money and then having them waste my time with a game of hide and seek. I can't even get people to sign a simple AOR change request. And this is my warm market. I don't understand how someone wouldn't sign a single piece of paper to support their cousin's business after wasting 20+ minutes of his time answering questions and letting them quote you. I have other people to call, and time I waste quoting time wasters is time I could be calling more prospects.

I wouldn't be so frustrated if it was say, even half of my quotes. So far it seems I'm closing maybe 10% at that stage. I'm about to just consider my warm market useless and move on since it seems total strangers are more friendly and respectful of my time. At least when they say no it's before I waste 20 minutes on them.

How do I respectfully tell them to buy or don't waste my time?

Don't take any of this personal.

It sounds like people are letting you quote them just to be nice. It doesn't sound like you're giving people the impression they'll be better off with you as their agent. It could be a perceived lack of confidence when you're speaking with them or preconceived notions they have about you from prior experiences. It could also be the people you're talking to have 1 car, don't own a house and thus aren't going to see much value in switching because it's insignificant to them.

I'd recommend spending more time making yourself sound like an expert. That could come from more knowledge/experience or from changes in how you talk to people. When you're talking to people with skin in the game (more than one car, a house, etc.) the "sale" comes before you even run the quote. THEY should be hoping your quote comes back competitive because they've already decided YOU are the person they want looking after their insurance.

 

[romeroaaron]

I'm running into this problem where people will let me run a quote for them, no problem. But when it's actually time to pull the trigger they ghost me with no explanation. I know it's part of the business. But it's annoying and disrespectful. I don't appreciate running free quotes all day for people, actually saving them money and then having them waste my time with a game of hide and seek. I can't even get people to sign a simple AOR change request. And this is my warm market. I don't understand how someone wouldn't sign a single piece of paper to support their cousin's business after wasting 20+ minutes of his time answering questions and letting them quote you. I have other people to call, and time I waste quoting time wasters is time I could be calling more prospects.

I wouldn't be so frustrated if it was say, even half of my quotes. So far it seems I'm closing maybe 10% at that stage. I'm about to just consider my warm market useless and move on since it seems total strangers are more friendly and respectful of my time. At least when they say no it's before I waste 20 minutes on them.

How do I respectfully tell them to buy or don't waste my time?

To me, it sounds like you are doing a great job with getting people's foot in the door. Being able to quote someone is step 1 and 2. This is because they are interested in what you as an agent have to offer + they are interested in what it costs. If you are encountering scenarios in which you quoted them and are cheaper, but they still ghost you, you probably just have not gotten the hang of closing the sale. Jordan Belfort has something in his book "Way of the Wolf" that I have used for all of my sales since I read it. The customer needs to trust the "Person, Product, Company, and have a low action threshold." Getting them to trust you is really contingent on your ability to have knowledge within our industry and being able to answer questions with ease IMO. Selling the product is the easiest part because the contracts that insurance companies offer are already ready for you, and they are already in the market for it if they are taking your quote. The company gets tricky because if you are independent I would focus on selling your agency as the business, but if I am captive I'd sell the company AND the agency. Action threshold is dependent on how interested someone is in saving money.

If someone says "It's too much work to switch," have phrases ready for them so that you can get them WANTING to switch to you. EVERYONE wants to save money if you can offer an equivalent product, it's on you to close the sale though. Smile on the phone and stand up. That's what I do.

 

[Allen Trent]

JD power dod a study & said only about 30% of people even calling around for quotes end up switching right then. And that was people pro actively calling on their own. This tells me people get busy with work, kids, social media or think it will be too much work to switch.

Get their carrier & policy date & put it in your system. 30 days before renewal contact them. 2x a year on auto & 1x per year on Home, commerical, farm. Over time, you will develop a warm lead type relationship or catch them at the right time that they are willing to move forward to have you write the business. In some cases, you will be talking to them more than their current agency. Your odds of writing will go up the more prior history you have.

Ask for referrals of neighbors, friends & co workers

 

[Life Hawk]

Smile on the phone and stand up.

Right there is good stuff. It may seem a bit nutty, but it's gold. What our prospects miss seeing, they hear in our voice. We are to become agents of transference.

BTW, not a P&C guy, but can you just take a street and knock asking to compare cost?