Interacting with Price Shoppers

[Funguy]

Hey Guys,

1) When selling Final expense how do you deal with a client who is eager to know the price;these are the people who barely give the insurance professional a chance to start or finish their presentation/ questions, they just want to know the price.......

They do not seem to be friendly, it seems they are shopping around for price and not concerned about anything else at all. Quite often they have unrealistic expectations regarding the face amount they may qualify for as well....

From my experience some of them even got annoyed when I asked them series of health related questions on the application......

2) Is there a chance of establishing a salesperson/ client relationship with a price shopper?

3) When you have an appointment with a price shopper do you guys avoid rapport building or humor?

Any tips for dealing with price shoppers when selling final expense would be appreciated.

Funguy

 

[jdeasy]

First thing I do is establish why I'm there. If they can't give me a reason for why they responded then I don't go any further.

I do not make presentations to uninterested people.

I rarely get the objection you are describing because the people I present to are interested and they want to know their options and the why of it all.

I'm sure that if I didn't get the uninterested out of the way in the beginning that I would present to more tire kickers.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Offer to go shopping with them. Get out the Final Expense Quote Calculator and put their info in and show them. Take them through the medication guide, find out what they qualify for. After you show them that your on their side and willing to take them through all the quotes, they know your legit. Its one thing to be told, its a whole nother thing to be shown that your shopping for them. If they have meds you can show them which company will rate them standard or graded.
THEN you can educate on the differences between first day coverage and graded, what the mailer companies sell them etc.
Give them what they want, after you build trust, then educate, then ask them what companies they were looking at, and what they want.
I have had price shoppers, they are the worse because they use an agent. Just accommodate them and educate them.

 

[Funguy]

Hey Jdeasy,

Thanks for the response.

1) If someone tells you over the phone that right now their financial situation is not great / unemployed etc/ have other bills to pay etc but they would like to meet to get information and a quote, would you still set the appointment?

2) If you meet with someone and they tell you in the beginning, they are not looking to buy anything today, just looking for a price quote, would you leave the meeting?

3) Do you ask your clients how much premium can they afford on a monthly basis before giving them a quote?

4) If the client doesn't understand properly what the lead card meant and says over the phone, I already have life insurance how do you respond to that?

Thanks in Advance. This forum is very insightful.

 

[Jake07712]

When people tell me, from the get go, that they are only looking for information and not ready to buy, I ignore it. I feel that it's a sign that they are afraid of being talked into something that they don't want. If you establish the need and the emotion, they will buy .... and feel good about it.

 

[Migshannon]

Price shoppers are usually disconnected from our presentation. Sometimes arrogant giving us one word answers when we are building trust.

They make statements like" I want the insurance just tell how much it cost and i will tell you which one i want"
I have been guilty of falling in that trap, getting the almost automated response" oh that's too high" or " give me your card and I will give you call" Finding ourselves back pedaling and loosing ground fast.

The first thing is to recognize the price shopper and do your best not to be offended. That way you do not carry the offense into your next presentation.

If the price shopper keeps cutting you off and making demands for rates then just agree with them " Yes ma'am Mrs. Jones I do want to give you the prices as soon as possible however as you know there are only two things that buy life insurance Age and health. So in order for me to give you prices on a product that you will qualify for i need to see all your medicines and know about your health history, please."

Sometimes price shoppers have been burnt by other sales people or just had a real bad experience. You can always ask with a sincere heart " Mrs Jones I know this is very important information but is there something else on your mind?

Do your best to always build rapport because people buy from whom they trust and even price shoppers are gonna die someday.

 

[jdeasy]

I rarely get anything like that on the phone because I do no qualifying on the phone. But if they tell me they just want information I tell them, "great, that's what I do, get the information to you. Is 10:00am good?".

I did have a lady tell me today that we had met before and she didn't have any money then and doesn't have any money now. I don't remember meeting with her but I trashed that lead once she told me that.

Once I get there we never talk about money. Once I'm in and we sit down I write down their names, age and ask if they smoke and write down their answers. Then I go over the lead reply card with them.

After going over it then I say, "we find there's one of 3 reasons people these cards. 1. They don't have anything in place to take care of their funeral, burial and other final expenses and they need something. 2. They have a little bit in place but they need to supplement that or possibly they want to see if there is a better deal on what they have. Or 3., They have all that taken care of but they want to leave a legacy to their family, their church or a charity."

If they haven't stopped me at one of those, {and they almost always do}, then I just ask, "which one of those was your reason?".

If they can't tell me then we are done. I give them my card, thank them for their time and I leave.

As I said before, I do not present to uninterested people. I am not a good enough salesman to sell something to people that are not interested.

Tim W. is a different story. He doesn't have to stop where I do. He can turn a not interested into interest. I can't.

I find that once a person has told you the "why" then the sale is pretty much done. I just have to fill in the blanks. That's when I use my 4 Questions and provide them with the answers to those 4 Questions.

I get very few objections after going over my presentation. And that is by design. I am not good at over objections so my presentation is designed to remove objections before I get them.

But, back to the start, if I didn't get the "why" out there up front then I would get tons of objections during and after the presentation because they aren't interested.

This is how I do things. This is what works for me. I'm not telling anyone to do what I do or even suggesting that my way will work for anyone else.

I will say this though, Travis Tubbs is probably the best FE agent I know. I learned the 3 reasons from him.

Hey Jdeasy,

Thanks for the response.

1) If someone tells you over the phone that right now their financial situation is not great / unemployed etc/ have other bills to pay etc but they would like to meet to get information and a quote, would you still set the appointment?

2) If you meet with someone and they tell you in the beginning, they are not looking to buy anything today, just looking for a price quote, would you leave the meeting?

3) Do you ask your clients how much premium can they afford on a monthly basis before giving them a quote?

4) If the client doesn't understand properly what the lead card meant and says over the phone, I already have life insurance how do you respond to that?

Thanks in Advance. This forum is very insightful.

 

[RonSmith1984]

Hey JD. Once you have established the "why" what are the 4 questions you then go over?

 

[jdeasy]

Hey JD. Once you have established the "why" what are the 4 questions you then go over?

1. How much?

2. What kind?

3. From who?

4. When?

I have this printed out and with the answers at the bottom. I give the paper to all prospects and we just go over it in a conversational manner. They usually ask a lot of questions especially on the what kind? But that's a good thing. If I go through it all without any interaction form the person that's not a good sign.

 

[Migshannon]

Over the years I have had many clients tell me over the phone or at the door
" Im not buying anything, i cant afford any more bills, ok you can come out but your wasting your time" I have always looked at these as their bark is worse than their bite.
When I started my FE career back in 1996 I was told the two biggest lies in the insurance business are " I dont have any money" and "I dont have a checking account." But if someone tells me they are unemployed and they have no other means of income... I will very politely back out and give them a quote over the phone, leaving the door open for a future call. Times change and so do circumstances.

Asking clients how much money they can afford on a monthly bases is a double edged sword. Some agents are very comfortable asking this question where as other agents feel its intrusive. Some clients might get offended and shut down. Its not always what you say its how you say it. So if your going to ask the question make sure your delivery is good.

example. You know Mrs. Jones if your like my grandparents living on a fixed income you know exactly whats coming in and have to watch everything going out, im not here to take any food off the table but i need an idea of what you could be comfortable paying each month.

Hope this helps