Life is Still a Face to Face Sale

[Crabcake Johnny]

Insurance News - 54% Of 'Serious Shoppers' Bought Life Insurance

Prior LIMRA studies have shown that over half of consumers prefer to buy life insurance face-to-face. LIMRA's new study found that life insurance shoppers who meet face to face with sales reps are the most likely to buy. In fact, if there was any face-to-face contact during the shopping process, more than 7 in 10 bought.

Life insurance shoppers who use only the Internet while shopping and never meet with anyone are the least likely to buy after shopping -- only 36 percent bought. Those consumers who started shopping on the Internet and then met with a sales rep were 1.5 times more likely to buy than those who only shopped online.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Insurance News - 54% Of 'Serious Shoppers' Bought Life Insurance

Prior LIMRA studies have shown that over half of consumers prefer to buy life insurance face-to-face. LIMRA's new study found that life insurance shoppers who meet face to face with sales reps are the most likely to buy. In fact, if there was any face-to-face contact during the shopping process, more than 7 in 10 bought.

Life insurance shoppers who use only the Internet while shopping and never meet with anyone are the least likely to buy after shopping -- only 36 percent bought. Those consumers who started shopping on the Internet and then met with a sales rep were 1.5 times more likely to buy than those who only shopped online.

So for every 10 presentations you make 7 would buy? 70% closing ratio. I must be missing something as these figures do not play out in the real world.

 

[VolAgent]

So for every 10 presentations you make 7 would buy? 70% closing ratio. I must be missing something as these figures do not play out in the real world.

They surveyed consumers, not agents.

1. They spoke with more than one agent.
2. They lied.
3. Both.

 

[STIBROKER]

In fact, if there was any face-to-face contact during the shopping process, more than 7 in 10 bought..

does that mean the other 3 bought online ..........

 

[theinsuranceman]

does that mean the other 3 bought online ..........

LOL...no, the other 3 did not buy.

 

[Larry Tew]

So for every 10 presentations you make 7 would buy? 70% closing ratio. I must be missing something as these figures do not play out in the real world.

It most definitely DOES play out in the real world, but it depends on what your process is and who your client profile is.

If your approach is "Hey, you don't want to buy any life insurance do ya?" then no, 70% isn't going to happen. Even 7% ain't happening.

But if a prospect has been given some information as to what you do before the first meeting and you were endorsed by someone they know (referror), 70% happens all day long. The catch is that if you work that way, you're not going to be asking 20 people a week to buy something.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

To me, this is even a more important part of the article:

Our research shows that consumers who received a needs analysis were considerably more likely to buy than consumers who didn't," said Cheryl Retzloff, senior research director, LIMRA Markets research. "Moreover, producers who recommended an amount to buy to their clients not only had more clients close the deal but on average those clients bought 60 percent more coverage."

So, not only a belly-to-belly presentation but a full needs analysis followed by a professional recommendation.

This is how I bought my first life policy when I was newly married. The agent didn't come across as "salesy" or pushy but illustrated how much we needed.

 

[BNTRS]

This is the study LIMRA liked, so they brought it to print. They've got a lot of other data they don't release to the public, wonder what all of those studies say.

 

[JGold814]

Face-to-face is always better if it can be done. From my experience...people are more likely to complete the app if meeting in person. On a number of cases I've worked on...I've felt like I've had to chase the guy around just to get the app done.

However, face-to-face really only works if the guy is either somewhat local (like within an hour distance or so) or, if in another state, it's a really big client.

It does seem like people on the younger side are going to be more likely to buy online and people in the older brackets would prefer face-to-face.

The times are changing...it'll be interesting to see how the results of that study would change if done again in 20 years.
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To me, this is even a more important part of the article:

Our research shows that consumers who received a needs analysis were considerably more likely to buy than consumers who didn't," said Cheryl Retzloff, senior research director, LIMRA Markets research. "Moreover, producers who recommended an amount to buy to their clients not only had more clients close the deal but on average those clients bought 60 percent more coverage."

So, not only a belly-to-belly presentation but a full needs analysis followed by a professional recommendation.

This is how I bought my first life policy when I was newly married. The agent didn't come across as "salesy" or pushy but illustrated how much we needed.

Most people don't buy the level of insurance that they need cause they don't want to write the check (or can't). Determining their most crucial items that need to be taken care of (i.e. house, cars, kids college education, etc.) is a great starting point.

I always say...you should buy as much as you can for as long as you can, while still being able to comfortably write the check - which is why you should buy it when you're young and not when you're 85 years old and have a long list of health problems (and expecting to get $250k of coverage for $50/month (seen too many of those kinds of leads lately for some reason).

 

[Larry Tew]

I always say...you should buy as much as you can for as long as you can, while still being able to comfortably write the check - which is why you should buy it when you're young and not when you're 85 years old and have a long list of health problems (and expecting to get $250k of coverage for $50/month (seen too many of those kinds of leads lately for some reason).

Or you can help them find the money.