May I have your attention, please?

[somarco]

Some folks are of the belief you need to set yourself apart from the competition by creating a USP (unique selling proposition). Some examples in the retail world of a USP include

Good to the last drop

Melts in your mouth, not in your hand

Keeps going and going and going . . .

and one of my favorites,

If you can find a better car, buy it.

What is your USP? How do you set yourself apart from other agents, online quote mills, carriers who market direct, etc.?

And just in case some of the USP's mean nothing to you, here are some clues.

Energizer battery, M&M candy, Maxwell House coffee, Chrysler

 

[STIBROKER]

here is how long I have been an agent......here is who I am Lic. to sell....Here are my own health ins. cards dating back to 1996.....are the other people calling you trying to apply to be your insurance broker.....

 

[J.R.]

Client: "My name is Sean."
ME: "My name is J.R."
Client: "I'm sure you have heard this before.......but do you know who shot "J.R.?"
ME: "Actually I do.....insert dramatic pause here.......IT was the last client who told me that he needed to think about instead of giving me a yes or no answer.".... "Fortunately for me I have health insurance!!!!!"

I gurantee that you WILL NOT find any other agent who will send you a Holiday David Hasselhoff CD!!!!

Do you know any other agent who will send a client a "You need to send me a thank-you card" for helping him to pick out the BEST plan and get you that SPECIAL magic card to the world's finest hospital facilities.

We Take the BS out of Health Insurance!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Get exclusive leads. Then instead of seperating yourself from the herd, you are the herd.

 

[somarco]

A sense of humor always helps to break the ice.

So do you send them a picture of Borat or Hasselhoff?

 

[STIBROKER]

Get exclusive leads. Then instead of seperating yourself from the herd, you are the herd.

kill the herd now and you will not have to deal with them in the future....

 

[J.R.]

A sense of humor always helps to break the ice.

So do you send them a picture of Borat or Hasselhoff?

Depends on my mood.

 

[Newby]

Here is one of my favorite lines if I determine they have a sense of humor and they are healthy ... (better give you some background first though. I am a funeral preplanner and pre-need means buying your funeral while you are living, at-need means your family buying your funeral after you die.)

Here's the line:

Mr. Smith, we can take care of these arrangements either pre-need or at-need...but either way it will have to be today.

Always gets a laugh.

 

[somarco]

I am still amazed at the folks who want to buy insurance to cover an event that has already occurred (such as a pregnancy). When I get those calls (usually from folks who are not insured now but have a newly acquired medical issue) I remind them that the time to buy insurance is when they don't need it. The illustration I use is this to make my point.

The guy in the casket at the front of the church may well need life insurance, but he waited too late to apply.

Of course I still get the occasional response "if they wont pay for my (medicine, treatment, surgery, diagnostic tests)) then why do I need insurance?"

Gee, you got me there.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I set myself aside from other agents they have talked to in a whole host of ways. My USP is ME. I'm not in the retail world, and people are not buying a product they are buying me. There are tons of agents selling the exact same thing I am.

1. I don't "sell" them anything. I educate them about Medicare and their options. I then tell them what I would do and what I believe to be the most logical choice for them. And, reinforce my "suggestion" using facts and logic.

2. I try to act like and look like no other agent who has called on them before. I wear Levies that I tailored have dry cleaned, starched shirts, freshly shined shoes or hiking boots in the winter.

3. I take my time and make sure they understand everything we are talking about. I don't talk real fast and try to slam something down their throat using "scare tactics". (Oh my God, if you don't take a Plan F you are putting yourself at great financial risk.)

4. I communicate with them several times a year.

5. My business card and all correspondence simply says "Your Insurance Agent", that is my "title".

6. I am not all "business", I'm like the guy down the road who stopped in for a cup of coffee to BS with them about insurance.

I can't sell being all business and getting right to the point in my market. I'm selling to seniors, not businesses.

I am just "me" all the time. Yes, it may turn a few people off because of my casual approach but I'm equally as sure that an agent who is "all business" turns off some of his/her prospects.

I joke and laugh with them. Call the women "darlin" and the guys "buddy". It doesn't sound fake because that is the way I talk to everyone. (Because of my personality I can do that with ease and they never bat an eye. It's how and when I say it, not what I say.) You don't have to agree with the way I do it, it is just what has always enabled me to be very successful at this.

Whether they buy or not, when I walk out the door most of them think of me as a person, some even as a friend, not as "just another insurance agent".

Selling them is the easy part, keeping them as a client for many years is my goal.