New Agent, Simple Call Script

ThinkAndGrowRich

New Member
13
I'm a relatively new agent (been calling folks for 3 weeks). I need to master cold calling. I've been lurking the forum, reading scripts, and trying to create my own based on what I've read on here. I'm not fully confident with it though, because I've called at least 200 people and have gotten only one appointment. In fact, today I really pushed through my normal call reluctance and made 70 calls, and at call 50 is when I got my appointment.

Here is my current script:

Hi, may I speak to _______ please? Hi, my name is FirstName LastName. I'm with AllStateFarmers Insurance.

The reason I'm calling is that we're reaching out to people in the area in order to start a conversation with them about life insurance. Have you had an opportunity to sit down with a professional to discuss your options?

I've chosen this script because somehow it feels very natural, but it's also not creating the results I want. Without meaning to beat a dead horse, I felt obligated to post my own thread.

Any advice? Any recommended sales training material is also appreciated.
 
I'm a relatively new agent (been calling folks for 3 weeks). I need to master cold calling. I've been lurking the forum, reading scripts, and trying to create my own based on what I've read on here. I'm not fully confident with it though, because I've called at least 200 people and have gotten only one appointment. In fact, today I really pushed through my normal call reluctance and made 70 calls, and at call 50 is when I got my appointment. Here is my current script: I've chosen this script because somehow it feels very natural, but it's also not creating the results I want. Without meaning to beat a dead horse, I felt obligated to post my own thread. Any advice? Any recommended sales training material is also appreciated.

You have to ramp up your dials / calls. Go to YouTube and search for Jim Rhon
 
The reason you have call reluctance is because you don't have a good enough offer/script that you would say yes to yourself. Here's my problem: I don't know how to help you because I don't know what and how you offer what you do.

Life insurance selling really is an art. Unless you're planning to try to compete on price/quotes... well, there's no real 'value add' in that kind of service.

My recommendation would be to lighten up on the "life insurance" angle of what you do, and offer a more "comprehensive insurance review" as a service. Offering services is much easier psychologically than trying to sell (push) a product that may or may not be received well.

Your job is to create an environment and a relationship suitable to offer your favorite products. A great tool to get started doing this, would be here (free for 30 days, then $23.95/month): Priority Approaches

Now, when you make calls, you can use a script like this:

"Hello Mr. ______? My name is Firstname Lastname with Allstate/Farmers Insurance here in (city). Do you have a quick minute to talk? (Emphasize that you are local - this makes a difference. In fact, you can mention your cross-streets too to enhance the familiarity factor.)

The reason I'm calling is we've been offering our neighbors here in (city) a total insurance policy review and audit. We help you make sure that you have the right policies and coverage for you, that they are structured properly, and that you are able to take full advantage of every discount available in your auto, home, and your life insurance. Our review process only takes about 15 minutes, and most people have found it to be a very valuable process. When would be a good time we can get together for 15 minutes and show you the kind of work we do with our clients?"

Then when you arrive, you bring a Priority Planning Review and review their total coverage to help you coordinate everything.


But without such a comprehensive service, you're going to be trying to sell a policy instead of offering a service... and that's hard today.
 
Thank you for your thoughtful response, DHK. I greatly appreciate your posts. In fact, the modified script you presented is similar to one I was using a week ago, and for some reason I stopped. I do drop a "here in (city)" every other call, but I didn't write it into the script here.

I guess I need to talk to my manager about how to present a policy review. Honestly, not that I expect him to hold my hand, but he hasn't really given me much to work with. I've been figuring it out all on my own, and by researching online. He just says, "talk to people about having a conversation about life insurance."

P.S. "AllStateFarmers" = Combination of Allstate, State Farm, and Farmers. Am I the only one that thinks it's weird that their names all partially overlap?

----------

You have to ramp up your dials / calls.

I know. You're right.
 
Last edited:
why not try:

Hi ____, my name is ____, here in _____ town. The reason I am calling...well first of all, I am not a telemarketer (and laugh while saying it), but......

and then go from there. You are NOT a telemarketer and if you can finish the last sentence with ur own, u should do fine. Trust me, if you laugh while saying u are not a telemarketer, most likely u will get a laugh back, or a "u better be glad cause I was gonna hang up", or nothing at all. Either way or whatever they say, it gives you about 5 seconds of their time.
 
Life insurance is about a solution to a problem. But until you find out what THEIR problems are... you're just trying to push your product.

That's what the Priority Planning Reviews help you do. PLUS they'll help you get an idea of general assets and liabilities that they have. After all, insurance is about protecting their assets, right?

While I'm not a P&C agent, if a client of yours has $250,000 of investment assets... and they hit someone and kill them... and they only have state minimum coverage... would you say they were under-insured? Isn't that $250,000 of assets now AT RISK in the event they happened to have caused an accident that led to serious injury or death?

If that same person has $250,000 of assets... should their homeowner's deductible be $1,000? Or could you raise it to $2,500 and save them some money? Could that savings be used to buy an umbrella policy?

If you're not looking at the entire situation, then you're just GUESSING how much coverage you think they want at a price that they are willing to pay.
 
My recommendation would be to lighten up on the "life insurance" angle of what you do, and offer a more "comprehensive insurance review" as a service. Offering services is much easier psychologically than trying to sell (push) a product that may or may not be received well.

[...]

But without such a comprehensive service, you're going to be trying to sell a policy instead of offering a service...

I wholeheartedly agree. I would feel much more comfortable if I wasn't simply offering a product (e.g., Final Expense), but a service (e.g., Insurance and Financial Review). The service-oriented, or consultative sales, approach was what I came into this industry expecting, but somehow it's been feeling like I'm just calling to ask if people are interested in Life Insurance.

I'm interested in education, and I want to educate clients about their own needs and the options they have available to them for addressing those needs. My long-run vision for myself in the industry is to be a comprehensive financial planner, and I thought starting in Insurance was a smart idea to familiarize myself with risk management. Although I respect and value the art and skill of selling, I think I do feel more of a pressure to sell a product now than to educate or service people, and it creates tension in me.
 
When contacting people to sell them insurance you are one of the thousand "sales pitches" coming to that person in a daily basis and unless that person is looking to buy insurance you are immediately rejected... You need to differentiate yourself from the rest of your competitors --in another word, you have to learn the skills to bypass the "sales filter" and non of these suggestions that you are getting won't do it. You are looking to help hard working families get the right protection, peace of mind and financial security they deserve and you want to know how you can help that individual take care of those worries.....why? Because that is what we truly value...specially when everyone is struggling to make ends meet.
 
Back
Top