New Agent, Simple Call Script

[Lakshmi]

Yes, farmers answer their phones. Early in the am, around lunch time, and later evening 6:30-8:00p.

Michigan: 56,000 farms, 98% of those are family owned. I do reach enough of them, simply by default if I'm making calls. Often the wife will answer...works great for me, bc I know with farmers, and many other small biz owners, the wife makes the insurance decisions...wives love life insurance. I mean no one really "loves" life insurance, but wives are a good one to bring it up to.... Just sayin....ask the wife if she can give the info you need and a time when they will both be available to meet...simple

Farmers can also be caught on their homesteads, usually on the farmland, in their pole barns in the off season...easy enough to stop in, say hi, introduce myself and see if we can work together protecting assets and income...for that matter, so can most other biz owners, just need to be creative when you go..

Farmers are never my only market...ALL small biz owners are..right now I'm working a few fabulous markets with success. Most small business owners are "hard" to reach, if they have a pot to piss in and happen to be insurance minded in the first place, but it's do-able. One must have a small bit of creativity to get it done, but even by default, you can and will catch people to do business with....and there truly is a limitless number of contacts to make....the sky is the limit. True.

I use the yellow pages...that's my cold list. And it works just as well as any other method I've tried, and I've tried them all.

And, btw, protecting one's income and assets directly helps a business. Number one asset: in most cases, the business
No business, no income.
No income, no business
A death in the family could mean serious problems with the business/asset/income.
A Critical Illness, could mean a serious drain on the business
Having no DI or BOE, could mean serious drain on the business
No accident, in the case of uninsurables health wise, etc..(you can sell something to almost anyone).

Essentially, everything a health, life, DI, or Ci, or all of the above agent does helps a business. Just having claims paid to a few small business owners reiterates this ten fold in the mind of an agent. But, helping their business and family is always the premise and should be stated in some way, shape, or form immediately in the call.

There are many different ways to skin a cat, catch a fish, whatever, as the new people get going, granted they keep with the cold calls, they find ways to adapt to what works for them...just most rarely make it past 6 months of the dirty work of cold calls... in order to build a successful business, calls are necessary., whether it's done by you, a telemarketer, or whatever. People do not flock to an agent to get signed up on life, DI, CI, etc.

In a hurry, forget the typos, slang...

 

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

UPDATE:

First, I want to say that since my original post I've called many more prospects and have in the last 45 days only had about 3 actual appointments (excluding the additional 3 that didn't show up and will not return my calls). I stopped tracking my calls because at some point I felt like I was wasting time. I may go back to doing it.

I've made no sales. I am very resistant to giving up, obviously, but it's really bruising my ego. I regularly immerse myself with the words of Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, and Grant Cardone to keep me from diving into a job at McDonald's just for the guaranteed income. Overall, I'm magically not as depressed as I should be.

Now, on a more positive note, I changed my script a week ago to the following:

Hi, may I speak to _____ _____, please. Hi, _____. My name is ThinkAndGrowRich. I'm with AllStateFarmErs Insurance here in CITY.

The reason I'm reaching out to you today is because we really want our neighbors here in CITY to start seriously thinking about THEIR life insurance PLANNING, and I would like to offer myself to you as a resource for any questions you may have about what kind of policy makes sense for your situation, how life insurance fits into your overall financial plans, whether or not this is something that makes sense for you at this time, or any other questions that may come up.

Prospect: Oh okay. [May or may nor have a question at the time.]

[If no questions:] Now would it be okay if I just left you with my personal information?

Prospect: Sure [starts taking down my info]

Me: And is this something you've thought about before, or have spoken to someone about?

Prospect: No/Not at this time/Not yet

Me: Okay, well how about we schedule some time for us to meet and discuss your needs.

[If I can't get an appointment:] Okay, well is there a reliable email address so I can send you some more information?

[Generally, they say sure and give me their email.]

I haven't tested this as much as the other script, so I can't make any comments on results.

I take full responsibility for my results, whether it really is all my fault or not. I could complain about the leads, but where does that get me? What am I doing wrong, and how can I fix it?

Also, is cold-calling really the best way to go about this? Are there more effective ways of prospecting for business [save referrals]?

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I take full responsibility for my results, whether it really is all my fault or not. I could complain about the leads, but where does that get me? What am I doing wrong, and how can I fix it?

You're not thinking, and probably not growing rich. The script sucks, but that's the least of your problems.

First of all, you have to get your expectations aligned with reality. Cold calling is going to be the least efficient prospecting activity you can do. The low contact rate alone is enough to drive you bonkers. Do you ever get answering machines or voicemail? Per 100 dials, how many folks do you actually speak to?

Secondly, you are calling total strangers who've never met you to offer yourself as a "resource". They don't know you. How do you know they want a resource? If you were on the receiving end of such a call, how would YOU react?

You're working in a P&C shop, yes? I have a lot of experience in that area. Here's two good processes that work:

1) Mail postcards to everyone in the BOB about six weeks before their birthday. It should say something like, "if you are thinking of making any changes to your life insurance program, it's cheaper to do before your birthday." Call me, blah, blah, blah.

2) Sit and take car insurance payments as they walk in. It gives you a chance to strike up a convo. "Who do you have your life insurance with?"

It doesn't have to be done the impossible way, unless you're a masochist. Anything will get better results than cold calling.

 

[Cash]

UPDATE:

First, I want to say that since my original post I've called many more prospects and have in the last 45 days only had about 3 actual appointments (excluding the additional 3 that didn't show up and will not return my calls). I stopped tracking my calls because at some point I felt like I was wasting time. I may go back to doing it.

I've made no sales. I am very resistant to giving up, obviously, but it's really bruising my ego. I regularly immerse myself with the words of Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, and Grant Cardone to keep me from diving into a job at McDonald's just for the guaranteed income. Overall, I'm magically not as depressed as I should be.

Now, on a more positive note, I changed my script a week ago to the following:



I haven't tested this as much as the other script, so I can't make any comments on results.

I take full responsibility for my results, whether it really is all my fault or not. I could complain about the leads, but where does that get me? What am I doing wrong, and how can I fix it?

Also, is cold-calling really the best way to go about this? Are there more effective ways of prospecting for business [save referrals]?

I feel for ya man. I got a couple things and I hope they help.

Are you working at State Farm or somewhere like that?
Your manager/agency owner is probably an ***, just keep that in mind. Sell a demand product like car insurance and then cross sell life. Your manager probably has the dufuses at the home office screaming "sell more life insurance" so he told you to "sell life insurance" without any thought. Maybe I'm reading the situation wrong but boy have I seen that situation.

Next

some people have offered you some good advice. There is a lot of good advice on this forum and other places yet somehow you ended up writing that monstrosity of a script. LISTEN TO PEOPLE!

That script never should have seen the light of day. That script should have never been thought of. The poor tree that was cut down to be made into paper so you could write that script down should be seriously pissed right now.

That is how bad that script it. Rearden and Lakshmi gave you great things to say and yet you didn't listen. If you don't change that script to something else soon the next script you are going to be saying is "may I take your order....do you want that in a combo......please pull up to the next window."

Sorry for the tough love. I can tell you these are the same things I tell myself.

Are you being paid by the hour? Can you call existing clients and cross sell? Are you licensed in p&c? People rarely sell life insurance off a cold call, especially without some angle.

Doesn't state farm have a program where customers save money on other insurance if they buy life?

Anyways, if you have to keep cold calling for your job I would say get to the point quick and say "I help families who want to save money on their insurance. Is that something you want to talk about? " if you can save them $30 bucks a month then throw in a $25 a month term.

 

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

Sit and take car insurance payments as they walk in. It gives you a chance to strike up a convo. "Who do you have your life insurance with?"

I only have Life & Health Licenses. Also, the book of business at my agency is like 90% Latino, and I was brought in to help bring in the English-speaking market. So feeding off the book of business does not work for me, because I do not speak Spanish.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

=ThinkAndGrowRich;961642]I only have Life & Health Licenses.

Doesn't preclude you from taking payments.

Also, the book of business at my agency is like 90% Latino, and I was brought in to help bring in the English-speaking market. So feeding off the book of business does not work for me, because I do not speak Spanish.

Rosetta Stone? If not, you're probably in a no-win situation. Time to move on.

 

[Cash]

I only have Life & Health Licenses. Also, the book of business at my agency is like 90% Latino, and I was brought in to help bring in the English-speaking market. So feeding off the book of business does not work for me, because I do not speak Spanish.

Who do you work for?

White people don't shop, live, hangout, go to church, and do business at the same places as Latinos. That's just the truth rather you like it or not. But if you are being paid by the hour and it is your job to get in white people WHY DO IT IN THE MOST DIFFICULT WAY POSSIBLE?

I would seriously look for a new job.

Here's the thing with cold calling; it's a game of low percentages. Let's say your average sell is $1,000 profit. If you sell 1 out of 100 dials you are doing great. 400 dials a day and you're making fabulous money. But if you sell 0 of 100 you are going bankrupt and are probably hating life and possibly feel suicidal at times. That's the difference from just getting 1 more out of 100. What you are doing is resulting in 0 out of 100 and it is breaking you as it would most anybody.

 

[DHK]

There is no "call to action" in that new script. Simply add this to the end:

"With that in mind... I would like to set a time to meet you in person, ask some questions, and see how I might be of service to you and your family."


In addition, don't talk about 'planning'. "Planning" sounds long, boring, and tedious. It sounds too much like "budgeting". Drop this phrase ENTIRELY... unless you're going to describe yourself as a 'financial planner'... but I'd still think twice about that.


As Cash said, you need to develop an 'angle' to sell life insurance cold. I use a "planning process" with many beneficial objectives... but that speaks to my skills and personality. Term life insurance offers protection, but that's about it. It's not as easily sold and quoted as auto & homeowners, without a verifiable reason for doing so.

While emptyeternity dismissed my idea of the priority planning approach, I still think it can be used by anyone in any stage of the business. The idea is to find out what's important to them in just 15 minutes... then you set a return appointment to show how to solve what's important to them. Don't try to "do it all" in one sitting - especially when you're new.

People are motivated to buy financial products and services by either relieving pain, or to enhance pleasure. Insurance-based solutions are better at relieving pain, so the priority reviews help to focus on what pain people have and some ideas on how to solve it.

Otherwise, you're just trying to sell a perceived commodity that they didn't say that they wanted.

 

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

Yes, I work for State Farm.

My Agent brought me in specifically to target the English-speaking market as the frosting on his Latino market cake. Understanding that I do not speak Spanish, he said that it would be difficult to work off his current book of business, and that I'd essentially be creating a book of business from scratch. Maybe that's a lot to ask for a new salesperson, but I was ambitious and wanted to prove to myself it could be done with persistence and focus.

I told him recently that I should probably focus on local small businesses and go business-to-business, door-to-door. He seems ok with that, although in general he probably is ok with anything. What do you all think?

You're right, maybe my Agent doesn't really know what he's doing since he had a competitive advantage for the Latino market (he has a spanish speaking team) but has none for the rest of the market.

As far as my recent script, I must say I am surprised to hear that it's horrible. I thought it was at least "good" albeit not "great", but to hear that it's basically garbage is surprising. I created it out of frustration for my lack of success with my previous script, so maybe it wasn't a good place to write the new script. I figured it would put the prospect's initial guard down.

 

[DHK]

Wait a minute here...

State Farm... what are they KNOWN for? Auto and homeowner's insurance.

But what does your manager want you to focus on? Life insurance... with a completely different demographic than the clientele he currently serves.


In a P&C office, life insurance is CROSS-SOLD... not as a way to bring in the client initially. After all, who walks in off the street to go into a State Farm office and ask for a life insurance policy? No, they want an auto policy.

You should play to the STRENGTHS of your firm and what it is KNOWN for if you're going to be building a new clientele. To me, that means focusing on P&C and cross-selling life insurance to the target demographic.


But to sell a product that your firm isn't well-known for... for an agency office that currently serves a completely different demographic... is a recipe for failure.


Either focus on P&C and cross-sell life insurance with a new demographic...
or
cross-sell life insurance with the existing clients.

If neither of those will work... find a new office to work out of where you can get GOOD life insurance training.