New Agent, Simple Call Script

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

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.

My Agent did say that that's how it should be done, i.e. cross-selling from P&C to Life. That is how State Farm generally does business. In fact, one of his main business problems is that with his primary market, there are a lot of legal status issues making it difficult to offer Life above so much coverage for certain clients. Hence why he decided to suddenly stop out of that market for Life, and I was brought in.

It's more like patchwork than a consistent business strategy, and I don't say that to insult his intelligence. I think he just wanted to give this a try before someone can say "it can't be done." Although it would have made more sense for him to hire someone with more experience.

Anyway, I am where I am and I'm jus trying learn whatever I can do to make it happen. If you really think I need to get P&C licensed, which my manager did consider briefly after talking to other agents, then perhaps I can talk to him about it Monday.

 

[Lakshmi]

I'm just shaking my head.

There's a lot wrong here.

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Good luck to you though.

 

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

I'm just shaking my head.

There's a lot wrong here.

re: my script specifically or my general situation?

 

[VolAgent]

My Agent did say that that's how it should be done, i.e. cross-selling from P&C to Life. That is how State Farm generally does business. In fact, one of his main business problems is that with his primary market, there are a lot of legal status issues making it difficult to offer Life above so much coverage for certain clients. Hence why he decided to suddenly stop out of that market for Life, and I was brought in.

It's more like patchwork than a consistent business strategy, and I don't say that to insult his intelligence. I think he just wanted to give this a try before someone can say "it can't be done." Although it would have made more sense for him to hire someone with more experience.

Anyway, I am where I am and I'm jus trying learn whatever I can do to make it happen. If you really think I need to get P&C licensed, which my manager did consider briefly after talking to other agents, then perhaps I can talk to him about it Monday.

Dude has set you up to fail in an effort to save his agency. State Farm is probably breathing down his neck about life production and he is hoping you are going to save him. Unfortunately that is not going to be the case as is.

Quite frankly you need a P&C license or you need to move on. Sell home and auto to English speaking clients AND then try to get their life policy.

 

[Lakshmi]

I don't have a lot of time today.

But yes, your script first and foremost, and second, your situation.

Right in your opening line you say this, "The reason I'm reaching out to you is because we really want our neighbors...."

That right there is a problem. You are telling the prospect what YOU want.

They could give a rat's bum what you want.

Back in the day when I researched Cognitive Psych (the way humans process, learn, and retain info, basically), I learned by sound research that what people remember most in any given situation is the beginning and end of a convo . This is why it's imperative that your intro and close be awesome and both MUST be about them and what they want.

Semantics is not for everyone, but if you want to be successful, start by making it ALL ABOUT THEM, especially in the intro and close. How we word things is a big deal when in sales. Perhaps, this is the biggest factor in how to be successful. Although it may seem silly to play on words, but it's the only way I operate and the way I always get deals, and of course help people get what THEY want and need.

As agents, we simply start a dialogue with a prospect and find what problems they may have, then we solve those problems. But, we do it in such a way that they discover their own problems. It's not hard, but it takes creativity. There's a ton of great scripts in here....

Essentially, if a prospect doesn't have adequate coverage, then they have a problem, but you have to get them to realize this without telling them what you think in the beginning...you can tell them all about your recommendations after you gain a little rapport/trust...that could be done quickly or it could take some time. I generally lay the ground work for this right on the phone before I meet with them--then seal it up when we meet.

You have some good intros posted in this thread to go by. You can customize those to fit your own personality.

Second, I cannot speak to cross-selling to State Farms P and C's customer base, as I've never done it. I've only sold against the way they once sold their Assurant health plans back in the day (back when they proposed and sold Core Med plans), then cross sold the LI, CI, etc.

It might behoove you to gain some good experience there, then move on. To me, it seems like selling life insurance to p and c base might be like trying to fit a triangle peg into a square peg. I more prefer keeping myself specialized in either health, life, DI, CI, ancillaries concerned with any of those.

I'm not saying it cannot be done, just wouldn't be for me. People think in categories, sort of compartmentalized thinking for the most part...P and C, might be too far away for a lot of people from Life insurance, although both really are income and asset protection. It has always seemed best to specialize in one or the other, rather than spread myself to thinly (I do see youre not P and C licensed, but still...).

Just my quick thoughts. It's my cold calling day and I'm already behind my own goals.

Carry on....and, good luck!!

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Also real quick, we are all lucky in that we do not have to pay for slots on the television for advertising...there are plenty of carriers doing that for us... Just by default, surely if you call 100 prospects, at least two of them will have at least seen a commercial for life insurance recently and at least thought about the need for it.

So again, just by default you should get people on the phone who HAVE thought about needing that solution.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around making so many calls and not getting in the door for at least two deals. My old trainer used to say, "every squirrel can get a but eventually!"

Seems like you should have gotten a few sales by now. The only thing I can think of is how your wording things is not working for you. Which is why I focused on that a little bit ago.

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Should've been "every squirrel can get a nut eventually." Posting from phone. Haven't figured out how to edit from phone yet. That phrase though worked for my son when he was 16, he thought it was funny, but even at 16 he made appointments for me just by calling enough people. He was terrible on the phone at 16. Now at 24 he's awesome, but sadly started his own biz and will not do it for me anymore. Lol.

 

[ThinkAndGrowRich]

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..

I'm starting to realize that this is probably true, although I'd hesitate to say "***" and would rather say "desperately confused". However, I'm probably splitting hairs even with that distinction.

Thanks for all of honest input. I appreciate it.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Okay, how about these? (I hope I'm getting warmer.)

"Hello, John Smith? Hi, John. My name is FIRST LAST with State Farm Insurance here in CITY. Do you have a quick minute to talk?

I'm calling because we're offering our neighbors here in CITY an income and assets protection review. This will show you how to properly protect your family from income loss due to disability or premature death, and how to protect your assets from being liquidated to pay for estate taxes upon your death. The review process only takes about 20 minutes, and most people find great value in going over their protection needs with us.

When we can get together for about 20 minutes so we can show you the work we do with our clients?"

OR

Hi. May I speak to John Smith, please? Hi, John. My name is FIRST LAST. I’m with State Farm Insurance here in CITY.

I’m calling because we’re offering our neighbors here in CITY an opportunity to review their disability, long-term care, and life insurance needs. We’d like to show you how you can properly protect your income and assets, and ultimately ensure your family’s financial security. We will review any policies you already have and discuss any other discounts or benefits that are available to you.

When can we get together for about 20 minutes to review your needs?

Really, I appreciate the tough love even if it stings a little.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

It's not the script! Cold calling for a "financial review" is a LOSER. Most folks would rather have a root canal.

 

[DHK]

What is the BENEFIT of meeting with you?

"Hi, I'm DHK and I'm out and about introducing myself today. May I take 30 seconds to tell you a little about what I do, and then you can decide if it makes sense to keep talking?" (This is my asking for permission, checking to see if they are nice, or if I'm interrupting something really important 'test'.)

"As an insurance agent and financial advisor, I do different things for different people at different times."

"For families, I help them to eliminate their debts, save for college educations for their kids, get the life insurance they need to protect their families, pay off their homes 5 to 10 years early, and save for the retirement they've always wanted... all without changing your current lifestyle or taking additional money out of your budget."

"For retirees, I help them to guarantee their retirement nest-egg with principal protection, market upside without the downside, and guarantee a lifetime income, so that even if you run out of money, you'll never run out of income."

"For business owners, I help them assure a buyer and a selling price for their business that's acceptable to the IRS... and help them to use business dollars to satisfy personal financial security needs such as insurance and retirement planning."

"Now, I don't know if you could use someone like me... but do you think it might be worthwhile for us to sit down and talk and see where I might be able to help?"


Now, I can't expect you to be able to do all that when you're new. But what is the difference between my script and yours? I'm talking about benefits and results in a way that can get that person interested in the kind of work I do.


Here's an email newsletter I just got on this topic from FortuneNow.com. They are "MLM-based", but this stuff can be used anywhere.

Hi,

Tom "Big Al" Schreiter here.

No prospects that will listen? Why?

Imagine you are reading a newspaper. We don't read newspapers cover-to-cover. Instead, we scan the headlines for something interesting to us.

If the headline is interesting, we may or may not read the article. If the headline is not interesting, we never read the article. Even if the article was the most interesting article in the world, we would never see it.

It is the same with network marketing. If our first sentence is good, we have a chance. Our prospect may want to know more. If our first sentence is not good, or is not interesting, then our prospect does not want to hear anything more about our presentation.

Our prospects protect their time. They quickly make a decision to listen or not to listen based upon the first few seconds of our presentation. Is that fair? Of course not. It is just the way it is.

So if we don't have any prospects that want to listen to us, then it might be because our first sentences are boring or even terrible.

Let's take a look at the following example.

Sentence #1: "I am in the global search for entrepreneurial talent, looking for time freedom and financial freedom, whereby they can enhance their income through multiple streams of residual income …"

Sentence #2: "Does your job interfere with your week, too?"

Which sentence do you think might engage your prospects more?

It doesn't matter how good your business opportunity is, or your product or service, if nobody wants to listen to it. We have to grab our prospects’ interest quickly.

So do this little test right now. Write down the first sentence out of your mouth when you are engaging a prospect.

Now, read your first sentence out loud.

Well, what do you think? If you were the prospect, would you want more information or would you look for excuses not to hear anything more?

The next Big Al book to be released by Amazon is all about first sentences. Would you like a free copy of this book?

Amazon will give away a free copy of the book for two days, and if you would like the notice from Amazon, leave your email address at:

Big Al Books

I expect the Amazon announcement of the free book in less than two weeks.

If I were you, I'd register to get the free book. You might as well.

 

[ks1017]

Im relatively new to the cold calling but Iv success using this script

Me: Hi X?
Customer: Yes
Me: this is X with X insurance
How are you today,
Customer: Great
Then offer insurance
If you can take them this far in the conversation then you got them on the hook

 

[GreenSky]

Im relatively new to the cold calling but Iv success using this script

Me: Hi X?
Customer: Yes
Me: this is X with X insurance
How are you today,
Customer: Great
Then offer insurance
If you can take them this far in the conversation then you got them on the hook

I'll be kind because you admitted you are relatively new. Asking "How are you today" is pointless and clearly is something an inexperienced person would do.

I've done a number of webinars on cold calling and even interviewed my telemarketer. You might consider taking a look at the site in my signature. 3 day trial membership at no cost.

Rick