Objection Handling

[Josh]

"To simplify it quite a bit "Hi, would you like to buy some insurance? .... No? Thanks, goodbye [click]""

So you mean this is what i should be doing?

Absolutely! If you're cold calling you should be very direct with what you want. If someone keeps dodging questions and is not expressing any interest, don't try to push them into something. The harder you push them, the harder they'll fight. To some degree this may be cultural, but if someone is not interested in what you have to offer than be done with them. Sure, some people need to be coaxed a little and to some degree that's a part of the job, but far too many agents spend entirely too long talking people to death who have no interest in doing anything when they could be using that time to try to find someone who is interested in talking to them.

 

[Question]

Hmm but isnt there a problem with that since most people need insurance but dont think they do? You could be calling 200 people to get 1 lead.

 

[Franz Kafka]

This was a very rude way of putting it across. I'm not sure what you are saying here...that at the very start, i should just ask why they agreed to meet with me? And what about objections over the phone?

I get a feeling that even if they tell you why they decided to meet with you, you would just ignore them and go ahead with your "presentation". I also get a feeling that you subconsciously think you're entitled to some hand-holding; that your manager and others owe you some training.

You must learn to listen and listen very intensely if you want to survive in this business. We're not trying to be mean - we just see 19 out of 20 guys fold in the first year and you won't make it unless you're willing to be that 1 guy.

 

[Question]

"I get a feeling that even if they tell you why they decided to meet with you, you would just ignore them and go ahead with your "presentation""

Why do you think that way?

"I also get a feeling that you subconsciously think you're entitled to some hand-holding; that your manager and others owe you some training."

Well a major point in why i joined up was because i was promised awesome support and training. If not, why join up to be a captive agent in the first place? I might as well go independant and there would be no difference.

"You must learn to listen and listen very intensely if you want to survive in this business. "

What do you mean by listen?

 

[Frank Stastny]

What do you mean by listen?

Many agents are good "talkers" but a large percentage of them have never learned any listening skills. They will stop talking for a few seconds to let the prospect say something but instead of listening they are thinking about what they are going to say next. In other words, they have a "canned" presentation and don't know how to deviate from it.

You said earlier that there are those who you work with that have been "trained" by your manager and are making one hundred thousand a year. I'd be willing to bet that they have trashed the "training" and have learned to do it themselves.

They probably started by learning the product and literally becoming an expert on it. It is only through knowledge that you can effectively handle questions and objections. If the prospect agrees that they need it and then tell you they don't want it then you haven't explained it logically to them, using factual information, why they should take it.

Your presentation should be relaxed and conversational. You should not be trying to sell them a policy you should be educating them about the benefits. If done properly then they won't have any objections. If they really do "need it" then the only reason you should not make a sale is if they genuinely can't afford it.

 

[Josh]

Many agents are good "talkers" but a large percentage of them have never learned any listening skills.

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Your presentation should be relaxed and conversational. You should not be trying to sell them a policy you should be educating them about the benefits. If done properly then they won't have any objections. If they really do "need it" then the only reason you should not make a sale is if they genuinely can't afford it.

Exactly. The only thing I would add is that if you've done your job correctly, you shouldn't have to close them, they should be saying "where do I sign?" A part of that is getting a good prospect. Out of two hours of calling (if you were in the states) you should get 1 or 2 solid leads. You don't get those leads by talking to folks that are not expressing any interest in what you have to offer. Rarely if ever will they say "I'm so glad you called, please come over as soon as you can", but you need to know within 30 seconds (or less) whether or not someone is a prospect.

If you're not getting the local training and support you need you will fail. I know I've said this plenty of times to you already, but apparently you're not believing me when I say it, you need to get training from someone in your area. The subtleties of the way Frank talks to prospects in his area is different from the way I talk to prospects in my neck of the woods, and the same could be said for most parts of this country. The mechanics are the same, but without any understanding of your culture/area/products/customer needs/etc there is no way any conversations you have on this forum will make the difference between you succeeding and failing. Let me put this in terms you can't understand. Frank sells Medicare Supplements because they are the best product for the people he speaks with in his area. If he lived in NY where I had been living for the past 5 years he could not tell me that with a straight face because for $0/month someone could get virtually identical coverage to the $145 medicare supplement PLUS it would have vision, dental, and RX coverage. He doesn't have that product in his area and because his state is not GI it's important for folks to get a Med supp before they need it. In NY someone could get diagnosed with stage IV cancer and buy a medicare supplement that month, effective the first of the next month, and let the carrier take a bath on the claims because they can't health underwrite it. Again, I put that in terms you can't understand to hopefully illustrate the point that we can't help be the difference between you failing and succeeding. If you were already doing well and wanted to try out some different things we could probably be quite helpful with that, but your situation is so different from ours and you live in another country so we can't be very helpful.

 

[Question]

I do understand what you are saying here, and i am looking for someone local who can hopefully provide me with the training/support you are talking about, but understandably its hard(Especially as people are likely to promise support that doesnt materialize later on).

At the same time im just hoping to get some ideas out of here to improve myself. Even if opening lines are not appropriate for my area maybe i can adapt it to mine. Something is better than nothing at this point.