Setting Appointments Off Of Cold Calls Help

[Rearden]

OK -- So I've been cold calling with some pretty good success for burial and Med Sup insurance.

HOWEVER, I am failing to make appointments. Typical objections are, "The Med Sup sounds GREAT, BUT I need to run it over my husband first," or, "The FE program sound nice, BUT I need to check with my son first (he handles this stuff, you know...)." So on and so forth.

Further, these are all very well-qualified prospects that I talked extensively with. I even gave them multiple chances to change their minds and back out from looking at the information. So I'm pretty confident these are people that DO have an interest.

I'm thinking about actually doing drive-bys of these people to deliver the information they requested, as I was "in the neighborhood, finishing up a program, and hadn't yet finished getting the piece ready to mail, so I figure I'd drop by for 5 minutes to see if I could go over it real quick with you."

People's reception of me COULDN'T be that bad, as they know who I am and why I stopped by. I bet it's better than cold-knocking a lead card.

Any insight is appreciated; I'm just worried that I might be losing these quality prospects to apathy. Thanks!

 

[Josh]

I don't think you're going to like the answer, but one of the ways around that is to go for the appointment upfront. Part of the reason why the "Medicare reviews" work is because it gets you in the house and you have much more control then. When I started with AIL (NILICO in NY) I was trained to never give prices or try to sell over the phone and that my number 1 objective was to get to their kitchen table. The reality is that I did spend some time going on junk appointments, but it let me create the urgency and get the apps filled out when I was in the home.

On a slightly related note, I always got the applications on the table before I started the presentation and that seemed to help a lot too.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Typical objections are, "The Med Sup sounds GREAT, BUT I need to run it over my husband first," or, "The FE program sound nice, BUT I need to check with my son first (he handles this stuff, you know...)." So on and so forth.

Try asking them about their "decision making process" - early in your sales process - before you waste a lot of time.

 

[Rearden]

Thanks guys -- I'm going to implement a conditional close in the beginning of my sales call after I discover if there's a need -- that's always worked well when pre-qualifying direct mail lead cards.

 

[joshInagent]

Josh, you mentioned you placed the app on the table. Any insight into why you think that helped?

 

[Josh]

Josh, you mentioned you placed the app on the table. Any insight into why you think that helped?

Sure. Because there wasn't a disconnect when they wanted to sign up, we just started filling out the paperwork without me reaching into the bag and fishing it out.

 

[abcsales]

I get that at times, I say, I understand, why don't I send you the application with the information you need and you can call me when you have it all in front of you. I call back and follow up. I don't sell face to face often, over 95% is done over the phone.

 

[mfancher]

Needs+Wants+budget=Sale it works think about it.

 

[VolAgent]

Needs+Wants+budget=Sale it works think about it.

Actually, it is Wants=Sale.

Need and budget are really second fiddle. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to pay for it, whether you need it or not.

 

[mfancher]

But if you find a need, determine the want, and what is their budget you will make an educated sale. Because you can close doors on objections much easier.