When Do You Stop Pursuing a Prospect
- Thread starter Raider123
- Start date
- 2,758
When they're dead.
OK... seriously now. When you feel the time is right. Only you can determine that.
simpsondes32
New Member
- 8
Yea when ever you want to.. time will tell
- 1,459
It depends, but in general, three scenerios:
1. They say no, make it easy for them to bail out if you sense the interest is not there.
2. They do not respect me. Will not return my phone call or show up for a meeting. There is the occasional valid excuse, but otherwise, that is a deal breaker.
3. They have a B.S. excuse. This is where you test their conviction by trying to get them to say they are not interested. If they are interested, they will let you know.
There's a trick in sales..........it's called .........."next !!"
If you find yourself in this situation, you are probably new to the business and should be spending your time working on better marketing tactics to build up that pipeline of prospects. I never hear a "no", as the piles of leads on my desk never get more than 2 calls from me. I got no time......"next !!"
If you find yourself in this situation, you are probably new to the business and should be spending your time working on better marketing tactics to build up that pipeline of prospects. I never hear a "no", as the piles of leads on my desk never get more than 2 calls from me. I got no time......"next !!"
- 4,132
Look at it the same way we're taught to classify clients. A B C D gone... "A's" most important on down.
Do this with prospects too. A definate NO is always gone. An A prospect is one who makes appointments, asks good questions, is involved with the process. They progress down ward based on how they work with you. The D list prospects are those you may contact in a year or even two. I've got daily prospects, monthly prospects, quarterly prospects, annual prospects.
It doesn't take much to send an email these days and I've written busines as far out as 4 years (divorce, other issues got in the way. went from life to LTC sale). How hard you work prospects is up to you.
Do this with prospects too. A definate NO is always gone. An A prospect is one who makes appointments, asks good questions, is involved with the process. They progress down ward based on how they work with you. The D list prospects are those you may contact in a year or even two. I've got daily prospects, monthly prospects, quarterly prospects, annual prospects.
It doesn't take much to send an email these days and I've written busines as far out as 4 years (divorce, other issues got in the way. went from life to LTC sale). How hard you work prospects is up to you.
- 213
Burn through your prospects. If they are ultimately going to tell you no, get it quickly--generally within the first 10 or 20 minutes of the first contact--and move on.
Learn to first call close, and take maybes, undecideds, and "let me think it over" as 100% the same thing as if they told you to piss off. And in that time where you used to be drawing up proposals for them, or driving again to their house or place of business, and making those mental tallies of how much commission you're gonna make when you FINALLY close them, prospect new people.
It's easier on you emotionally. Sure you might miss out on a few of the rare birds who really do think it over and decide to do it, but you'll more than make up for it.
Learn to first call close, and take maybes, undecideds, and "let me think it over" as 100% the same thing as if they told you to piss off. And in that time where you used to be drawing up proposals for them, or driving again to their house or place of business, and making those mental tallies of how much commission you're gonna make when you FINALLY close them, prospect new people.
It's easier on you emotionally. Sure you might miss out on a few of the rare birds who really do think it over and decide to do it, but you'll more than make up for it.
BIG RED IS BACK
Super Genius
- 174
well, keep chasing people who won't buy from you and see how long it is before you stop eatting because you have no money for food.
JenkinsAgency
Expert
- 41
If you tailor your approach so it doesn't feel anything like a sales pitch, you'll have far fewer rejections to deal with in the first place.
However, here's a few thoughts on pulling the plug, and what happens next.
1. Through Farmers' approach, I determine if the prospect is someone I want in my agency. If through casual conversation, I determine that they're not a good risk, I will terminate the pursuit permanently.
2. If we go through the process and I offer a quote or multiline package which they decline, I'll dig a little bit to locate the true objection, and if I can't win that visit, I'll ask for permission to contact them again 45 days prior to their X-date.
3. If, after 2 years of calling them prior to the x-date, they still decline, I will remove them from our prospect book permanently. They can come back on their own accord if they like. At that point, we'll have had at least 4 conversations about their coverage, so they know exactly who we are.
Hope that helps a bit. The beautiful thing about insurance is that even when you lose someone or lose the sale, they're still available down the road.
The only way I ever truly lose a prospect is if they're a subpar risk that I didn't want in the first place, or they waste my time (cancel, no-show, etc.) on multiple occasions. That's the quickest way to tick me off.
However, here's a few thoughts on pulling the plug, and what happens next.
1. Through Farmers' approach, I determine if the prospect is someone I want in my agency. If through casual conversation, I determine that they're not a good risk, I will terminate the pursuit permanently.
2. If we go through the process and I offer a quote or multiline package which they decline, I'll dig a little bit to locate the true objection, and if I can't win that visit, I'll ask for permission to contact them again 45 days prior to their X-date.
3. If, after 2 years of calling them prior to the x-date, they still decline, I will remove them from our prospect book permanently. They can come back on their own accord if they like. At that point, we'll have had at least 4 conversations about their coverage, so they know exactly who we are.
Hope that helps a bit. The beautiful thing about insurance is that even when you lose someone or lose the sale, they're still available down the road.
The only way I ever truly lose a prospect is if they're a subpar risk that I didn't want in the first place, or they waste my time (cancel, no-show, etc.) on multiple occasions. That's the quickest way to tick me off.
Similar threads
