Best tactics for selling life insurance:
- Learn how to sell yourself
- How to use technology to your advantage
- Make it real (value)
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on 10/11/16 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehension.
Are you trying to “sell” life insurance?
There’s a key difference between trying to sell life insurance products to customers, and having customers buy a product.
Do they seem the same to you?
Well, the distinction is not just for life insurance sales.
It goes for any product.
Brands that establish relationships with their customers and showcase how their products solve customer problems will be the ones that succeed.
Those that are constantly pitching a product will turn customers away.
Wondering how to create an environment where you can connect with customers and get them to buy your products – instead of going full throttle with a sell-sell-sell mentality?
Use this three-step process to boost life insurance sales.
1. Sell yourself
Here’s how to drown out the cries of all the other insurance producers vying for customers’ attention:
A.Get on social media
These days, you practically don’t exist if you aren’t on social media.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are the best methods to get your name out there and build your good reputation.
B. Start blogging
Blogging is a simple, easy-to-use way to connect with your audience.
Give them relevant, useful information to show you have solutions for their problems.
Share your expertise and position yourself as a go-to life insurance producer for your prospects and clients.
C. Use email
Email marketing is an inexpensive way to connect with your audience.
It builds trust and brand awareness and gives you an opportunity to measure the statistics of who is engaging with you and your message.
D. No matter what, offer value
Your social media, email and blogging efforts will fall flat if you aren’t providing relevant, valuable information.
Don’t use these mediums simply as a venue to pitch your life insurance services.
Discuss the insurance landscape and show prospects how to navigate it.
Talk to customers about their future and how insurance products can help protect their finances.
Always be thinking of ways you can solve your clients’ problems.
The more you hone in on the needs of your customers and DON’T pitch them products, the more these prospects will come to trust you – and then turn to you when it’s time to buy.
2. Use technology to your advantage
There’s a caveat to this step.
Yes, you’ll want to use technology to get customers to buy – instead of having to sell.
But keep in mind that this is still a social endeavor.
Even though you’ll be using technology to build relationships and communicate with prospects, there remains a social aspect to it.
When you’re communicating on social media, keep in mind that you’re talking to people.
To individuals. Real humans.
Within those parameters, there are a couple technological advances that can make your life as an insurance producer easier.
Let’s take a look.
A. Drop Ticket
The drop-ticket method can save you a ton of time and you already know that time is money.
It takes a 3-5 hour process and reduces it to less than 30 minutes.
Impressive, right?
Here’s how it works.
- Log into iGo (a central portal) on our website.
- Call your prospect.
- Ask them a handful of general questions.
- The carrier will set up a time for a telephone interview and exam.
- eSign the prospect’s application.
- Electronically deliver a PDF version of the policy to your client.
B. Generation Station
This handy tool allows you to enter information and it will advise you as to the best approach, products and services for each client or prospect.
The unique focus here is that it looks at people in terms of what generation they’re a part of.
It focuses on four different stages of life:
- New beginnings. Life changes can happen at any age, so this stage of life isn’t limited to young people.
- Increasing responsibility. This stage of life can include anything from starting a family to taking on the care of aging parents.
- Pre-retirement. This period of time can be tricky for people, many of whom are under-prepared for the looming retirement years.
- Retirement. Big changes are happening – especially financially.
The Generation Station tool allows you to quickly and easily determine where each of your clients and prospects fall according to their generation and stage of life.
This allows you to provide them with the best solutions for their unique situations.
3. Make it real
You may think the number of followers or “likes” you get on social media is the measure of your success on social media platforms.
But it’s not.
You can have a ton of social media followers, but if the majority of them aren’t interested in life insurance products, you’ve got a lot of people who aren’t ready to buy.
The quality of your audience matters – a lot.
The same goes for likes or retweets.
Sure, engagement with the audience is, in part, measured by retweets, likes and shares; however, these don’t necessarily convert into value.
The real value for you and your company is achieved by engaging with prospects in a real way, you know, like you would in person.
Putting it all together
By offering relevant content, educating life insurance prospects, and meeting them where their needs are, you’ll position yourself to “sell” without having to sell.
Set yourself up as an expert and the people will start to come – especially those that are looking to buy
BUT, remember to turn off the hard sales pitch or you’ll turn customers away.
Do you need some help managing your social media accounts or email engagement?
