If you learn the secret I'm about to share with you, you'll be able to close more sales quicker and easier than your wildest dreams.
On the other hand, if you don't study and master this particular sales skill, then no matter how many closing techniques you've acquired, you can achieve only a tiny fraction of the profit potential your business could generate for you.
Here's a well-known proverb you've probably heard of:
"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."
This statement has been heard by many, and quoted countless times by speakers, educators, and trainers for many decades. Yet, as recognized as it is, salespeople in all types of businesses, industries, and professions still violate it every day in an untold number of situations.
Failing to follow its basic premise can be a deadly mistake when it comes to selling insurance or financial products.
I'm sure you've seen selling situations (perhaps you've even been in one yourself) where the salesperson tries to impress their prospect with how much they know about their products or services, instead of figuring out what their prospects' needs or wants are.
What usually happens is, either the salesperson tries to sell their prospect the wrong product, or the prospect, sensing the salesperson cares more about a sale than satisfying his or her wants, terminates the interview and goes elsewhere to look for a salesperson who will listen and help them find the product most suitable for their particular need.
The most important thing an agent or advisor can do during the first meeting with a prospect is to discover what his or her needs or wants are, and then figure out a way to satisfy those needs or wants.
Here's an important point that needs to be indelibly etched in your mind: If your prospect's needs or wants can be satisfied through the products or services you sell, that's great. Both you and the prospect will benefit.
But if the products or services you offer are not the best solution for your prospect's problems (and you know it), you will do a disservice by trying to sell them to that person. In this case, you should refer the prospect to another agent who can better serve his or her needs (even if you won't make any commission on the sale).
In order to determine whether the products or services you offer will be in the prospect's best interest, you must be customer-focused, and not product-centered. This means, you must ask questions and listen carefully to what they say.
As an example, let's say Helen Prospect walks into your agency. The very first thing you want to do is to acknowledge her presence. There are several ways to do that.
If it's appropriate, you might get up out of your chair, look directly at her as you approach her, smile, shake her hand firmly, and then enthusiastically say...
"Good morning, Helen! Welcome to our agency. How's your day going?"
If you're on the phone and can't get up right at the moment, at least look at her, ask the person on the phone to excuse you for a moment, then say to Helen, "I'll be right with you. Please sit down." Then proceed with your phone conversation.
From the first moment you lay eyes on Helen, your goal should be to build rapport with her. (Rapport is a pleasant feeling of mutual trust and friendship established through verbal and nonverbal means.)
In his book, Silent Messages, Dr. Albert Mehrabian suggests...
"You can influence people about 7% through the words you use (what you say), 38% through your voice quality, speed, tone, and pronunciation, (how you say it), and 55% through physiology or how you look, or what you do (your body language)."
Because most agents try to influence or motivate their prospects to purchase by using words alone, they have to work extremely hard to close just a small percentage of the sales.
If you want to improve your closing ratio, rather than learning more closing techniques, which is what to say, learn to improve your voice quality. Or, even more important, your body language.
Four Simple Ways To Improve Your Body Language:
1. Always sit (or stand) erect, leaning slightly toward the prospect.
2. Never fold your arms (doing so indicates you're keeping the prospect out).
3. Never cross your legs (doing so indicates you're holding back information).
4. Watch the prospect attentively, carefully listening to what he or she is saying.
Of these four gestures, the last one is the most important.
Most sales are lost because of two reasons: First, either the agent talks too much without listening to the needs and wants of the prospect, who turns off the conversation in his or her mind. Or second, the agent talks himself out of the sale by speaking too much.
Always keep this important fact in mind...
In Every Interview, You Should Try To Listen Your Prospects Into A Sale...Rather Than Talk Them Into One!
Back to our example with Helen. After your initial greeting, begin by asking her non-threatening questions about herself and her family, and then listening carefully to her answers.
Once you've gained her trust and confidence, gently lead into your fact-finding interview. When you understand what her needs and wants are, analyze her present insurance policy (whether that happens to be life, auto, disability, health, commercial, or LTC) to see if it gives her the best protection for her particular situation, and for the best price.
If your analysis indicates she would be better off with an increase or decrease in coverage, or perhaps a different policy altogether, you can recommend it to her. Conversely, if you can see Helen already has the best combination of policy, coverage and price for her situation, tell her so. In fact, you may even consider complimenting her for choosing the right policy.
Now, to provide Helen with the greatest service, you should offer to analyze her other insurance policies to make sure she has the right coverage, and is paying a fair premium for each one.
If you sell only a single policy, such as life, LTC, or disability, you may not be qualified to analyze Helen's other policies like auto, homeowners, or commercial. In this case, you can refer her to another agent who specializes in these types of policies.
When Helen sees you are concerned about her as a person, and you're more interested in making sure she has the right policies for her needs or wants rather than trying to sell her another one, she'll be more inclined to do business with you, even if your policy is the same as the one she now has.
Let's suppose Helen does have a good policy at a good price, and she doesn't switch to you, what do you do?
Well, because you've developed a relationship with her, and have been honest and up-front with her, even though she doesn't buy from you, she still may refer other people to you. And if she has a falling out or a disagreement with her current agent or company, or perhaps a rate increase, she will remember how well you treated her, and so she will likely do business with you.
During The Interview Process, You Should Talk Only 20% And Listen 80% Of The Time!
By doing so, you'll make Helen feel special, letting her know you care more about helping her get the best insurance protection than the commission you'll make on the policy.
As I mentioned earlier, some agents talk too much during an interview. They try to make their prospects aware of how much they know about their products or about some other topics, and as a result, they end up talking the prospect out of the sale.
If a prospect shows you a picture of their children, it's a natural temptation to take out a picture of yours and show it to your prospect. But that's the last thing you should do. You should avoid any appearance of comparison or competition, or of making your prospect feel inferior in any way.
To make your prospect feel good or special, you must make him or her the center of attention by letting them talk about themselves, their family, and other things that are important to them. And then listen to them attentively, both with your ears, as well as your body language.
Many years ago when I was selling life insurance person-to-person, believe it or not, I closed many sales without even talking about life insurance with the prospects during the first meeting.
Once I was able to get my prospects to tell me about themselves, they'd usually end up not only chatting about themselves, but also their spouse, their children, their job, their hobbies, and a number of other topics for the duration of the meeting. I was always surprised at what they said to me at the end of our meeting...
"Ken, you're one of the most interesting agents I've met. Let's get together tomorrow and write up the application."
Can you guess why they told me I was one of the most interesting agents they'd met when I'd hardly said anything during the meeting?
If you answered, "Because you actively listened to them," you're absolutely right.
In other words, because they felt good talking about themselves and the things that were important to them, they formed a great impression of me, even though I had said only a few words.
Please always remember this statement...
Your Ability To Make Friends With Your Prospects Fast...Will Let You Close More Sales Than Your Ability To Use Every Closing Technique Available On This Planet!
Sales are based on friendship. Your prospects won't buy from you until they're convinced you're their friend and are acting in their best interest.
So before investing more time, effort, and money learning more closing techniques, I suggest you first improve your ability to make friends with your prospects. You'll achieve much better results this way.
In your own frame of reference, you probably know of an agent who has less product knowledge and knows fewer closing techniques than you... but he or she makes considerably more money than you.
One of the reasons this happens is that some agents know how to make friends with their prospects quickly, easily, and almost effortlessly.
In addition to having a positive attitude and outlook, good body language and a winning smile, one of the best ways to make friends with your prospects almost instantly is to develop great listening skills.
Think about yourself for a minute.
Who do you like to be around?
What kind of salesperson do you like to buy from?
Like most people, I bet you also enjoy associating and buying from people who like you and show an interest in you, right?
Your prospects feel the same way. They also are put off by salespeople who don't listen, who talk about themselves, who have their own selfish interest at heart, and who care more about the next commission than helping them solve their problems or fulfill their needs and wants.
Avoid being that kind of salesperson or agent at all costs. Instead, take a consultative role with your prospects. Let them tell you their needs or wants, and then do your best to help them achieve their goals.
Of all the sales skills I've learned in the last three decades, being able to listen well is the most important skill by far. So, as I've mentioned, if you were to learn to become a great listener, you'd be able to close more sales quicker and easier than your greatest expectations.
Ken Varga was in the insurance business for 33 years and created an agency that had 459,182 policyholders. He sold his business in 2001 for more than $100 million. He's written a book called, "How To Make A Fortune In The Insurance Profession," which shows insurance agents and financial advisors how to build their million-dollar agency or practice in record time. Best of all, you can get it absolutely free.
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