If selling life insurance were easy, everyone would do it

Most InsuranceNewsNet readers are well convinced of the value of life insurance — as they should be. Life insurance is an extraordinary financial product that helps ensure security and protection for loved ones and beneficiaries.  

But life insurance’s many benefits and positives don’t mean that selling life insurance is easy. After all, if it were easy, everyone would do it!

Many agents, especially new agents, struggle to succeed for two primary reasons.

1. Prospecting. How do you find people to talk to about the benefits of life insurance?

2. The words. What do you say to someone about life insurance’s ability to help them achieve their financial goals?

The challenge of prospecting

Let’s begin with prospecting. Many new agents are told that their best first prospects are their family and friends. These new agents are instructed to call everyone they know and set up an appointment to sell them some life insurance. 

The fledgling agent might then ask, “What do I do after I’m done running through those appointments?” The guidance is often, “Every time you successfully sell a life insurance policy, ask the buyer if they know anybody else that you can help.” 

What’s the problem with that approach? First of all, you can hardly be vaguer. Second, people don’t like to have life insurance agents call their friends. And third, their friends get angry when they’re called by a life insurance agent who says, “Your friend Amy told me I should give you a call to talk about life insurance.”

How to prospect like a pro

How can a new agent overcome these prospecting challenges? My recommendations are first to ask better prospecting questions and then to ask for introductions instead of referrals. 

What do I mean by better prospecting questions? You’re in the client service business, so don’t make your new clients do all the work. If you only suggest that you want to connect with “someone I might be able to help,” your new clients might not recognize all the types of people who could use life insurance and then may struggle to give you a name.  

It’s important to be much more precise and present specific ideas that will inspire your clients. You might ask if they know anyone who has recently had a baby. I have found this life event creates a special joy in almost everyone. You can almost tell by the look in their eye and how they react whether they know someone who has brought a new person into the world. If so, the conversation can unfold into how you often help new parents create financial security for their family when they have dependent children under their roof. 

Here are some other life situations to ask your new client about. Maybe they know someone who: 

» Recently bought a new house or moved into the neighborhood.
» Got married.
» Got divorced.
» Became a widow or a widower.
» Got a new job or promotion.
» Retired.

By being specific about these life moments, you are much more likely to inspire people to think of someone specific.

Introductions vs. referrals

Next, don’t just ask for that person’s name and phone number. Aim to make your next step something meaningful. Get an introduction from the person who just bought from you. 

It goes something like this: “So your friend Larry just got married. I know you don’t owe me any favors, but would you be willing to invite Larry to have breakfast or a cup of coffee with you and me — my treat —  and you can introduce me to Larry? We can talk a little about what I do so Larry can determine if I can help him as well.”

This description already sounds like an enjoyable and productive way to spend an hour or two. Just by going through the process of thinking about protection, everyone will have crystallized a point or two in their financial plan and maybe even their plan for life.

Your words make a difference

If you’ve obtained the introduction, that’s a great start. But what do you say when you are introduced to someone new? You must introduce yourself in a way that gets them interested in talking to you about how you can help them.

Great life insurance sales professionals do more than sell life insurance. I make it a point to choose words in my opening that demonstrate how I see myself making contributions to their total financial well-being and how I can help realize their dreams.

My approach resonates with sports fans, but I know there are elements that hit home with everyone, including those who — to borrow some baseball lingo — don’t know the first thing about hitting someone home.

“I consider myself a financial coach. I help people play financial offense and financial defense. Financial offense is the process of planning for what you expect to happen. Financial defense is the process of preparing for what you don’t expect. I’ve found that the highest likelihood of achieving long-term financial success comes from a balance of both.”

Another avenue is to use questions that get your prospect talking. If you’re talking with a retiree, you can ask them about their accomplishments, and then transition to the legacy they’re looking to leave. Again, the words here are important because you want to help them make the connection between all that they’ve worked to achieve and how to turn that into as much as possible for the next generation.

“I work with a lot of people in a situation like yours — individuals with an amazing track record who are ready to succeed in their next phase. I specialize in helping people create legacies for their families and charities that they never imagined possible, and lately I’ve been hearing a common theme — many people tell me they’re concerned about the taxes their beneficiaries will pay on the individual retirement account they inherit. Is that something that concerns you?”

If you’re introducing yourself to a young couple, then the journey will be different. It will be less about reflecting on the past and more about picturing the milestones of the future. Almost everyone wants these important events to happen, whether they’re around to see them or not. It’s about using the right words to make sure that thought process happens.

“If, for whatever reason, you don’t make it home from work next week, and 10 years after you’re gone you have an opportunity to look down on your family to see what’s going on, what would you like to see?”

Encourage them to tell you about their kids graduating, perhaps getting married, maybe buying a house and succeeding in their careers. How they were still able to enjoy the family vacations you had dreamed about. Encourage them to talk about what they’d like to see their surviving spouse doing. 

“Based on the plans you have in place today, what do you think you’d actually see?”

For this, you may have to sketch out some difficult situations. There might not be money for their children’s education, for family vacations, or for help with weddings, down payments or replacements for aging cars. Then, get into key specifics, like how much the surviving spouse can earn and whether there will be new child care costs. From there, gently move the conversation toward life insurance.

“If there were a way to bring what you think you’d actually see closer to what you’d like to see, would you like to learn about ways to do that?”

Helping people achieve their financial goals, whether it’s planning for the expected or preparing for the unexpected, is a rewarding career path. Now you have a better chance of finding more people to help. 

I began by saying, “If it were easy, everyone would do it.” A career in life insurance offers incredible opportunity but can be challenging. If you can employ some of the things I’ve described, it can become a bit easier. These are the tools that can lead to a long and successful career in life insurance. Good luck! 

Joe Ross, ChFC, CLU, CRC, is vice president, sales productivity and business development, with Corebridge Financial. Joe may be contacted at [email protected].