Being a successful insurance salesperson is never easy, but if you keep in mind a couple of basic principles, you will see much better results for your effort. Three of the most important are easy to remember, because they all begin with the letter A: Activity, Attention, and Asking.
1. Activity:
The most important thing as an insurance agent is to see enough people. Of course, to make a sale, you have to talk to someone, but because not everyone you contact is going to purchase insurance from you, you need to find and engage with many more people than you might think. That adds up to constant activity on your part.
2. Attention:
Sales depend on developing relationships, and if you’re going to build relationships, you’re going to have to pay attention to people. First, many people casually drop all kinds of details about their lives, both on social media and in person. Those friendly chats about family, work, travel, and major milestones, like buying a house, give you the information you need to spot people who might need more insurance. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss these clues. Second, no one wants to make a major purchase from someone they don’t trust, and no one will trust you if you don’t show interest in them—by paying attention to what they tell you.
3. Asking:
“Always be asking” is what our sales rep, Mitch Long, considers the most important habit of a successful insurance agent. Making an offer is, of course, a question. If you don’t ask, you won’t make the sale. But long before you get to that point, you need to be asking the questions that build relationships and give you insight to other people’s minds. The questions might be open-ended (“what do you like to do with your spare time?”) or they may be general or specific. Asking is another part of demonstrating interest, and another way of gathering information that could prove useful to you. And most people love to talk, if only you give them the freedom to talk by asking and then listening.
At the end of the day, people are ultimately buying from a person, not a provider. While you may have an idea of what you want to talk about, you are there to serve the prospect/client. Building a relationship with the customer will help you succeed in this market. By being active in the market, paying attention to people, and asking questions, you will see a higher success rate when trying to make the sale–thus leading to you becoming a successful insurance salesperson.
