Objective: In this pillar we will focus on the foundations of sales techniques of being a trusted adviser.

Pillar #2 – Intro to Sales & Pillar #3 Intro to Retention and Lifetime value

It is often said that People are sold life insurance but they buy P&C, and they buy it from people the like.  Part of the reason for this is that people must, by law, or as required from their lending institution, must purchase auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and insurance for their business.  Other P&C lines also often have a regulatory for a lending reason tied to it.   

Today, personal lines insurance, especially auto insurance, and to some degree Business Owners Auto policies, are becoming increasingly commoditized.   This means the consumer may approach you with a mind-set that insurance is all the same and all that is important is the least expensive price.

You may often face this at the point of sale.   The counter points to that is that insurance is NOT all the same and that coverages can and often do vary considerably as well as deductible amounts, and limits, etc.  And the real-life paradox is that come time of a claim, the savings a customer may have gleefully accepted at the point of sale, can become a serious legal issue, if the point of sale sales process is not undertaken properly and the appropriate signature documentation retained.  One way to remedy this is to become proficient in the 5 Cards of Sales – a topic we will work with you on in training and during webinars. 

You see, sales is a bit like swimming.  One can read a book all about swimming, but until you hit the pool and practice, you really won’t know the experience of swimming. Before we get to the 5 Cards of Sales Checklist it is important to recap the different personalities you may run into.  This is known as Style Awareness. 

Style Awareness – Understanding your Customers Personality & How best to Relate

There are many courses and books that dive into this and they often will segment personality styles into dominant and secondary traits and they often can be situational.  In a business that is service oriented such as P&C you will more than likely see people falling into 4 basic categories. 

During your training and via webinars we will share with you deeper information describing the differences in the personalities and the suggested Do’s and Don’ts of the sales process based on your reading of their personality style. The point is to treat the client in an authentic way but to be sensitive to the needs they may have based on their personality as dominant and/or secondary in one or two of the four categories below:

·        Driver

·        Expressive

·        Amiable

·        Analytical

 The 5 Card of Sales are Identified below.  Your training covers them as does webinars.   

1. Style Awareness, Listening and Building Rapport & Making Connections.  Noting anecdotal information and determining Asset Needs;

2. Client Needs – Take Price Off the Table by Probing on Asset and Exposure Awareness and Insights as you Front Lines Underwrite as you go deeper in the sale in a quick and pleasant going conversational manner.  Begin the Education (Did You Know?) piece making connections to differentiate yourself in a not too technical way and bringing forth the service and other core values your agency prides itself upon;

3. Bring Claims to Point of Sales with an Example that resonates with the client for a set of coverages and or deductibles or product lines(s) they are considering and segue to other lines they need and explain why….  (You are the licensed expert, not the client.)

4. Build the rapport and relationship further by listening and also gently command the sale as the one with the licensing knowledge to fulfill the client’s needs and budget as you overcome objections and present options and risks to the client if the client is very budget minded… 

5. Price – Is often a factor and does need to be in the ballpark unless the previous coverage gaps were horrendous, as can sometimes be the case. As you close out the sale be sure to put the client on the payment plan easiest for them, usually Recurring Credit Card or EFT – this will also improve your retention.      

·        Be sure to see E&O Best Practices in the All Agency Lifecycle tab and elsewhere so that you are following the practices to proactively prevent E&O claims and above all else serve your client to their coverage needs.

·        IMPORTANT – When a sale is successful you want to obtain the clients OTHER P&C lines at the point of sale…  This has an added benefit of dramatically improving retention and can often provide additional discounts and simplify billing.  You can in fact, have the client cancel an existing “preferred policy” and rewrite their policy with you with no cancellation disadvantage to the client in most cases as their cancellation in the majority of cases will be processes as a pro rate cancellation. 

·        IMPORTANT – You’re not done yet.  You want to obtain a referral from the client in a proactive and friendly way.  You can even provide the client a “thank you” modest gift card for the referral in most states, but never may any monies or tangible goods be paid to the client for the sale of the insurance. ·        And of course, other important SALES CHECKLIST items include entering the policy same day into your ams right after you issue it, getting the payment processed, and thanking the customer, and then when the policy is issued checking it, making sure that all of the coverages and deductibles are correct and that your have all of the signed documents and have well documented your sales transaction and any anecdotal information that may be special about the client – a hobby or interest, etc.