Quick Tips to Close more Insurance Leads

1.      Respect their Time: I like to ask, “Do you have 5 minutes?” Most people do, and when you ask them for just a little bit of their time, they feel like you’re not going to keep them on the phone forever, so they begin to relax.

2.      Ask what got them Interested: Don’t ask them what type of insurance policy they already have and then try to match it. Your customer came to an agent because they want a personalized result, so why not offer them one right away?

3.      Don’t assume the only reason they’re online is Price: Ask your customer lifestyle questions to find out whether they’re over or under insured. Learn their priorities and assets to gauge how much insurance they’re willing to carry.

4.      Follow the FORM: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Message. Get folks talking, so by the time you begin drafting a policy, the conversation seems natural.

5.      Create a Call to Action: Once you’ve made a personal connection, reassure your client that you understand their needs and will tailor their insurance accordingly. “Let’s look at your policy.”

How our system can be used to capture, distribute, track and manage insurance sales leads,

Insurance Agents/Agencies

LeadPro helps Insurance Agency professionals to Close more Sales by capturing sales leads from multiple sources and lead providers, distributing automatically, proactively managing, and tracking various insurance leads. Integrated Email Marketing Automation helps nurture prospects by informing and engaging them and leads to high Conversion Rates.
LeadPro  is an integrated Insurance Lead Distribution, Tracking and Management, Email Marketing Automation and Online Survey solution suitable for Insurance Sales industry professionals (such as national marketing organizations, agencies, brokers, agents). It caters to Auto Insurance, Home Insurance, Health Insurance / Medical Insurance, Life Insurance, Annuities, Long Term Care Insurance, Business / Commercial Insurance, Renters Insurance, Boat / RV Insurance, and Senior Health Insurance among others.
Specially configured features and reports are available for use by insurance industry professionals. If you are a large or national insurance sales and service marketing organization (NMO), we will customize specific workflow setup and configuration.

• Capture or aggregate Lead and Prospect information from your corporate web sites, telephone calls and third party Insurance Lead Providers (such as Bestinsurancequotes4u.com, NetQuote.com, InsureMe.Com, InsWeb.Com / AgentInsider.Com, AllWebLeads.Com, InsuranceDesk.Com, InsuranceLeads.Com, ZipSearch.Com, ASAPQuotes.com, etc.).
  
• Assign / Distribute / Reassign sales leads - extensive auto assignment rules - by geography, by area code, by zip code, by round robin method.
  
• Instant / Real Time Alert Notifications to insurance agents via email messages optimized for iPhone and other smart phones.
  
• Follow-up through phone calls and emails and log the follow-up activities in the system.
  
• Engage and inform the prospects with Drip Email Marketing Campaigns by sending notifications, electronic newsletters and reminders.
  
• Send newsletters, special offers, event invitations, etc. using email blasts with your own pre-defined templates.
  
• Track email opens and click thru activities using extensive email campaign statistics reports.
  
• Manage Leads - Alerts, Reminders, Log Follow-up Activities.
  
• Monitor lead follow-up activities with simple, graphically represented reports.
  
• Convert more Leads to Sales.
  
• Survey prospects and customers for feedback and satisfaction measurement using integrated web based survey software module with real time survey response analysis.
  
• Extensive Reporting Metrics such as Lead Conversion Rate, Lead Volume Analysis, Lead Analysis by Source / Source Group, and Lead Conversion Analysis by Sales Agent.
  

For more details and see how our LeadPro system can be used to capture, distribute, track and manage insurance sales leads, and create, send and track email newsletter campaigns, please visit Product Overview pages. Or request a Free Trial (no obligation, no commitment, no contract) and test drive the service to see how it fits your requirements.

Insurance Sales Techniques

Insurance Sales Techniques - Three Completely Different Strategies That Work

There are numerous proven sales techniques out there, and most can be successful if you correctly judge the most effective method for the customer, situation and product. When you're comfortable and fluent with a wide variety of techniques, you stand the best chance of closing the sale. Here's how three of the best and most unique strategies can be used as insurance sales techniques:

SPIN Selling

SPIN selling can be described as a "hurt and rescue" approach. The technique is based on asking incisive questions to identify a problem, then causing tension by discussing the negative consequences that may occur. You then rescue the prospect by introducing your product, neatly tailored to solve the problem and relieve the emotional need you have created.

Use Situation questions to gain context into the buyer's needs and circumstances:

• "Do you have children?"
• "Do you have a life insurance policy?"

Ask Problem questions to identify specific pain points or worries that your policies can solve

• "How many dependents do you have?"
• "How much does it cost your family to live in this house each month?"
• "How many children in college do you have?"

Don't go into a sales pitch yet -- find out more first. Letting the customer do most of the talking only helps your sale.

Next are Implication questions, encouraging the prospect to internally acknowledge the consequences of these problems and search for a solution:

• "Have you thought of what might happen to the kids if you hadn't come home from work last Friday?" (Use past tense to avoid sounding too crass.)
• "If you were unable to work, could your family afford to stay in this house?"

Last are Need-payoff questions, questions that ask how the problem could be solved, leading the prospect to ask for a product before it's offered:

• "Have you known a family in the same situation? Were the children able to continue college?"
• "Are there steps we could take to ease your mind?"

High-Probability Selling

High-Probability Selling is a direct, honest and upfront acknowledgment that you're there to sell a product to people who need it now. By avoiding persuasion, trust is quickly established. Prospects appreciate honesty, and this technique saves time and boasts a high sales ratio.

Disqualify prospects without immediate interest or means to buy early. Hone your list of qualifying questions so that they're few -- but effective -- for your product. Ask "Do you own your own home?" If yes, "Are you happy with your insurance premium?" Most people will say "No." You can even skip this step entirely by purchasing quality, well-filtered leads from an established provider.

Once you have determined that a prospect is a qualified, interested buyer, make a direct statement of what you sell, and list two benefits: "I sell long-term care insurance, which covers the cost of in-home or nursing-home care if you should ever need it. It can protect your estate for your heirs."

Set clear, specific conditions to be met before the sale continues, and directly determine if they'll be met.

• "If you like what you hear about the insurance plan, are you willing to purchase?"
• "I only make appointments if all decision-makers can be there. Can we schedule a time when the family will be there?"

If your conditions cannot be met, move on to the next prospect.

Present the facts and close by using the word "want" in asking the potential client for their next move. This is more effective than simply asking for their business.

Close-On-Objections

Close On Objections is a technique where the salesperson welcomes the prospect's objections, viewing them as an expression of interest, then turns them around into reasons for the prospect to buy. When the client makes an objection, listen respectfully, repeat objections and affirm your understanding. Do not interrupt or appear too eager to refute their concerns. An objection is no more than an opportunity to address a concern using testimonials, data, or another relevant product or option that you offer. If the prospect uncovers a drawback for which you have no ready answer, offer a compensating benefit. Objections are also an opportunity to share more information. The goal is to encourage conversation and informational exchange, instead of making a presentation, lecture, or one-sided sales pitch.Your well-reasoned and understanding responses to the clients concerns will help overcome any reluctance. Each objection is a chance to share more information, overcome reluctance, and move towards a sale.

Customers Often Mistaken

 Customers Often Mistaken About How Much Of Earnings Should Be Set Aside For Healthcare

Posted on May 5, 2013

As agents go about collecting insurance leads, it's important for them to adequately prepare their insurance customers for how much they can expect to pay for coverage. Because as a recent survey indicates, they frequently don't fully appreciate how much it can be.

According to a new study conducted by Aviva USA, in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, nine out of 10 people who responded to the poll said that they think about 20 percent of their retirement income will go toward medical expenses, such as for treatment, insurance and co-payments. But The Urban Institute says that consumers should expect to designate at least 10 percent more of their savings to healthcare, as it usually turns out to be about a third of the average American's income.

The study also revealed that respondents may need to go see the doctor more often due to negative health effects resulting from obesity. Approximately 62 percent of participants noted that their weight has increased "slightly" or a "great deal" over the past decade, while 16 percent said it decreased.

Philip Hagen, medical director at the Mayo Clinic, indicated that consumers today often underestimate their expenses related to healthcare, which can be particularly risky later in life when medical treatment is more commonplace.

"This survey revealed most Americans are unrealistic about some of the repercussions of lifestyle choices and aging - specifically, that as you get older, your health is apt to decline and your need for health care increases," said Hagen. "Getting regular preventive care and improving lifestyle habits to decrease health risks can help reduce these expenses and improve health and quality of life."

During a webcast hosted by Merrill Lynch, retirement and wealth management experts urged financial professionals to prepare their clients for the "curve balls" they're bound to experience with respect to healthcare cost planning. David Tyrie, head of personal wealth management, said that agents can help their customers by explaining to them how certain variables have an impact on their overall cost considerations, according to InsuranceNewsNet.

Insurance agents need too

Posted on, May 18, 2013

For insurance agents, one of the most important ways they can differentiate themselves from their competitors is by increasing their overall productivity, utilizing what they have available to them so that they're one step ahead of the game. With this in mind, insurance experts Bill Schoeffler and Catherine Oak offer up some tips for the ways in which industry professionals can improve what they produce in the workplace.

Having a quality outlet in which agents can depend on insurance leads is naturally a crucial component of work productivity, but what may get overlooked now and then is how the office is situated. Oak and Schoeffler point out that how long it takes someone to go from their desk to the xerox or fax machine may not seem like that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but small issues like this add up over time. Thus, insurers may want to evaluate the layout of an office, while agents specifically may consider making some observations about how their own desk is set up and adjusting how they've configured things so that it's more convenient and efficient.

Is the task at hand clear?
Another key component of productivity is communication. Occasionally, in a desire to get a jump start on a project, agents may launch themselves into an undertaking without being fully certain of what the task entails. But this strategy has short-term benefits, as at one point or another, an agent will come up against a problem that they likely could have avoided had they been clear about the assignment from the outset. Oak and Scheoffler recommend that agents have an unmistakable understanding of any project at the beginning so that they're not "bogged down in the minutiae" later on.

The insurance professionals also point out that insurers should make it a priority that all their agents are treated with the same level of respect and expectation, as this will help put in place an atmosphere that fosters a healthy dose of office morale. But this advice also applies to agents themselves, for they too need to maintain healthy relationships with their co-workers so that they can get the most of themselves as well as one another.

The insurance industry is well represented by agents. According to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 411,500 insurance agents in the U.S. as of 2010. The more productive agents are, the more likely the industry will grow, as professionals will be financially rewarded for their efforts.

How do top insurance producers build successful businesses

How do top insurance producers build successful businesses in the digital age? How can agents and brokers expand their sales pipeline, and profitably reach the growing pool of prospects looking for insurance over the Web?
Joe Pichardo sat down to talk with Chuck Taggart, an entrepreneurial agent selling health insurance in New England, about how he uses web leads in his business. Chuck is a sales leader, setting records in 2008 by writing more than $3 million in new premiums.
Digital prospecting is only part of his success story. The bigger picture is knowing how best to manage the new sales cycle and optimize productivity. When talking to Chuck, what’s clear is the impact of the digital multiplier – being able to accomplish more than 90 hours of work with under 40 hours of actual effort.
We call this working smarter -- seamlessly connecting with customers, determining what they need, identifying the best opportunities, and then presenting them with the right offers to make the sale. Let’s consider what Chuck has to say and how his experiences can affect your business.
JP: Can you tell us how and why you got started as an insurance agent?
Chuck: I’m an engineer by training. Early in my career I developed some software that would write reports automatically. I am used to solving problems by thinking about the overall system, from beginning to end.
I got into the insurance business because I liked being rewarded for my own efforts.
The insurance industry is one of those places where if you work hard you can do well, as long as you serve your clients well. But you also have to figure out how best to use your time.
JP: You now get many of your leads over the web. How have these web leads changed the way you’re doing business?
Chuck: In Massachusetts I just use web leads; in other New England states I have many different lead sources – post cards, radio ads, yellow pages, and even doing trade shows. It’s important to get exposure wherever you can. It’s also important to track the numbers. For my marketing, the biggest bang for the buck are web leads.
What I like best are the ratios. If I send out 1,000 post cards to a predefined list, I expect to get two sales – one almost immediately and another 6 months from now (roughly a 0.2% conversion rate). With web leads, I have a much better ratio – a sale for every 11 leads (approximately a 9% conversion rate). If I buy 1,000 leads, then I expect 90 sales. Thus if I want to increase my sales by 20 percent, (and who doesn’t), then I need to acquire 20 percent more leads – and figure out ways to process them more efficiently.
JP: Certainly efficiency is important for profitability. What have you done to increase your productivity?
Chuck: I can always come up with ideas to take 90 hours of work and reduce it to 40 hours of effort. In the process, I improve my profitability by becoming much more efficient.
I’ve developed my own automated processes to help manage the flow of leads and close sales. I have an integrated lead management system -- a computer on the network that tracks my e-mail and helps me keep track of all the prospects.
Acting quickly is very important when buying web leads. It’s best if you can get to your prospects right away, while they are still sitting in front of their computer.
When a lead comes in, my system will read the email, extract the contact information, store it in a database, and automatically generate an acknowledgement. Then I am able to follow up and rely on the computer system to manage the call list. I’ll give the prospect a call, run through what we have in general, see if it’s a good fit, and if it is I’ll go out and see what we can do for them.
I can also save a lot of time by using my integrated system when I need to leave a voice message. Last year I bought about 4,200 leads, and when I added it up had I left about 10,000 messages. Now when people don’t answer the phone, I rely on the computer to leave the voice message. When you do the math, the time savings is enormous. Take 10,000 messages and estimate that you’ll need 1.5 minutes to leave a message – you’re spending 15,000 minutes per year on voice mail. This is over six weeks of my time that I can do something else with -- like take a vacation or buy more leads.
Web leads are just the beginning of the sales funnel. It's all about telescoping time, making yourself more efficient, and thinking about how the person responds on the other end.
JP: Where should agents concentrate their efforts when working web leads?
Chuck: It’s important to focus on sales techniques, think strategically, and invest wisely. It helps to be data driven.
I know that if I work my way down the list of prospects where I call a lead and get the person on the phone with the first call, I have a one in eight (1:8) chance of closing a sale. If it’s the second call, then then I also have a one in eight (1:8) chance. After that the third call drops to one in eighteen (1:18) and the fourth to one in twenty three (1:23).
If you have 100 leads in front of you that are on the fourth call, then there are four deals out there. But instead of focusing on these old leads, if you bought 100 new leads, you would have a one in eight shot, and there are 12 sales in the pile.
Of course you’ll have to spend money on the new leads. But it is actually more profitable to stop calling the old list and focus on new leads. So I emphasize with agents that you’re spending the same amount of time and the same number of phone calls, but you can be more profitable. It helps to know how best to invest your time and effort.
JP: Thank you, Chuck, for all of your insights.

A new survey suggests!

Poll: Parents served as financial preparation role models

Posted on Thu, February 14, 2013

A new survey suggests that when it comes to financial preparation, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
According to the poll, which was conducted by researchers from insurance holding company Genworth Financial, insurance customers whose parents set a positive example for them in how they dealt with money are more likely to be among the nearly two-thirds of Americans who have a financial plan in place.
When respondents who had a management plan in effect were asked what had driven them to establish one, more than six in every 10 said that they learned from their parents and that they were crucial reasons for their readiness.
Wendy Boglioli, a motivational speaker and Genworth spokesperson, testified of the power parents have on how responsible their children will be by the time they reach adulthood.
"Parents play such a pivotal role for their children," said Boglioli. "Financially, physically and mentally, important life lessons that are passed on from generation to generation."
Much of what parents learn about financial preparation may derive from the institution of marriage itself.
In a separate analysis performed by retirement and investment firm ING, married individuals tend to be more likely to have retirement preparations in effect than individuals who are single. Specifically, the study found that when comparing people who were married with those who were unattached, marrieds had $40,000 more in their savings, on average, than singles. They also had more saved up than people who were divorced, averaging $11,000 more.
"While the financial advantages of marriage may not be surprising for many, our hope in sharing this research is that it helps all Americans, regardless of age or marital status, to make a greater commitment to their personal retirement savings," said Deb Dupont, director of ING's Retirement Research Institute.

Ignoring life insurance?

By now, most husbands and wives have probably booked dinner reservations and scheduled couple’s massages for Valentine’s Day, but have they bought each other life insurance policies yet?  While pondering your eventual death is admittedly not the most romantic of pastimes, securing life insurance for your loved ones to protect them should your life prematurely end is undoubtedly an act of commitment and responsibility.  So, when comparing census marriage data to insurance industry statistics, don't you predict higher ratios of life insurance policies to population in states with higher marriage rates? I do. (Bad pun.)  Bankrate compared the U.S. Census Bureau 2009-2011 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates with the American Council of Life Insurers Fact Book 2012. Their findings were different than I would have predicted:  The top states for marriage were not the top states for life insurance, and the top states for life insurance placed lower in marriage rankings than one might expect.  Utah had the highest percentage of married couples, with 57 percent of people aged 15 or older having tied the knot. On the flipside, with 2.03 million residents owning only 783,000 individual life insurance policies in 2011, Utah had a policies-to-population ratio of 38.5 percent, the seventh lowest in the nation.  Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa and Nebraska also ranked among the top five states with the highest marriage rates. Notice something these states might have in common? Utah, Idaho and Wyoming are densely populated by followers of the Mormon Church, which places extreme importance on matrimony. So, one might speculate that the Mormon population of these states explains the high marriage rates, but what might explain such low ratios of life insurance policies?  Steve Miller, the owner of an insurance and financial services agency in Provo, Utah, said he was surprised by this data, noting, “The (Mormon) church has long emphasized the importance of life insurance in (its) teachings and encouragement of provident living and self-reliance.”

(continued)

But Julie Hanks, author and owner of Wasatch Family Therapy in Salt Lake City, argues that “life insurance is not going to be a big priority while you’re young and tight on resources… those are things like rent, food and tuition.”

She might have a point. Utah, Idaho and Wyoming might have the highest marriage rates, but they also have the youngest medium ages at which women marry: 23.2 years in Idaho, 23.3 in Utah, and 24.2 in Wyoming. These young married couples might start off struggling financially, or their younger ages could hinder acceptance of their life insurance applications.

Was there something similar about the states with the highest rates of life coverage? Ya’ll tell me. Leading the pack is Alabama, with 5.33 million life insurance policies among a population of 3.85 million. That’s a coverage rate of 140 percent. Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and the District of Columbia also ranked among the top five states with the most life insurance.

A FoxBusiness article claims that the abundance of life policies in the South is due to “burial policies,” so-called industrial life insurance policies that were typically sold door to door to help with burial costs and were quite popular in Southern regions in recent decades.

American Council of Life Insurers spokesman Jack Dolan said, “Consumers in the old days often purchased more than one such policy.” Chuck Bracewell, vice president of the Life Insurance Company of Alabama, owns more than one insurance policy himself, and adds his own speculation to the mix: “Let’s say Southern folks are very family-conscious.”

Being family-conscious, oddly enough, was also suggested as the reason behind why states with a high Mormon population were also the leading states for marriage rates. But the Southern states with the highest rates of life insurance ranked low on the matrimony totem pole: Alabama, at the top of the list for life coverage, came in 32nd in marriage rates.

It’s a strange bundle of statistics, and it doesn’t seem clear whether there’s a causal relationship, correlation or mysterious independent variable affecting either marriage rates, life coverage, or both. One nebulous conclusion I can make is that love is at the core of the two, something with which chairman of the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education Stephen Rothschild agrees.

“The only reason to purchase life insurance is because you love someone,” Rothschild says. “It seems a lot less superfluous and much more lasting than a box of chocolates or a dozen roses.”