WHAT IS A WELL ROUNDED AGENT?
BY Mike Corente
AMC Sales Journal
For a race car to reach top speed it must fire on all cylinders. The same thing applies to insurance agents. To be successful you must be able to fir on all cylinders. If you are on a lead program, to be profitable and make a lot of commission you have got to be good at three things.
#1 - Phone Technique
You have to be good on the phone. You must acquire great phone skills. Remember to be a 0-10 handicapper in golf you must practice and practice. You have to polish your skills. You have exactly one to two minutes to get that prospects attention so you better have a great phone script and a very friendly approach and take control of the conversation immediately. Always work on your people skills. Don’t come across gruff or a know it all. Always smile when on the phone, it definitely comes across. When we give an agent 15 leads a week, we tell them their goal should be to set ten to twelve appointments! If they are only setting three to five appointments or worse I immediately tell them to grab a lead and role play with me. 90% of the time they aren’t prepared to do it at that time because they don’t have their phone script in front of them. They haven’t even memorized it yet and that’s insane! You have to know your phone script in your sleep. This is your livelihood and you need to know it like the back of your hand. Practice on your wife or with another associate. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE and remember smile when you dial!
#2 - In House Presentations
Boy you had better be great at this, you must be able to close a deal! Again, when we give an agent 15 leads a week we tell them their goal should be to close 3 to 5 sales a week with 10 to 12 appointments a week must net you 3 to 5 sales. That, my friends will make you a great living, but it is sometimes easier said than done. To close the deal you definitely need to have polished closing skills. Your overall appearance must be clean, odorless, friendly, well mannered, confident, friendly, and professional. Did I mention friendly? I don’t want to brag here, but when I was in the field I wrote 300 to 400 applications year in and year out for over 20 years. The compliment I received the most wasn’t how knowledgeable I was or how smart I was. It was that I was very friendly and that I had my client’s best interest at heart. I wasn’t jamming my presentation down their throat. I always remembered they sent in a lead so they are very interested. I had to mail 300 to 500 letters a week to get 15 back, so I know 3 to 5 are ready to buy a policy to protect their mortgage. My presentation time limit was 15 to 20 minutes. I designed a nice 3 page flip chart presentation. That’s right 3 pages, not 10 to 15 pages. With 15 to 20 minute presentation and 15 to 20 minutes filling out the applications, I was done in 30 to 40 minutes. Remember you are in their home with 2 to 4 children running wild, dinner in the oven, homework to do, with children, etc., etc. They don’t have time to give you an hour or an hour and a half. They will lose interest after 30 to 40 minutes. Then when an hour goes by and now you are trying to close the deal you are going to hear those 6 dreaded words. Can you guess what they are? We want to think about it!! YIKES, you lost the sale because you said too much. I highly recommend that you shorten your presentation and keep to the facts of how the plan works, how much coverage, the cost and CLOSE THE DEAL!
#3 – Pending Business
The third and final piece of the puzzle is pending business. I’ve seen my share of agents who think once they turn in their apps. that their work is finished. You cannot “write it and forget about it”. You must follow up at least twice a week with the home office to make sure all requirements are in and to assist the underwriters with any information they may be looking for. Remember they want to issue policies. They are not your advertisers; they are your allies so treat them that way. My grandmother always taught me that you get more with honey than vinegar. Send them a bottle of wine or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in their city. They work very hard for us, sometimes we don’t think so, but they really do.
Good luck and fire on all your cylinders. Find a consistent lead program, stick with it, and write lots of applications and remember, “Only the Strong Survive”.
