Selling Annuities…
The Missing Ingredient!
Everyday we get calls from
insurance agents, financial advisors and financial planners who are
struggling to make annuity sales. Whether they are buying leads, or
offering dinner seminars, for every 10 leads they get, they are only
setting appointments with 1 or 2 prospects. And, when they do set
an appointment, many of the appointments are cancelled and they end
up closing only 1or 2 out of the 10 scheduled appointments.
These agents, advisors
and planners tell me they have great products, they do a good fact-finding interview,
they have a great sales presentation
and they are good closers. They all believe their problem is
the poor
quality of their leads. They’ll explain that most of the leads they get are
with people who don’t have any money, they already have an advisor or
they just came to the seminar for a free meal.
Here’s a prime example.
We had a veteran
investment advisor (commodities broker) who was trying to break into the annuity
marketplace. During the previous two months he had held two dinner
seminars. For his first seminar he spent $17,000 and made $22,000.
For his second seminar he spent $6,000 and made $1,300. He wasn’t
happy and felt he wasn’t in front of the right prospects. So
he called us.
During the next two
weeks, we reviewed everything he was doing. We helped him to see he was missing
one very important ingredient. For his next seminar he spent $2,800 and
he made over $72,000 in paid annuity commissions, within 2 months. This advisor is now
averaging over $40,000 of commissions from each of his seminars.
The above case is not unique.
We've helped hundreds of people to dramatically improve their
annuity sales!
The question is, are you ready to listen and
improve your annuity sales results?
Are you ready to learn the missing ingredient
to setting appointments and closing sales with ‘9 out of 10’
people you talk to?
Then, please read this next part very
carefully...
The problem most agents,
advisors and planners have… is they are not
making an emotional connection with their prospects.
That’s the missing ingredient!
Whether you are trying to set an appointment or
close a sale, you must get the prospect actively and emotionally
involved in the sales process. You must ask questions to help your
prospect to see they have a problem and agree they want your help to
solve their problem. If they don’t believe they have
a problem and see how you can help them, then why should they waste
their precious time meeting with you?
Consider for a moment… how many new lead
sources, lead generation systems or seminars have you tried?
Please think carefully! Has your appointment setting or sales ratio
dramatically improved using these new leads? I’m not talking about
a slight improvement. Have you seen an improvement of 50% or more
in setting appointments and closing sales using these new leads?
My, educated guess based on experience tells me you haven’t.
Then would you agree you should try a different
approach to solving the problem?
It’s time to start
asking more questions during every phase of the sales process. Whether
it’s during the initial contact, your seminar or the sales presentation, ask questions to
help your prospect to identify their problem. Stop
trying to persuade your prospects to take action. Start
learning about the prospect's true needs and wants.
Asking questions is simple, but it is not easy to master. It takes
practice, lots of it, to break the old way we were taught to sell,
which is telling rather than asking questions.
Here is a simple example:
Most agents ask: How much money do you
have in CDs? What are you getting for a return? And, then
they jump right in offering a solution.
You'll want to ask: How do you feel about
that? Why is that a problem? What would you like to see happen?
Is there any particular reason you have your money in CDs? Why is
that a concern? Are you using that money for income? If you could
get a better rate of return with the same safety and guarantees, is
that something worth exploring? Does it make sense to sacrifice a
higher return for more liquidity? Etc.
Remember, good
questioning is a learned skill that takes years to master, fully.
Here are some new habits you must form:
-
Stop
Talking - Ask questions and really listen to what your
prospect is saying.
-
Stop
Telling The Prospect - Ask questions that will get the
prospect to tell themselves what their problem is.
-
Stop Jumping In With Solutions -
Ask questions to explore and make sure both parties understand
the real problem (s) before you offer a solution.
Over the years, we’ve seen
many agents, advisors and planners try new lead
sources, new sales letters, new seminars, new sales ideas and new closing techniques.
None of these new activities has produced the dramatic results you will experience
by learning how to ask more questions to get your prospects actively
and emotionally involved in the entire sales process.
If you ask enough of the right questions, your
prospect will tell you exactly what you need to do to sell them…
Yours In Success,
Lew and Jeremy Nason
'The 9 Out Of 10 Guys'
Message
to Financial Advisors…
What have you done in the last sixty
days to increase your sales? Is there any question that
during the next year, you're going to spend thousands of dollars in time, money and
effort bringing in new clients to your business? Then wouldn't
it make sense to do it the most cost effective, money-making way?
Why not learn the marketing, prospecting, appointment setting and
sales strategies that most of the leading agents, advisors and
planners on the planet use? Jeremy
and Lew Nason
