On your first day on the job, you were energetic, enthusiastic, motivated, and downright excited about all the sales you were going to close until you realized that selling insurance is a lot trickier than you initially anticipated.
Insurance is the one thing everyone needs, but very few people have. For some reason, a lot of people perceive insurance brokers as nosy salespeople that ambush them with technical jargon they don’t understand and end up wasting their time.
As a young insurance salesman, you may be wondering what you’re doing wrong, and what you can do to improve your chances of closing. You see, most insurance policies are expensive and most people view them as just that, an expense they may or may not afford. This makes selling insurance challenging.
Still, we have some awesome tips that will help you out and take you from rookie insurance salesman to professional status and someone that customers value and look up to.
1. Build Confidence and Trust By Dressing the Part
First impressions always count and as an insurance salesman, you want people to have the best impression of you. When selling insurance, you’re selling trust and you need to be confident so that potential customers can have confidence in you as well. A professional appearance will convey trust, wisdom, and success.
It shows that you know what you’re doing and can answer any and all questions they may have about insurance. Dressing professionally will help people take you seriously and consider giving you some of their time before they disregard you.
2. Avoid Using Insurance Jargon and Technical Terms to Sound Smart
You should be able to answer all their questions and you should demonstrate knowledge. Now when doing this, there’s one mistake most young insurance salespeople make, and that’s using slang and jargon that others don’t understand just to appear smart. This is something you want to avoid entirely by using proper vocabulary and words that your potential customers will understand.
Not everyone will understand the technical jargon of your insurance world, so depending on who you’re talking to, you should be able to break things down in a way they understand. Your main aim here is to build trust and lasting relationships with your customers. You want to be an insurance salesman they can refer to their friends and colleagues.
3. Find a Way to Relate to Your Customers
Many insurance agents or brokers, especially when young and new to the field consider themselves salespeople. While it’s true, they take a completely wrong approach and sell products instead of offering value to their customers.
Insurance is so much more than just selling products and when you approach a prospect with a rehearsed version of a sales pitch that you’re telling everyone else, you lose them even before you have them. Customers feel attacked and withdraw before they even listen to what you have to say.
Instead, try to build relationships and start offering value to your prospects. Show them why they need the policies you’re selling and how beneficial they would be in their lives, and make them want to get the policies without being pushed into it. Be the friend they can invite to a wedding, and watch your track record grow naturally.
How do you achieve this? For instance, you’re young, just starting life and you’re trying to sell insurance to a 60 years old who’s about to retire. Consider what both of you may have in common, like a favorite sport or activity and user that to build a rapport.
When you engage customers on what they love, they will indulge you in what you’re selling.
4. Learn From Experienced Insurance Salespeople
In any line of work, everyone starts from somewhere, and there are always others who have already made it. As an insurance salesman, it would help if you were to learn from experienced co-workers. It’s a given that in this day and age, you may view the older co-workers as old fashioned since they may not even be as tech-savvy as you are.
However, they may have tips and tricks up their sleeves that have made them so successful. They have been in this business for decades and have amassed vast knowledge of the industry and have mastered the art of dealing and working with people.
With age comes wisdom, do take the best advice they offer and try to apply it in your sales strategies, then take criticism constructively and try to improve on that. They may give you advice, tricks, and tips for life insurance leads, and any other aspect you may be struggling with.
5. Learn to Listen to Your Customers
Most young and energetic insurance salespeople are usually so hungry and feel the need to demonstrate their knowledge every chance they get. While hunger is an incredible thing for an insurance salesman, listening to your customers first is an essential part of imparting the right advice on them.
Give prospects undivided attention and listen to what they have to say, and answer any questions they may have along the way. If they ask something you’re not sure about, be honest and tell them you’ll get back to them, which will give you a second opportunity at talking to them and closing your sale.
6. Be Prepared to Work Hard
Dealing with people is hard work. You will get frustrated, overwhelmed, and possibly annoyed. However, when you take these tips into consideration, it may take some of the emotions of dealing with people away.
Still, you need to be prepared to work hard, read more, increase your knowledge, and work than everyone else to come out top. Never stop brushing at your insurance knowledge, and feel free to change your sales strategies until you find what works.
Different strategies work for different people. Always know what kind of people you’re dealing with and use appropriate sales strategies to increase your chances of selling.
7. Pay Attention to Your Customers
Sometimes it’s a great opportunity to sell and other times it’s a good time to be silent. It’s essential for you to understand the difference. Until then, you can ask your colleagues for insight into the matter because it may increase your chances.
Being the Most Successful Insurance Salesman
There you have it! These are some of the most insightful tips on how to be the most successful insurance salesman. It may be tricky and downright challenging right now, but you can be sure that once you implement these tips, things will get better with time.
Beyond that, if you would like more advice about financial planning and startups, please head over to our blog section where we have so much to offer.