Growing Your Career in Life Insurance Sales
Selling a life insurance policy is more than practicing new marketing tactics. There are no one-size-fits-all approaches to selling life insurance since different approaches work in different situations. That’s why life insurance agents are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to closing more sales.
If you are a seasoned insurance agent, you must be familiar with this, right? So, how do you approach your prospects to close more sales?
This article explains the top tips that insurance agents can follow and implement throughout their life insurance sales process.
Bonus tip before we begin: Maintain a consultative approach and be willing to answer any question that the prospects may have.
Types of Products to Sell
Selling different products or adding more products to your sales list may help close more sales. The more products you have in your catalog, the more revenue you earn. Here is a list of just a few of the different types of life insurance products you can sell:
- Term life insurance – Includes level term and decreasing term
- Permanent life insurance – Builds cash value
- Whole life insurance – Includes universal life and variable life insurance
With so many options available, it’s important to know the best ways to market your products and ensure clients know just what they’re getting into.
Top Tips for More Successful Life Insurance Sales
Selling life insurance products isn’t always easy. In order to convert a prospect, you need to try everything you can utilizing your best knowledge and skills. Asking questions, answering queries, and demonstrating examples are some of the ways that can help you stand out.
Whether you are an experienced life insurance agent or a budding sales representative, there are different ways to close a sale. As you learn from your sales experience, you will have a case study to use for future leads. Let’s move on to learning life insurance sales tips.
Tell a Story
Storytelling is a great way to create a connection and share information at the same time.
Sometimes, your prospects might ask you about a certain scenario to determine whether the life insurance policy you sell offers sufficient coverage. In such situations, knowing the art of storytelling can hook your client to your sales pitch. Not only does it create interest among buyers but it also builds the urge to buy the product from your life insurance company.
A positive twist on how a product helped the family after the sudden demise of the policyholder can help your prospect visualize the situation. This way, a salesperson can motivate a prospect to take the required action.
Offer Solutions
To offer the right solution to your customers, you need to listen to them carefully. Those seeking life insurance have a reason; you’re selling them a solution to their problem. Being a good listener can provide you with an in-depth understanding of what they need — long-term care plans, insurance renewals, etc. We’ll touch more on the significance of listening later on.
Once you assess your prospect’s needs, you can determine and suggest the right life insurance plan that offers enough insurance coverage. Over time, you will begin to realize what works best for your customers in a particular scenario and what doesn’t.
This will allow you to offer the best solutions accordingly and accommodate their needs. These tailored solutions can improve customer satisfaction and create loyal clients.
Bonus tip: If you have a sales script that has worked wonders in the past, reuse it for closing future sales. Using a tested and proven method will save you time rather than starting from scratch. Don’t forget to customize the text scripts!
Be Consistent and Clear
In the modern world, prospects are often looking for a sales executive who has a proven track record. Other than that, they want to deal with someone they can trust. When making a sales pitch, try to be as clear as possible and answer questions that come up during the conversation.
Never expect to convert a lead in the first call. There will be times when the prospective buyer hangs up on you. You need to be patient and consistent in your approach. Give some time to the prospect to think and then follow up. Involve your sales manager if required.
Be clear and confident in your tone when suggesting a solution. Understand your client’s intent for buying a certain life insurance product, and clearly define why they need this product. Ask them questions for clarity, as this may help determine information such as if the customer is looking to buy health insurance or a plan that covers final expenses.
Listen Closely
As mentioned above, active listening is the mantra to close more sales. By listening closely, life insurance sales representatives are more likely to offer a life insurance plan that fits clients’ needs. Being an independent life insurance sales agent, you are fully in charge of handling all the leads.
Don’t listen to respond, listen to understand so you can offer relevant solutions, such as a health insurance plan or term life insurance. An eye and ear for detail will allow you to evaluate the types of insurance benefits your prospect is looking for such as the death benefit or final expense coverage.
Don’t just talk, talk, and talk; instead, listen to your client and maintain a balance in your conversations. Prospects feel comfortable dealing with agents who can listen to them, answer their queries, and clarify any statements that they don’t understand. It may also help you earn more referrals from your existing clients.
Emphasize Value
Clients are coming to you because they have a problem they hope you can help them solve. This is why it’s so essential to emphasize the value of your product. Explain what your product is and just how it can solve their problem. Use previous experiences and storytelling skills to drive home the value of your solution.
Punctuality for meetings and follow-ups can further emphasize the value of your product and working with you. Don’t forget to email or call the prospect after every meeting as they tend to remember the agents who value their time and effort. Your communication skills play a vital role in delivering valuable services.
Whether you are a part-time or a full-time sales agent, put the needs of the client first when selling a life insurance policy. Demonstrate how the product you are selling, a whole life insurance policy, for example, will benefit the policyholder or its beneficiaries in the long run.
Invest in an All-in-One Sales Platform
Being an independent agent, there are several ways you can attract more leads. Develop a life insurance website that displays your skills and experience and informs the visitors about the products you sell. Your website can be the first impression clients have of you — make it count.
In addition to creating a website for your insurance agency, you will also be responsible for attracting leads, closing sales, and everything in between. This can be overwhelming, but there are efficient ways to manage all this information. Employ a comprehensive platform such as iLife to manage all your life insurance sales tasks in an organized and timely manner.
Online insurance sales organizers allow you to invite visitors to browse quotes, customize your website to reflect the services you offer, and use custom scripts to hook prospects. Additionally, optimizing your insurance site can increase your content’s opportunity to get indexed on the search engine easily and earn higher rankings.
Buy Leads
When agents are starting out, searching for more clients, or in a stagnant moment, they can buy leads to connect with clients who are ready to invest in insurance. Some life insurance leads are pricier than others, but they are often worth it. Keep your budget in mind as you proceed to buy quality leads.
You may also consider buying exclusive leads to earn better profits. Furthermore, you can invest in shared leads, although the profit is also shared among multiple agents involved in the entire sales process. High-risk leads typically have higher premiums, so you can earn higher commissions.
Last but not least, higher quality leads can be bought in bulk to lower the cost. Connect with other agents who have life insurance licenses or licensed brokerage agencies to get better deals on these bulk orders.
Confidently Close Sales with iLife
Selling life insurance demands creativity, patience, persistence, and an organized strategy. No two sales situations are the same; you need to tailor your tactics to offer the best solution to your prospects.
Each step in your life insurance sales funnel is important; be persuasive in your sales conversations. Having an all-in-one life insurance software like iLife will simplify the sales process for you, from lead generation to cold calling to the underwriting process.
Whether you need a website to attract more leads, a compelling sales pitch, or recommendations on the best life insurance product, iLife can help. Sign up for iLife today to manage your sales and marketing tasks efficiently.
