Question:
I'm trying to improve my life insurance practice. I work in a country where life insurance is not popular. I'd like to receive your advice about how to receive referrals smartly and how to get people to make decisions without postponing?
My Answer:
Let's start with referrals. You need to start with the basics:
1. Always ask for referrals from every customer. For example, "Mr. Customer, congratulations on your decision to take up life insurance. As you know, I'm trying to build my business up and was wondering if you could help me by providing the names of two or three of your associates who might also be interested in life insurance?"
2. Always ask for referrals from every non-customer. For example, "Mr. Prospect, I can understand that you don't feel that life insurance is right for you at this moment, however I'm sure that you would agree with me that many other people have a need for life insurance. As you know, I'm trying to build my business up and was wondering if you could help me by providing the names of two or three of your associates who might be interested in life insurance?"
3. You can give referral rewards. For example, you could provide a discount off life insurance premiums for every new customer that someone refers to you, or give some of the commission to the person who referred you. Check what's allowed in your country.
4. Why don't you try giving a free financial analysis in a local raffle? You get great publicity, it might not you cost too much and the customer might end up buying your insurance anyway! Many businesses have started their fortune at local raffles.
Referrals are the best type of business, because a referred customer buys faster, doesn't negotiate as hard on price, pays more and is more loyal. The more referred customers you can have in your business, the more expensive products you will sell.
If you focus on a specific industry market, you might even find that they talk within themselves and you can receive a lot of referrals just by looking after your existing customers. When selling to the Education Market, I found that all Principals talk on a regular basis and try to influence each other! It's unbelievable. A loyal customer can be your best salesperson and provide a golden stream of referrals that will bring plenty of business to your door.
Selling expensive products is much easier with referrals.
For your next question, how to get people to make decisions without postponing, this is also known as how to close the deal faster. To close the deal faster, the customer has to feel little or no risk by using your insurance. The more you can make them comfortable with you and feel like they trust you, the faster you can get the deal.
There are many books and articles written on "how to close the deal." Most of these have techniques that are uncomfortable and awkward for you and the prospect. The secret is, once you have established the prospect's problems and shown how you can help solve them, the sale should almost close itself. You will still need to ask for the business at the end (e.g. "Would you like to go ahead with this?") but it will be so much easier, because their mind is already made up.
Also, you can introduce time-limited offers. For example, "This offer is only for the next week, and after that insurance premiums are rising." If they are a qualified prospect, this can lead them into faster action. When you are selling expensive products, you want
Robert Coorey is an innovative Sales Professional based in Sydney. He has sold Hardware, Software and Managed Services to Universities, Government and large Corporates. Robert's achievements include being awarded two overseas holidays and two interstate holidays for significantly overachieving on sales targets. He has always sold the most expensive product or service in the marketplace.
Robert has organized sponsorships with strategically important organizations and has shown a positive return on investment with each one, as well as gaining access to decision making C-level executives.
Robert has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from Macquarie University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Management from Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Robert is happily married and enjoys playing competitive sports, particularly tennis and cricket.
