Honesty Turns Out To Be Best Policy In Selling CoverageTo Skeptical Public

The Gallup Organization sent its people to the phones aroundThanksgiving time to find out how Americans felt about the “honestyand ethics” of 23 different professions. At the top of the listwere nurses, whose honesty and ethics were rated as “high” or “veryhigh” by 83 percent of those surveyed. Third from the bottom, withonly a 12 percent rating, were insurance salesmen. Ouch!

You can quibble with Gallups polling methods. In our popularculture, the word “salesman” has, for a lot of people, come tosuggest a less-than-honest person. Its a bum rap, but thats the wayit is. No offense to nurses, but had Gallups pollsters used theterm “insurance agent,” they might have scored higher.

Before your agency goes shopping for nurses who can get theirproperty-casualty licenses and start selling for you, I want tomake a different point. In fact, I want to go out on a limb andmake a statement that may ruffle some feathers: In the businessworld, prospects lie far more often than salespeople do.

I realize thats a controversial claim, but Im prepared to defendit. Im not trying to pander here. I base this on over 5,000 hoursIve spent coaching insurance agents and hearing their stories.Obviously, if insurance agents lied as much as the folklore saysthey do, they wouldnt be able to make a living.

So, whats the number one reason your prospects lie to you? Or,to put it more charitably, the number one reason theyre unwillingto tell you the truth? Most of you already know the answer. Itsbecause they dont intend to do business with you. Thats why theytell you the “little white lies” that suggest legitimate intereston their part.

Some prospects do it to use you as a resourcetheyll let youpresent so you can educate them about the market. Otherprospectsthe ones who were too nice to say no to an appointmentarealso too nice to tell you they dont intend to buy from you. Stillother prospects simply dont click with you, the chemistry is bad,and so they run out the clock feigning interest until youleave.

To break through this impasse and have an open, honest dialoguerequires you to pass two tests shortly after you walk in the door.If you flunk either of these tests, its doubtful youll get anotherchance to re-take it.

First, you must make your prospect comfortable. You can do thisconsciously. For example, if you see a picture on your prospectscredenza of him paddling a kayak through Class 4 whitewater, youcan ask him where it was and mention your own love of thesport.

You also can do this by creating a subconscious rapport, usingthe “match and mirror” technique. The idea behind match and mirroris that were comfortable with people like ourselves. If yourprospect speaks slowly, dont speak as if youve had three shots ofespresso. If he leans back in his chair and puts a leg on his desk,relax your posture, too.

Second, you must pass the credibility test. This test can be abit tougher. You cant volunteer that youre credible by sayingthings like “trust me,” “believe me,” and “I can put you in touchwith Dexter, who can vouch for what Im saying.” Credibility speaksfor itself. But how do you gain it quickly, near the start of abrief sales call?

One of the best tools for creating credibility is a storyanexample of how youve helped someone like your prospect solve aproblem similar to the one theyve got. Heres a six-step outline youcan follow to tell your story to a prospect:

Ive found in working with other businesses like yours that

The owner of one of these businesses was concerned about

When I spoke to the owner, he told me he wanted

We were able to

As a result, he was able to

Now, tell me about your situation.

While you were telling your story, you were implying yourstrengths to your prospect without having to assert them as if theywere bullet points in a sales brochure. Heres what you indirectlycommunicated through your story:

We know your industry.

We have experience dealing with the kinds of problems youface.

We understand the kinds of solutions you want.

We can give you those solutions.

You will benefit from working with us.

We can help you.

Oh, and about that Gallup poll? Dont feel too bad. There weretwo professions that scored even lower than insurance salesmen. HMOmanagers were next to last at 11 percent, and car salesmen weredead last at 7 percent. But I doubt youll hear any horror storiesat cocktail parties anytime soon about auto owners who fib aboutthe condition of their trade-in vehicle.

To paraphrase an old axiom, honesty is not only the best policy.It remains the best way to sell an insurance policyespecially whenthe buyer is comfortable enough, and the seller is credible enough,to make it happen.

Randy Schwantz, author of “The Wedge: How to Stop Sellingand Start Winning,” published by The National Underwriter Company,is president of The Wedge Group, a sales training and consultingfirm headquartered near Dallas, Texas. For more information, visitwww.thewedge.net, or call1-877-999-9334.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, January 30, 2004.Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.