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

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

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

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

I realize thats a controversial claim, but Im prepared to defend it. Im not trying to pander here. I base this on over 5,000 hours Ive spent coaching insurance agents and hearing their stories. Obviously, if insurance agents lied as much as the folklore says they 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 unwilling to tell you the truth? Most of you already know the answer. Its because they dont intend to do business with you. Thats why they tell you the “little white lies” that suggest legitimate interest on their part.

Some prospects do it to use you as a resourcetheyll let you present so you can educate them about the market. Other prospectsthe ones who were too nice to say no to an appointmentare also too nice to tell you they dont intend to buy from you. Still other prospects simply dont click with you, the chemistry is bad, and so they run out the clock feigning interest until you leave.

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

First, you must make your prospect comfortable. You can do this consciously. For example, if you see a picture on your prospects credenza of him paddling a kayak through Class 4 whitewater, you can ask him where it was and mention your own love of the sport.

You also can do this by creating a subconscious rapport, using the “match and mirror” technique. The idea behind match and mirror is that were comfortable with people like ourselves. If your prospect speaks slowly, dont speak as if youve had three shots of espresso. 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 a bit tougher. You cant volunteer that youre credible by saying things like “trust me,” “believe me,” and “I can put you in touch with Dexter, who can vouch for what Im saying.” Credibility speaks for itself. But how do you gain it quickly, near the start of a brief sales call?

One of the best tools for creating credibility is a storyan example of how youve helped someone like your prospect solve a problem similar to the one theyve got. Heres a six-step outline you can 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 your strengths to your prospect without having to assert them as if they were bullet points in a sales brochure. Heres what you indirectly communicated through your story:

We know your industry.

We have experience dealing with the kinds of problems you face.

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 were two professions that scored even lower than insurance salesmen. HMO managers were next to last at 11 percent, and car salesmen were dead last at 7 percent. But I doubt youll hear any horror stories at cocktail parties anytime soon about auto owners who fib about the 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 when the buyer is comfortable enough, and the seller is credible enough, to make it happen.

Randy Schwantz, author of “The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning,” published by The National Underwriter Company, is president of The Wedge Group, a sales training and consulting firm headquartered near Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit www.thewedge.net, or call 1-877-999-9334.

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

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

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