A 'questioning' attitude is the key to sales success "Strictly Sales" is written by the faculty of the Dynamics of Selling Program. This month's column is from Edwin L. Lamont. THINK back to a recent insurance sales call. Who did most of the talking? Did you deliver a lecture on the benefits of your service, coverage or incredibly low price? Watch out! Selling by telling leads to low closing ratios. People don't like to be sold-but they do like to buy.
Instead of lecturing your way to sales, use questions to sell. When you ask questions and listen to the answers, you build rapport and trust. Asking questions keeps you from talking too much. Carefully crafted questions qualify suspect buyers. Think of questions that tie a buyer's problem to one of your product's strengths or risk management solutions. The right question at the right time can trigger a prospect to buy from you. Questions to sell open the door to your buyer's world and help you close more sales. Here are just a few of the numerous benefits of questions to sell.
-Questions keep you in control. Have you ever felt out of control at an insurance appointment? Perhaps it was difficult to get your buyer's full attention. Some prospects use formidable negotiation skills to keep you off-balance. Objections can put you on the defensive as well.
If you're off-balance, on the defensive or out of control in front of an insurance prospect, resist the urge to talk your way out of trouble. Instead, ask open-ended questions to better understand what's going on. Open-ended questions begin with what, how or why, and they get your buyer talking. You gain important information and buy time to think. When you're listening, you're learning-and you're in control.
-Questions qualify prospects. Who qualifies whom when insurance sales professionals meet prospective buyers? For sure, your buyer qualifies you. Make sure you qualify your buyer. Ask questions. Be certain you're not spending your time, agency resources and company relationships for nothing.
Begin with questions that build rapport and trust. Ask questions based on your knowledge of the prospect's accomplishments or company's history. When you listen well, you build rapport, trust and a valued relationship.
Probe your prospect for pains and problems. Are pains and problems severe enough for your buyer to fire the current agent and hire you? If you can't find coverage, service or value problems, your suspected buyer simply doesn't qualify for your professional support.
-Questions reveal solutions to problems. Many insurance agents fail to ask the right questions to help buyers find insurance problems and solutions. Worse yet, when a prospect reveals a problem, too many agents simply promise to take care of it. Some agents dismissively add, "That's not really a problem."
Professional insurance agents do exactly the opposite. Instead of declaring a solution, trivializing the problem and moving on, insurance sales professionals ask more questions to fully understand the prospect's perspective. Then, in the form of a question, they suggest a feature of their service that addresses the prospect's problem. Here are some examples:
- Client service agreement: If your agency supports clients with a service contract, ask, "If we agree to work together, how important is a client service agreement to you?"
- Niche industry specialist: If you specialize in protecting a niche industry, ask, "Would you feel more comfortable with an insurance agent who's worked in your industry and protected businesses like yours for years?"
- Niche coverage specialist: If you are an expert in specific coverages, ask, "Does working with a (surety, directors & officers liability, workers compensation, etc.) specialist mean anything to you?"
Ask the question and resist the urge to answer it for your prospect. If you tell your prospect what the solution is, the solution is yours-and you're selling it. When your prospect discovers the solution, it's theirs to buy. Ask questions and let your buyer buy.
-Questions set negotiation ground rules. Before negotiations begin, ground rules should be set-and you should be the one to set them. Ask yourself these seven questions to know the rules of the game before you agree to play.
- What path needs to be followed to reach a decision?
- Who else gives input or needs to be a part of the decision?
- How much is budgeted for insurance protection?
- If solving problems costs more, is your budget flexible?
- When do you want my proposal?
- What will have to happen before you are willing to fire your current agent and hire me?
- If I solve the problems you say are important and do not exceed your budget, would anything else stop you from accepting my proposal?
Have the courage to ask ground-rule questions. If you don't like the answers to any of the questions, you may be about to waste your time, agency assets and insurance company underwriting efforts. Don't do it!
Asking questions to sell keeps you in control and qualifies suspected buyers into prospects and new customers. Thoughtful questions help reveal solutions to your prospect's problems. Set ground rules for insurance negotiations by knowing in advance what questions to ask. Insurance sales professionals separate themselves from the competition by asking questions and listening instead of talking excessively. Questioning and listening builds rapport and trust. When you ask questions to sell, you let your buyers buy.
Ed Lamont teaches at the Dynamics of Selling Program. He can be contacted at (561) 737-7388 or by e-mail at lcgspeak@aol.com or at www.championedlamont.com . For more information on the Dynamics of Selling Program, call (800) 633-2165 or visit www.thenationalalliance.com.
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