"Strictly Sales" is written by the faculty of the Dynamics of Selling Program. This month's column is from David Connolly, ARM.
SO YOU'VE found another prospect. You've developed a rapport, and you've done your homework. You know a great deal about the prospect's business, and you've also done your research on the third person in the discussion-the incumbent agent. You have reviewed the prospect's current policies and can see some potential issues. You have the markets you need, and you're confident that you can win the upcoming debate over product and service.
Your next step will need to be painful-for your prospect. You must identify and discuss the issues that will lead the prospect to make a change. You need to find the prospect's pain. This is an essential part of winning the account. If you cannot uncover the prospect's pain, you will not unseat the incumbent. This is a law of selling, as ironclad as the laws of physics. In fact, the laws of physics apply to selling as well, and understanding them can help you uncover pain and win new accounts. Let's take a look at the physics of selling.
1. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. Most people avoid change like the plague. The change we're asking them to make is particularly painful because we're asking them to break a relationship. Even if you have a better product at a better price, a prospect may find it easier to keep his or her almost-as-good deal and stay with the familiar face of their incumbent agent. This is a powerful force working in the incumbent agent's favor. It can be overcome only if we make the pain of keeping the incumbent worse than the pain of change.
2. No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time. As long as the incumbent agent is "in the room," you'll be waiting in the lobby. The incumbent is in your space. You must find a way to move the incumbent out of the prospect's favor to make room for yourself. The only way to accomplish this is to find pains and highlight them.
Prospects might let you quote their business, which will keep their agents honest, and the incumbent might not mind as long as he or she gets the "last look" and a chance to keep the client. To get beyond just quoting, you have to open old wounds and pour salt in them. You can explore past pains by asking questions that begin with, "I don't suppose…" You can highlight their concerns about the future by asking "what if" questions. You can test the validity of a pain by suggesting, "I guess that's not too much of a problem for you then." When you uncover a pain, you must quantify it in terms of dollars and get the prospect to tell you he or she wants it fixed.
Another method of uncovering a prospect's pain is to describe how you solved a similar problem for another client. You can also paint a picture for your prospect of what perfect service looks like with your firm and ask the prospect to compare that with his or her current service.
3. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you push, you'll get pushed back. Steer clear of making any insinuations or derogatory remarks against an incumbent agent. Not only is "bad-mouthing" the competition unprofessional, it doesn't work. Remember, your prospect decided to hire the incumbent. If you attack the competition, the prospect might take it as a personal attack on his or her previous decision.
A better idea is to get your prospect to do the attacking. Remember, in the mind of your prospects, if you say something, it might be true; if they say it, it is true. Get prospects to re-examine their relationships, their service, their entire program, by asking questions and listening. Also, give prospects something to compare their current programs with.
If you create dialogues, your prospects may tell you exactly what they are looking for. You may have to help them do this, because they might not know such a program exists or they may have given up looking for it. When prospects are comfortable with you, they will want to work with you. People will always find a way to do what they really want. Your job is to get prospects to tell you what that is, to give it to them, and to help them realize that to get what they want they will need to take action.
Arm your prospects
You must arm your prospects mentally and emotionally for the attack of the incumbent agent. When you agree to help them solve their problems, you also should mention that this might create another problem for them. You might describe it like this:
"What do you think your agent is going to say when you tell him you've decided to move in a different direction? I guarantee you he'll be on his way to your office before you hang up the phone. What will you say to him when he gets here? Can you do that? Can you fire your agent?
"When he asks you to see our proposal and then says he will go back to his agency and the carrier and match the program-what will you say?
"When he brings you the basket of 'whine and cheese,' and reminds you what good buddies you are and that they donated to your golf charity-what will you tell him?"
An incumbent agent will do just about anything to keep the business if he can. Make sure your prospect is ready for this, and the prospect will be ready to become your new client.
Since 1981, David Connolly, ARM, has worked in almost every aspect of the insurance industry, including loss control, risk management, production, agency consulting, and sales niche marketing. Today, he works as a producer and sales manager for Indiana Lumbermens Insurance Co. and is a member of the Dynamics of Selling faculty. For more information on the Dynamics of Selling program, contact The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research at (800) 633-2165 or visit www.TheNationalAlliance.com.
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