Selling More Life

Most advisors get into the financial services industry because they care about protecting their clients. And that protection includes protecting what your clients care about, or rather what they love.

For some that might be assets, it might be a lifestyle they want to be able to maintain into retirement, and it might even include protecting their families if and when something happens to them.

Life Insurance is almost always a part of the equation. It’s a product that everyone needs, but many do not want to talk about. And it makes sense, who wants to talk about their own demise? Denial is a strong emotion to have to overcome.

Yet for most in this industry, being able to talk about the what-ifs and the end of life is vital. You can’t work with a client to protect their assets and ignore this area of their life. So today we want to focus on a few tips that can make the transition into talking about Life Insurance and protecting what your clients care about easier.

• Start with your promise. If clients understand your promise to them, then it’s easier to ask the sometimes-uncomfortable questions or to broach the topics they may want to avoid. We call this promise-based selling and have covered it many times in the past. Start every meeting with your clients with a recap of why you do what you do. Typically, that’s going to be a passion for educating them to select the best options to secure their financial future. If they understand your intent, they are more likely to engage in a collaborative conversation.
   
• Listen and be curious. These are two skills that everyone can stand to continue to hone, because they are like muscles. If you stop using them, you will lose them. And truthfully, they are easy to stop using, especially in an industry where you see the same needs on a consistent basis. It’s easy to think, I’ve seen this before and I already know the solution. You may, but your clients haven’t and if you jump to the solution too quickly, you will lose them. By truly listening to a client you not only ensure that you have the right solution, but you set yourself apart from order-takers within the industry. What matters to every client is different and even if you wind up at the same solution, the journey to get there should feel customized for each client. Part of being curious and truly listening is to use their words and phrases when you discuss solutions with them.
   
• Talk about Living Benefits! Many life insurance policies and riders have benefits that your clients may not have heard about. Open conversations by asking a client if anyone has ever talked to them about living benefits. This is a great way to start a conversation about life insurance without asking a question that centers around their demise.
   
• Conduct annual reviews. It’s easy to let clients off the hook and simply say we offered, but they don’t want to meet with us. Challenge your agency to get passionate about offering reviews in a way that makes clients excited to talk with you or your team. Be prepared to object to the first no that you get and ensure that your clients understand the importance of a review. Get creative in how you offer reviews. Zoom or other video calls make it easy to share a screen and allow reviews to happen within 30 minutes. If clients are saying no to annual reviews, it’s time to look over your system, because they should be looking forward to talking with you and your team.
   
• Use an agenda. We’ve mentioned this one before, so we will keep it short, but putting an agenda in front of a client allows you to plant seeds about other products/services that you offer. It’s an easy to implement, but proven way to increase your life insurance sales.