Need help "closing deals"

[Crabcake Johnny]

Hmmm . . . I think if they went online, that some interest exists or existed at some point, we need to find out what that interest is or was.

Many of you mention that you weed through time wasters.

Maybe you create the scenario in your actions by assuming they're time wasters and ultimately you're wasting their time.

Not necessarily true. My wife and I just pulled up several airlines quotes for a vacation destination - doesn't mean we have any intention on going there.

Can I imagine 5 airlines calling me with "well you MUST want to fly somewhere since you were online looking at prices."

Please remember Rob that likely 80% of everyone clicking to submit from quotes does NOT know and has not agreed to speak to an agent (unless they pull up the TOS of lead company."

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Not necessarily true. My wife and I just pulled up several airlines quotes for a vacation destination - doesn't mean we have any intention on going there.

Excellent point.

It takes a LOT more than "interested" to make a good prospect!
Uninsurable folks are "interested". Broke people are "interested".

Neither however are good prospects.

The first challenge is separating the wheat from the chaff...

 

[Guest]

Not necessarily true. My wife and I just pulled up several airlines quotes for a vacation destination - doesn't mean we have any intention on going there.

Can I imagine 5 airlines calling me with "well you MUST want to fly somewhere since you were online looking at prices."

Please remember Rob that likely 80% of everyone clicking to submit from quotes does NOT know and has not agree to speak to an agent (unless they pull up the TOS of lead company."

I agree. I'm talking about people that entertain you on the phone without hanging up or blowing you off.

They must have had some level of interest to speak to you, especially since they probably saw quotes on E-health because they're first at the top of every freakin' search page and they may have received email quotes via an auto responder.

Yet, they still talk to you, why?

 

[Delta76]

Over the years, my philosophy has changed. I have stricken the word "just" from my vocabulary.

I don't ask. If it's not a good time for some reason, I let them tell me.

I agree with your point, I avoid the word "just" also. It comes down to tonality and wording. I still think asking "did I catch you at a good time?" can be asked politely without sounding apologetic. Maybe its just my midwest up bringing.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Yet, they still talk to you, why?

There's two reasons, at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

At one end, they're not sure. They know what they don't know, and they appreciate the value of a professional opinion.

At the other end, there are the "users". They believe your function is to "educate" them, so they can go do it at ehealth, or with another agent, or whatever.

That's why it is so critical to find out if you have a mutually acceptable basis for doing business. If NOT, you run the risk of spending a lot of time spinning your wheels...

 

[Guest]

Excellent point.

It takes a LOT more than "interested" to make a good prospect!
Uninsurable folks are "interested". Broke people are "interested".

Neither however are good prospects.

The first challenge is separating the wheat from the chaff...

Let me try to explain myself better. You have to get to a certain point in order to discern if they are a candidate for insurance. You can't find that out if your mindset is, let's get to the legit sales prospect.

If you're ready to cut people off to get the next one, then I'd think that when faced with even minor resistance, instead of trying to turn it around, you may bail, and remember this post was for someone who was struggling, not us.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

There was a car sales manager who blew through once - his attitude was "no one visits the lot unless they want to buy a car."

This theory carried out to state that your inability to close everyone who comes on the lot means you did something wrong. Every time a prospect left the lot without a sale we got chastised. Thankfully he got canned before he blew out the entire sales floor.

I did not subscribe to the mentality that "everyone's a buyer." I'm allowed to walk around Sears with my wife and not buy squat and not even be remotely interested in a single thing. So why are we in Sears? Who knows. Poking around.

What really drove me crazy about my wife when we first got married is she had a bad habit of dragging me into jewelry stores and having the sales reps pull all kinds of **** out of the case - never with even an iota of intention to buy. I broke her of that habit.

Do realize that most people simply do not have a care in the world. I took people on 2, 4, 6 test drives with zero interest before I figured out how to qualify people.

To get back on point - when I call a prospect I immediately ascertain their level of interest. If there is no level of interest I'm gone.

 

[Guest]

There's two reasons, at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

At one end, they're not sure. They know what they don't know, and they appreciate the value of a professional opinion.

At the other end, there are the "users". They believe your function is to "educate" them, so they can go do it at ehealth, or with another agent, or whatever.

That's why it is so critical to find out if you have a mutually acceptable basis for doing business. If NOT, you run the risk of spending a lot of time spinning your wheels...

Maybe it's me maybe I'm reading into things, but it seems that people aren't writing very many people they actually speak to.

Am I wrong?

I'll post a thread.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Let me try to explain myself better. You have to get to a certain point in order to discern if they are a candidate for insurance. You can't find that out if your mindset is, let's get to the legit sales prospect.

If you're ready to cut people off to get the next one, then I'd think that when faced with even minor resistance, instead of trying to turn it around, you may bail, and remember this post was for someone who was struggling, not us.

No, no. My bad. I did a poor job of communicating my point.

Totally agreed.

My sole point is you should find out "why" very early in the going.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

When you listen to your prospect (instead of speaking) they will tell you how to submit the application.

The problem with most agents is when the prospect is speaking it comes out like Charlie Brown's teacher. They are simply waiting for their prospect's lips to stop moving so they can listen to themselves talk again.