Sell the Need or Sell the Want???

[James]

It doesn't matter what you are selling, may it be Health, Life or what have you, you will find differences in sales approaches. Yet, for the life of me never expierence this before, well not as entrench as it seems to be in Insurance, that is to sell more than the "Need" you are a evil, disgusting, BS Commission Whore! I even remember John talking about an agent calling him just that for selling something besides BC where the commission paid was like 50 dollars an app. Even though he tried to explain that the other policy, while paying higher commission had advantages and basically the same if not cheaper!

So I want to ask all here, do you sell to the Need or Want? Now let us assume that all here are honorable people and perform our Fiduciary Responsibilities while selling whatever it is we are selling. Let us also assume we all sell both depending upon what the client wants and affordability, but all things being equal to you sell to the need or want?

Ps I was going to add a poll but I guess you have to do it within One Minute as in 60 seconds??? Wow, I guess in my middle age period of life I'm just too slow???

 

[somarco]

Show (illustrate) the want, sell the need.

Let the client decide.

Middle age? According to a recent report life expectancy is 78. My calculator says 39 is middle age.

I remember 39.

Kind of.

Guess I must be in the twilight years . . .

 

[tommyk]

I believe that I go in with the idea of selling the need, only after I do a fact finder. I then determine what it seems they are looking for. They may correct me, or say that's great, but we want this. There is no real answer. You may be a need salesperson, but the client will let you know what they want....catch 22

 

[Frank Stastny]

I think a good test of this is to ask yourself if you believe you will still be this person's agent five years from now when you sell them a policy.

When I sell a policy my main concern is not how much commission I will make "today". Of greater concern is how much will I be making from the sale of that policy five years from now.

As an example, I really believe that everyone who can afford it needs to have nursing home coverage. Let's assume that is the "need".

I would present nursing home only coverage and show them the premium. I would then show them all the bells and whistles that can be added and the cost of each of them. In my opinion all the rest are "wants" not "needs" and I would explain that to the prospect along with all of the reasons why.

In a lot of cases I could have convinced them that they "need" everything offered and it should all be life-time coverage. But, how long will a policy like that stay on the books and do they really "need" all of that?

Show them the basic "needs" and let them select the "wants".

For most people purchasing an insurance policy and the levels of benefits is an emotional decision. Any agent who uses emotions and scare tactics can get the prospect emotionally involved into believing that they "need" every thing when making a decision. But, how are they going to feel in the morning? I hope that agent sent them flowers or at least called.

There are two kind of agents. Ones who sell only to make the most commission they can as fast as they can, and those who help their prospect make a well informed, intelligent decision.

 

[TheSalesWolf]

If the rates are close sell what's going to make you the most money...

If they aren't close sell the most economical plan for your client regardless of commission.

 

[James]

I personally feel as though there is no real "need" for insurance, speaking strictly like the need for food and water. You don't eat or drink you die, LTCi like Health, if you don't have insurance you still get care and medicaid will pay for the NH. Life insurance, hell you're dead what need could you possibly have?

All insurance is basically a "Want" item, it is not a commodity it is a service, very important one yes but still not a necissity. So why impose your own moral or ethical standards only to limit yourself imposing your standards on others?

Take LTCi, the ultimate of a "Want" if there ever has been one! Outside of protecting ones fortunes against spend down there is no need for this, yet many have a desire to purchase it for obvious reasons. Some say you take the average cost of NH's in your area and then sell a strip down NH only policy for that cost? If we disect this theory we find a lot of holes, first thing is that Medicaid will step in an pay for this basic service, of course with spend down being involved but really how many are that greatly affected? Sure the person sitting accross from you don't know a damn thing about these policies, so to say what you present is agreeable to them is only saying you sold them on bare essentials of the sevice that they really don't know anything about, at least in 90% of cases. I'm just wondering how many clients being sold this line, will wake up one day to find out that they can not get any assistance from their LTCi unless they check into a NH? No help with Home Care, far more preferable than a NH for many, no help with Assisted Living, likely the number one concern for seniors as they slowly transition into being partially unable to take care of themselves and really don't want to burden their children.

That is why asking a basic question, "what do you want from this insurance policy?" may it be life, LTCi, health or even DI is the first step to bringing out the real question, it isn't the need but their want that is really the key. When selling LTCi and I inform people that Home Care, Assisted Living and Day Care is available then ask the question, most do not then say, "No I only want NH care". Now I agree if I started only with NH care only and sold that first, then trying to add other services it would be a lot harder, see I already sold the bare minimun and the sale should be closing not continuing in most minds, esp that of the buyer.

Much like Life Insurance, do you sell to only pay off debt and enough for one, two years? The latest poll from LIMRA stated that overall census of people regarding DB is that income for 5.7 years is pretty much properly insured amount. So if I took that as the percieve reality of the implied Need anything above that is simply an agent trying too line his or her pockets? As in being a Commission Whore??? Of course not!

In fact, us commission whores, think that people that sell their agenda of Need are greatly underinsuring there clients. Only real need I have is that my service fits their budget and of sustainable, outside of that there is no need limitations. I sell the benefit, more the merrier!

 

[somarco]

Life insurance, hell you're dead what need could you possibly have?

Life insurance is one of the few things in life of any value we purchase to give away. Owning life insurance is an act of love. Having a life policy will not make people love you any more, at least not while you are alive, but it will make an impression after you are gone.

All other products including LTCi, health, disability even P&C product are purchased out of a motivation for preserving wealth for yourself.

It has been said that people who purchase a drill really don't want the drill, they want a hole.

The same can be said for insurance. They really don't want insurance. What they want is to preserve & protect their assets.

 

[djs]

All other products including LTCi, health, disability even P&C product are purchased out of a motivation for preserving wealth for yourself.

It has been said that people who purchase a drill really don't want the drill, they want a hole.

The same can be said for insurance. They really don't want insurance. What they want is to preserve & protect their assets.

Well said!

Dan

P.S. Last time I wanted a drill wasn't that I wanted a hole, but I needed a hole because I wanted a picture hanging on the wall (or at least my wife did). The hole was a need, the drill was a tool, and the picture being hung up was a want.

 

[James]

Life insurance is one of the few things in life of any value we purchase to give away. Owning life insurance is an act of love. Having a life policy will not make people love you any more, at least not while you are alive, but it will make an impression after you are gone.

All other products including LTCi, health, disability even P&C product are purchased out of a motivation for preserving wealth for yourself.

It has been said that people who purchase a drill really don't want the drill, they want a hole.

The same can be said for insurance. They really don't want insurance. What they want is to preserve & protect their assets.

Agreed, so you show the need and sell the WANT!

 

[Corey]

Life insurance is one of the few things in life of any value we purchase to give away. Owning life insurance is an act of love. Having a life policy will not make people love you any more, at least not while you are alive, but it will make an impression after you are gone.

All other products including LTCi, health, disability even P&C product are purchased out of a motivation for preserving wealth for yourself.

It has been said that people who purchase a drill really don't want the drill, they want a hole.

The same can be said for insurance. They really don't want insurance. What they want is to preserve & protect their assets.

Very well said.

I am no longer in individual production, however, I will share some of my past experiences.

I believe clients have a difficult time "buying" life insurance due to the fact it is not really a tangible item for the owner, unless we're talking about cash accumulation and retirement planning. As Somarco previously stated, we purchase it to give it away.

If we do our part, the clients will understand their need, however, we always have to respect what they WANT to spend, especially when dealing with some of the bigger estate planning cases (larger premiums). Even if we're dealing with smaller cases, sometimes they simply cannot afford the premiums.

*I remember working with a couple on their insurance needs and having them tell me they cannot afford it. I went the extra step to review their monthly budget and was able to find an extra $2000/month. After the u/w was completed, the husband came back with a table rating and his premium was 3x what we both thought it would be. I was expecting him to back out, however his exact response was: "If I can afford it, I don't care how much the costs is since you already showed me I needed this."

It always helps to find out up front if your client has a set amount they are willing to dedicate towards this commitment. Then, we can illustrate for need and want. Most importantly, they will know you are doing everything in their best interest and won't refer to you as "an evil, disgusting, BS Commission Whore!"