Ultimate [Guide] to Cold Calling

[Glen Shelton]

Holy cow, we did it! Not only did we scour these insurance forums, but also the rest of the internet, too, to find the best cold calling tips and scripts for insurance agents.

We covered the entire subject in our latest (and longest) blog post on our site. Check it out and let me know what you think. For this post, we only focused on residential B2C cold calling, because if we included B2B in this article, it would've been another book! Who knows, maybe we might do a B2B version one day – depending on the feedback from this article.

Thanks to the community of agents here on the forums, we found tons of script examples and solid tips to help new agents succeed at making cold calls. I want to give a huge shout-out to these 35 forum members that were inspirations for this guide:

1. Vol Agent
2. Jacques Werth
3. Joshua Stacy
4. Frank Stasny (RIP)
5. Extra
6. Decision Man
7. Bob Vineyard (Somarco)
8. Ron Van Deusen
9. Thomas Massey
10. Todd Daviso
11. Matt Englemann (Full Throttle)
12. Go Pokes
13. Patrick Pegram
14. Chazm
15. Bob the Insurance Guy
16. Kris Willy
17. Midwestbroker
18. Simon Yule
19. John Petrowski
20. Sam
21. Scagnt83
22. Thad
23. Dave Kinder
24. Stephen
25. Axeman
26. Windi
27. Althegud1srtakn
28. Old Standard
29. Celestril
30. Ksgmitsu
31. Njinsuranceguy
32. Jason Kanigan
33. Gymguy
34. Bowling
35. 1manshow

Check Out the Ultimate Guide to Cold Calling Now!

 

[timamr]

I skimmed over most of the blog and looks really good, with lots of time and effort put into it. I plan to come back and read it completely but I love the...... "Hi Mr. Prospect, this is Ted Smith giving you a call. I'm actually calling you as a cold
call and I'm sure this isn't the first one you have ever received. (interrupting
usual pattern) Would it be okay if I take 30 seconds to tell you why I called, then you can tell me whether or not we should talk further?" (ask for permission & alleviate fears)

A lot of times I start out by saying "hi bill, tim here....we have never spoke before and I wanna let u know up front I am not a telemarketer (with laughter in my voice).....but here's why I am calling

 

[somarco]

Cold calling is, by definition, interruption marketing.

Maybe the long introduction works for some, but as soon as I hear "this is not a sales call" I hang up. I used to be nice and say "no thank you, remove me from your list".

Now I just hang up.

While I appreciate the effort Glen put into this effort, it takes a special kind of talent to have success with cold calling.

IMO if you want to get your foot in the door with cold calling, you have to grab their attention up front, in the first few seconds. Taking time to explain who you are and why you are calling is, again in my opinion, a waste of time.

They know exactly why you are calling. It is not to help them regain their youth or accumulate great wealth. You want to sell them something.

By definition a cold call means you know almost nothing about them beyond their name, phone, address and perhaps their age. You have no idea if they just lost their job, their spouse left them or their dog died.

You are still interrupting what they were doing.

I don't cold call, but I have in the past.

Hated it.

But I learned how to modulate my voice and convey a level of compassion over the phone and get them to open up. I still use these same techniques in calling leads from my sites.

They weren't expecting my call and I have to grab their attention quickly.

In cold calling you have to throw out something that will pique their interest and get it out there in the first few seconds.

"Have you ever paid too much for (fill in the blank)?"

Of course they have!

Paid too much for a car, a house . . . . everyone thinks they overpay for insurance. Have yet to meet someone who feels like they are not paying ENOUGH for insurance.

Understand I am not "throwing shade" on Glen's report. Consider this an alternate beginning if you will.

If you want to learn more about interruption marketing, this blogpost is pretty good.
The End of Interruption Marketing

And thanks for the shout out, Glen. I assume my royalty checks will start coming in any day now.

 

[rousemark]

Cold calling is, by definition, interruption marketing.

Maybe the long introduction works for some, but as soon as I hear "this is not a sales call" I hang up. I used to be nice and say "no thank you, remove me from your list".

Now I just hang up.

While I appreciate the effort Glen put into this effort, it takes a special kind of talent to have success with cold calling.

IMO if you want to get your foot in the door with cold calling, you have to grab their attention up front, in the first few seconds. Taking time to explain who you are and why you are calling is, again in my opinion, a waste of time.

They know exactly why you are calling. It is not to help them regain their youth or accumulate great wealth. You want to sell them something.

By definition a cold call means you know almost nothing about them beyond their name, phone, address and perhaps their age. You have no idea if they just lost their job, their spouse left them or their dog died.

You are still interrupting what they were doing.

I don't cold call, but I have in the past.

Hated it.

But I learned how to modulate my voice and convey a level of compassion over the phone and get them to open up. I still use these same techniques in calling leads from my sites.

They weren't expecting my call and I have to grab their attention quickly.

In cold calling you have to throw out something that will pique their interest and get it out there in the first few seconds.

"Have you ever paid too much for (fill in the blank)?"

Of course they have!

Paid too much for a car, a house . . . . everyone thinks they overpay for insurance. Have yet to meet someone who feels like they are not paying ENOUGH for insurance.

Understand I am not "throwing shade" on Glen's report. Consider this an alternate beginning if you will.

If you want to learn more about interruption marketing, this blogpost is pretty good.
The End of Interruption Marketing

And thanks for the shout out, Glen. I assume my royalty checks will start coming in any day now.

I agree with the comments about nixing the long winded introduction. You don't need to waste my time telling me that it is a cold call, that I don't know you, etc. I already know that so why are you wasting my time (and yours) telling me those things. Plus, I, like many people tend to have a negative view of people I don't know cold calling me so why are you accentuating the negative and bringing it to the forefront of my mind?

When you start off telling me, this is not a sales call, my thought is, "I wonder what else this guy will lie about?" ...You may not try to sell me anything during that call but I know the end purpose is for you to make a sale.

When you call, get to the point quickly and let me know why it would benefit me to enter into a conversation with you.

 

[Glen Shelton]

I skimmed over most of the blog and looks really good, with lots of time and effort put into it. I plan to come back and read it completely but I love the...... "Hi Mr. Prospect, this is Ted Smith giving you a call. I'm actually calling you as a cold
call and I'm sure this isn't the first one you have ever received. (interrupting
usual pattern) Would it be okay if I take 30 seconds to tell you why I called, then you can tell me whether or not we should talk further?" (ask for permission & alleviate fears)

A lot of times I start out by saying "hi bill, tim here....we have never spoke before and I wanna let u know up front I am not a telemarketer (with laughter in my voice).....but here's why I am calling

I have your script and almost included it in this article! I will definitely hold onto it for when this massive post gets updated down the road.

I agree with the change of pace, whenever I get a call from an unknown number or from someone trying to sell me something, when its different than other pitches I hear I am 10 times more likely to hear them out even if it is only for a few minutes.

 

[Glen Shelton]

While I appreciate the effort Glen put into this effort, it takes a special kind of talent to have success with cold calling.

Exactly!

Which is why agents need to outsource it to an expert

Thanks for the comment!

 

[Glen Shelton]

I agree with the comments about nixing the long winded introduction....

When you call, get to the point quickly and let me know why it would benefit me to enter into a conversation with you.

^^^ Completely agree with this

 

[Rick Deckard]

Morgan and Morgan out of Tampa, Orlando, Central Florida has a big TV commercial running and telling people to call them to collect $1,500 per telemarketing call to their cell phone...now we all know it isn't exactly like they say it is HOWEVER that is what we are dealing with right now.

And no matter how easy you make the script, barely anyone will call anyways. Between the potential lawsuits or fines from the powers that be coupled with a lot of rejection means this entire forum is mostly a waste of time I have found.

 

[Rick Deckard]

I went and found a direct link, just go all the way to the bottom for the $1,500/telemarketer can I sue section...

TCPA Robocall Lawsuits | Suing Telemarketers | Morgan & Morgan

Good Luck everyone!

 

[MedicareMillionair]

I agree with the comments about nixing the long winded introduction. You don't need to waste my time telling me that it is a cold call, that I don't know you, etc. I already know that so why are you wasting my time (and yours) telling me those things. Plus, I, like many people tend to have a negative view of people I don't know cold calling me so why are you accentuating the negative and bringing it to the forefront of my mind?

When you start off telling me, this is not a sales call, my thought is, "I wonder what else this guy will lie about?" ...You may not try to sell me anything during that call but I know the end purpose is for you to make a sale.

When you call, get to the point quickly and let me know why it would benefit me to enter into a conversation with you.

I agree with getting to the point quickly. Typically you either connect to the person at the other end of the phone or you don't. A decision is made very quickly., A real deal killer for me is when I answer, "Hello" and there is a delayed response before the caller comes on the line....grrrr. If your using certain types of dialers, this can be a real problem.