Preston Diamond's Insurance Sales Tips

Present standing up.

Present on a flip chart. Everything good happens. Standing up puts you in control. It creates more energy in the room. You can ask your potential client to write on the flip chart so they are involved. The potential client must stay right with you.

Think about it. Standing to present and presenting on a flip chart changes the entire dynamics of presenting. It makes it an active event, not passive like sitting in a chair does.

A full calendar leads to success. But not how you might think.

How full your calendar is with appointments directly affects how successful you’ll be at getting hired as the broker of choice. If you don’t have many appointments scheduled, you’ll press more to close each presentation when the time may not be right to even present.

Your potential client will feel your stress.

People must sell themselves for you to make the sale.

Your task is to create insurance understanding for them to create self-discovery. To do that, share stories from your files about how you helped in the claim process, reduced costs that increased cash, and increased cash through increased sales.

Silence is not golden. It is brown, like doo-doo.

As long as the potential client is silent, you’re on your way to being rejected. Think about it, there can be no objections as long as the potential client is talking.

Each agency team member’s obligation is to add one potential client per week to the potential client “pool.”

Figure it out…there are 10 agency team members. That means you are adding, taking out vacation weeks over 400 new potential clients to your pool of future revenue.

Of those potential clients, segment the best of the pool.

Laminate that list of the top 50-100. Carry the list with the best with you at all times.

Share it with your key clients and other financial partners, such as your banker, CPA, attorney. It’s guaranteed that someone you show the list to will know a name(s) and be able to open the door.

The potential client’s insurance “needs” have little to do with you making the sale or not.

It’s the potential client’s perceived desire to close the gap between what they are experiencing now and what they want to experience. (In addition “needs” is such an overused word…employers have issues they would like you to solve.)

For a simple stay in “touch” with the potential client campaign, can’t you mail oversized postcards monthly? The message on the postcards is simply client testimonials in story form.

Example: Picture of building on fire on one side.

Words on address side. “My heart raced when the phone rang at 2:40 AM and the voice on the other end excitedly said my 100 year old building was on fire. I jumped into my clothes and as I zoomed downtown, I wondered whether to call Bill, my insurance person for 8 years. Hey, I thought, I had never called him to wake him up, no better reason than this.

To my complete surprise and relief, Bill beat me to my building. I felt somewhat foolish when I saw Bill. What could he do? Then it dawned on me. Bill cared. He cared enough to assure me things were going to start rolling toward a solution.

…The city and country caused the problems. My insurance and Bill’s attention to detail were as perfect as I could have hoped.

After you visit a potential client and are either “rejected” (did not get order or advance the sale) don’t go back to office but visit a good client to “get a boost.”

Same idea applies when you get an order. Take advantage of the high. Visit another potential client or current client.

Point is…never make just one appointment at a time, book two minimum…it’s the law and the easiest way to increase your book of business.

After each appointment create a scorecard to check on how well it went.

1. Did you team sell with the benefits producer?
2. Did you eliminate objections before prospect states them? Price objections means prospect has low perception of what you offer.


3. Did you answer objections, if you received any, with stories and testimonials of real problems you have solved, not facts?


4. A desperate producer has no chance to close. Buyers sense desperation. You are not desperate when you have a calendar full of appointments. Is your calendar full?


5. Did you know what buyer wants as well as needs?


6. Pictures and word stories jump-start the brain. Did you include both in your presentation?


7. Fear kills the mind. Practice removes fear. Did you practice twice as long as you presented?


8. Did you use props to involve your buyer?


9. The buyer is asking “So what” with each point you make. Could you answer “so what” with each point you made?


10. You earn trust when buyer shares innermost feelings and reasons why you are there. Without trust, no sale is possible. Did you earn trust?


11. You must address and solve the buyer’s personal agenda as well as the business agenda. Did you?


12. Did you translate your solutions into economic value for the buyer? (Not just reduced premium, if that is the case, but time savings translated into economic value)


13. Did you quantify the value of your value? If you didn’t, how can the buyer?


14. Did the buyer build the game plan to solve their problems? If not the buyer, you have hindered the opportunity for the sale.


15. Did you address the buyer’s hot button first? It might be lack of return phone calls by incumbent.


16. Did you address the necessary issues? There are business issues, values, people, cultural, and personal issues.


17. Can the buyer see the difference when compared to the incumbent?


18. Did you refrain from using fuzzy words…words with different meanings to different people?


19. Did you create insurance understanding?


20. Did you use humor?

Great ships sink from small leaks. Details count.

Monthly, spend one day accompanying a salesperson on sales calls who is not in insurance. That person joins you on sales call monthly also.

The training when you visit prospects with a non-insurance person is priceless. There is no product focus…but a sales focus. Don’t reject this tactic without first trying it.

a. Never use the word “sign,” but say, “Please write your name here.”

b. …and as you are saying that hand your potential client a nice pen (no advertising) to keep. That moment of transferring trust to you will remain in the buyer’s mind. It will be easier to fire the incumbent

Positioning the potential client to fire the incumbent is the key to not losing what you thought was a sale.

If the buyer can’t see how you separate yourself from the pack, you’ll never get the order except on price.

In addition, if you can’t see it either, don’t visit any potential clients.

Sales start when buyers have no point of comparison with the incumbent because you’ve done such a great job of separating yourself from the mob of other insurance people. Brainstorm that now with your team. And, after each idea, ask, “Does that truly separate us?”

You don’t just sell insurance. You provide a process that you should name and trademark. It should be a simple easily said name. (Think Google and Yahoo) Then create a 5-10 word tag line that benefits the buyer. That’s what you use on your written presentation and correspondence.

Example: ProtectYou™ -Building an insurance moat around your assets

Create not just one web site, but multiple web sites that zero in on specific protection. Own a web site for insurance for Ford’s, for homes valued at $500,000 +, for contractors, etc.

Bring inordinate measurable value to potential clients.

Do you want to strategic partner with realtors?
Don’t just bring food to their office.
Invite them to be part of a sales training group.

Broaden the idea of the common Tip Group. Organize five business firms that sell. Monthly sales train together for one hour. Each business is responsible to lead one monthly training session

Don’t ever talk to a potential client without first knowing what makes their industry/profession successful.

Insurance agents can’t exist without insurance companies, skilled licensed staff, E & O insurance and?

You must know the top five things your potential client can’t succeed without so when you talk to them, you are talking their language.

Each (80%) mail contact must include your business card stapled to an article of value to the reader.

All agency-billed invoices should have a handwritten note:

“Bill, I’ve checked this for accuracy. Call if any questions, Rose"

"You don't communicate what you think until you hear what you say" - CM Forrester

Abe Lincoln and Mark Twain read aloud for better understanding. Without “embarrassing” your potential client, ask them to read short parts of your presentation aloud. (Literacy can be a problem…Your potential client may have poor reading skills)

Your potential client will always hear you right after you use their name and after they have just laughed or smiled.

Take advantage of the laugh…the next words from your mouth must be critical to advancing the sale.

When you want to make a point, use your potential client’s name right in front of the words you want them to hear. “Betty, I believe you know Josh, the CFO at Royal Flush Plumbing…he mentioned it is OK to share this story…”