You're Going To Be Great At This!

Let's assume you have a prospect that you're working with and you have done all the fact finding you can. You've found out what the budget is, the problem and the solution, which is the product or service you are trying to sell. Then comes the objection. "I want to think about it." "I need to talk to my spouse." "I might wait a while." These are common, and useless, objections. And any salesperson with a week's worth of training should be able to spout off some rebuttals. But what is the common thread here?  Lack of trust. This can all be avoided. If you did your job correctly, you would have addressed these objections at the beginning of the discussion with the prospect. "I'm sure you're going to want time to think about it. You may even want to talk to your spouse. That's fine!" By bringing up the objections first, you take that objection away from the prospect, but it also gives you the trust factor that is ...

We've all had that client or customer that you just hate to hear from. Everything is a problem, nothing is right and you can never do enough to keep them happy. And when they call and their name pops up on your phone, you feel your blood pressure rise. What can be done with these people? In my book, I mention that most salespeople think there is good business (clients who pay on time, rarely have issues and are easy to get along with), there's bad business (clients who take up your time, pay poorly and you don't want to deal with) and no business, when you have nothing to do but prospect. For some reason, the mainstream idea is that bad business is better than no business, because at least you're getting some income out of them. In my worldview, I think no business is better than bad business. I would rather spend that "no business" time prospecting for good, or better, business. Who wants to keep a bunch of jerks calling me, taking up time when I can spen...

Although I sell insurance I also enjoy speaking engagements and promoting my book. I enjoy having three things going at once because each of them promotes the others. When I speak, I give examples of my insurance stories, which I mention are in the book. When someone reads my book, they learn that I'm an insurance agent and a speaker. And all of my insurance clients know that I've written a book, and most of them have a copy of it. As I mention in my book, first and foremost of all the products or services we sell, is ourselves. People buy from people they like and trust. By promoting my book with silly memes people see that I have a sense of humor (somewhat deprecating) and I hope that makes them like me. I'm not going to overthink about why people would like me, I just know that if someone likes me, they'll refer me, or my business, or my book to others. With this in mind, I hope you are subscribing to this blog, following me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instag...

We have all heard the expression "He could sell ice to an Eskimo". I suppose that means that someone is really good at sales. The question we should be asking is, "Does the Eskimo need ice?" In other words, are you selling what the client needs or just trying to make a sale? In the life insurance field, it's not uncommon to sell too much or too little insurance. As agents we sit down with clients and ask a lot of questions regarding debt, family status, future financial goals, education plans and so forth. We find out what the client actually needs, not what we want to sell. To be successful in sales, one must be ethical. That goes against the stereotype of the sleazy salesperson. I mentioned in my book that I worked with a guy whose mantra was "My income is in their wallet and I have to do everything I can to get it out of there." Wrong. And it wasn't long before he was out of the business. There's an obvious reason why we need to do wha...

One of the activities in sales that has been around forever is "working the phones". Basically telemarketing, it's the practice of calling prospects for follow-up, sales, and setting appointments. I absolutely hate the idea of calling someone out of the blue because I know that the rate of success is minimal at best. In my practice, I only call people to follow-up (mostly underwriting issues) or setting appointments. My preferred method for the latter is to call people I've already met at networking events. Typically I will ask for their card and say something like, "I will give you a call next week to set an appointment. That way we can talk when it's more appropriate ." The "appropriate" comment at the end implies that neither of us wants to talk with others standing around. This method works for a few reasons. First, the prospect will be expecting my call. Secondly, they have met me and know I'm legit. Also, when I do meet them, I ha...

How is your networking going so far in 2020? Have you been to a few events, mingled, swapped cards or gotten referrals? Have you gotten the contact information on any new prospects? If not, why not? And if so, did you do it intentionally? Sometimes we confuse networking events with socializing and seeing old friends. There's nothing wrong with catching up with people, but we need to remember that networking is part of the job of sales, and has to be treated as such. Simple things like dressing professionally or being on time indicate you take it seriously. As I mention in my book, I like to set a goal before walking into a networking event. Preferably, I want to get 5-10 business cards from people I've spoken to while there . That means I've had a conversation with someone that includes job descriptions ("Tell me about your work.") or business conditions ("Our taxes are too high."). In other words, I didn't just walk to the table with brochures an...