Recession… ‘Decide NOT to Participate’ Part II

In my last article, I briefly discussed my not so grand entrance into insurance sales in 1982, during one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. It was a recession second to only the Great Depression of 1929 -1939! However, because I was brand new to insurance sales and I was studying and learning everything I could, the recession was not a problem for me. In 1982, I led the entire District Office with only six months in the business! And I was a consistent top producer every year after that!

One of the reasons I was able to succeed every year during the recession, while most agents were seriously struggling, was the training and mentoring I received from three extraordinary people. In 1982, I had succeeded mostly because of my enthusiasm for learning something new… Enthusiasm Sells! But that quickly changed. During the first few months of 1983, as my enthusiasm waned I received a dose of reality, as I went into a serious sales slump. I was ready to quit insurance sales. Fortunately for me, at that same time, Metropolitan Life decided to split up our District Sales Office into two smaller Branch Offices. And, that’s when I met my first real mentor, Mike Wood.

When they split up the District Offices, the former District Manager Don G. was told to split up the office producers evenly, based on their 1982 sales records. Don, was to get one group of producers, and Mike Wood was to get the other group. Don did split up the office evenly, based on the producers’ 1982 sales records, however he gave Mike all of the producers who were off to a slow start in 1983! Fortunately for me, I was one of them.

When Mike and I met for the first time, he thought that he was getting a great producer. However, he was in for a big surprise! At that first meeting I told him I was resigning. After lots of questions and a long discussion, he finally convinced me to hang in there for a month. He promised to work with me everyday for that month. He was a man of his word.

My main problem, at that time, was that I could not set an appointment with anyone! I had memorized all of the telemarketing scripts for calling on mortgage insurance; X-dating auto insurance policies; annual reviews with policyholders; and referred leads. But I couldn’t set an appointment with anyone.

What I learned from Mike was how to have a meaningful conversation with potential prospects, instead of trying to push a product, price, investment returns or trying to sell them over the phone. His approach to setting appointments was asking questions to help people to see they had a problem. He taught me that if the prospect doesn’t see they have a problem, then why should they take their valuable time to meet with you?

Mike spent several days roll playing the questioning techniques with me. Then, he got on the phone and actually set a few appointments for me, to show me how it was done. And, then I got on the phone and set some appointments. We called people right from the phone book looking for orphan policy owners from any company. Note: We were not trying to replace existing policies from other companies. We were just looking for people who already owned life insurance and had not seen an agent in a long time.

The conversation with prospects would go something like…

“Hello Mr. Jones, this is Lew Nason with Metropolitan Life. How are you today?” Wait for response!

“Great, I’m glad to hear it! The reason I’m calling is to ask you some questions about your current insurance program. If I may ask, do you currently have a life insurance policy?” Wait for response!

“Great, how long have you had that policy?” Wait for response!

“When was the last time you met with an agent to review your policies?” Wait for response!

“The reason I ask is that most people have not seen an agent in a very long time and they are not aware of or taking advantage of some of the unique benefits and features in their life insurance policies. I’ve also found that when reviewing older policies that many of them have mistakes in them and are not set up properly. And, if I may I would like to meet you and spend 10 minutes to review your policy for you to make sure everything is set up properly for you and your family? What’s the best time for us to get together? Wait for response!

Most of the time the prospect would ask some questions and we would get into a conversation about the unique benefits of cash value life insurance, like…

“Does your policy provide Inflation Protection? Do you know that by properly setting up the dividends options you can make the death benefit grow each year?”

“Do you know if your policy is self completing in the event you become disabled?”

“Do you know if your policy has the recession proof clause? Has it been set up to pay the premiums automatically if you should ever miss or don’t have the money to make a payment? This would guarantee that your policy won’t lapse when you need it the most.”

“Are all your children listed as beneficiaries on your policies? Many of the policies I’ve reviewed haven’t been updated to include all the children. Or, they never included any of the children!”

“Are you paying taxes on the dividend interest? Did you know that you don’t have to pay taxes if your policy is set up properly?”

“How much life insurance do you have? If something happened to you tomorrow how long would that last your family? Then what would they do?”

“Do have insurance that would pay of your home mortgage for your family if you weren’t there tomorrow?”

The idea was simply to ask questions to disturb them just enough so they would see the benefit of meeting with me. By using this approach, I was able to set appointments with 3 out of every 10 people I spoke to, right from the phone book. Within a few weeks, thanks to Mike, I was consistently setting 10 appointments each week and closing 3 sales per week.

This was my first introduction to the power of asking questions?

The results were that I led the Branch Office in sales for 1983 (even though we were in a bad recession) and I qualified for my First Sales Leaders Conference with Metropolitan Life.

Why did this work so well?

1. Isn’t it easier to sell life insurance to people who already own it?
2. Because of the large turnover in agents through the years, there are a lot of people who have not seen an agent since they originally bought their policy years ago!
3. Most agents never talk about the exceptional benefits of cash value life insurance, probably because they don’t know what they are! They’ve never taken the basic LUTC courses offered by NAIFA or the American College.
4. I was offering them a service rather than trying to sell them something.

Five Critical Secrets To Using This Approach!

1. You must smile when you are on the phone! You must be happy and have some excitement in your voice!
2. You must talk a little slower than normal! You can’t sound like a sales person! And you can’t make it sound like an interrogation!
3. Talk to them as if you where talking to your best friend. Show some concern for them and their family!
4. You must speak at a sixth grade level! No Technical Jargon!
5. You must practice, practice and practice some more… before you get on the phone!

Will this approach work today?
If you’re thinking that this approach wouldn’t work today because people are much more sophisticated and more skeptical, you’re absolutely wrong! Most Middle Income families are dramatically under insured and are looking for help! The problem for them is finding someone who is knowledgeable and they can trust! By asking the right questions you are demonstrating, in the best possible way, how they’ll benefit by meeting with you!

Note: According to LIMRA's ownership research, about 48 million U.S. households believe they are underinsured, including many (About 25%) that own no life insurance at all. The same study showed that 29 million households said they expected to buy insurance in the next 12 months, but only a fraction actually do.

Mike was just my first mentor, and I will be forever grateful for his help, guidance and long time friendship. Thank you Mike Wood.

In my next article I’ll tell you about my second mentor who taught me how to ask better questions during the initial fact-finding interview with prospects, which allowed me to close a higher percentage of my sales calls! And, make larger sales!

Yours in success,
Lew Nason
‘The Nine Out Of Ten Guy’