When it comes to delivering your presentation or pitch, agents, especially new agents fresh out of training is to memorize their presentation step by step leaving little room for improvisation.
Some may have been told to acknowledge the objection but keep going. Some acknowledge the objection and deliver a rebuttal. But now their whole game is off stumbling to get back on track. The person sitting across from you “feels” your struggle losing confidence as every minute passes by.
When I first started selling insurance, we had to memorize a three-page script to deliver to every household. It did not take much to through me off. The more I delivered the script the better I got, but it was still awkward to keep going as the rest of script didn’t always make sense.
Then came plan B. For get most of the script and just have a conversation. I learned to reduce the script down to bullet points I knew I wanted to cover. Those bullet points addressed the “elephants in the room” without them being asked by the potential client.
That worked great for Final Expense, not so much for Mortgage Protection. While the products used for both markets are simple issue products the underwriting is much different. It’s not uncommon to run into people that just won’t qualify for a simple issue term policy.
If agents know how to field underwrite a fully underwritten product you could go that route without much interruption in your conversation flow. However, if you are not aware of what conditions will return what table rating then you need to pivot.
Here comes plan C. Have a plan before you walk in the door that prepares you for a client that will not qualify for simple issue term and how you’ll pivot to use a simple issue whole life plan to cover mortgage payments. Hint – that does not include telling a client they do not qualify for term product.
Telling someone they don’t qualify for the plan you just finished building up will shut down an appointment faster than you know what. That means adjusting your conversation right from the beginning. Keeping the focus on providing funds to pay off or pay down mortgage debit for their surviving family.
This same process works just as well when working your leads. If you’ve tried calling them at different times of the day and different days of the week including weekends but were unable to connect, then what are going to do? Door Knock them? Absolutely, if they are local leads, but what if you are working remotely?
More and more agents are working remotely expanding their reach to several states. It’s not always convenient to door knock those leads unless you happen to be in the area. For those situations, have you sent them a text message? Most people in the Mortgage Protection market use a cell phone.
Personally, I would send them a text with a link to my calendar to schedule a time to talk that works in their schedule. I would also make a copy of the lead request and put together a cover letter and mail it to them. Let them know you’ll be calling in the next couple of days or they are welcome to call you.
No matter what you do be flexible in your plan A. There’s an old phrase that says, “When your plan meets the real world, the real-world wins.” You can change that by being prepared for the unexpected and being ready to improvise.
