When you think of “being sold” I’m sure that the proverbial used car salesperson pops into your head, or maybe the ever persistent insurance sales person, right?
Insurance sales has a bad rap. Comedians even make fun of insurance salespeople. Woody Allen once said: “That there are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”
Funny, but not necessarily true, but the stigma persists. That stigma probably even discourages young people fresh out of college from entering the insurance industry. Well, combine that with what can also be perceived as an out dated, stodgy sort of business and the insurance business has an image problem.
Going back to being sold, I agree. I hate “being sold”.
The hard sell or over-zealous sales person in any industry who just oozes with confidence and slick sales techniques is a real turn off. I hate it when someone uses the “trial close” or the “take-way” or the “wedge” to get me to make a decision before I’m ready to. Look, I’m not stupid – I may just want to think about my purchase on my terms, and on my time schedule – not the salesperson’s need to close the deal!
So it got me to thinking, if I hate the hard sell, I’m sure a lot of other people do to. But what do buyers want?
In my experience, buyers want to be informed – they don’t want a ton of information. Information is what the internet is for – God knows you can spend hours, days, even weeks researching information to help you make a decision. And what happens? For me at least all that information creates paralysis by analysis. Too many choices, too many options and I can’t make a decision!!!!
There’s a big difference between being informed and getting information. I think most business owners and decision makers in the middle market want to be informed in a concise and practical manner. They don’t want to spend an inordinate amount of time researching a topic as vast as insurance and not really understand what they’re reading. That’s just a waste of valuable time.
So, how do I inform and not just spew information to a prospective client?
I ask questions.
Not necessarily insurance questions, but questions in general about a decision maker’s vision; their goals, their objectives. I also ask about their challenges, risks and strengths. I follow a “programmed” approach, but leave it open-ended to respect the buyer’s boundaries and time frames. Through these questions and answers I can help inform a decision maker based on his or her needs – what they want to hear about, what they want to learn about, ultimately what they want to be informed about. Not what I want to tell them, or sell them.
For me, this conversational journey is a learning experience, and it breaks the mold of the typical insurance salesperson (at least I think it does!); and for the buyer, it puts them at ease, because they don’t feel like they’re “being sold”.
Feel like maybe you’ve outgrown your insurance brokerage relationship?
Feel like maybe you’re not as informed as you’d like to be?
Have unanswered questions, and just want to “get to the bottom or it”?
Why not give me a call, or drop me an email and let’s start that conversation. I can promise you one thing – you won’t feel like you’re getting sold!
