So you’re an insurance agent, real estate agent or other professional and you’re getting frustrated with your lead source. You’re doing direct mail for $500 a pop for 1,000 first-class pieces and getting less than a 1% return. Or maybe you’re purchasing leads from a vendor who you think is either charging too much, the leads are shared with too many other agents or leads are not as good as they were and have just dried up. The fact is good leads are harder to come by with the sagging economy…so why not generate your own leads.
I sold insurance for many years and have done what you might be doing in addition to referral systems, social media, ads and many other outlets. Then I discovered the power of telemarketing and the efficiencies of using a power dialer to make those calls. I’ve talked to hundreds and hundreds of agents who plain and simply are skipping the basics when it comes to telesales.
Consider Using Auto Dialers to Improve Efficiency
- 96 percent of sales reps’ time when making outbound calls is spent hand dialing, leaving voice mails, navigating phone trees and talking with gatekeepers.
- With a auto dialer you WON’T have to:
- look up a phone number.
- dial a number.
- wait for the phone to ring.
- get a busy signal or disconnected number and then hang up.
- get an answering machine and leave a voice mail.
- hang up, try to STAY MOTIVATED and do it all over again.
- Auto dialers let you dial 100 – 400 numbers per hour versus 25-35 hand dialing.
- Look for features such as: email, CRM lead management, FTC safeguards, custom pre-recorded on hold and answering machine messages and the ability to customize the dialer to your specific business.
- Dialers are more personal, more flexible, more responsive and LESS expensive than other means of lead generation.
- Sales is a numbers game and it’s simple math…more calls = more leads = more sales!
When to Call
- Largely depends on the target market for your product i.e. when will they be home?
- When to call CONSUMERS:
- Weekdays except Wednesdays.
- Weekends on Saturday morning only.
- 1030AM – 1230PM AND 630 – 800PM.
- When to call BUSINESSES:
- Weekdays.
- 800am – 930am and 400pm – 530pm.
How You Say It is Just As Important as What You Say
- Maintain an even monotone voice to add integrity and validity to what you’re saying.
- Do not speed up or slow down.
- Maintain an even pitch only emphasizing important points as needed.
- If they rush to get off the phone…do NOT rush back to KEEP them on the phone. Remain calm, wait and respond.
- Don’t interrupt…it’s amazing what someone will tell you if you ask a question and wait.
- Don’t sound like the the telemarketers that call you…you know the callers that you can’t wait to get off the phone with and know they’re a telemarketer as soon as they say hi.
- Don’t waste your time trying to convince someone to talk to you… there isn’t much you can do. Spend your time talking to people that WANT to talk to you.
Tips for the Phone, Email and Leaving Voicemails
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Keep it short.
- State name of person who referred you (if any).
- Pick a good script, stick with it for a period of time then adapt and make it your own.
- You have to try different scripts to see what works best.
- Must capture their attention in first few seconds.
- Words to use: help, free, no obligation, a few minutes, save you money, etc.
- Find a way to get their email address so you can send them information.
- If they rush to get off the phone…do NOT rush back to KEEP them on the phone. Remain calm, wait and respond.
- Don’t interrupt…it’s amazing what someone will tell you if you ask a question and wait.
- Don’t waste your time trying to convince someone to talk to you… there isn’t much you can do. Spend your time talking to people that WANT to talk to you.
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Purpose of the call is to build rapport, qualify the prospect, and get information.
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Focus on education of client, likeability and “helping.”
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State the most important information first and the specific point you want to talk about.
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Say something that connects you with the person/organization.
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REHEARSE AND BE YOURSELF.
Reasons Not To Leave a Message
- As soon as you leave a message they will recognize your number for the future.
- Unless they are looking for your services RIGHT THEN… not likely they will call you.
- You can change your caller ID in some dialers enabling you to redial the same leads.
- General consensus amongst agents is that your odds are greater if you can get a LIVE person on the phone.
- Your odds are greatly increased just by having a LIVE person on the phone.
Appointment Setting Tips
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Sell the appointment NOT the policy.
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DON’T BE PUSHY-If no time is convenient, give name and number or time to call back.
- Make appointments starting at first of week and working towards the back so you can still make calls Monday.
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Give recipient privilege of setting day and time we can talk i.e. give contact info.
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If a reminder call is wanted, call during the day when prospect is not at home.
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Consider not giving your phone number unless asked so can show up and still do presentation as it doesn’t take long.
Script Ideas for the Phone, Voice Mail and Emails
- Most people don’t know understand their policy and may have things not needed.
- Are you aware of all the discounts you can get…list them.
- Let us do your shopping for you.
- You might not be aware, but unlike other carriers we haven’t had a rate increase in over X months until a recent X% in JUNE.
- I’d like to send you a tip sheet on things YOU can do to save money on your insurance: understand HOW to read your policy, change your deductible, get rid of duplicate options, do you have all the proper discounts, and meet with a licensed professional.
- Do you think you’re paying too much for your insurance?
- Have you had any problems with your insurance?
- When was last time your insurance company called you to work for you?
- Thank you with a SPECIAL OFFER.
- In order to get a call returned… politely “warn” them you are going to close the file.
- Make it unique… congrats on your B-day and turning XX.
- Words to use: help, free, no obligation, a few minutes, save you money, etc.
- Find a way to get their email address so you can send them information.
- ASK questions that will provoke the response you’re looking for.
The goal here is to define your sales process and get to the next step with your prospect i.e. a callback, an appointment, etc. Go as far as client wants to go, but you do have to ask for the appointment or sale. If they want to take a break from the sales process, leave them feeling good about you as some people just need time and don’t make decisions on the fly.
You will need to try different scripts, emails and most importantly document which you are using and make sure you give them a fair amount of time for evaluation. Then over time you will create sales process from prospecting to closing the sale that is repeatable and will give you success and growth year after year.
By: Cory Prado
