Two hot sales tips for insurance agents this month
Because it’s hot outside, we thought you might appreciate a few hot sales tips for insurance agents. Here are two for you – how to prolong the life of your iPhone and best questions to ask during your discovery calls. Here’s hoping they bring you some hot leads…and some hot sales!
How you’re squeezing the life out of your iPhone
A smart phone is probably the most important sales tool an insurance agent has. But you just may be abusing your iPhone, shortening its life span, says Thrillist. Here are a few of the top abuses:
1. Not powering off. Leaving your phone on 24/7 stresses the battery, thereby shortening the life span. So turn it completely off for a bit. It’s better to stress yourself for those few hours that you’re unconnected than to stress that battery all the time. It’s also a good idea to let the battery fully drain once a month or so.
2. Maxing out your storage. Unless you want to spend hours deleting photos, unused apps and songs you never listen to any more, save them all to your iCloud account.
3. Keeping too many tabs open. Too many apps running in the background takes up RAM and can result in anything from a slow-down to a complete freeze-up. Familiarize yourself with the Multitasking feature so you can close apps simultaneously, suggests Thrillist.
4. Cleaning the screen with household cleaners. Windex is good for a lot of things – but not cleaning your iPhone screen. Chemicals from this and other household products eat away at the coating.
5. Overcharging your battery. Who doesn’t charge their smartphone overnight while sleeping? There’s a problem with that, though: keeping it plugged in after 100% degrades your battery life. It’s better to charge and discharge in small quantities. If you simply must wake up to a fully powered iPhone, Thrillist suggests you drop $10 on the Belkin Conserve Socket, which preserves juice by automatically turning off after a set time.
Now that you’ve powered up your phone, get ready to ace a few discovery calls – our second sales tip for insurance agents.
Discovery calls: 18 top questions to ask to get the info you need
The discovery call — the first call after connecting with your prospect — just may be the most important conversation in your sales process. If knowledge is power, as both Sir Francis Bacon and Thomas Jefferson said, then it’s crucial for you to learn as much about the prospective client, their needs and risks in this conversation. Sifting through all that’s said to arrive at their hot buttons (which may change during the course of the conversation) will help you tailor your presentation to fit them to a T, if all goes well.
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As long as you keep it as a conversation and don’t turn it into an interrogation, most prospects will participate in a discovery call. Remember: you’re not the only one asking questions to gain understanding here. Your prospects want to know who you are and the depth of your agency’s experience in handling their risks. They need to be assured that you understand their insurance needs and that you will make a professional risk assessment as to how you can help them. Keep it light: now is not the for a full court press sales presentation. You’re just gathering information.
In their post, The Ultimate List of Sales Discovery Call Questions, Hubspot offers a number of sample questions that fit our industry well. Use this list as a launching pad to help you create additional questions for your discovery meetings.
- Tell me about your company.
- Tell me about your role. What do you do day-to-day?
- Tell me about your goals (financial, customer-related, operational).
- What problem(s) are you trying to solve?
- What’s the source of that problem?
- Why is it a priority today?
- Has it been addressed before? Why not?
- What do you think could be a potential solution? Why?
- What would a successful outcome look like?
- What are your primary roadblocks to implementing this plan?
- What’s your timeline for implementation?
- Is this problem funded?
- Who else will be involved in choosing an insurance agency?
- Do you have written decision criteria for choosing an agency? Who compiled these criteria?
- Who is your current agent and agency? What has caused you to look elsewhere?
- Is this a competitive situation?
- What are potential curve balls?
- How can I help make this easy?
Whether on the phone or in person, use these questions to help you qualify your prospect to ensure they’re a good fit for your markets and also help you determine exactly what their insurance needs are.
It’s your turn: What advice can you add to our list of sales tips for insurance agents this month?