Introduction: Life Insurance Script How to Cross-sell Life Insurance

As I write this blog the insurance industry is in a hard market. What that means is writing P&C policies can be a challenge. 

For many agencies life insurance has been something that we all want our teams to focus on recommending but for a variety of reasons we will discuss today, many agency owners are faced with resistance. In a hard market diversifying your approach is becoming critical.

I have always struggled with why agency team members struggle with cross-selling life insurance to their current customers. 

It seems to me like the ultimate act of service – ensuring your clients have a plan in the event a tragedy happens. 

However, I also understand some of the obstacles:

• Unclear on how to explain the value of life insurance (good thing we will be going over a life insurance script here!)
• It’s a different pace of sale
• Health issues are well kind of uncomfortable to discuss
• Many of us have a mindset that everyone is struggling financially and life insurance is an expense that people may not be able to afford
• We simply do not do it enough so it seems overwhelming
• We don’t have it personally – it’s very hard to promote something that you don’t personally have 
• We forget or we feel overwhelmed with everything on our plates so think life insurance is a luxury item that we will do if and when we have time

The reality is that life insurance could be the most valuable insurance product we sell. In this blog, we will explore how we can introduce life insurance into your agency and make recommending it a habit of your team by giving them a life insurance script and process they can follow. 

One key driver of why we need to focus on life insurance is clear – people rarely move their life insurance and or cancel it. 

They may move their home or auto insurance but life insurance has the opportunity to keep a client with your agency even if they move other policies, you always keep your foot in the door of the client. 

Understanding Insurance Cross-selling

Cross-selling is the action of selling additional policies and services to your existing customers. This can be within your department as well as between departments. 

When clients have additional policies with your agency you ward off the competition and grow from current clients. The question we always like to ask agency owners is – do you want more clients or more revenue per client? 

In my opinion, too many insurance agents are transactional. We do what the client requests and we miss the opportunity to look, educate, and encourage our clients on coverages and policies they may need. 

Instead, we assume the clients know all the policies we have and what they need – which frankly is just inaccurate. 

In addition, agency team members need to be focused on making recommendations to protect our agencies against errors and omissions exposures. There is so much value in cross-selling, but team members need a plan, script, and process to feel comfortable making recommendations to clients. 

The Art of Building Rapport – To Help You Cross Sell Life Insurance

There is no doubt that life insurance is a personal sale. Not many people want to think about dying or what happens if you or a loved one passes away. However, this doesn’t take away the reality of the situation. It has been said there are two guarantees in life: death and taxes. Most of us have a plan for taxes but not necessarily life insurance. 

For many agents, we aren’t sure how or when to ask for life insurance. It can be a bit awkward. However, in our experience in renewal review calls or just general service interactions clients may give you clues that can spark a conversation. 

When you establish rapport by listening and sharing a bit you relax the customer and your interaction becomes more of a conversation than a transaction. For that reason we have listed out keywords that a client may use that would trigger life insurance. 

• Recent Marriage: Life insurance can help replace lost income and help through a difficult conversation
  • Script: Congratulations on your wedding. That is so exciting! With marriages, there is a lot more to think about. We would book some time to review your insurance and make any updates as well as review your life insurance needs. 
• Babies: Life insurance is often expensive for babies and is a great financial tool as they get older
  • Script: Congratulations on the new baby. With so many changes happening we should review your insurance and life insurance needs for both you and the baby. 
• Job Change: When you change jobs you may lose a life insurance benefit having your policy 
  • Script: Congratulations on the new job. When you change jobs we should review your life insurance. If you had a group policy at work it’s no longer valid. 
• Recent Divorce: Reviewing your insurance after a divorce is critical to ensure if something were to happen there would be a limited family burden
  • Script: Those events are never easy. I’m sure you are reviewing your finances. We should also check your life insurance to update coverage and any beneficiaries. 

Identifying Life Insurance Cross-Selling Opportunities

At Agency Performance Partners we recommend on every client interaction we use the LEE strategy:

• Look: review the account for contact information, policies, and recent activities
• Educate: educate the client on potential policies they may want to consider
• Encourage: encourage the client to proceed with a no obligation quote

When you slow down to speed up and review a client’s accounts you can see the opportunity. But you have to slow down and Look first at the account. Unfortunately, for many account managers and producers, we plow through the experience to tackle the task at hand. 

The other side however is that most clients connect with their agent every 2.8 years. What this means is if we do not educate them now we may lose a year. 

In 3 years the client may develop a health condition and they may not qualify. The bottom line with life insurance is – it’s the least expensive and easiest to get today!

Our next step is to educate the client. Think about this:

• How many clients know that you offer life insurance?
• How many clients have enough life insurance?
• How many clients have a policy contingent on their employment?
• How many clients have a life insurance policy for each member of their immediate family?
• How many clients have a false belief that life insurance is too expensive?

I think you know the answer to this which is why educating your client is critical!

Encouragement is the final step. Let’s be honest – when someone is changing a vehicle they may not be thinking about life insurance. 

What this means is when we introduce it to our client they may have an instinct to say no, not because they mean no but because at that moment it wasn’t on their mind. However, if you take one step forward and encourage them to reconsider and give the client a few moments to process you may be surprised how many of the clients after a moment are interested. 

Now, their interest may not be right now but they know you do it and they will call you in the future. 

Crafting a Compelling Life Insurance Pitch

In many instances I find that agents overcomplicate life insurance. We often overwrite the situation and think about their health, age, and income. 

The reality is we need to take a two-step approach:

• Intently listen for key life changes
• Ask an open-ended question that invites the client into a conversation about life insurance

Too often agents ask to quote, and we want you to ask to open up a conversation. The life insurance script we like to use is: 

“Tell me, where do you have your life insurance? We like to have it on record if it’s not with our agency.”

This script is great because you can start the conversation! It will give you clues on how the person is approaching life insurance. We want to start a conversation about life insurance. 

From here it’s amazing how many people share and start asking you questions! 

Common Life Insurance Objections 

There are several objections or concerns that people often have about life insurance. These objections can vary based on individual circumstances, financial goals, and personal beliefs. 

Here are some of the most common objections to life insurance

• Cost: Many people believe that life insurance is expensive, especially if they are young and healthy. They may be concerned about the ongoing premiums and whether they can afford them. 
  • Remember, the only way to fully evaluate the investment is to get a quote so when someone says they can’t afford it they don’t know until they get a quote
• Not Needed: Some individuals may feel that they don’t need life insurance because they don’t have dependents or significant financial obligations. They might think it’s unnecessary if they have enough savings or assets to cover their debts and funeral expenses.
  • Some carriers offer multi-policy discounts which can make the policy very affordable. We appreciate people who save, however, investments and financial problems can happen. Life insurance is a great way to make sure funeral expenses are not a burden. 
• Low Payout Value: Term life insurance, which provides coverage for a specific term and doesn’t accumulate cash value, might be seen as less attractive because it doesn’t offer any return on investment unless the insured passes away during the term.
  • The great news is that many different types of life insurance can help your clients find the right program for them!
• Health Concerns: Individuals with pre-existing medical conditions may be worried about their ability to obtain life insurance at an affordable rate or even get coverage at all.
  • This one is difficult however, some policies have a certain look-back period on health conditions and there is final expense insurance that may be a great fit
• Short-Term Focus: Some individuals may prioritize short-term financial goals over long-term financial planning, leading them to overlook the potential benefits of life insurance.
  • Bottom line if you can’t afford the policy you can’t afford the funeral

Life Insurance Role-Playing Scenarios

First of all, at APP we love role playing. However, most people hate it. We generally hate it because it’s the first time and it’s hard to perform in front of your peers. However, in my experience most hard things are worth it. 

While it may not be an exact situation that you are role playing it does help you hear how others would handle it and helps you sharpen your message. Think about it: how many times do you get live feedback you can use to improve? 

Not often. When we get over our discomfort we can find there is an opportunity to improve by using role-playing. 

If you want to role-play some scenarios with your team here is a list of potential objections you can role-play: 

Certainly, here are some role-playing scenarios related to life insurance that can be used for training and skill development within an insurance team or for educational purposes:

1. Policy Sales Presentation: One team member acts as a potential client interested in purchasing life insurance, and another team member plays the insurance agent. The agent must present various policy options and explain the benefits, helping the client choose the most suitable coverage.
2. Claim Processing: Simulate a life insurance claim scenario where a beneficiary needs to file a claim due to the insured’s passing. One team member takes on the role of the grieving beneficiary, and another plays the claims adjuster. The adjuster must guide the beneficiary through the claims process with empathy and professionalism.
3. Policy Review and Update: A policyholder contacts the insurance company to review and update their life insurance policy. Team members role-play the policyholder and the insurance agent, discussing policy changes, beneficiaries, and coverage adjustments.
4. Underwriting and Risk Assessment: Simulate a situation where an applicant with a complex medical history applies for life insurance. Team members play the role of underwriters and the applicant, discussing the applicant’s health condition, assessing risk, and determining policy terms.
5. Cross-Selling and Up-Selling: An existing policyholder contacts the insurance company for a different insurance product, such as home or business insurance. The team member takes on the role of the policyholder, while another plays the insurance agent, discussing additional coverage options.

Measuring Success: Incentives and Goals

Has this ever happened at your agency? You share this blog and videos and have great training. Then everyone goes back to their desk and you see no improvements. How does this happen? 

For most people, they will only remember 10% of what they learn and apply 1%. Makes you think why bother right? Well, the reality is you need to make life insurance part of your sales culture. 

An adult needs to hear the same thing 22 times before they remember. So it’s fair to say we need to set a culture of recommending life insurance. 

For some carriers they offer incentive months for selling life insurance and I’m always amazed – people sell a lot of life insurance. They hustle. They see the goal and the reward. 

The month after the conference we go back to forgetting about life insurance. Infuriating right? My belief is that giving good service means we recommend life insurance regardless of a contest. 

However, what can I learn from this? We need consistent training, goals, and life incentives. You should set the following two goals:

• Number of asks 
• Number of applications

You want both goals because everyone can control the number of asks. The more asks the more applications. 

We recommend you set the goal quarterly and find out what motivates your team. Every agency we walk into is wildly different. Get the team involved. 

Next, you have to track this somewhere publicly and talk about it weekly in an email or team meeting. It’s very easy to get stuck in transaction mode and just do what is asked. If you are looking to make a major shift you will need to keep life insurance in front of the team. 

Conclusion

 To me life insurance is the most important recommendation you can make. On the worst day of someone’s life do you want to hear yes they have a policy or no, I’m sorry they do not. When we start life insurance campaigns we recommend that everyone get their quote for themselves or a family member. Many agency team members are surprised about how easy and inexpensive life insurance can be to obtain. When your team is comfortable – they will ask more. We need to break down the barriers and help your team with life insurance scripts.