This sizzling Summer we are bringing you 8 weeks concentrating on how to boost sales in your agency. Both David and I will be tackling the biggest obstacles we see to becoming a sales culture and how you can tackle them. We hope you follow our journey and share these blogs not only with your team but also other agents. The more we grow, the better we all are.
At APP we are big believers of having a defined and practiced sales process. In fact our AppX Sales program delivers just that to agencies across the country. One of our first modules is on how to build rapport. Now for many of us we think we are just naturals at this. But the truth is we can all get better or maybe we’re great in person but not so smooth on the phone. Building rapport is the foundation to earning more business, selling more at the point of sale and overcoming those nasty objections. For many phone based sales people building rapport can be a challenge for the following reasons:
- We believe the caller wants to get off the phone ASAP
- Not everyone we click with at hello
- We are not comfortable selling ourselves as part of the transaction
- It seems that we are too busy to slow down to build rapport
- No one was ever really taught the value or how to build rapport to get a better result
If we throw away all of our beliefs (which is often our self doubt talking) we can find that it’s our job to warm up the prospect, get them engaging with us to deliver our best programs to them. When a prospect is controlling the process you simply won’t win as easy.
I believe that every call should have a structure: a beginning, middle and end. So let’s talk about the first 3 minutes of a call. You need to have a plan on how to take control of the first three minutes of the call to get control and get what you need to lock in the sale. Let’s talk about how you approach it:
- You need to outline your personal pitch; how you are introducing yourself matters! When you present yourself confidently you earn the trust of the prospect. It should be outlined and defined and practiced.
- Next, you have to promote the agency and why to do business with your agency. If you don’t explain to a prospect why to buy from your agency they never know. Be confident and share what an Independent Agency is and how it benefits the prospect.
- Take the time to learn about the opportunity. When you understand who they are and what’s important to them, you can design a policy that fits them like a tailored suit.
- Make sure you find out why they are shopping, this is the key. It may not be price, it may be service. Know this so you can seal the deal.
- Find out how they heard about you. If it’s a referral great, if it’s a website lead make sure to work quickly.
- Use their name during the conversation to earn their respect.
- Discover how many other agents they are working with, this will help you understand what position you are in.
- Always work to find the primary need (price) but also ask other than price what’s important to them in selecting their agent? This forces them to reveal the other items you need to avoid selling on price.
When you can nail down a strong and controlled intro you will win. Best news – this only take 3 minutes. Yes, 3 minutes. Many agents feel this process will take too long or be too clunky. No way. It’s the best 3 minute investment you will make in your sale!
