How to win an insurance sale with competition.
It is inevitable that over the course of your career you will find yourself in competition for an insurance sale. If you're lucky it won't happen that often. However, it's still a good idea to be prepared. In fact with 2 out of 3 consumers going online to research their insurance purchase before speaking with you, it's not a bad idea to treat every case like your in competition.
There are a few do's and don'ts that we'll explore when you're in competition with another agent.
How to approach competiton
- Research the market If you want to win in competition, you need to know the pricing from all insurance carriers in your market to ensure you get your clients the most competitive offering. This does not always mean the lowest price (but it helps).
- Clearly present the ideal solution If you can clearly communicate the value of your solution to your client when in competition, it's likely you will win the sale.
- Educate Your Clients This Accenture research highlights the changing behaviour of consumers when purchasing financial products. As you can see, consumers are looking for multiple sources to validate information more than ever and need to fully understand their options before taking action.
Sometimes the most competitive offering is the best balance of price, convertibility and underwriting. By having the right tools to research and communicate your clients' options, you provide transparency and build trust. This shows clients you have their interest ahead of just making a sale and getting a higher commission.
Remember your clients may have done their research before even speaking with you.
Remember 88% of people are confused with their insurance options so if you can give them a clear roadmap, it will make it easy for them to choose you.
People are visual learners so if you can take all of the complicated pricing data and turn it into a simple visual, you are making it easier for them to make a decision. Become the path of least resistance for your clients to become the easy choice when in competition.
So give them what they are looking for, a no bias comparison of the options. Compare your solution to the competition in an easy to understand visual presentation.
Don't stop with just you vs the competing agent, including a competitor to your own recommendation, this shows that you thought of all the angles. Illustrate that your client may be able to skin the cat a few ways but that you have done your homework and are confident that your recommendation is the best way forward because it's backed up by your analysis.
What not to do when in competition
- Don't badmouth the competition or their solution This is a small world and a smaller industry, you never want to badmouth your competition or their solution.
- Don't Take It Personally If your client is shopping the market don't take it to heart, most people want to ensure they get the best value for their needs, there has been a huge increase in self-service consumer research. Today's customer is more decerning than ever, they are skeptical and want to get multiple opinions before making a purchase decision.
- Don't forget to ask your client what is most important to them
If you feel their solution is not efficient or takes too much risk it's better to let the numbers do the speaking and flush out and stress test any assumptions their strategy makes vs yours.
Let's say your competition thinks they can undersell you by suggesting their clients are better off buying term insurance and investing the difference. You can simply create a presentation in LDA that highlights the risk they are taking and even back it up with numbers showing how much term insurance costs as a person ages and how that strategy compares to an alternate approach (like this).
The best way to handle your clients increased appetite for information is to take the gun out of their hand and provide the research up front. Brand it with your logo and make it interactive an engaging so that it captures their attention.
Make it easy for them to ask questions and get in touch and you will be the first one they come to when they have a question.
Don't forget to ask what is most important for your client. You may be competing with another advisor over price when the medical or ease of application is what is most important to your client. One thing almost every client appreciates is a bespoke experience or an experience catered to their specific needs. Make sure you understand your clients needs so that you can deliver value in other areas such as ease of transaction, speed to issue, other members benefits. Advisors using LDA may think to include a custom concept page catered to draw attention to the value of your specific advice and what else they should factor into their insurance purchase aside from just price/product.
Conclusion
Wrapping up, the best way to win in competition is to give the client what they need to make their decision. The less work a client has to do to get this information the easier the sales process will be and the more likely they are to choose you. Remember price is a factor and clients are more skeptical than ever so be prepared to make your case and make your life easier with tools like Life Design Analysis to make sure you can lay out the information to your clients in the most palatable way possible. Keep clients engaged and educated you will be top of mind when they have questions or are ready to make a purchase.
Want to make sure your presentation stands out? Check out our top presentation tips.
