As insurance professionals, one of our biggest challenges is closing business. We may be booking appointments and getting discovery calls on the calendar, but often these opportunities don’t lead anywhere. In this article, I’ll share three high-level strategies that can help you be more effective throughout the sales process and turn more appointments into closed business.
1 – Bring Confidence to the Discovery Call
One of the best strategies we teach our clients is how to sell with exclusivity. Many producers enter discovery meetings with a sense of desperation, feeling like they must win the business to hit their goals. This pressure is palpable and can actually turn prospects off.
Instead, walk into these meetings with confidence—not arrogance. Act as if you don’t need the business. Try saying something like, “I’m looking to work with a limited number of new clients this year, and I’m hoping you might be one of them.” Or, “I understand you already work with an advisor. I assume you’re happy with them, but my goal today is to learn more about you and see if there’s an opportunity for me to earn your trust.”
This approach builds credibility and keeps prospects engaged. Remember, you can’t help everybody, nor should you want to. Convey that attitude, and you’ll give off an energy that attracts rather than repels potential clients.
2 – Spend Time Uncovering Pain Points
One of the main reasons producers fail to turn discovery calls into second meetings is that they don’t spend enough time uncovering the prospect’s pain points. Early in my career, I’d walk into discovery calls, say all the right things, and talk about amazing strategies. The problem was, I never spent time uncovering their actual pain.
Prospects make decisions to move away from pain even more than they move towards potential gains. If you focus all your conversation on what you can do for them without addressing their pain points, it will be hard for them to stay engaged in the sales process.
In the insurance world, prospects may not even be aware of their pain points because they’ve accepted poor results as the norm. It’s your job to dig deep and uncover these issues. When you find a pain point, keep probing to get to the root cause of why they took the meeting in the first place. The more pain you uncover, the greater the odds that they’ll want to continue the conversation.
3 – Be Persistent in Your Follow-up
After your initial meeting, prospects return to their busy lives. You’re no longer the most important person in their world. This is where persistence becomes crucial.
While “yes” is the best answer in sales, and “no” provides clarity, it’s the “maybes” that frustrate us and keep us from closing business. When a prospect isn’t getting back to you or isn’t clear about next steps, you’re caught in limbo.
Your number one objective in the sales process should be to help prospects make a clear decision, whether it’s a yes or a no. To achieve this, you must be persistent in your follow-up. Don’t assume they’ll get back to you—make it your responsibility to stay in touch.
If you can’t reach them through one channel, try others. Email, LinkedIn messages, phone calls, and texts are all fair game. If a prospect tells you to back off because you’re being too persistent, they were likely never going to buy from you anyway. Your job is to help them make a clear decision, even if it’s a “no.”
There’s no secret sauce or silver bullet in sales. These three strategies—bringing confidence to discovery calls, uncovering pain points, and being persistent in follow-up—are what truly work. By implementing these tactics, you’ll be well on your way to converting more appointments into closed business, selling more effectively, and ultimately, making more money.
Remember, it’s not about having the perfect script or proposal. It’s about being confident, finding the pain, and staying persistent. Give these strategies a try and watch your close rates improve.
Resources:
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- Connect with me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andyneary/
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- Connect with me on Instagram: instagram.com/andy_neary/
Business is no longer about who you know. Business is about who knows you. In a noisy industry like we’re in gang, you got to get people to know who you are.