Wrapping it up today

Another good day on the phones both generating leads and calling back some old leads. My bottom line at the end of each day is I need 10 solid leads.

A few have asked about my system; as in what do I do when I call a prospect. Everyone has what works from them - this works for me:

Step 1:
I simply introduce myself, state what I do and tell them they might be able to save a significant amount of money. After that it's mainly questions. If they won't answer questions saying they're either too busy or just give one-word answers where it's apparent that they don't want to talk it's over. I put them on my Constant Contact email list and they get quarterly reminders.

I'm only looking for people who complain. They can bitch about:

• Their rate sucks
• Their coverage sucks
• They don't have coverage and hate not having it

But unless they're conversational about one of those three things I pretty much don't have a deal. I cannot "sell" health insurance too well. If I think they're rate's high but they don't think it's high there's generally no deal.

I absolutely don't mess around with people who don't have current coverage especially if interest is lacking.

All in all I don't work too well with people when my 6th sense tells me they simply don't want to be bothered. Instead of breaking out the sales tactics I've found it more productive and easier on my attitude to simply move on.

Step 2:
Qualify. I qualify to death. I want to know their complete history before I talk about carriers and rates. It's a mistake to simply ask if they have any pre-existing conditions. They generally won't disclose medical events is the past years where there's been a full recovery. Instead, I how often they've seen a doctor over the past "X" years (generally 5 or 7.) Then I start digging from there.

After I've done the pre-qual I can determine if I can better their situation. If I can I tell them I'm going to put together an email with the brochures of the plan I'm going to recommend and set the appointment - either phone or in person.

Step 3:
If it's a phone deal I call at the appointed time and for in-person I've already confirmed and show up. This is when they see rates - not before! Why? Because if clients see the plans and rates, then you get off the phone with them they have little incentive to get back in contact with you. They have everything they need - why talk to you again?

For a phone deal I take them to my site during the "appointment" and have them click on the company I'm recommending. We go over plans and rates and do the app.

For deals where the rate will not be same (rats up for Assurant and Aetna or Standard 1 or 2 for GR) I don't have them click on the links. They will not show the final rates. For those cases I work up the final rates, tranfer them to a Word doc. and upload them into my Webinar - then direct my client to the webinar.

I used to send clients rates after the 1st call and found that to be a mistake. They don't know what they're looking at anyway; Aetna PPO30, GR plan 100, CoreMed.....they have no clue so what good are the rates?

I also think some people get turned off if they see 80 different plans and options, think it'll just be too long an confusing and don't get back in touch.

There has to be some kind of hook - some reason for them to pick up the phone again or something cool to leave on their voice mail. You've already sent plans and rates? Oh, what's your VM message: "Ummm, this is John, Call me I guess."

My message is "Hey Jim, it's John from Maryland Health Plans. I put together some rates and I think you'll be very impressed."