PMG Power Blog: No ONe Likes to Be Sold!

One of the main reasons so many agents and advisors struggle to set appointments and close sales is they tend to lecture and tell prospects what they should do. They tell the prospect that they have a problem, and then they try to provide the prospect with their solution to the problem. Doesn't a salesperson telling a prospect what they should do create an automatic response from that prospect... of immediate resistance?

Think about it. Do you like to be told you have a problem? Do you like to be told what you should do?

Don't you automatically fight the idea? Aren't you immediately skeptical?

Wouldn't you rather identify your own problems and come up with your own solutions?

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For example, when most agents and advisors talk to retirees, they assume that if the prospect has a CD they are unhappy with the interest rate they are getting. So, they might ask, "Do you have money in CDs?" If the client says yes, the agent jumps in and says, "I can show you how to get a much better return." Then, the agent or advisor goes on to tell the prospect about a great new product or idea they have to make them more money. The prospect automatically says, "Let me think about it!"

Why? Because no one likes to be sold! 

Top produces have learned how to set more appointments and close more sales by helping their prospects identify their own problems and come up with their own solutions!

They have learned how to help prospects sell themselves, and it involves asking the right questions!

Agent: "Mr. Prospect, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any of your money in CDs?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "Are you happy with the interest rate you're getting?"

Prospect: "It could be better, but it's okay. I like the safety and guarantees, and I can get to the money when I need it."

Agent: "If you don't mind me asking, are you using that money for an income?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "Are you using any of the principal?"

Prospect: "Yes!"

Agent: "How do you feel about that?"

Prospect: "It's a problem. We're afraid we won't have enough money."

Agent: "Does your current income allow you to do everything you'd like?"

Prospect: "No, it would be better if I had more income."

Agent: "If you had more income what would you like to do?"

Prospect: "I’d like to visit more with my grandchildren."

Agent: "If we could come up with a way to get the income you need, so you can visit you're grandchildren, without digging into the principal and have the same safety and guarantees as a CD, would that be better for you? "

Prospect: "Can you do that?"

Agent: "From what I see here I think with you and I working together we can do it."

See the difference? By asking questions we've helped the prospect identify their problems. Then, we work with them to help them come up with their own solutions.

Is there any question that asking questions gives you a much better chance of getting the prospect to move their money to you? Aren't you helping the prospect sell themselves?

Remember, no one likes to be sold! If you learn to ask the right questions, help the prospect identify their own problems, and then help them find their own solutions, you'll get more appointments and close more sales. In many cases, it will be a much larger sale, too!

To learn more strategies for easily increasing your income by helping consumers’ solve their problems, click to register for the Virtual Sales Clinic webinar PMG is sponsoring Wednesday.

Submitted by: Lew Nason, RFC, RTIA, LUTCF, CFLA, and founder of Insurance Pro Shop™, which has helped over 10,000 agents, advisors and planners worldwide double or triple their monthly sales and income over the last 13 years.

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