Insurance Sales: Discovery or Interrogation

You realize that questions are a critical part of the sales process, but the questions you ask aren't producing the results you want. The way you structure the questions you ask, and the intent behind them have a dramatic impact on the prospect and your results. Questions are an easy way to establish rapport with the prospect, put them at ease, get them to open up to you, and help them to feel comfortable with you. But your questions must demonstrate your sincere interest in the prospect, or they just don't have the desired impact.

Many sales professional get off track during the questioning process. If your questions make the prospect feel like you're taking them down a self-serving path they'll balk and you won't get the sale. An example will help me to demonstrate what I mean.

Let's use a life insurance agent for our example, and we'll presume the agent has established that the prospect has at least some interest in life insurance to get what they want. So the agents says, "Mr. Prospect you're a man who loves his family, right"? Mr. Prospect almost has to answer "yes". The agent might then say, "Mr. Prospect as a man who loves his family you want to make sure their needs are taken care of in the horrible event you aren't able to do so, right"? Mr. Prospect again almost has to respond "yes". Then the agent says, "Mr. Prospect because you're a loving man and you want to make certain your family is taken care of, when do you think is the best time to start that protection"? The agent is expecting Mr. Prospect to say "yes", but instead he either says "no" or simply objects. What went wrong? The agent is clearly manipulating the prospect. This makes the prospect angry and he loses all trust in the agent. Everything the agent did up to this point to gain the trust of the prospect is lost. And the agent will never be able to regain that trust.

The intent of the sales person in the example was entirely self-serving, and that just doesn't fly with a prospect. Remember the purpose of your questions is to develop trust, and you do that by demonstrating sincere interest in the prospect. And when you're questions suddenly turn self-serving the prospect feels the whole experience has been a pre-planned manipulative sham designed to make the prospect feel guilty for saying "no" to you.

Now let's see how we could improve this experience. The agent might say, "Mr. Prospect as we've talked today it's become absolutely clear to me that you love your family and want to make sure their needs are always taken care of, how do you see life insurance helping you to take care of your family? Then the agent would listen carefully and allow Mr. Prospect tell the agent why they want to buy. When the prospect is talking they're convincing themselves of the real value of this decision. The agents job is to help the prospect to explore all the possibilities. When everything is out the agent might ask, "Mr. Prospect it sounds like there are a lot of benefits for you and your family, what if anything is keeping you from having that now"? The agent needs to let the prospect talk. Most people avoid decisions because they're afraid of making a wrong decision. Unless or until you have everything on the table you can't help them to work through the decision making process. After a good discussion the agent might say, "Mr. Prospect if I could show you a way to get what you want and a way to work around your current obstacles would you be interested in getting started"? Even though Mr. Prospect may still be a little uncertain they'll feel like you really understand them and their needs. When you show them a solution that works for them they're relieved and ready to go.

It isn't the exact wording that's important it's the difference in the experience for the prospect. In the first example the prospect felt manipulated and resents you for putting them in that situation. In the second example the prospect feels like you're working together toward a common goal, so they like you and trust you. If you were the prospect which agent would you rather sit down with?

About the Author

About the author: Cheryl Clausen can help you get where you want to be. Find out how your Sales Skills match up. What would happen if you just had more time? Improve your Time Management Skills, check this out. Get your own completely unique content version of this article.

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