Developing a Workable Health Insurance Call Script
Welcome back! In the previous article we discussed setting up a health insurance lead management system and basic sales concepts to know before calling your health insurance leads. In this article we will go over how to develop a health insurance call script that will work for you, helping you to convert more calls into appointments, and go over ways to reduce no-shows and reschedules by your health insurance prospects.
Your health insurance agency should provide you with an initial call script but many times these will are generic and will make you sound like any other telemarketer to the health insurance prospect. What I am going to outline below is a call script that you can fit to your personality and to any type of health insurance policy that you are trying to sell. Remember to always ask open ended questions (ones that can not be answered yes, no, or I dont know.) This will help you avoid many objections and keep many of your health insurance prospects from disqualifying you. Remember that they usually are looking for a reason to say no.
Step 1: The introduction warm up
This part is the most important part of your phone call, If you can not get past this then you will be unable to set many appointments at all. This part sets the tone and pace of the rest of the call. I suggest this as a starting point for your call:
Hello, this is (identify youself first), may I speak with (first name)? This should be the only closed ended question you ask. When the health insurance prospect answers say the following: Hello (first name), how are you doing today? Let them answer. This is your first open ended question that will set the tempo of the call. When they finish you can make a brief reply to what they said then say: Well, (first name) the reason I’m calling you is that I am a representative of (insurance agency) and I help people with their health insurance needs. So (first name), how can I help you today? At this point do not say anything, even if there is complete silence. If you answer first you automatically loose control of the conversation from that point on. Have your paper ready to write on. They will start giving you information you need to help them at this point.
Step 2: Find out why it is now that they are looking for health insurance.
Very little to none of your health insurance prospects that you will get leads for just rolled out of bed yesterday and out of the blue said to themselves “Golly gee, I have to get me some health insurance today.” If they are looking then there has to be someting behind it causing them to need to be looking for health insurance. Maybe they know they are getting sick or just not feeling right. Maybe they have had a job change and are not covered now or are losing employer coverage. Maybe their current premium has went up through the roof. Maybe they have reason to be dissatisfied with their current coverage. Whatever the reason is, that is the first thing you need to find out. This information is vital to you to give the prospect a sense of urgency that will help you close the deal.
So continue with your script like this: Ok, (first name), I need to ask you a few questions so that I can best help you choose a plan that is right for you, and there are no wrong answers. My first question is, why are you looking for insurance now? Again do not say anything else but instead be jotting dow what they are saying. When they finish breifly summarize what they have said. This will let them know that you are listening to them and not “selling”.
At this point they may try to ask product specific questions or pricing information. Just reply to these types of questions with: We will cover that later on but I need more some more information from you first. Many new health insurance agents make the rookie mistake of trying to run a quote at this point and end up being disqualified by the health insurance prospect.
Step 3: Qualifying questions
If you haven’t already gotten all of this information from your health insurance prospect at this point you will need to find out the following information to run quotes after the call is over. Do not make the mistake of disqualifying someone for a health related reason, because even if they have a condition that will cause them to be declined for one policy, you probably have products that can get them better coverage than nothing at all. The only situation I would disqualify someone is if they are already on a group plan and would lose much better benefits by switching.
The questions you now need to ask:
1. Who else needs coverage on this policy with you? What ages/gender?
2. Who uses tobacco?
3. What kind of health conditions are anyone taking medications for that I need to know about? Please be sure to ask this question this way. Asking a direct question about a specific health condition is a HIPPA violation.
Step 4: Set the health insurance appointmet now.
This is the other part of the call where new health insurance agents tend to lose controll of their calls. Do not ask the prospect what is the best day and time for you to come see them. Instead give them choices of days and times. This allows you to set an appointment that is convenient to their needs while allowing you to maintain controll of the call.
Example: Is tuesday or thursday better for you? Is a daytime or evening appointment better for you? Is 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock better? Even if they answer this with a day or time that is not one of your choices, they have still made a decision, which is much better than “I don’t know.” This is a buying cue if they make these decisions.
Step 5: The money question
This part of your call to your health insurance prospect is feels the most unnatural to most new agents but this part is the only real qualifier. If they do not have the financial ability to buy anything, there is absolutely no reason to waste your time and gas on them.
In my particular state the only form of payment we can take is personal chcks for health insurance policies so I ask the money question like this:
Ok, (first name) when I come to see you (day), I will need to collect the first month’s premium for the policy you select, and due to state regulations I can not accept a business check. Then I just wait for the health insurance prospect to answer. Remember, if you speak first you will lose controll, but cheer up, you are about done!
The most common response to this statement is: What forms of payment can you take? If they answer this way you have a very good chance of making the sale.
If they ask: Well how much is it going to cost? Reply that your company has policies from (lowest price) on up to fit most health and budget needs. If they answer positively then proceed, if not then this is your sign from them that they are not ready or unable to buy. Most people do not want to discuss a bad financial situation with a stranger so follow up a negative answer with: I respect your privacy and do not wish to discuss your financial situation over the phone. Most either tell you at this point that they can not buy anything now orthey just end the call at this point.
The Last Step: The health insurance pre-sale
Once you have got past the money question the last step is the pre-sale. Why this part is important to you is that it makes the prospect invest a little time in this process themselves. This will greatly reduce your chances of having no-shows and reschedules. Here is how to do it:
Ok, (first name) I need for you to write a few thigs down so you can have them ready for me when I come see you. Do you have a pen and paper available?
Ok, first write at the top of the paper Insurance appointment at (day/time) with (your name).
My telephone number is (your #)
Name, adress, telephone # of primary doctor/s
Bottles for each prescription medication you are currently taking, it is easier to get the correct information directly off of the labels.
Ok, can you read back the list for me so I can make sure we are not missing anything?
If they have made the effort to write this down then you have a very good chance of making this sale.
Great! put this list somewhere like on your refridgerator so you will remember to have this ready for me. I will see you then.
Thanks
Bye.
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