As you know, each of your health insurance prospects are unique with different needs, and I am in no way that you try to sell everyone the same product.  Instead I am suggesting that you establish a routine of how you present to customers so that you are able to make more health insurance sales.

“The devil is in the details:” 

The smallest things make a big difference when selling health insurance.  You are selling an intangible product that the customer really can’t hold in their hand so you need to plan your presentation so that the health insurance prospect is paying close attention to what you are telling or showing them.  To do this you need to have every detail planned out and practiced so that you dont give too long a presentation (health insurance prospect’s eyes glazed over or staring off into the distance) or too short of a presentation (not enough information for prospect, leaves objections in their mind.) 

How you can accomplish the perfect legnth for a presentation is have every detail down from how you lay out all of your paperwork and product brochures to the order in which you present your health insurance products and policy features.  Remeber, you are not selling a car or vacuum cleaner, you and some papers are all they have to look at.

You will also need to be carefull to control the health insurance presentation so that attention is focused on what you are showing, that there are no distractions created, and few objections not handled before they become objections. 

Once you have your presentation planned out, you will need to practice it several times before going live.  If you work the bugs out beforehand you will know that your health insurance sales presentation will work with confidence.  Also if you do not practice and struggle with some portion you may end up eliminating a part of your presentation that would work well when you gain confidence.

My next article I am going from soup to nuts on exactly how I do my presentations every time.  This is the way my mentor taught me and it works.  I have seen new agents that have struggled learn this and almost instantly improve results…

next:  My Health Insurance Sales Presentation

Before you go any further read this article.  This is the part of your job as a health insurance agent that you get absolutely right.  As a state licensed health insurance agent it is your fiduciary duty to act in the best interest to do what is right by both your client and the insurance company that you represent.

When you are writing an application, you switch from the role of a health insurance salesperson to the role of a field underwriter.  This means that you have the responsibility to so the application and health questionare fully and accurately.  I have known agents who have fudged on this, some who have deliberatly tried to circumvent underwriting, and most are now in deep trouble.  Some are even facing jail time for insurance agent fraud. 

Read my post: Pep-rally crooks

> Beleive me, if you do this, you are not only hurting the insurance company but also the people that you write policies for.  Don’t try to “help” them by trying to hide somethig from underwriting.  Even if it does get past them, the first time the policyholder has a decent claim to file, their past medical record will be thoroughly searched, their policy cancelled, their claims unpaid plus any previous claims due back, and you in a heap of trouble.  There are people out there who enjoy making examples of health insurance crooks and scam artists.  Check out this guy’s website…

http://www.markcolbert.com/

This is just not something to play around with!

In this section I will cover these topics, and lay out some simple but effective health insurance sales techniques that will help you earn more customers, and do it in such a way that you will have a much higher retention rate than if you used some of the high pressure tactics that are being pushed by some health insurance agencies.

When I started as a health insurance agent I was always hearing about closing a sale in terms such as:

“You need to become a closer.”

“He is a heck of a closer.”

“She closes everyone she sees.”

“You are finally developing some closing skills.”

and my favorite:

“Coffee is for closers!”

I soon came to think of the term closing a health insurance sale as being able to trick someone into buying health insurance.  This was actually not the true meaning of closing…

Closing is simply causing someone to see your point of veiw to their benefit to the point that they are willing to pay for that benefit.

Before you even think about being able to close you will need to develop your health insurance presentation, and practice it untill you can do it the same way every time with confidence.  Lack of confidence will kill your ability to close a health insurance sale.

So lets first look at developing your health insurance sales presentation….

next:  Developing a Consistent Health Insurance Sales Presentation 

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.

Setting up your file system:

Many of the health insurance leads you will initially get may be through the internet.  I strongly recommend that you print a hard copy of your health leads for several reasons.

You can write on them while calling and you also run the risk of losing them by mistakenly deleting them from your insurance lead management software or email.

If you do not have a file cabinet, an accordion folder will do for keeping your printed health insurance leads.  The files I suggest you keep are:

1.  New health insurance leads not called yet.

2.  Health insurance leads called this week-call me backs 

3.  Health insurance leads called this week-no answer

4.  Week old health insurance leads-no answer

5.  This months health insurance leads-call me backs

6.  This months health insurance leads-no answer

7.  Any call me backs over 1 month old-filed by date they wanted to be called back

8.  Personally generated health insurance leads

9.  Referrals

10. All health insurance leads over 1 month old-no contact.  These I would file by month recieved.  Save these for a rainy day.  If you run out of leads to call open this file and call a few.  You might be supprised!  I actually made a health insurance sale off of a two year old lead recently.

Making Calls to Health Insurance Leads

My first experiences calling health insurance leads were absolutely terrible.  I had to try a lot of things before I found out what actually worked.  I was fortuneate enough to have a more experienced agent help me with this after a few months of misery.  He gave me some immediate advice that helped me greatly:

“The phone is not your enemy but rather like a drunk friend hanging out with you.  He may get you yelled at or make people walk away from you but will also get people talking to you too.”  being that talking to live people is the only way you can make a living, the phone is not so bad.

“Keep score of how many calls you make each hour, this will help you compete against youself.”  It was supprising how well this worked.  It is human nature to get distracted or to procrastinate.  This helps couteract those tendencies because it is also human nature to want to do better and accomplish something.

“You can be who-ever you want to be on the telephone, remeber they can’t see you.”  With this one I am in no way suggesting that you pretend to be someone you are not, but rather that you must keep in mind that a prospect cant see that you uncomfortable on the phone, have had a bad day, are tired, or frustrated.  Always try to project youself as confident, knowledgable, happy, and interested in them. 

“He who asks the most questions wins.”  When calling you must maintain control over the conversation to be able to set an appointment.  The only way to do this is actually let the health insurance prospect do most of the talking themselves.  Remember that most people are on the defensive and are resistant to being “sold” on somethig.  The best way to overcome this is to present the attitude that you are there to help them with their health insurance needs.  To do this ask open ended questions only.(can’t be answered yes, no, or I don’t know.  This will keep them talking about themselves and allow you to find out most of the information you need without them asking too many product specific questions themselves.  I am not against telling a health insurance prospect about a product, but you must realize that they are looking for a reason to say no, and you will find out that this comes harder for people if you are meeting with them face to face.   

“Don’t waste to much time talking to answering machines, they usually don’t talk back.”  There are many opinions on this part of calling health insurance leads.  Allthough I have gotten a few sales from leaving answers, they are not worth investing too much time.  If you do leave answers keep it short and simple, like “hello, this is ____, please give me a call when you get a chance at #, bye.  Any longer than that and your answer is erased before they even listen to the whole thing.

Now the other thing you need to do is develop a working call script so you can set good health insurance appointments.

next: Developing a Workable Health Insurance Call Script

 Captive or Independent?

If you are starting out on a health insurance sales career, the first consideration to look at when choosing a health insurance agency to work out of, is if you want to join a captive agency or independent agency.  What are the differences?

Captive:  You are only allowed to write health insurance policies that are approved by your agency, usually for one or two companies.  This is not a bad thing for new health insurance agents initally because you can learn a few health insurance products very well, and will know exactly what health policy fits your client’s needs.  Other advantages of joining a captive health agency is that usually they provide hands on training, provide leads, help you develop a business structure for yourself, and generally your manager is getting a override from your comissions, so they should have a vested interest in your success.

Independent:  If you are already familiar and comfortable with the sales process and closing, you would probably be smart to consider going with a independent health insurance agency.  Allthough you would be responsible for your own training and health lead generation, the comissions are generally higher.   

If you are just getting started in comissioned sales, chances are that you will need a strong support system initially to help you become skilled at being a health insurance agent.  A health insurance agency should provide the following things to you, especially if you are a captive agent.

1. Product Training

2. Sales Training/ possibly a mentor

3. Health Insurance Leads

4. Help with developing a business plan including a marketing plan.

5. Your manager or general agent should be honest with you and help you set realistic goals.

What you should avoid:

1.  Agent mills (as in puppy mills).  How these types of agencies work is that they contract an unusually high number of new agents and quickly run through them.  When an health agent gives up and leaves then the manager collects a larger commission of the policies that agent wrote.

2.  Any manager or general agent who pushes you to use unethical sales practices.  These types often push new agents to make sales using high pressure or to commit insurance fraud.  Many new agents give in to the pressure because of they fill this will get them better bonuses or better leads.  When a health insurance agent gets into trouble, this type of manager will not know what you are talking about and you will be left holding the bag.

3. Any health insurance agency that does not seem to use wise business practices. (lack of cash flow, legal problems, etc.)

So consider your options and make a good choice, your success may depend on it!

next:  Health Insurance Lead Generation