Sales is about emotion—you are trying to evoke the kind of positive response from an insurance lead that will make them want to purchase specifically from you instead of someone else. To be successful at this aspect of sales means you need to be aware of some of the nuances of communication. Once you’re given it some thought, you can then develop a series of sales scripts to be used with any new prospect.
The Right Point of View
The first thing to ask yourself is whether you are currently communicating what you want to say versus what your prospective client wants to hear. You won’t know unless you put yourself in their shoes. What they want to hear is that you can solve their problem quickly and easily. That won’t come through if you leave a message saying, “Hey, I can get a quote for you, but I need more info. Call me back.”
From their point of view, they’ve reached out to you for help and already given you a bunch of information. They started a conversation; your job is now to continue it by offering solutions and positivity.
Tone
It’s imperative that all of your communications have a sincere and helpful tone. If you’re feeling irritable or rushed, you’re better off waiting until those feelings have passed before reaching out by phone.
Timing
With the SEM (search engine marketing) leads sold by Hometown Quotes, you’re getting hot prospects—people actively shopping for insurance online. If you call them back immediately, they may pick up the phone. However, this will not always be the case. You may have a delay on your end, or they may have another distraction come up that causes them to send your call to voicemail.
This is why it’s always good to have a script ready so that you can leave a concise, pleasant voicemail message. A good length to shoot for is 14 to 24 seconds, which is enough time to establish a supportive tone without rambling. Here is a sample:
Day 1 Sales Script
“Hi XX, it’s XX at XX Insurance. I just received your email. I appreciate you reaching out to me. I’m putting together your auto insurance policy now and the rates look great! I’m looking forward to speaking with you today to answer all your questions and to make sure that we find the best policy that fits your family’s budget. Please give me a call at…”
Word Choice
As with tone, your word choice matters. A phrase like “I’m putting together your auto insurance policy” carries a feeling of already-existing ownership—this is YOUR policy I’m working on, whether we’ve finalized it yet or not. “The rates look great!” will always pique interest. Talking about fitting “your family’s budget” conveys a sense of caring, showing that you’re putting in your best effort to find a policy that is affordable.
Note that the word “quote” is never used; it’s not entirely clear why, but it’s not a word that generally evokes positive feeling. This may be because it is sometimes used to express sarcasm, as in “Yeah…he’s a quote-unquote genius.” Whatever the reason, “quote” is easily avoided.
Frequency
How often should you reach out to a prospect? We recommend calling and emailing at least once a day for a minimum of five and up to eight days. Online shoppers are used to receiving multiple follow-ups as part of the shopping process: confirming an order, estimating a delivery date, notifying that something has shipped, confirming that an item was delivered, etc. If you’re worried about contacting a prospect too often, remember that repeated outreach is part of most online shopping experiences.
Here are examples of how your scripting might look over consecutive days:
Day 2 Sales Script
“Hi XX, it’s XX at XX Insurance. I’m following up on our conversation from yesterday [or Monday, Tuesday, etc.] I’m available today to answer the rest of your questions and to finish reviewing all of your auto insurance options. Your rates look great! Please give me a call at XXX.XXX.XXXX. I want to make sure that we find the right policy to fit your family’s budget.”
Day 3 Sales Script
“Hi XX, it’s XX at XX Insurance. I appreciate you reaching out to me on [Monday, Tuesday, etc.] I know that we’ve left you a couple messages this week. I truly don’t want to be a bother. I just want to make sure that we find you the most affordable policy to take care of your family. I am available throughout the day to assist. Please call me at…”
Each day, vary the script a bit but keep hitting on the key points. Then, once you’ve got up to eight days of voicemail scripts written, you can adapt those messages for email, too.
Having effective sales scripts like this in place will help you make the most of your insurance leads. And the nice thing is, it’s a great investment of your time and energy. Once you have them completed, you’ll be able to use them for years to come.
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