Selling Insurance – A Mission Statement Can Not Be A Sales Pitch: Article 10 of Randy’s how to close insurance deals series.
Hi Everybody,
For Those I have not met,
My name is Randy Mc Arthur
A mission statement can not be a sales pitch, but it can be a very effective sales tool and it must be the axiom (axiom: a self evident truth that requires no proof) on which all company actions are based. People are at their happiest and most successful when their actions are consistent with their philosophy.
An interesting side effect of doing only what you believe is right (even when the decision is a tough one to make) is that in the end you will always be satisfied with the choice you have made and usually experience a favorable outcome. What can I say, you can’t win um all. Its like my Daddy always said, “Life is a series of actions and consequences.” So you mission statement can’t just be something that you say because you think it sounds good. It must be the performable extension of your axiology (axiology: the branch of philosophy dealing with values, as those of ethics, aesthetics, or religion.)
Now I normally end these articles with my personal mission statement. This time I would like to end by giving you a couple of tools you can use to increase your business, but first, I need to share my company’s mission statement and a little of the background on which it is based. The reason your mission statement should be an effective sales tool and simultaneously, truly in the customer’s best interest is that you should develop it by asking questions and listening to the customer’s answers.
These are some of the questions that I realized; I had to have answers to in order to do the right thing for my customer. Before I share the questions with you, let me share the axiom. The axiom is; always do the right thing for the customer – first and only.
The right thing: The right thing for the customer differs from customer to customer depending on the customers past accomplishments, present situation, and future goals. Ask the customer about his/her past. Their past can give you some insight into who he/she is and is a good indicator of what his/her goals may be.
Ask the customer what they have that they are trying to protect such as; property they have already acquired, reserves ie mutual funds, annuities, cash on hand, stocks and bonds, college funds, 401k, 403b, paid up cash bearing life policies, etc. Ask the customer how he/she acquired their assets. Were they fortunate enough to have an inheritance they could roll over into other investments or did they do everything themselves. (Ask them this one right away and they will tell you everything if you have gained their trust.)
Ask them what their financial needs were during the same time period they were acquiring their assets. How much money did it take to pay the bills while you were building your past into the present? Ask the customer did they have times that were a struggle and if they had an unforeseen emergency, how did they pay for it. (goes to best solution) Ask him/her did they have any other sources of income such as; rental income, spouses income, stock dividends, second job,
OR
Was he/she able to change his/her past into his/her desired present solely on his/her primary income without any struggle?
Now, keeping in mind who this person has been in the past, ask him/her what he/she is currently doing to protect the lifestyle he/she has built in the past and currently enjoys. How much more does it take to pay the bills? What is your margin of error? What would you do in the case of an unforeseen emergency? Are you happy where you are today?
The one thing I can not do for you is think. The customer’s answer to this question is going to tell you how successful he/she sees himself/herself, provide great insight into the level of risk he/she is comfortable with and most important , it will show you how realistic and achievable his/her goals are to him/her for the future are. This answer tells you what to present at which level. The rest is the customer’s choice. If done properly the customer will close himself/herself and thank you for your help.
Now, that you have a pretty good idea of where this person came from, where he/she is now and how he/she perceives his/her level of success, (perception are real: that’s why some of us are Democrats, some of us are Republicans, some of us are Baptists, some of us are Methodists, and many of us have developed our own unique belief system) you can ask him/her about their future goals. Specifically, ask him/her what he/she wants to have in the future.
Ask the customer how much income he/she wants and for how long. Which schools does he/she want his/her children to go to? Is there anything he/she would like to do for; his/her spouse, children, or family as a whole? Where and when does he/she want to retire? How does he/she plan to retire? What would a catastrophic event such as a heart attack while uninsured or underinsured do to those plans? Does he/she have (not a backup plan) a protection plan in place to keep a lifetime of hard work from going down the drain?
Before I share our company’s mission statement with you, I need to emphasize the fact that if your primary reason for choosing defensive investment sales as a career is the money, you are not going to make very much of it and you chose the wrong career.
You must believe that you are helping people. You must love helping people. You must help people.
Do what you love and the money will come. Just to remind you, I started my insurance career with a captive health and life company a little less than 3 years ago.
Now, I have a full service brokerage offering everything from annuities to final expense. I would not be in my current favorable situation had I not changed from taking people’s money to helping people.
My personal mission is to; first, only and always do the right thing to help people insure that, through their own choices, they are making the best decisions they can make to guarantee their success in everything they do. Our company’s mission statement is as follows:
Mission Statement
It is our mission to; first, only and always do the right thing to help the customer insure that, through his/her own choices, he/she has made only necessary cost effective decisions that guarantee he/she has protected his/her lifetime of hard work.
COPYRIGHT 2009, UNICORN MARKETING LLC. 38.
Please realize that everything that preceded in this article is relevant to your attitude as an agent and the actual presentation. It is necessary to know where you are going before you get in the car and start driving to reach your destination, but we have plenty of time to figure out what we will do when we get there. I will show you how to present upon your request.
Good luck in all your endeavors, and God bless you. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Just give me a call at (919)781-2018 or email at randymcarthur@ymail.com. I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks
Randy Mc Arthur
p.s. Don’t ask permission – ask for the business – assume the sale.
Thanks for stopping by my insurance leads blog.
Cheers,
Mac