This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Health Insurance Underwriter magazine on page 33.
Have you noticed? The rules of insurance selling have changed.
Even car dealerships are abandoning hard sell tactics in favor of warmer, friendlier strategies. That’s because proficient sales professionals understand an important truth: Clients don’t want to be sold; they want to purchase. It’s a subtle, yet significant difference. To purchase is to be in the driver’s seat – controlling the pace, assessing the options, and handpicking the product features. To purchase disability insurance is to be educated and empowered.
How do you put an insurance client in the driver’s seat? Admittedly, selling insurance is a little more complex than offering an ice cream sundae or selling a car. Many insurance consumers have no idea how to take charge of a disability insurance purchase process. However, that’s not important – what is important is that you know how to put them in charge.
The first step: Never, ever apply the Golden Rule, “Treat others in the way that you would like to be treated.” It sounds good on the surface, but there’s one key problem with this philosophy: Your customers may not want to be treated the same way you want to be treated.
Case in point: John is a gregarious, spontaneous disability insurance producer. He got into the insurance business because he loves people and he loves socializing. John assumes that his new client, Dr. Alexia Endo, enjoys the same treatment he does. So, he invites her to an educational luncheon he is hosting for 50 doctors and dentists. While greeting his guests from the podium, John publicly invites Alexia to the front of the room to tell the group about her dermatology practice. In John’s mind, he’s doing Alexia a huge favor. After all, the room is full of professionals who could refer patients. John loves it when his colleagues present him with these lucky opportunities!
How does Alexia feel about the unexpected publicity? She is mortified. Unlike John, Alexia has a formal communication style. She would never risk humiliation by speaking to a group without prepared comments. She strives to be accurate and precise at all times, and speaking on the fly doesn’t support those goals. Alexia declines the invitation and leaves the luncheon early because she is embarrassed. In the following months, Alexia feels uncomfortable with John and, ultimately, she finds a new agent.
What just happened?
John failed to realize that he is a “socializer” and Alexia is a “thinker.” He relied on the Golden Rule when he should have applied the Platinum Rule. And, he put Alexia in the back seat instead of the driver’s seat. Are you guilty of the same mistake?
The Platinum Rule
According to best-selling author Tony Alessandra, the Platinum Rule is: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.” Again, there’s a subtle, yet significant shift. By applying the Platinum Rule, insurance agents can put the client into the driver’s seat. Agents who practice the Platinum Rule:
- Observe and identify the client’s dominant personality style: relater, socializer, thinker or director (Source: Alessandra’s Behavioral Style Summary).
- Understand the client’s underlying behavior patterns, priorities, fears, desires, and decision drivers based on the dominate personality style.
- Adapt the sales presentation to facilitate the most productive sales scenario for the client.
How to apply the Platinum Rule to the disability insurance sale
| The “Socializer” Client
Profile: Open and direct, fashionable, stylish, fast/spontaneous decision-maker, fears loss of status, seeks recognition, becomes bored easily.
DI sales strategies:
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The “Director” Client
Profile: Direct, efficient, structure, fast/decisive decision-maker, fears loss of control, seeks productivity, leadership, is irritated by inefficiency.
DI sales strategies:
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| The “Relater” Client
Profile: Open and indirect, relaxed, friendly, slow/considered decision-maker, fears confrontation, seeks attention, does not like to be rushed.
DI sales strategies:
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The “Thinker” Client
Profile: Indirect, formal, conservative, likes structure, has a slow/systematic pace, fears embarrassment, withdraws when uncomfortable, strives to be precise and accurate, makes slow and deliberate decisions.
DI sales strategies:
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Caring enough
Before you can achieve the three steps above, you have to ask enough questions and observe enough behavior to accurately assess each client’s situation and communication style preferences. In our electronic environment of constant interruptions, this isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Your clients will know you care when they hear you ask thoughtful questions, they see you reflect on their answers, and they feel your empathy. However, if you really care, you need to go one step farther and put the client in charge of the disability insurance purchase. When you purposefully adapt your selling style to facilitate a more productive client experience, the sales roadblocks fall away. A client in the driver’s seat navigates the sale. You just have to pay attention, follow the lead, and treat the client the way he or she wants to be treated.
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