Question: Is the best method for prospecting to annuity customers direct mail, seminars, or advertising?
Answer: Yes.
You can't depend on just one method for annuity prospecting anymore. Today, successful prospecting requires a multi-pronged approach. You are in a campaign to capture the attention of prospects. Consumers have money to invest, and everyone from the agent next door to the biggest home offices is going after them. To succeed in prospecting, you need to stand out and become memorable and distinctive.
In most regions, the competition is fierce. The old rule of thumb was that a prospect needed to receive three messages from you before they would pay attention. Now, it takes six to 10 contact points to gain their interest.
Let's review the tricks you can use to gain more annuity prospects.
Direct mail
Mailing large (5" x 8") postcards is a simple, inexpensive way to prospect for annuity clients. When an oversized postcard arrives in the mail, it sticks out from the stack. People are more likely to pick larger items out of a pile of mail first, turn the card over, and peruse it. When that happens with your target market, you'll win their attention.
Consider a "drip" marketing program. It's called a drip program because it's repetitive. Try sending a series of large postcards on quality paper to target prospects. Even if they throw the card away after reading it, the message was sent, delivered, and read, and an image was created in their minds. When you send a series of cards in this manner, you'll be creating a message and an image, thereby building your name recognition and response rate.
Send a series of postcards to baby boomers and seniors in targeted ZIP codes every week. Be sure to include a toll-free number that recipients can call to request a free booklet on annuities. Make sure the booklet and a cover letter are mailed within 24 hours of the prospect's request.
In a week's time, follow up with those prospects to make sure they received the booklet. To the prospect's ear, this sounds like a service call, and there will be less of a tendency to hang up immediately. Since they called your toll-free number first, this follow-up call doesn't violate do-not-call laws. Ask them if they have any questions about one of their current annuities or anything they read in your booklet. Once you've gotten this far, you can usually line up an appointment.
Seminars
Plenty of prospects come to seminars if you can promise that you'll be delivering fresh, solid information free of sales pressure. If you're doing regular postcard mailings, prospects will be more likely to respond to an invitation to attend your seminar because they'll recognize your name.
The seminar doesn't have to just be about annuities to attract annuity prospects. Any seminar that attracts a mostly 55-plus crowd can be the right venue in which to include annuities as one of your topics.
Now that you have a captive audience, take advantage of it. Instead of making a sales pitch for a particular product, ask attendees what kinds of investments they favor. Put the ball in their court. Ask for a show of hands on how many now own CDs, annuities, and mutual funds. Then follow up with those folks after the seminar.
People who already own CDs are your best prospects for fixed rate annuities. But don't knock CDs. Instead, use a side-by-side comparison to show them that annuities can be a better deal. Both CDs and annuities are guaranteed to return principal and earn interest, but only annuities are tax-deferred and permit interest to compound without having income taxes drag down the annual net returns. Your prospect will only have to pay taxes when they withdraw funds from the annuity. Furthermore, annuities offer very flexible liquidity because partial withdrawals are available anytime, while CDs impose big penalties for early withdrawals before the renewal date.
Advertising
Timing is important when trying to convert CD deposits into annuity investments. While there are CDs maturing year-round, one of the biggest periods for CD renewals is between March 1 and April 15. Fall is also another high season for CD renewals, so make sure that you're reaching out to CD owners at the best times. At these times of year, you should consider running a newspaper ad offering to compare CDs with annuities and the actual net return on each investment.
If you create a campaign for prospecting that includes direct mail, seminars, and advertising, you will have a steady flow of annuity customers. Add to that the right face-to-face sales techniques, and you can close a sale at virtually every appointment.
Wilma G. Anderson, The LTC Coach in Littleton, CO, is one of the nation's top sales trainers in the senior market. She offers a complete sales system called "Annuity Sales Gold!", which includes the use of postcards, a booklet on annuity basics for clients and prospects, a proven phone script, closing techniques, and the "Mastering the Annuity Sale" DVD. For more information, contact Ms. Anderson at 720-344-0312 or wilma@theltccoach.com or visit www.theltccoach.com.
