A “Gambling Approach” Gets My Prospect’s Attention and Leads to Sales
By Henry L. Bardin, CLU, The Crown Life Insurance Company, Minneapolis
By appealing to a prospect’s gaming instinct rather than emphasizing mortality or morbidity, I have often found it easy to obtain and hold his interest. The following method works for me, and it has been a lot of fun:
I prepared a layout similar to the one used in roulette, and I call it “Roulette to 65.” I changed the conventional roulette layout so that my prospect can play his chips on any number, thereby covering the risk of retirement, disability, death or accident. Or he can use one chip to cover all hazards. I do not use a prepared talk with this approach, but I try to follow this outline:
“Mr. Prospect, we all take chances. Let me show you how you can gamble on the game of life with safety. If you are 30, you probably have to work another 35 years before retiring. Your chances are eight out of 10 that you will live until you reach the age of 65, and you will require substantial savings to provide for your retirement. If you reach 65, you have a 16-year life expectancy. If you live to 65, the chances are three out of 10 that you will be disabled at least once. The chances of meeting an accidental death are one-fifth as great as a natural death, or one out of 25.
“As you can see, there are a lot of things on which to bet. Obviously, there are many ways to cover some of these ‘bets’ — real estate, common stocks, bonds, savings accounts, keeping money in the sugar bowl — but none of these plans will cover all bets. The company I represent will buy all of the above risks from you. You pay us once a year, and if you live to 65, we will refund your money.”
Then I present a proposal for Ordinary Life, including an accidental-death benefit to age 70 and a long-term disability income rider to age 65.
Quick Quotes: Without Service, Customer Loses Interest
By Clayton T. Knox, CLU, Mutual of New York, Buffalo
It shouldn’t surprise anybody when an agent runs into trouble using a sales approach. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. When you go out to buy something, what do you want? You aren’t interested in what the salesman thinks or what he wants to sell. You are interested in the salesman only if he can help you get what you want. You are interested in what you want.
So we shouldn’t be surprised if a customer loses interest — or strenuously resists our efforts — when our whole attitude says, “I want to sell you.”
He knows we are salesmen. We get an interview only when we appeal to him in terms of his own interests. When we get an interview, if we continue to talk about his interest, he will continue to listen and may buy.
Please — so that we understand each other — I’m not talking about going around giving free service. I know a new agent has to earn a living. What I’m saying is that he will start to earn a living faster — and stay in the business longer — if he talks about benefits and services before he tries to make a sale.
