Knowing Your Product: The Key to Sales Success
While many insurance professions invest in the newest techniques to boost sales, many agents are getting back to basics by focusing on the fundamentals of insurance sales—and succeeding.
To further the success of our agents, we at InsureMe have identified one of the biggest factors in determining the outcome of your sales: product knowledge. Read on to learn how product knowledge can make or break a sale—and how to stay current in your industry.
How Product Knowledge Affects Sales
Prospects and clients alike need to feel they can rely on you to help them make the best decisions about protecting their property, health and lives—decisions consumers aren't apt to take lightly.
Understanding your product inside and out—its strengths and its weaknesses—plays to the success of your sales in the following ways:
Boosts your enthusiasm. Many consumers equate an agent's enthusiasm for their confidence in the product.
Builds your communication skills. The more you know about your product, the more excited you'll be to discuss it—and eager to communicate the benefits of buying a policy from you.
Strengthens your ability to field consumer questions. No consumer should ever be able to tell you something about your product that you don't already know; your ability to answer any and all questions will show the consumer that you're an expert in your field.
Allows you to tailor your product to the consumer. Knowing your product backwards and forwards will help you determine how to present it in a way that fits the consumer's needs.
The combination of these factors lead to one thing: consumer confidence. And once the consumer has confidence both in your and your product, a trusting relationship between you and the prospect can be formed. And, as you know, consumer trust is crucial to closing the sale.
Taking Product Knowledge to the Next Level
To remain successful in the insurance world, you will need to make a commitment to continuing your education—the more you learn about your business, the more valuable you will be in the eyes of a prospect.
It's important to understand that you can expand your product knowledge both inside and outside of the classroom. Following are some tips to stay up to speed:
Take a refresher course. Courses are available through industry organizations—online and in the classroom—on the different insurance lines. Enrolling in these courses will keep you up to date on any and all changes to your field.
Consider additional licensure. If you specialize in property and casualty policies, you may want to obtain a license for life and health policies—or vice versa. The more well-versed you are in insurance, the move experienced you will be in the eyes of the prospect.
Stay informed about other lines of insurance. If you decide against obtaining additional licensure, make sure you remain knowledgeable in other fields; if you can't sell those lines of insurance to a prospect, you can still benefit from speaking intelligently on the subject and referring them to a trustworthy source.
Use industry resources. There are many resources available for insurance agents on paper and online. Many sites, such as the Insurance News Net, allow agents to subscribe to their site for little or no cost.
As an agent, you should also make the most of courses and seminars offered by your employer; many insurers will subsidize the cost of continuing education for their employees—find out what benefits are available to you and take advantage!
Knowledge is Power!
Take your knowledge to new heights and watch your closing ratio follow suit. And, for additional tips on selling insurance, continue reading Finding Success as an Insurance Professional!
This information was provided by InsureMe, the leader in online insurance leads for the insurance industry. Since 1993, InsureMe has helped thousands of insurance agents succeed in the insurance business by providing top quality leads that are both detailed and affordable. For more information on InsureMe leads, please visit our agent Web site at agent.insureme.com.
