These common insurance agent mistakes are costing you time, money, and even customers

Everyone makes mistakes. It happens to doctors, lawyers, and yes, you’ll find insurance agent mistakes sometimes, too. There’s no need to feel down over the occasional error, but it is important to understand that some mistakes are worse than others. It’s alright to do or say something wrong in front of your client, but there are some errors you’re not coming back from. 

While errors come in all shapes and sizes and for different reasons, there are five insurance agent mistakes that you should avoid at all costs.

insurance agent mistakes

Steer clear of these five insurance agent mistakes and put the “pro” back into your insurance sales prowess. 

1. Speaking in tongues

Let’s say you meet Betty, a new prospect, and want to sell your latest auto insurance policy. Meeting her over the phone, you pitched this:

“The collision coverage is part of the 25/50/50 total policy coverage. If you’re up for real protection, you can annotate your policy with added comprehensive coverage. The additional coverage will increase your premium and deductibles monthly.” 

Whether or not the tone is spot on is not the issue. Unless Betty is an insurance professional, she probably isn’t up on all the industry jargon. 

All the talk about 25/50/50, annotations, premiums, and deductibles can and will put her off. She can either choose to avoid buying car insurance, or more likely, she’ll reach out to another agency. 

2. Excessive number-dropping

If you’re comparing industry statistics to win a client over, then you’ll have to pick the correct numbers. Do it right and you can look like an insurance wiz, and add appeal to your sales pitch. So go ahead and mention prices and coverage statistics. 

What you don’t want to do is make your pitch all about the numbers. Your prospect will be bored to tears. A story is much more compelling. Numbers support the story, but your story should not be solely about the numbers. 

3. Failing to present need

Everyone’s trying to save money and avoid buying things they don’t need. That means one of the most important steps to take when selling insurance is to determine the need. This is what market research is for. It’s crucial to present the need for insurance to your client. Not doing this is one of several insurance agent mistakes that can cost you a lot of sales.

It doesn’t matter how competitive the prices of your policies are. For example, if your clients don’t think they’ll crash into another moving vehicle, they won’t buy auto insurance. Nor will clients purchase home or flood insurance if they don’t know they’re in a flood-prone area.

You get the idea. By showing how frequently mishaps occur, you’ll be on your way to selling something people actually need — insurance. 

4. Charging a consultation fee

Yes, this is your prerogative, or it may be your company’s policy. It might put some money in your pocket immediately. However, this is one of several insurance agent mistakes that’s sure to limit your potential. 

If you can help it, don’t charge a fee for giving advice or assessments. Insurance is already a product people don’t enjoy paying for. For this reason, any attempt you make to conduct a paid consultation will be seen as unnecessary and even greedy. 

Even if you don’t make anything from a free consultation, you’ll attract more leads and prospects. The fact that your consultation is free will entice people to come to you for insurance. 

5. Dominating the conversation

Your clients are people with genuine concerns. They will have questions. With that in mind, allow your clients to add their own insights. Most importantly, listen to their questions as well. 

Some clients will be hesitant to pose questions to avoid looking foolish. To prevent this, encourage questions, be friendly, and thank your clients for every question and insight they add to the discussion. 

To err is human 

The critical takeaway you can get from this is to remember that you’re selling insurance to the average person. 

That’s right — the average consumer. You’re not pitching to another insurance salesperson, nor are you selling insurance to an affluent robot or calculator. 

So long as you remember this, you won’t make the above-mentioned insurance agent mistakes. 


Make no mistake, though — you’ll need a way to find leads to whom you’ll do things right. For this, HBW Leads is here for you. So call us now for high-converting phone leads that are right for your funnel.


 

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