Discover seven tips to improve insurance sales call length for productivity and efficiency.
In the insurance world, sales call length is a helpful metric that can help indicate strong client rapport and increased sales. Call length isn’t the sole factor in determining whether a sale is made, but it can tell you if you’re on the right track. In most circumstances, insurance agents aim for a sweet spot where the sales call length is long enough to build rapport but concise enough to respect the client’s time. If you feel like your calls are falling short or maybe they’re rambling a bit too long, there are strategies you can deploy. Here are some tips to improve your sales call length to make your calls efficient, productive, and consistent.
1. Track Your Call Times
This may seem like an obvious recommendation, but it’s important to keep track of how long your calls are. Many CRM software will do this for you or have a field to record this data. Great agents know that taking notes is crucial when establishing a rapport with new clients and nurturing current clients. But recording a simple metric like call time can be invaluable, too. Tracking call times helps agents analyze their weekly and monthly call volume as well as notice trends with specific clients.
2. Identify The Purpose of Your Call
Before reaching for your phone, take a moment and remind yourself what the purpose of each call is. Identifying the call purpose can indicate an ideal sales call length. For lead generation, for instance, HBW Leads notices that longer cold calls result in more leads generated. However, you may find that once you’re in the lead-nurturing phase of the sales cycle, shorter call durations with actionable items of business are more productive.
3. Know Your Client Persona
As you build your insurance sales experience, you’ll begin to identify types of clients. Some personas are based on demographic information, other personas align with personality type or life circumstances. You’ll start to find that for some client personas, like a family-centric client, you’ll need to build in extra time at the beginning or end of the call for small talk about the family. Knowing what type of client you’re about to speak with can help you zero in on a target sales call length. This not only prepares you for the call itself but also allows you to manage your schedule more efficiently.
4. Use a Script or Talking Points
Even the most seasoned insurance agents use notes, scripts, and talking points when talking to clients over the phone. Having a script or using notes helps you stay on topic and using time wisely.
5. Use Open-Ended Questions
If you’re looking to increase your sales call length as a way to build initial rapport with a client, try asking more open-ended questions. Questions that start with What, Why, and How are a good place to start. Try to avoid questions that can easily be answered with a Yes or No, since that will stop a conversation dead in the water.
6. Roleplay with a Colleague (and Time Yourself)
Roleplay is such an integral part of all industry sales techniques. For insurance sales, it’s the gold standard for identifying an agent’s areas for improvement. But don’t forget to record yourself. When you review the recording afterward, check the sales call length and see how that compares with other roleplays or actual calls. Look for places of hesitation and instances where you may have gotten off-topic. Have your colleague listen back and point out anything they noticed as well.
7. Share Sales Call Length Expectations with Clients
When communicating with leads and clients it’s important to build trust through transparency. If you plan on having a 10-minute intro conversation with a new client, let them know via email or phone message. For many clients, knowing how long to expect to be on the phone, will determine whether they schedule the call in the first place. If you tell a client that you “Just need five minutes of your time to review XYZ,” then you better stick to that five-minute timeline. If you have many items to discuss, consider sending out a mini agenda or shortlist to the client ahead of time so they know what to expect. Not only is this a common courtesy, but it’s also an opportunity for another touchpoint and communication trail to refer to.
Looking for more time to focus on analyzing sales metrics like sales call length? Leave the lead generation cold calls to HBW Leads. Their team of insurance and technology experts will get you double-verified leads so you can spend less time cold-calling and more time building client relationships.