Disability Insurance Claim Advice
Marketing Secrets of a Successful Disability Insurance Sales Person
California Broker, July, 2015
By Art Fries
This article will explain the most important area of selling insurance: getting in front of prospects. I’ll be telling you about the various methods that enabled me to earn in the top 1% of those selling life/health insurance in the country.
One method was to go into the office buildings and write down names and suite numbers from the building directory in the lobby. After getting back to my own office, I would find all the phone numbers. The next step was to have a phone day in which I called the attorneys in the building. I would tell the receptionist that I specialized in disability sales and would like to talk to the attorney. How you get past the secretary to the attorney I will leave up to you since there are many books and mentors who can lead you in this direction.
Your telephone approach changes once you do business with just one person in that suite. You say, “Henry Jones in your suite from your firm is a client of mine and he suggested that I might speak with attorney Jack Cohen. Would you put me through to him?”. Then say to Mr. Cohen, “Henry Jones is a client of mine and I’d like to sit down with you on the same basis I sat down with him to discuss your disability insurance needs. Tell me, Mr. Cohen, do you have disability insurance? When was the last time you had your program reviewed?”. I always looked to do business with attorneys in smaller firms or those who were sole practitioners”. I stayed away from large firms because I did not want to talk to an attorney who was covered under a group disability plan.
SEEK THE ENDORSEMENT OF A PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
If a client is a member of a local association, go to their monthly meetings. Eventually you will be known as the expert in your niche. See if an insurance carrier would be willing to provide a discounted premium if you submit an application on behalf of the association member. Then suggest to a board member that you would like to make a presentation that will offer their members a quality product as well as a premium discount.
You would like to be able to send a letter out to the members indicating your availability to discuss this product. If the board of the association accepts your offer, you should receive a membership list with addresses. You should be given permission to call the members after you have sent out your initial letter or e-mail notification. A letter with a properly designed brochure can be an effective first step. In my case I became endorsed by a number of Bar Associations. The key to getting in the door was to call the attorney member and say that I represented their bar association with respect to their disability insurance needs. Doing business with a member gave me the opportunity to get referrals for other association members. Doing business with just one board member gave me the opportunity to do business with other board members.
EXHIBITING AT A CONVENTION
Larger venues tend to be more successful for securing interviews. I would pay to be an exhibitor at a state association, which gave me the opportunity to be in front of a large number of prospective clients. Eventually, I didn’t have enough time to follow up with all of the people I met at these events. I brought another agent with me and split the leads with him. I had a reduced split commission arrangement, whereby he would receive a much higher split. At the trade shows, I would do the following:
- Have a banner hanging behind my small booth, which said, “Art Fries Disability Insurance for Attorneys” with my telephone, all in big bold letters.
- Provide handout of high quality business cards, copies of articles I had written and my bio.
- Provide a free gift imprinted with my name and phone number.
- Have business cards on the table
- Have a hook. My opening line was, “Hi, I’m Art Fries and I handle disability insurance for attorneys”. I would ask, “Do you have disability insurance?”. If they said yes, I would ask, “When was the last time you had your program reviewed. Would you have any objection to meeting with me after the convention on a non-obligatory basis? Do you have any medical history that you think would pose a problem in securing disability insurance or more disability insurance?”
If we established a need to meet, I would ask the attorney for their business card and say that I would be calling them within a week to set up a convenient appointment in their office. At one convention, a neighboring booth had three well dressed professionals who sat with their hands folded acres their chests and failed to connect with anyone. At my booth, the other agent and I secure most the the leads because we made the effort to communicate.
I no longer actively sell insurance, but have used may selling skills and knowledge to carve an entire different niche, providing disability claim advice, mostly to professionals and high earners over the past 20 years. I hope you can use just one idea from this article to help you in your professional endeavors. If has been a pleasure sharing my ideas with you.
