disability insurance
How to Sell Disability Income Insurance
T
LARRY SCHNEIDER
Disability Income Insurance Specialist
Larry Schneider is a
Disability Income (DI)
specialist with over 45 years
of experience. Larry has
authored several books
on Disability Insurance,
and other industry related
topics.
Schneider can be
reached at info@DI-
Resource-Center.com
and more information on
the Disability Insurance
Resource Center is available
at www.DI-Resource-Center.
com
he common denominator
for success between
successful people, no
matter what the product or
service, is doing the things
that failures don’t do. It
explains why many of those
who appear to have all the
natural talent fail, while
others with obvious handicaps
succeed.
I have learned over the last
35 years of exclusively selling
Disability Insurance, that I do
my best when I stay with the
habits I employed when I first
started my second career after
heading up a management
consulting department for one
of the ‘Big 8’ accounting firms.
For purposes of this article, I’ll
refer to them as techniques,
rather than habits and discuss
them as a guide to the agent/
producer so they too, can
successfully “SELL” disability
insurance!
OVERVIEW
It’s no secret that people
don’t want to be ‘sold’
anything. What prospects
really want, is rather to be in
the position, where they are
“buying”. Before anyone buys,
they need some reasons to
justify the purchase.
So, what does it take to have
someone purchase? It takes a
variety of “tools”, perhaps more
“tools” to sell Disability Income
Insurance, than any other
insurance product, simply
due to the fact that disability
insurance has more “language”
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considerations (for example:
benefits/terms/formulas/
definitions/ conditions, etc.).
On the other hand, Life or
Annuity policies are essentially
justified or based on absolute
values and premium, rather
than the “what if” language of
Disability Insurance products.
One of the necessary selling
tools is PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE.
They say, ‘knowledge is
power.’ Knowledge doesn’t
stop with just knowing your
company’s product. You
should also be conversant in
disability insurance probability
statistics and other pertinent
information in order to support
the sales cycle and create the
need. Some carriers provide
supporting charts and graphs
to aid in your pitch and help
convince the prospect to say
‘yes’ after their (anticipated)
initial objection.
What good is knowledge
if no one knows how
‘knowledgeable’ you are.
Therefore, prospecting is a
very important part of the
sales cycle, since you’re still
bound to make some sales with
enough exposure, even with a
minimum of knowledge.
The basic sales tools one
must have in order to be
effective are made up of the
following components:
1. Attitude
2. Knowledge
3. Prospecting Techniques
4. Presentation Skills
5. Rebuttal Skills
6. Closing Skills
7. Application/Paperwork
8. Delivery
9. Referrals
I will go in limited detail for
just a few of the above:
KNOWLEDGE
Not only should you know
your products inside/out, you
should also be prepared to
accurately quote contractual
differences between those
offered by the competition
and yours. When I do personal
production as an independent,
I usually present up to three
carriers to a prospect (which
gives the prospect the feeling
I’m not “married” to any one
company in particular). This
then generates credibility.
Which carriers I present, are
dictated by the prospect’s
occupation and objectives,
since different carriers may
have different definitions etc.,
for that occupational class.
PRESENTATION
What’s wrong with a
“Canned” presentation? Why
re-invent the wheel each
time?! George Whitmore, many
years ago, did a one man show
called “Give Him Hell Harry”,
and said the same thing over
and over, word for word, twice
daily, every day of the week for
two years (but also got paid
handsomely for his efforts).
There’s nothing wrong using a
sales presentation flip chart.
Remember, a picture is worth
a thousand words! Again, the
presentation should be based
on emotion. Minimize being a
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