Winning Customers by Meeting Them on Their Level

October 17, 2022 by

About 25 years ago I had a friend who wanted to run for my seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. My advice to him was that he should try to convince as many potential opponents as he could not to run. I explained that it would be a much simpler and less expensive process to win by keeping them off the ballot, rather than running a tight campaign against multiple potential challengers. But when filing day came, my friend had three opponents, to his dismay.

He was going to have to campaign! Who gets to win without putting in a little work, right? The good news, I told him, was that by talking to voters he would learn what they really cared about. Instead of making assumptions, he would really understand the issues that mattered to his prospective constituents. He would learn to speak to them in a way that mattered to them, and that’s the key.

Good politicians know this. They tell people what they want to hear. Good salespeople do much of the same!

Talk to the Client, Not the Policy Form

Speaking in a language that is meaningful to the prospect is the hallmark of a good sales professional. They talk about issues the prospect thinks are important, not about issues the salesperson wants to talk about. This may seem obvious, but it’s really not.

As I’ve worked with insurance producers over the years, I see most running prospects through a list of questions from an Acord form. Though the answers to those questions are important, especially to underwriters, these forms aren’t designed to uncover what matters to a prospect or client with respect to their insurance program.

What if, instead of asking “what is the replacement cost of all your equipment (or personal belongings),” we put things into perspective for them? What if we asked, “What would you want to happen if a fire damaged your property?” Or if we asked, “If a tornado hit your home, are there things that can’t be replaced like photos of loved ones, a special collection or an antique? Ideally, what would you like me and your insurance company to do for you if that happened?” What if, instead of asking what deductible a policyholder would prefer, we took the time to understand their thoughts on risk and their ability to absorb loss?

In having conversations like this, I’ve often discovered considerable misalignment. The coverage the person is buying, the deductible they are paying, as well as their expectations for the claims experience, are radically different than what their insurance policy is set up to provide.

What if, instead of providing a quote, based on “standardized” coverages that we assume everyone needs and wants, we took the time to get to know the prospect and crafted insurance that met them where they want to be met. We’d be providing something that fit them like a tailored suit rather than an off-the-rack T-shirt.

Language We All Understand

Sally Hogshead in her book, “How to Fascinate,” says, “Great advertising isn’t what companies want to say, it’s about what the market wants to hear.”

Most insurance agencies, and most insurance agents, in my experience speak a language that is meaningless, and powerless, to their prospective customers. That is one of the reasons people see insurance, and insurance agents as commodities.

What if we removed all the jargon that gets in our way? What if we asked people what they care about, or worry about, and then sold them peace of mind in an insurance policy?

We can do this easily by avoiding mention of deductibles, for example, and instead ask prospects questions similar to the following:

  • If you wreck your car, how much of the cost can you/do you want to be responsible for and how much do you want the company to pay?
  • In your life, do you favor spending less and taking on more responsibility, or do you like to buy warranties, so you never have to worry about cost if something goes wrong?
  • What keeps you up at night?

If we could have an entire conversation with a prospect or client and avoid mention of technical insurance jargon like deductible, co-pay, coinsurance, actual cash value, replacement cost, special form, other than collision, and business interruption, as well as the mind-numbing details around each, what would that be like? If we could describe these wondrous things in ordinary, easily understood, relatable ways, how would the relationship with an insurance customer change?

When it comes to insurance, people want to hear that if something unexpected and bad happens, they’ll be OK. And they want to know that what they expect to happen WILL happen. What would be the result, for your book of business, if you found ways to communicate that in language that the prospect understood without you having to try to explain it? I’m not talking about being vague or even talking down to the customer. I’m talking about making insurance more relatable.

Finding Success Through Conversation

My friend, the new politician, learned to understand how his constituents felt about a political issue by how they talked about it and by the words they used. He learned what they cared about and how to speak to them about these things in a relatable way. He was elected in a landslide victory! More importantly, he was reelected several times because he listened first, then focused on providing solutions for those issues.

I believe that this effort isn’t just one way to sell insurance, but a vital means to ensure our survival as agents for the future. Increasingly, everything is known or knowable. That includes what arcane policy provisions mean, as well as what virtually every carrier will charge for a standard suite of coverages.

As artificial intelligence takes hold in marketing, underwriting, quoting, selling, binding and servicing insurance policies of all sizes and complexities, there will be little room for agents who cannot offer something unique, interesting, compelling and relatable to interest a prospect. If an agent cannot find a way to connect human-to-human to craft a better understood, bespoke, risk transfer program, they will have nothing to offer that an AI algorithm can’t do better in less time for less money.

If you talk to prospective customers about what they care about in their own language, you can’t help but be fascinating. And you won’t be a commodity. Likely, you will be a successful agent with prospects lining up to talk to you for years to come.