We’ve talked before about how important – and how difficult – it is to prove your value to your prospects. We can all compete in terms of pricing and products. We can all provide good customer service. So why should a prospect pick you? In this post, we’ll go over three ways to show a prospect you’re the best and only choice for them.
1: Take a Cue from Chase
You’ve probably seen ads for Chase using the tagline “So You Can.” This is more than just a catchy slogan dreamed up by an ad agency – it’s a reminder of how we should communicate with clients.
In your current sales pitch, chances are you do several things: explain the purpose of life insurance, what it can do for your prospect, and how you can answer any questions they have. But there’s a big difference between explaining something and making sure a prospect knows what’s in it for them.
That’s where the phrase “so you can” comes into play.
What's in It for Them?
Add these three little words to the end of any feature or benefit you’re explaining, and it will force you to get to the point – what’s in it for your prospect? Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re talking about using permanent life insurance as a savings vehicle to help with future college tuition costs. You might say things like this:
- Permanent life insurance offers death benefit protection in addition to cash value accrued over time.
- Cash value can be used for anything. If your child doesn’t go to college, you can help them pursue other goals.
- I’ve helped hundreds of clients just like you protect their financial future using customized financial solutions.
Those are all valid points, and some prospects will be convinced right away. Others aren’t going to see the immediate benefit. But when you add “so you can” to the end of any benefit statement, you can translate that benefit into an emotion that resonates with your prospect.
The “so you can” statement should be something that’s easy to understand, like a feeling or an aspirational goal. There should never be jargon or product information in this part of the statement.
- Permanent life insurance offers death benefit protection in addition to cash value accrued over time, SO YOU CAN have total peace of mind about your family’s future.
- Cash value can be used for anything. If your child doesn’t go to college, you can help them pursue other goals, SO YOU CAN make decisions about the best way to support your family.
- I’ve helped hundreds of clients just like you protect their financial future using customized financial solutions, SO YOU CAN feel confident no matter the market conditions.
2: Create Your Value Proposition
Now your sales pitch clearly communicates what’s in it for them. But you don’t always have time to make a full pitch. What happens in a tweet? Or when a client glances at your home page? Or your business card? You don’t have time to craft a pitch suited to their needs or interests. You need something short and to the point—that’s what your unique value proposition is for.
55% of online visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds reading your page.
The easiest way to create your value proposition is to use a formula that explains what you can do that no one else can. Start by filling in this sentence:
(Your brand name) is the only life insurance agent/agency that can (unique feature).
Creating your unique value proposition is easy when you serve a niche. If you don’t serve a niche, this might be a good time to seek one out. Your job as a salesperson actually gets easier when you market to a niche. Why? Because the people in that niche tend to know what they want—they are already seeking solutions to a very particular problem. If you know how to help them and you make yourself available in multiple ways (online, in person, over Skype, etc.), there’s no reason for them to say no to you.
Your unique value proposition’s job is to catch a prospect’s attention. Once they’re interested, you can go into a more detailed sales pitch that pulls in the aspirational or emotional aspects that resonate with them. If you have both of these, it will be easy for a prospect to clearly grasp what you’re offering and why it’s important.
3: Support Your Claims
If I told you a particular restaurant was the best in the world, would you believe me? Maybe – but you’d probably also Google it, look it up on Yelp, and ask your friends if they’ve heard of it.
40% of US adults say they always or almost always review online reviews before buying something for the first time. 82% do so at least some of the time.
Prospects are more likely to believe your value proposition when you can back it up with reviews and testimonials. If you say you’re the only agent who can help them get life insurance with type II diabetes, that’s great—but if you have testimonials from three clients you’ve helped who were all turned down for coverage when working with previous agents, suddenly, your value proposition isn’t a sales pitch…it’s the truth.
A lot of you may not feel comfortable asking for reviews on sites like Google or Yelp. Some of you may prefer to wait for reviews to trickle in without asking. Keep in mind, though, that only about 1 in 10 people will post an online review, according to Pew Research. It’s more helpful for your business if you build a review request into your sales process. For example, you can add a review request to your in-force policy notification. You can ask your best clients for testimonials via email and post them on your website.
However you go about it, aim to get 3-5 pieces of positive feedback you can use to support your value proposition.
