New to Selling Insurance? This List of Tips Will Take You Far

If you’re new to selling insurance, this career can seem exciting and challenging at the same time. There’s a lot to learn just to get your license, but you soon find there’s plenty more to learn on the job.

The successful agents you see around you have spent years perfecting their insurance sales techniques. Learning, adapting, and improving are part of the fun and challenge of being an insurance sales professional.

Whether you’re working with the best real-time leads or the best aged leads, like those at The Aged Lead Store, there’s always something new you can try to improve your performance. For fresh faces, it’s good to start with the basics. This list of tips may seem simple, but follow it and it will take you far.

Watch and Learn

Your coworkers have been at this a lot longer than you have. Just because some of them may have trouble with technology, doesn’t mean they don’t know how to sell insurance. Stay humble and watch and learn from the best.

This is a natural part of trying something new. When you were a little one, you watched what the big kids did and copied them in order to learn. Monkey see, monkey do.

And if you have questions, ask. You might just find that you can help your older coworker print out those pictures of his grandkids, and he can help you up your sales game.

Look the Part

In today’s era, fashion is a personal choice. But for the business world, what you wear often sends signals to your coworkers, bosses, and clients. You want to send the right signals, of course, so make the effort to look the part.

Take yourself shopping and get some more professional clothes. Sharp dressers are not only taken more seriously by their coworkers and bosses, but also by their clients. Importantly, you’ll also feel more confident and capable by looking the part.

Watch Your Language

Everyone knows not to use bad language in front the customers, but there are only ways new agents need to watch their language. Try to be careful with youth slang. “Wrecked” should only be something you say to describe an auto accident, not general embarrassment or defeat. You don’t want to exaggerate how young you are to clients old enough to be your father or grandfather.

Also be careful of jargon and word choice with your clients. You don’t want to confuse your client with industry insider talk, nor do you want to insult your clients with the wrong word choice. In all, it’s just about narrowing down your language to be personable but not too informal.

Record Yourself

Do you ever go back and listen to yourself? If not, you should try it. Record yourself on the phones talking with some clients. Try to listen back to the call and see what you can learn. Ask yourself objectively if you sound smart, if you sound confident, if you sound professional.

It’s not the end of the world if you don’t like what you sound like. Perhaps you should practice speaking more slowly to sound more confident. Maybe you need to work on your scripts so that you sound smarter when you deal with sales objections. Maybe it’s your choice of words in some situations.

Strive for Improvement

The key difference between a so-so insurance agent and a great insurance agent often comes down to how willing they are to keep striving for professional improvement. No one starts out as a great salesperson, even if they have a gift for talking to people. It takes effort to learn the products, to create a strong sales system, to improve your presentations, and to work with clientele.

If you start every day with a goal to improve and to learn and to grow your business, you will go far in your career.

Find Common Ground

You may have a life experience that differs greatly from that of some of your prospects, but it’s still important to find common ground. We’re all human beings at the end of the day, and there’s always something we have in common.

Maybe you grew up in the same neighborhood as your client? Root for the same team? Shop at the same farmer’s market? Are both dealing with a regional heat wave? There’s always something that can serve as a connection.  

Maximize Your Advantages

Even though you may be younger and newer to selling insurance, you still have assets you bring to the table. Make sure to maximize these advantages. It will help minimize your deficiencies until you get up to speed.

You may have advantages others on your team don’t. Young professionals often have a great deal of enthusiasm, a can-do attitude, a special gift when it comes to technology, or a sense of humor and fun. These can all be assets that can help you sell in the right circumstances. Look to leverage these where you can.

Remember the Fundamentals

You’ve just learned an awful lot about insurance and sales in training. Even though there’s more to learn, don’t throw away what you’ve learned about the fundamentals of sales. These are very useful things to know and to apply to your insurance sales techniques.

Watch for buying signals. Don’t sell on price. And learn how to succeed by building bridges with people. You might crack open one of the classic books — Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” or Zig Ziglar’s “See You at the Top.”

Put In Your Dues

Selling insurance isn’t easy. Especially for newer sales professionals. It takes putting in your dues and living in the trenches, so to speak, so that you can build a book of business and have a flourishing business down the road.

Hard work pays off. The folks you see who have nice houses and financial security spent a lot of years honing their craft. Each step along the way involved improving more and selling more. Focus on those two things and you’ll get there yourself eventually.

Try Aged Leads

Many people get started in the insurance business by selling policies to their friends and family. Yet even the most outgoing agents will eventually run out of friends who need more insurance. When this happens you’ll need a new pool of leads to work.

Aged leads can be a good solution for someone new to insurance sales. Buying a large supply of even the best aged leads is more affordable than trying to buy real-time leads. Plus, a newer agent can learn the proper system for working aged leads right off the bat.

Final Thoughts

It can be daunting trying something new. You can feel like a small fish in a big pond. But hard work pays off. Insurance sales is a growing industry, and a great place to start your sales career. Stay curious, about what you don’t know and what you know you could learn to do better. It’s the key to going far in the insurance business.

Ready to get started today? Try a fresh supply of high-quality aged leads from The Aged Lead Store. You’ll find thousands of sortable aged leads, ready to boost your sales, whether your business is auto, life, health, Medicare supplement or homeowners insurance, annuities, auto warranty coverage, or mortgage refinance.