Insurance Sales Techniques: How to Reach Millennial Customers

Sometimes the generation gap feels like a trench. Millennial customers don’t respond the same insurance sales techniques the way Baby Boomer and Generation X customers did. Bridging this divide can be intimidating, but for the good of your business, you’ll need to figure out how to reach this customer base.

About Millennials

Millennials were born between about 1980 and 1994. That puts the current Millennial age range between 24 and 38. In other words, these folks aren’t kids anymore. They are working adults, moms and dads, home buyers, key decision makers, small business owners, and a lucky few are even junior executives. Millennials today are within the prime buying age for many kinds of insurance products and services, with the obvious exception of those policies geared toward retirees and seniors.

However, much ink has been spilt on how difficult it is market and sell to Millennial consumers. Some say the kids these days don’t like to be marketed to and don’t form an attachment to any brand names. This isn’t really true, though. Reaching today’s young adults just takes a modern approach to sales and marketing.

So, what do Millennials want?

No Hard Selling

Millennials hate hard selling, far more than past generations. These consumers have an inbuilt skepticism that makes them wary of many older tried-and-true sales techniques. That said, Millennials are still the modern All-American consumer who at some point will need insurance coverage.

There are several points to winning over these customers. Use educational content marketing to make the case for why a particular product or service is right for them. When Millennials are ready to take your call for a quote or set up a meeting, assume a consultative sales approach. These customers appreciate an expert, guide, and authority willing to help them choose the best option.

Modern Communication Channels

One of the most unusual features of the Millennial generation is how they prefer to communicate. Unlike many of your older clients who prefer face-to-face meetings and live phone calls, Millennials prefer text messages, instant messenger apps, email, and social media, ahead of phone calls or meetings.

If you are targeting Millennial insurance customers, it might be a good investment to add a chatbot to your website, focus on email campaigns, or spend some time interacting with prospects on social media. While phone calls and meetings are still important when it counts, these other methods of communication can help you better reach your Millennial prospects.

Frictionless Sales Journey

Most Millennials skipped the dial-up phase of the internet and not having a phone or web browser in their pocket on the go. It follows that Millennials have a high expectation for technology to just work whenever and wherever they need it.

You will do better selling to Millennials if you make your sales journey as frictionless as possible. Part of this is just staying organized and setting up your technological tools correctly, such as email campaigns that display correctly, a modernized website, and automation that works as intended.

Good Storytelling

At the same time as Millennials love their technology, they’re a bit sentimental and will appreciate a good story. Sales professionals should consider how they can add an emotional component to their sales and marketing. Offer an illustrative story about how insurance helped past clients, how your agency went above and beyond in customer service, or how a lack of the proper insurance has impacted real people.

You can also use storytelling as part of your brand-building efforts. Millennials today tend to care more about social, environmental, and community issues. If you sponsor a local organization, do charity events, or otherwise get involved in such activities, let your customers know, as part of your monthly newsletter, on social media, or on your company blog.

Authenticity

At the same time, be careful that your storytelling remains true to heart. Millennials value authenticity and transparency very highly, and tend to have a good eye for what is and isn’t authentic.

Make sure that your marketing doesn’t over-promise or obscure any important details. Some studies have even shown that Millennials don’t mind paying a bit more for transparent products and service.

Final Thoughts

It’s not impossible to bridge the gap between generations in the insurance sales business. It’s just a matter of meeting Millennial customers halfway, by communicating, marketing, and selling to them how they want to be sold. Many of the insurance sales techniques that work for reaching Millennials aren’t new to the sales world — consultative sales, storytelling narratives, and modern communication tools have been around for years — it’s just a matter of applying them where they’re needed.

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