Phone Tag With a Prospective Client? Here’s How I Close the Sale

It’s a situation every agent dreads: you meet with a prospective client, you get all the information and put together a great quote. now, you just need to review it with the customer. the only problem — you keep missing each other.

Determined to find a way to close these sales, I decided to try an idea I’d heard about from a colleague and friend, Elliott Carr of Arkansas Insurance Advisors. The concept is simple and easy to execute. You create a short video quote and provide an overview of the proposed policy including pricing, coverage and discounts.

Clients frequently have similar questions so we use the video as an efficient way to proactively address possible objections. As a result, the next conversation with the customer typically consists of transactional details such as getting payment information and determining the start date.

We can make the video any time — at 8 a.m. when we get into the office, at 8 p.m. or on the weekend. Clients watch it when it suits them.

Creating the videos doesn’t require any expensive technology. We use the free version of Screencast-O-Matic to record a video of the proposal from the screen of our computer. We upload the file to YouTube as an unlisted video (it isn’t viewable on YouTube searches or on your YouTube channel) and then we email the link to our prospective client. Then, when it’s convenient, the client clicks on the link and you’re in their living room. Obviously, you’re not really in their living room. That would be creepy. We’re not like those captive agents that show up in people’s hot tubs unannounced (you’ve seen the commercials). But metaphorically, we’re there. On their computers, smart phones, or tablets. You get the gist.

Video quotes have been a real game changer for us. Just about every customer has viewed their video quote (we can see when it has been viewed). There’s no doubt that it helps close sales.

As I mentioned earlier, I can’t take credit for the idea. This was one of those situations where an agent was doing something innovative and we gave it a try. Yes, it’s a competitive marketplace, but it’s an advantage to everyone in the IA community if we share ideas that work and stories that inspire.