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Are you in the market for Medicare Supplement leads?

If so, you’ve found the right article!

I’m going to share my opinion on the best options for high-quality Medicare Supplement leads.

My goal is to help you to get BETTER results selling Medicare Supplements, no matter if you’re working the Turning-65 market or the Turning-67 market.

So let’s get started!

Overview

• It’s Risky
• Best Leads
• Best TM Vendors
• Best DM Vendors

It’s Risky

If you’re like most agents, you are closing business using some sort of Medicare Supplement lead system.

There are a lot of different Medicare Supplement leads for agents. And while SOME work well… many are unproven, don’t work, and WILL drain your bank account dry!

And nothing’s worse than wasting money on a shoddy lead program.

A Lead Is A Lead Is A Lead?

Understand this.

Medicare Supplement leads are no different than any other insurance lead.

Ultimately, a lead is just a lead. It’s an opportunity to converse with a Medicare prospect that may need your help.

Best Leads

With that said, I think some Medicare Supplement leads are better than others.

And for many, that comes down to trial and error, figuring out which lead generation strategy works best.

At the end of the day, the BEST Medicare Supp leads are:

1. The one that you can afford, and
2. The one with the most consistent results.

If your goal is to make convention this year selling Medicare Supplements, you MUST tap into a quality lead generation strategy.

In fact, most highly successful Medicare Supplement agents order more leads each and every week like clockwork.

No, they’re not just doing 10 leads/week, either!

Instead they’re generating 20 to 40 or more leads weekly, keeping lead volume high enough to stay busy (and successful!).

2 Types Of Medigap Leads

I’ve broken this review down really into two different types of lead programs.

First, we’ll discuss Medicare Supplement telemarketing leads.

Second, we’ll discuss Medicare Supplement direct mail leads.

Telemarketing probably the most common way to generate leads, whether you call yourself or purchase leads.

Unlike a lot of other insurance niches like final expense telemarketing leads where the leads suck, telemarketing still works well for the Medicare Supplement market.

To summarize what to expect…

First, I will show you the lead/lead vendor and demonstrate how each one works.

Second, I’ll show pricing options.

Best TM Vendors

The first type of Medicare Supplement lead we’ll discuss are Medicare Supplement telemarketing leads.

Pros

The biggest advantage of telemarketing leads?

Bar none, telemarketing leads are affordable compared to other types.

But they aren’t just cheap. They are also high quality.

Medicare Supplement telemarketed leads gets us in contact with QUALIFIED leads.

Why? Because EVERYONE turning 65 is STARTING Medicare, and all 65 and older are ALREADY on Medicare.

Targeting the Turning 65 market, we know our prospects MUST decide on either a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement plan.

Calling prospects turning 65 a few months prior to turning 65 dramatically increases your ability to convert leads into appointments, and appointments into sales.

Medicare Supplement Replacements?

Did you know Medicare Supplement policy holders have annual price increases?

If you’re targeting the “Turning 67 And Older” Medicare Supplement market, you can telemarket these folk, starting a conversation about how to replace their overpriced Supplement with an affordable Supplement.

Drawbacks

What is the biggest con of Medigap telemarketing leads?

If anything, it’s the saturation level of other agents calling the same prospects.

Regardless of calling the T65 or T67+ market, you can count on other agents nationally to do the same thing.

Then you have to worry about the Do Not Call List.

Each year, the pool of seniors unplugging their landline and opting out of telemarketing calls grows larger.

Long-term, expect telemarketing lead acquisition costs to steadily increase, eventually fading away as a primary marketing method.

I imagine Medicare Supplement telemarketing leads have until 2030 or 2035 before becoming obsolete.

Medicare Supplement Direct Mail Leads

Now that we’ve discussed telemarketing leads, let’s discuss Medicare Supplement direct mail leads.

If you’ve ever been to my YouTube channel, you know I’m in love with direct mail!

Direct mail produces a more engaged prospect unmatched to other forms of Medicare Supplement lead generation.

Why?

Prospects spend more time voluntarily filling the card out. No one holds pressures them to complete the lead.

And people not pressured to request information are more serious prospects.

Pros

Bottom line, direct mail Medicare Supplement leads produce a better quality prospect than other lead generation techniques.

More agents get more appointments and close more business using direct mail leads.

Why?

One big advantage is you’ve got a card that you can show people to help get in the door.

Cons

Direct mail is pricier compared to telemarketing.

Plus, it takes several weeks before your leads begin rolling in with direct mail.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for in many circumstances.

Best Medicare Supplement Telemarketing Vendors

Trained Telemarketers Review

The first vendor is Trained Telemarketers.

My friend in the business Christopher Westfall and his business partner Eugene Marchenko are the owners of this lead generation system.

They’ve worked together on Medicare, and both are incredibly successful agency owners and producers.

They put together this program because complaints agents have with generating consistent Medicare Supplement leads.

How It Works

Their service is simple.

You pay Trained Telemarketers a flat, one-time fee, which is currently $1,000.

For this price, you get access to:

• $99/month for a predictive dialer
• $49/month for unlimited data
• A $3/hour telemarketer

They train and coach a Filipino telemarketer using their tried-and-tested Medicare Supplement lead generation script.

Once they find and train your telemarketer, you decide what to pay them.

Some agents pay $3/hour, while others pay more (or less!).

The ultimate goal is to hire a telemarketer at an EXTREMELY low hourly wage for decent-quality work.

Done-For-Your Telemarketer Training!

What’s great about this program?

Two factors. One, Trained Telemarketers trains your caller. Two, you pay wholesale, not retail, for your caller to generate leads.

Trained Telemarketers has a network of quality telemarketers with good English and a solid work ethic.

Trained Telemarketers also offers a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.

Great Results

Over the years, I’ve talked to many agents that have used Trained Telemarketers with great success!

These agents said, “Oh yeah, I’m using this telemarketing program is pretty good. I get Medicare Supplement leads, and it only cost me $3/hour. I get a couple leads an hour.”

I’ve also heard, “I’ve scaled up! I’ve got 3 or 4 people that are calling, and I’m paying $12/hour for three or four people. I get 5 leads/ hour for 20 hours a week. It’s great, and I get to sell all over the phone (or face-to-face).”

This is an excellent program, and I really like it.

Lead Heroes Review

Let’s say you’re not interested in an upfront fee.

Instead, you’re looking for a one-time order of Medicare Supplements leads.

Enter Lead Heroes!

Glen Shelton is the owner, and he’s generated exclusive Medicare Supplement leads for agents for years.

You can see lead options he offers here, along with samples to listen to.

Also, Glen has an awesome Interactive Medicare Marketing Map that shows penetration rate for Medicare Advantage.

This tool helps agents discover the best counties to prospect for Medicare Supplements.

For example, most Medicare agents selling Medicare Supplements want 30% or less of the population to have Medicare Advantage plans.

It’s better to target for Medicare Supplements in areas with less Medicare Advantage prospects.

Best DM Vendors

In this next section, I review 2 Medicare Supplement direct mail lead vendors I’ve done a lot of business with.

Lead Concepts Review

Lead Concepts is one of my favorite direct mail lead vendors.

I’ve done a ton of business with them, personally and through referrals. I like them a lot, and they do a great job.

If you click on “Direct Mail” under their “Services” tab, you can view all of their options.

Lead Concepts offers exclusive Medicare Supplement leads as well as exclusive Medicare Advantage leads.

Leads are highly responsive. In fact, Lead Concepts expects the average Medicare Supplement lead order to pull 2% of more.

That’s good =).

Need-A-Lead Review

Another great direct mail vendor is Need-A-Lead.

I’ve used Need-A-Lead more generating final expense leads, but they do Medicare Supplement leads for agents, too.

Need-A-Lead claims a 3% to 6% response rate. That sounds a little frothy to me.

Most likely they see that kind of response rate during AEP only.

Instead, I would anticipate 2%+ as realistic.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, agents know they need Medicare Supplement leads to consistently write Medicare policies.

And the key to YOUR success is finding a program that you’re comfortable with.

From there, you can scale your Medicare Supp lead program to whatever level necessary to achieve your income goals.

All of these programs work very well for the right type of agent.

Give Each Program A Shot!

My advice?

Try 1 of these programs out. See what works best for you.

Have a level of comfort testing different Medicare Supplement marketing options.

Got any questions or concerns with any of these Medicare Supplement vendors?

Please leave a comment below. Or message me directly here. I read ALL emails.

If you are looking for a new home for your Medicare Supplement business (or for Medicare Advantage, final expense, mortgage protection, or annuities), go here learn more about my national agency.

Thanks for reading!

Are you interested in selling Medicare Supplements?

If so, you should give serious consideration to focusing your marketing and selling efforts to the little-known-yet-lucrative “Turning 67 And Older” Medicare Supplement market.

Unlike seniors who are turning 65 and getting on Medicare for the first time, the Turning 67+ market offers unique sales opportunities, along with cross-selling opportunities as well.

The purpose of this article is to give you a full analysis into the basics of Medicare, the different markets you can target, and why I think targeting a turning 67 and older marketplace is a great strategy to produce all sorts of business.

Overview of Today’s Topic

The first thing we’re going to discuss are the basics of Medicare.

We will answer why it’s a great market, and why an agent may want to consider targeting it.

Next, we’ll talk about the difference between targeting people who are just starting Medicare versus those who’ve had a Medicare Supplement for several years.

It’s essential to understand this difference in the mentality behind both.

Then, I’ll explain why turning 67 markets are fantastic and a potentially easier route for a starting agent in Medicare Supplements.

Next, we’ll talk about the income potential selling Medicare Supplements, followed by the sales strategy that we use to sell Medicare face-to-face as well as the lead generation strategies that you have at your disposal.

Finally, I’ll detail some cross-sell opportunities that you may experience.

Basic of Medicare

Let’s start breaking down the basics of Medicare first.

Medicare is the Federally-funded health insurance program for people who are 65 and older. Also, it is for those who have been on disability after a period of time.

It provides a basic level of health insurance for hospitalization and physician care.

Medicare has gaps in coverage (and our opportunity)

Your Part A is hospitalization, and your Part B is going to be doctor-related bills, equipment, etc. Then, you’ll also have your Part D for prescription coverage.

The critical thing to understand is that on its own, Medicare is not comprehensive.

Medicare recipients have the potential for large, out-of-pocket deductibles due if hospitalized. In addition, Medicare only covers 80% of Part B expenses, meaning Medicare recipients must pay the 20% copay, which has no ceiling.

The potential for large out-of-pocket expenses drives interest in millions of Medicare recipients in owning a Supplement. They want total elimination of out-of-pocket risks due to being on a fixed-income.

And this is where our opportunity as insurance agents comes in.

2 Options For Supplemental Medicare Coverage

However, seniors have more options than Medicare Supplements to reduce out-of-pocket hospitalization and doctor expenses.

Let’s get a simple overview of both options.

1. Medicare Supplements

As you know, the first supplemental option are Medicare Supplements.

That’s what we’re going to spend most of this section discussing today. It’s also known as “Medigap coverage.”

Medicare Supplements cover the gaps in Medicare.

When put together with a Medicare plan, a Medicare Supplement plan provides almost total comprehensive coverage. Meaning there should be minimal financial obligation for deductibles and co-pays.

2. Medicare Advantage Plans

The second type of “supplemental” plan Medicare beneficiaries can opt for are called Medicare Advantage plans.

Medicare Advantage plans are similar to conventional health care plans.

There is out of pocket deductibles, co-pays for prescriptions and doctor visits, and have out-of-pocket maximums. In most cases, you’ll have to pay a monthly premium, too.

Medicare Advantage have geographic requirements to gain access to the plan.

Biggest Difference Selling Medicare Supplements Versus Medicare Advantage

Why not sell both Medicare Supplements AND Medicare Advantage?

While you can do that, the problem is that Medicare Advantage plans require a series of certification on a federal and carrier level before you can represent different plans.

Here’s what I mean.

First, you must pass AHIP with a 90% passing rate BEFORE appointing with most Medicare Advantage carriers. AND you need to re-certify annually.

Plus, you must certify with each Medicare Advantage carrier annually.

With Medicare Supplements, this is not required. As long as you meet your state’s health licensing requirements, you can sell Medicare Supplements to your heart’s content with any carrier that accepts your appointment.

Here’s my point.

For a new agent to selling Medicare products, there’s a LOT more that goes into selling Medicare Advantage than Medicare Supplements.

It’s much easier – and arguably more lucrative – to START selling Medicare Supplements out the gate… EXCLUSIVELY. There’s less information necessary to learn and MUCH less credentialing required.

And there’s a particular market of people I think new Medicare Supplement agents fair best selling… the “T-67+ Market.”

Medicare Supplement Markets: “Turning 65” Versus “Turning 67+”

Let’s take time to differentiate the “Turning 65” Medicare market versus the “Turning 67 And Older” Medicare market.

Turning 65 Medicare Market

Most new Medicare beneficiaries turn 65 when they start Medicare.

And approximately 6 to 12 months out, they begin receiving material from the government and insurance representatives on how Medicare works.

During this time, folks begin weighing the difference between Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplements, deciding which program and carrier works best for their goals. And 3 to 6 months out, salespeople begin HEAVILY prospecting these folks for presentations to sell them one or the other.

As salespeople, our goal is to get in front of these people, educate them on what Medicare does. We try to make the complex simple, then offer a Medicare plan that best fits their goals.

It can be a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement product. You want to offer them the product that fits best with whatever their goals are.

Turning 67 And Older Market

Let me switch gears and describe “Turning 67 And Older” market and why it’s MUCH different (and easier to start your Medicare Supplement sales career in).

The “turning 67 market” is where we have somebody who’s had Medicare for several years. At a minimum, most folks are turning 67 or older, into their 70s and even 80s.

The people we try to meet with have been in good health for the most part and love their Medicare Supplement.

Therein lies the opportunity…

You see, Medicare Supplement recipients receive rate increases on their birthdays and at other times of the year.

While they appreciate their Medicare Supplement, the pricing going up frustrates them.

Think about it. How would you feel about paying MORE for health insurance you RARELY ever use, ESPECIALLY if you’re on a fixed income?

With that in mind, our strategy is to get in front of these prospects face-to-face to inflame their frustration while showing them a way to save hundreds of dollars yearly. Let me explain.

Comparing Sales And Marketing Strategies Of The “Turning 65 Market” Versus “Turning 67 Market”

Now I shall attempt to persuade you as to why I think new agents to selling Medicare Supplements should FIRST consider selling to the T67+ market.

Medicare Is Complex To Folks Turning 65 (And More Complex To Sell)

For a new agent selling Medicare products to the turning 65 market, you will require a MUCH larger base of knowledge to perform exceptionally well.

You must have comfort explaining the nuances of Medicare, as your prospects are inundated, confused, and unsure what to do.

Further, if you live in a metro area, you will have to carry Medicare Advantage plans to maximize your sales opportunities. Without Medicare Advantage, you’ll leave many sales on the table. And that means more study and knowledge to acquire.

Couple that with becoming an independent agent with multiple carrier access, that’s a lot of technical knowledge for a newbie to learn, all before setting foot in the field with prospects!

Medicare Supplement Sales To The T67+ Market Is Simple

With the turning 67 market, the sales and mindset approach is TOTALLY different than the turning 65 market.

Here’s how I mean…

Easy To Sell, Standardized Product

With few exceptions, you don’t need additional credentialing to sell Medicare Supplements. Your health insurance license is all you need!

Second, Medicare Supplements are a cookie-cutter product. The federal government mandates specific plans and particular types of benefits that each plan has.

This means no matter WHAT company’s Medicare Supplement plan you’re selling, it’s completely IDENTICAL in terms of benefits to any other company’s plan.

This means that United Healthcare’s Plan F is identical to CIGNA’s Plan F, which is identical to New Era’s Plan F.

…But there is 1 difference…

…And that’s the PREMIUM paid (and your opportunity!).

Other than that, all Medicare Supplements MUST pay the same way. They MUST rubber stamp required payments to doctors and hospitals in EXACTLY the same way.

Mindset Of A T67+ Prospect

Now I want to describe the difference in mindset between a turning 65 prospect and a T67+ prospect.

Unlike a person new to Medicare, a T67+ Medicare Supplement prospect is mostly comfortable with Medicare, likes and believes in her Medicare Supplement, yet is agitated by the premium increases.

In this way, we give a presentation focused on educating the client on how Medicare Supplements work while persuading them that switching Supplement carriers is a fine idea.

You explain how they’ll have the SAME exact benefits, but at a lesser price.

Sometimes, you save these people hundreds of dollars annually. Very nice!

Of course, your prospects sincerely appreciate your work, as ALL are on a fixed income. And freeing up more money for the senior to spend on grandkids or use in other ways is a VERY good thing!

Here’s the point in all this…

For the NEW agent to Medicare, selling people who ALREADY are SOLD on Medicare Supplements is MUCH easier than taking a person who’s brand NEW to Medicare and confused by all the options and claims.

Couple that with less credentialing requirements and a market of MILLIONS growing by the day, you’ve got yourself an AWESOME product and market to sell!

Income Potential Selling Medicare Supplements

The bottom-line beauty of a Medicare Supplement policy is that it provides renewal commission.

Unlike life insurance products with high first-year commissions like final expense or mortgage protection, Medicare Supplements provide recurring commission over the course of 5 to 6 years.

Usually, most Medicare Supplements will pay an agent $250 to $300 annually over the 5 or 6 years of the policy.

Then, if you renew them on a new Medicare Supplement, then you’ll get to start that whole process over again!

The idea is that if you build a large book of business, you can have a substantial passive income beyond just servicing your business before ever getting out of bed.

For example, if you work over three years and build a clientele of 500 Medicare Supplement clients, you’re making $125,000 to $150,000/year (for the next six years) without EVER having to write the next piece of business. It’s hard to believe, but that’s how this business works!

Medicare Supplements provide the opportunity for insurance agents to live a passive-income lifestyle that so many people dream of.

This lifestyle is achievable for anybody who puts their mind to it and works hard over a multiyear period.

Medicare Supplements Sales Strategy

Let’s say, at this point, you’re sold on the idea of selling Medicare Supplement to people turning 67 or older.

What do you do from there? How do you actually present?

In this section, I’ll give you a brief overview of what a sales presentation looks like when you’re selling somebody who’s turning 67.

To start, I break down my sales presentations, for all the insurance products that I sell, into a four-part presentation:

1. Build rapport and establish yourself as the expert.
2. Pre-qualify the client.
3. Do the presentation and explain why it’s an advantage to the client.
4. You close the deal/ask for the business.

Building Rapport

When you first sit down with a Medicare Supplement prospect, you’ve got to break the ice.

You got to establish a little rapport, and you’ve got to establish yourself as the expert.

You want to tell them why it’s worth their time to listen to you and how you can possibly help them.

Pre-Qualifying

The second step is you go into pre-qualifying.

I’m very a big believer on pre-qualification before you really start talking about selling your prospect. Why?

You want to know ALL of the objections that could possibly manifest to cause a deal not go through.

You want to ask those tough questions ahead of time to figure out if this person is a qualified prospect or an unqualified suspect.

When it comes to Medicare Supplements, you’ve got to make sure they HAVE a Supplement. Hopefully, you did that before you set the appointment.

You must qualify the prospect’s health. You’ll know how to do that once you become familiar with the underwriting process of each Medicare Supplement carrier.

Then, you’ll gather information about why they like their Supplement and what they would like to change about it if they could.

Also, get information on how the pricing works, what they’re paying for the Supplement, and what they think about the price increases that they’ve gone through.

This information gives you all the facts and opinions necessary to establish where they stand.

With this information, you can figure out if the prospect would be open to looking at a plan that would do the same exact thing for a lesser price.

Show Them How You Can Help!

This transitions us to the third part of the presentation where we talk about how all Medicare Supplements are genuinely the same.

The best resource to use when presenting a Medicare Supplement replacement scenario is the “Medicare and You Handbook.”

You’ll want to turn to the particular page in the handbook that talks about Medicare Supplements and how the government mandates that all of them (Page 69 in the 2019 Handbook).

On that page, the handbook explains how Medicare Supplements ONLY differ in price.

There’s NO better resource to sell this stuff than to show your prospect what Uncle Sam says!

From there, you can go through the process of educating the client on how their particular plan works and then showing them cheaper alternatives.

In many cases, you be showing them a Plan F. A Plan G or a Plan N is also a great alternative that saves more money. In most cases, your client has a Plan F.

Close!

At the end of the presentation, close! Show how much your client can save through switching plans..

Now that they’re sold on the fact that all Medicare Supplement stuff is the same, ask for their business. Write them up on a new Supplement plan and get them approved. That’s it.

It’s pretty much a rinse-and-repeat type of business. This is not a very complicated type of product to sell.

You don’t have to know Medicare nearly as much as the person selling to the turning 65 market.

Remember, a person turning 65 will not know for sure if they’re going to go with the Medicare Supplement plan or Medicare Advantage plan.

Therefore, it only makes sense that they’re going to want as much information on both to make that decision.

This is not the case for the person turning 67.

In most cases, they’re already sold on having a Medicare Supplement. What they’re unhappy with is the fact that the price is going up.

It is our job is to sell them on why switching Supplements do not cause any sort of disruption.

We want to show them that there’s a quality of service and how a new Supplement plan gives precisely the same thing by putting more money in their pockets.

The turning 67+ sales strategy requires a basic understanding of Medicare without a nuanced, technical understanding.

Remember, our main knowledge points are on what Medicare Supplements do and how we can get a better deal for our clients.

Now that you understand the sales strategy, let’s address lead generation strategy.

Top 3 Lead Generation Strategies

Lead generation is very similar across many different types of life insurance products in the senior market.

You can use direct mail to generate senior leads to sell Medicare Supplements to people turning 67 and older. That works wonderfully well.

You can also do telemarketing leads. A lot of agents that sell over the phone use telemarketing leads. It’s a cheap way to talk to a lot of people.

Also, you can definitely use it face to face, too. Again, it all works reasonably well.

Lastly, you can do some sort of seminar marketing, as well. I know a lot of people that do very well setting up seminars and selling Medicare Supplements that way.

Before we get to the wrap-up, let’s talk about the last point. I think this is really important to take some time to talk about cross-selling opportunities.

Cross-Selling Opportunities

For the record, cross-selling is something that should be reserved after you’ve established a level of mastery in your first product.

In this case, I wouldn’t think about cross-selling seriously until a year+ after getting really good at selling Medicare to people turning 67 and older.

At the point of mastery, the great thing is that you can go back to your book of business and sell them all sorts of products that appeal to a senior class of people.

Cross-Selling Product Examples

1. The first type of product you can look at selling is final expense.

Most people don’t have enough life insurance and want to have final expense coverage. For example, you can sell them final expense burial insurance and make a nice first-year-driven type of commission.

2. Also, many people you meet may not have Medicare Supplements.

For example, they might benefit from a hospital indemnity plan to help offset some of the costs associated with hospitalization that their Medicare Advantage plan doesn’t pay up front.

3. You can also sell other things like cancer insurance or critical illness insurance.

A lot of people have an appeal to that, as well.

4. There is going to be the rare opportunity to sell a large annuity.

Many people who are turning 65 to 67 have a 401k, and they may need it rolled over. Also, they may have it in something that’s not performing well.

For example, there’s an excellent opportunity to sell fixed-indexed annuities. That’s a program that we have to offer and can help you sell the big deals. We’re talking five-figure+ commissions with the larger ones.

There’s a lot of opportunity for other types of products beyond the Medicare Supplement space. Despite that, even if all you sold was Medicare Supplements over the course of five+ years, you’re going to do pretty well, too.

Final Thoughts

Medicare Supplements sales is a lucrative market. And focusing on the T-67+ market is a surefire way for a new Medicare Supplement agent to focus his energy.

A significant benefit of selling Medicare Supplements to people turning 67 is that you don’t have to know a lot about Medicare.

Also, you’re not selling Medicare versus Medicare Advantage versus Medicare Supplements nearly as much.

It makes life easier to turn this into a system a lot faster than having to have this requisite knowledge to perform successfully.

Further, the turning 67 market place offers the ability for an easier sales call.

The people are more approachable. They’re not nearly hit as hard as the turning 65 market is.

There’s a vast income potential. It is a rinse-and-repeat sales cycle with a straightforward purchase lead type of approach.

Finally, there’s great opportunity long-term to sell all sorts of other life insurance, annuity products, and other products to maximize the value of the senior gets out of their coverage.

I do hope that you enjoyed this training and you learned something new about selling Medicare Supplements to the turning 65 and 67 marketplaces.

To learn more about how to sell Medicare Supplements face-to-face to the T-67+ market in my agency, reach out and contact me here for more information.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the best ways to cross sell insurance.

First, we’ll start off with two techniques to cross-sell.

You can use these strategies whether you’re selling life insurance, Medicare (Supplements or Advantage), or property and casualty insurance.

Then, I’ll show examples of how my agents are cross selling insurance.

Bottom line, my goal is to help you develop cross selling strategies in insurance sales presentations you run.

Let’s begin!

Quick Navigation Article Links

• 2 Strategies
• Examples
• When To Start
• What To Sell

Top 2 Insurance Cross Selling Examples

There are really two best-practices when it comes to learning how to cross sell insurance.

Let’s discuss them below…

Cross Sell Insurance After The First Policy Is Closed.

The first approach you can do is cross-sell immediately after the first sale.

For example, many agents like to make a sale and get the business closed. Then, before they leave, they do the old “Colombo Close” as follows…

They say, “Oh, by the way” and offer some sort of product on top of the original product.

This approach works well with Medicare Supplement sale.

For example, you’ve just saved money on the client’s Medicare supplements by replacing it with a better policy.

Now, you’re in a position with the saved money they now have, you can allocate some or all of money towards selling a final expense plan.

2. Policy review meetings

The second way to cross sell insurance products is at a policy review meeting.

Commonly, people think cross selling means you got to sell it on the first call.

This is not necessarily the case.

Perhaps you go back to your existing clientele.Maybe you’ve picked up some new products. You want to cross sell life insurance into your current book of business.

Say you are selling Medicare Supplements. The client mentions that they’ve got money in some sort of retirement vehicle that they’re not quite happy with.

Now, sell annuities, and you liked the idea of what your products can do.

So, you go back and have a conversation. You see if you can move some of that money over to your annuity product.

Cross Selling Insurance Products Examples

Let’s review examples from agents I’ve trained to sell insurance on how they effectively cross sell.

I will further explain under what conditions we will do so and what different lead products could compliment with the first original sale to help cross-sell other products.

Final Expense Clients

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Nowadays, many agents sell final expense.

And the final expense sale offers numerous opportunities to sell multiple insurance lines. 

Cross Selling Medicare

Always ask your final expense leads if they are on or eligible for Medicare coverage.

Thankfully, our final expense prospects are enrolled in Medicare via an Advantage plan 80% or more of the time.

Final expense prospects are prime candidates for:

• Special Election Period Medicare Advantage replacements if the client qualifies, or
• Annual Enrollment Period prospecting at year’s end.

Further, if you’ve sold final expense for a while, you should prioritize visiting all active clients to review their Medicare coverage.

Learn how they feel about their plan, then show them your options.

Many will take you up on it!

Cross Selling Life Insurance With Grandchild Coverage

You could also cross sell at the time of the original sale with a grandchild policy.

For example, you could use a term rider on some of the products that you represent.

Or, you could write their grandchild a standalone policy with Mutual of Omaha’s Children’s Whole Life Plan.

It is a very easy application process. It pays well, and helps bump your average premium per house.

Plus, it’s a whole life insurance product so they don’t have to worry about their grandkid hitting the 20- to 25-year-old mark where the term insurance rider lapses.

So, the whole life ensures that they have something for the long-term.

Selling Cancer, Indemnity, Annuities

Also, you can pivot to an indemnity product, like selling cancer insurance or hospital indemnity products. Or you can fact find for annuity.

You can be like my agent up in Wisconsin who learned that annuities are all over the place, even on final expense leads.

He began to ask about them consistently and saw a lot of annuity business come in – approximately a million within his first 12 months of asking.

So, just ask. It’s amazing what happens when you do.

Medicare Clients

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Now, let’s take a look at what happens if you sell Medicare.

It is kind of a similar setup here.

Turning 67+ Medicare Prospects

The easiest way to cross-sell for Medicare is on “turning 67 and older prospects.”

These are people who’ve had Medicare Supplements for a number of years, but they’ve had price increases.

They like their Medicare Supplements, don’t want to drop coverage, but don’t appreciate the price increases they experienced.

This is where we come in as Medicare Supplement specialists.

We offer them the exact same coverage because all coverage with supplements is homogenized.

If the client medically qualifies, you can get them the same kind of coverage at a lesser rate per month.

Found Money

The difference between what they’re paying presently for the current policy versus what you’ll save them is what we call “found money.”

Found money in the insurance business is basically where a client doesn’t think he can afford a policy.

However, through replacing existing coverage and freeing up premium dollars, we find the resources to afford the cross sold insurance policy.

With the found money concept, you can also suggest sales of final expense, which is probably the easiest and most common way to get more business. You can also suggest cancer indemnity plans, as well.

When you save your Medicare Supplement clients money on their premiums, often they are willing to spend found money more often than dipping into savings.

At the end of the day, if they’re still spending the same amount of money, but they’ve got $10,000 in burial insurance that they didn’t have before, they are going to be very happy.

Annuity Clients

With annuity sales, we teach our agents to do is to fact-find, not just for annuity sales but also for Medicare and final expense prospects.

And through that fact-finding process we discover if there are opportunities for non-annuity sales.

With our annuity prospecting strategy, some have money and some don’t. That’s why you want multiple options available to make the sale.

If you ask good questions and figure out what else their insurance situation may provide, you may find other opportunities again for final expense.

You can cross-sell all sorts of products to your annuity prospects.

For example, life insurance, single-pay life insurance, Medicare products, indemnity, long-term care. The list is endless.

When To Start

The moral of the story is that cross-selling is something you should seriously consider.

However, I advise cross selling insurance only when you have someone advising you on how to do it effectively.

I wouldn’t go bonkers with doing too much cross-selling, especially if you’re brand new to selling insurance.

Understand that the most productive, successful agents often only represent and sell one product.

It takes a lot of brain power, effort, and energy to remember just one product line.

That’s why the most experienced agents that tend to be the best at cross selling insurance products. They paid their dues on the first product, and can now comfortably add additional products.

What To Cross Sell In The Insurance Industry

I like the idea of cross selling renewal-driven insurance products in combination with high first-year commission products.

It’s nice to get residual earnings on top of high first-year income sales.

If you’re selling final expense or annuities, consider cross-selling Medicare supplements just to keep you afloat if you have a poor life or annuity sales month.

Medicare business pays for life if you sell Medicare Advantage. With Medicare Supplements it pays six years and beyond in most states.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this training, and I hope it gives you some ideas on how to cross-sell and when and where to do it.

If you’d like to learn more about what I can do for you, click here to review how I train and recruit agents to sell final expense, mortgage protection, Medicare Supplement, and annuities.

And make sure to check out my many Agent Success Stories and best-selling insurance sales books.

Are you considering selling insurance part time?

Are you worried that giving up your full-time job is too much to ask? read more

Are you thinking about or currently selling insurance?

Are you looking for guidance on how to sell insurance successfully?

If this describes you, you’ve arrived at the perfect place!

In today’s article, I provide a COMPLETE overview of what selling insurance is really like.

My goal is to break down EVERYTHING about the selling insurance into 10, easy-to-understand modules.

So read the entire article to get a detailed overview on how to have a successful career selling insurance.
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Overview

1. Career Benefits
2. Life As An Agent
3. Top Agent Qualities
4. Compensation
5. Products
6. Markets
7. Sales Methods
8. Commissions
9. Max Opportunity
10. Getting Started

Let’s get started!
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Is Selling Insurance A Good Career Opportunity?

First, let’s discuss WHY learning how to sell insurance is a GREAT career choice.

Working and learning how to sell insurance provides a career opportunity that is second-to-none.

The most successful insurance salesmen experience incredible economic prosperity in combination with living lifestyles most people only dream of.

Let’s break down the top  reasons to start a career selling insurance.
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Working In Insurance Gives You Freedom

In most circumstances, selling insurance is TOTALLY unlike a typical career.

In Corporate America, your employer holds the puppet strings to your career.

You’re told when to work, who to work with, and what to say, regardless of whether or not you believe in the company’s mission and products.

For many people, you are forced to do a job you DON’T like that stifles autonomy, freedom of thought, and merit-based career advancement.

The good news is that a career in selling insurance is a fantastic opportunity, providing the EXACT opposite from a corporate job.

Unlike your job, insurance salesman are business owners.

They decide WHO they want to work with, WHEN they want to work, and HOW they want to run their business selling insurance.
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Decide When And How You Work

Insurance agents LOVE the freedom of deciding how they want to work.

If you like the idea of selling life insurance, great!

Prefer to sell annuities instead? That’s fine, too!

After all, it’s YOUR business. And you have the power to choose how to go about your insurance sales career.
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Flexible Schedule

What about managing your works schedule?

There’s good news here, too.

Whether you want to work part-time selling insurance or full time, Insurance is sold all day, every day, and since you own your own insurance business, you can work around events like your kids’ extracurricular activities with ease.

For example, I have 4 kids that all do activities. Added, I train jiu-jitsu 5 days a week.

While it’s a juggle, I can manage this schedule with a little forethought and planning without negative consequences.

If you value…

• The ability to determine your own schedule,
• Deciding who you want to work with, and,
• Choosing for yourself the type of career path you want,

…A career in learning how to sell insurance allows for much easier than traditional jobs.
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Entrepreneurship

Do you have the “entrepreneurial spirit?”

If so, rest assured that learning how to sell insurance requires entrepreneurial effort from day 1!

Prior to learning how to sell insurance successfully, I owned a personal training business before getting involved in the insurance sales business.

And I can tell you the same entrepreneurial values – hard-work, self-discipline, working on improving – is exactly the same in selling insurance.
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Own Your Own Business

If you’ve always wanted to own your own business… if you’ve wanted the benefits of entrepreneurship provides like freedom and income maximization… the insurance business offers it.

Entrepreneurship is found in various aspects of this business.

For example, you decide who you want to work with. You also can decide which market is best to target. And you create your own business plan.

Further, you choose which insurance companies to partner with, and what products to offer your prospects.
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Market Opportunity

There is an ENORMOUS market of prospects to sell insurance, no matter what product you choose.

And the great thing is that insurance agencies have tested and vetted sales and marketing systems that are proven to work.

All you have to do is plug into the system, put the work in to find prospects, then help them with their insurance needs.

For example, in the final expense business, we have a proven selling and lead generation system that puts interested prospects in front of agents like you, day-in and day-out.

We know who these prospects are and how to target them. There’s no confusion or guesswork involved.
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There Are MILLIONS Of Prospects

All I need are agents to learn my strategy and put it to work.

Believe it or not, there are final expense prospects literally waiting for somebody to show up and help them with their insurance needs.

And the same goes for other insurance products like mortgage protection, annuities, and Medicare.

Currently, millions of people need Medicare Supplemental coverage or Medicare Advantage plans.

Added, the number of prospects for Medicare are projected to DOUBLE from 2020 to 2040.

Plus, 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 for the next decade or two.

This is great as most seniors turning 65 start Medicare coverage, which is the first opportunity to help them with buy a supplementary health insurance policy like Medicare Supplements or Medicare Advantage.

And the good thing is that insurance sells well no matter the economic environment.
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Passive Income Opportunity

Have you seen business opportunity advertisements discussing passive income earning opportunities?

While business influencers like Gary Vaynerchuk understandably give these passive income opportunities significant flack, the truth is the insurance business is the ORIGINAL passive income opportunity.

And while you’ll have to work years to develop a significant passive income, it’s something that IS achievable. 
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What Is Passive Income?

Basically, you earn income without an active effort.

Of course, you do some work upfront, of course. =)

With passive income products and services, as long as you satisfy your clients’ requirements, you continue to earn money.

Final expense life insurance is a first-year commission product.

This means most of your income is paid up front in the first year. There are little renewals coming in each year after that.

In my career selling final expense insurance, I wanted to diversify my income stream with a business model providing passive income.

That business was recruiting insurance agents to sell final expense and other products.
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Recruiting Builds Passive Income

And while there is a VERY active upfront investment training agents to succeed, long-term agents need less help, and the income earned from their production (called overrides) requires less of my active effort.

After 5 years, I earn almost all of my income from the production of other agents in my agency.

This translates into more time to spend with family and leisure activities.
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Recruiting Not Required

Don’t want to recruit agents?

Not a problem!

You can learn how to sell insurance with products that provide significant renewal income.

Medicare Supplements and Medicare Advantage plans come to mind. Same with property and casualty insurance and car insurance.

At the end of the day, it IS realistic – with enough time and dedication – to earn a passive six-figure income from these products for YEARS… without having to sell new insurance policies.
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Wealth And Prosperity

When I say wealth and prosperity, this doesn’t necessarily concern money.

Of course, money and income are why we get involved in this business!

I can tell you, what I didn’t see when I originally started in selling insurance is that wealth and prosperity is MORE than just money.

I’m at a position where I’m effectively semi-retired, and I’m young (35 years old as of February 2020).

But please understand.

The ONLY reason that I’ve gotten to this point is because of the hard work I put in up front. I paid the price!
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I Simply Persevered

Even when I failed out of the business, I persevered. Now, since I’ve stuck with the insurance business for as long as I have, I am harvesting the fruits of my early labor.

I’m able to do this because I’ve committed to the process of what was taught to me when I first got started.

I share this with you because I know that you can see and achieve prosperity, too.

A commitment to learning how to sell insurance may provide you all you need and desire.

That’s the great thing about learning how to sell insurance. It’s more than just a job… and it’s more than just a career!

It can free you to do so much that you would not normally be able to do when you work for somebody else.

As I do a lot of YouTube interviews talking to top producers, I’ve noticed a similar theme in their lives.

Many convey the same points I do when talking about their lifestyle.

 
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A Day In The Life Of An Insurance Agent

Now that you understand WHY the insurance business is great, let’s talk about what a day in the life of an insurance agent is REALLY like.

The goal of this section is to convey what you can expect if you start to sell insurance or decide to get licensed.
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Getting The Day Started

An insurance agent is a salesperson.

This means they’re actively visiting “prospects” (people who are potentially interested in buying an insurance product) on a day-to-day basis.

Prospecting is the MOST important activity an insurance producer can do.

It’s not like sitting in the office processing paperwork and gossiping around the water cooler.

This is a social business, and it is all about seeing the people.
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Scheduling Their Day

Many insurance producers get up very early in the morning, and have their day planned in advance.

In some circumstances, they’ve preset their appointments.

For example, they called their prospects the night before to set up their appointments for the current day.

For many agents, they start seeing prospects around 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
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What An Insurance Sales Call Is Like

During each sales call, we spend time getting to know the prospect.

This is called “rapport-building,” meaning you’re “breaking the ice,” and getting to know the prospect.

After that, insurance agents transition to asking underwriting-related questions.

If you sell life insurance, you’ll ask about the prospect’s health, then present what we have to offer to them.

Then, they decide to buy or not.

If they have objections to buying, we rebuttal them to come to a mutually beneficial outcome.

Finally, whether we sell the deal or not, we wrap up the appointment and then go on to the next one.
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Where To Find Sales Presentations

Now, if you don’t have preset appointments, agents will work purchased or self-generated insurance leads. 

Agents show up at the door unannounced to ask for an appointment on the spot or to set it for another day.

Even to this day, you have agents that will go out and actually prospect cold for appointments, whether that’s house-to-house or business-to-business.

They repeat this process over and over again until they hit their presentation activity goals.
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Activity Is King For Insurance Salesmen!

Let there be no confusion!

Agents LIVE AND DIE off of how many presentations they complete every week.

Why? 

Because the number of presentations determines their financial position over the long haul.

If they routinely FAIL to hit those numbers… then they will fail out of the business.

As a reminder, seeing insurance prospects IS the cornerstone to success of insurance salesmen.
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After The Presentation

Once agents finish their appointments, they go home or to the office and process paperwork and applications.

They ensure their are no errors on the application, then fax or upload the apps to the insurance carrier.

They may even make phone calls and set up appointments for the following day.

If you’re selling non-1-call-close products like annuities, you may spend time after appointments developing proposals for your prospects.
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A Predictable Process

Surprisingly, the insurance business is not unique in terms of the products or the process.

In fact, it’s actually routine and predictable if you follow the process.

What’s unique are the people we deal with. You never know what you’re going to see! Some of us insurance agents have funny insurance stories.

Bottom line, learning how to sell insurance successfully is work!

You have to get up, see prospects, deal with rejection, and on occasion, deal with success. It is an emotional roller coaster some days.

Remember that your biggest competition is the man looking back at you in the mirror.

It is yourself and your mindset!
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How To Sell Insurance Successfully

Now let’s discuss the top 5 qualities of successful insurance agents.

Additionally, I’ll describe qualities that don’t matter much, which may come as a surprise .

There are common traits that will show you how to be successful at learning how to sell insurance over the long-term.

I’ve interviewed dozens of agents on my YouTube channel. And I know agents across the country in different niches that sell different insurance products.

What’s funny is that in doing these interviews for my best-selling book on top producers, I’ve come to find that there is MORE in common with successful insurance agents than there are differences.

My goal is to uncover how top-producing insurance agents succeed at selling insurance in a short, straight-to-the-point way.

That way you can better understand how to mimic those behaviors and experience your own success.
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A Service Orientation

Successful insurance agents believe that what they’re doing is MORE than just a job.

They believe in their heart of hearts they are doing GOOD work.

In a sense, some of the BEST insurance salesmen are evangelists by nature.

They want people to know how insurance helps solve problems. 

Bottom line, they have passion and want to help!
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Empathy Is Important

If you want to be successful at learning how to sell insurance, you must have empathy for your clients.

If you have contempt… if you DON’T like the people you’re selling to… OR if you don’t like people in general…

You’re NOT going to do well in the insurance business.
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What if you’re selling a product or market you don’t enjoy?

My advice is to switch to another line or market IMMEDIATELY.

Switching to a strategy you enjoy makes it easier to retain the necessary service orientation mindset so crucial to success.

In exchange, you’ll get referrals from happy clientele and perform better in sales presentations.
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Self-Discipline

All successful top producing insurance agents are self-disciplined.

Many do not report regularly to a superior.

Plus, they rarely have management directing their day-to-day lives.

Sure, sometimes top producer have mentors. They receive guidance, support, and direction.
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The Buck Stops With You!

But ultimately… the MOST successful insurance salesmen know their 100% responsible for their business.

Self-disciplined insurance agents do not procrastinate. They work, even if they’d rather not.

They understand all the drawbacks of the business. The disappointment we all face, the rejection we experience.

All agents experience this. And top producers discipline themselves to accept that.

They deal with adversity through accepting that it’s normal and continuing the process anyways.
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Consistency

Another vital character trait in selling insurance successfully is to have long-term consistency.

Selling insurance is a battle.

Every day is a battle in the field with your prospects. It’s a battle with yourself, too.

All these daily battles add up month over month, year over year.

At times, you’ll get discouraged.

You can do everything right selling insurance and STILL struggle to make money. 

That is because people are normally taught that if you do things correctly, then things turn out well.

That’s not always the case in insurance sales.

Selling is as much an art as it is a science. And there are circumstances that won’t go our way and are out of our control.

I’ve talked thousands of new agents. And many are flashes in the pan. They write a lot of business at first, but then they run up against difficulties.

They run up against resistance, and they fall off. It happens more commonly than you’d think.

Whereas the agent that consistently cranks it out year over year experiences the kind of success we ALL want.
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Persistence Pays!

My story in this business is that I came in and did well in my first 12 months.

Then, I started to alter what was proven to work (not good =).

I started thinking I was SMARTER than the sales and marketing system that I was taught.

At first, I just did what I was told, like a good soldier.

But then I started to become creative. I started to think of different ways to do things.

Ultimately, I failed out of the business inside of a year.

At my bottom, I had less than $100 to my name with about $20,000-$30,000 in debt. I had a wife, a newborn, and no idea what I was going to do.
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Quit Insurance, Worked In Corporate America

Before selling insurance, I never had a real job. So the whole experience of taking orders from management was new to me.

Working for Corporate America, I found I was selling a product I didn’t like or believe in, but I had to do it anyway to support my family.

Very early in my job, I decided that life wasn’t worth living under those conditions.

While frustrating at times, I decided that selling insurance was still a LOT better than selling something that I didn’t believe in.

When I got back in the insurance business, I vowed that I would follow what always had worked and stop screwing with the system.

Thankfully, I’ve never returned to Corporate America and have experienced success ever since!

Here’s my point: persistence is key.
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You Cannot Give Up!

Count on seriously considering quitting selling insurance at some future point when you decide to sell insurance. Many times this struggle happens early in your career.

I say this because it’s natural for many people to second-guess their insurance career when things aren’t going smoothly.

One top producers once said…

“If you want to be successful in this business, you just have to survive.”

There’s a LOT of truth to that.

Surviving means being persistent despite the odds.

In a way, success in insurance sales comes down to having faith in the system. and faith in yourself!

You have to have faith that if you just keep going, despite everything telling you not to. 
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Great Agents Are Activity-Oriented

Bottom line, learning how to sell insurance successfully is all about how many people you can talk to and present to.

In fat, a mediocre agent whose sales skills aren’t the best but completes 15 appointments a week consistently WILL experience MORE success than the charismatic “Tony Robbins” type of salesperson that can sell ice to Eskimos, but only completes HALF the same presentations.

Top producers are activity-oriented. They understand selling insurance is a numbers game.

That doesn’t mean they’re no good at selling. They work on their sales skills, but understand activity is the driving force behind success.
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Unnecessary Traits For Success In Insurance Sales

It’s important to understand this.

These 5 character traits – a service orientation, self-discipline, consistency, persistence, and an activity-orientation – are all you need to have long-term success in learning how to sell insurance.

So what character traits aren’t important?

For example, you don’t have to be an extrovert.

Personally, I’m an introvert. I grew up shy. As a teenager, I was afraid to order a pizza over the phone.

Luckily, everything is learnable in insurance sales.

You can be a complete dork like I was, and still do great!

As long as you have the capacity to learn, apply yourself, and not exhibit fear when it comes time to testing what you’ve learned.

Regarding my introversion, I taught myself how to display sociability. I’m comfortable talking to strangers.

This is all learned behaviors you can pick up. You don’t have to be an extrovert or innately sociable to experience success selling insurance.

Other unnecessary character traits:

• You don’t have to be a natural closer like the stock brokers in Boiler Room.
• Also, genius-level intellect is unnecessary.

There’s a lot of examples of insurance salesmen with mediocre intelligence doing really well, because they work hard.

They come from a background where hard work is a virtue. They apply themselves with a simple product, see the people, and rinse and repeat.

What about having a network of people? read more

Wonder what life insurance questions to ask clients to sell more insurance?

Are you looking for ways to maximize your insurance sales presentation closing ratio, in addition to increasing your average insurance policy size?

Did you know that what fact-finding questions for life insurance you ask impact your ability to close more cases for larger premiums?

If you’re looking to sell more insurance and make more commissions, knowing what questions to ask about life insurance are VITAL to your success in selling insurance.

Today, we’re covering my top 21 favorite life insurance questions to ask clients to close more policies.

We’ll discuss which life insurance questions to ask clients in depth, one at a time.

And I’ll make sure to cover the reasons WHY you’d ask each question as we go along.

No matter if you sell final expense, mortgage protection, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplements, or annuities, this training will go far in helping you close more insurance deals.

NOTE: Are you an aspiring or new insurance agent looking for more insight on how the insurance sales industry works? Check out my free New Insurance Agent Resource Guide to help answer many of your questions (as well as ones you didn’t know you had!).

Insurance Sales Interview Questions Drive The Sale!

Heads up!

Selling insurance consistently is NOT about being a hardcore closer.

Instead, if you want success, you must know the top probings questions for life insurance sales that gather facts and emotion.

I’m a big believer that if you master the craft of asking “disturbing questions,” as legendary life insurance agent Ben Feldman put it.

Disturbing insurance sales interview questions develop all sorts of life insurance opportunities.

Fact-Finding Questions For Life Insurance

Insurance Sales Question 1

“What were your thoughts and concerns when you X?”

This is one of my favorite life insurance questions to ask clients.

When I say “X,” fill in the blank with whatever activity the prospect did to request information on the product. 

This question is commonly used when you’re using a life insurance lead like a final expense direct mail lead. 

This powerful question encourages your client to share their feelings, thoughts, logic, and reasoning as to why they replied for information.

It’s a great primer when you sit down in a preset presentation or after you door knock an insurance lead.

Asking your prospects their thoughts and concerns lead to more understanding as to why they did what they did.

And that allows you to give a more effective insurance sales pitch!

Life Insurance Sales Question

“When you buy a life insurance policy, what do you want it to accomplish?”

This is a great question because it allows the client to describe their goals as to what they really want.

When you get that answer, you more easily can design a customized life insurance policy more suited to their needs.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling final expense, mortgage protection, term life, or income replacement.

Whatever their answer, it’s the ammo you need to sell them a policy.

Let them answer fully and entirely. Don’t interrupt them.

They’ll tell you what they want to buy when you just ask this simple question.

Question To Ask Life Insurance Prospect

“What other life insurance you have in place to pay for X?”

This is a must-ask life insurance questions to ask clients.

The reason you ask this is twofold.

First, it allows you to see if the client has existing coverage.

Knowing if your client has coverage makes a difference in what angle you use to sell.

It’s good when you go into a sales presentation to find out whether or not there’s other coverage in place.

Why? Because it’s difficult to make recommendations without knowing all the facts.

For example, maybe you’re doing a life insurance fact finding questionnaire, and you’re figuring up what amount of coverage makes sense.

Good probing questions for life insurance should take into consideration the client’s employer-based life insurance and any other individual policies in force.

This way, you have these facts ahead of time, which provides you leverage when it comes to proposing a plan.

Insurance Sales Technique

“What assets do you have in place to pay for your X?”

This question is open-ended.

Asking open-ended questions allow you to craft a stronger case for the need of your product.

For example, asking this question allows you to see both the opportunity for life insurance in addition to asset-based life insurance opportunities.

If your client answers “no” to having assets, then there is a possibility to sell indexed universal life coverage as a supplemental retirement plan.

If the client answers “yes,” you may have an opportunity to uncover annuity sales opportunities.

Question To Ask About Life Insurance

“Imagine your spouse passes away tonight. Describe what happens to your life tomorrow financially.”

This is a really good question to ask everybody you see.

This question is great because it forces your prospects to take an uncomfortable look at a question no one wants to think about.

And because the answer is always disturbing, it will naturally flesh out the need for life insurance coverage.

Allow your prospects to describe their thoughts.

While tough, the question sells the need without being pushy. It makes them understand why they need to own life insurance.

Question To Ask About Disability Insurance

“How long can you survive if you become hurt or cannot work? Or, how long can your family maintain their lifestyle if you got hurt or you couldn’t work anymore?”

This is a really good disability insurance question to ask.

It gets your prospect thinking, “What if I do become disabled? How’d my family survive if I can’t go to work for six or more months?”

Usually, with most people, as soon as work stops, income stops. Most people have to work to make money! 

They consider what would happen to their mortgage payments, kids’ activities, and the things that they enjoy and love if the income was gone in a heartbeat.

Always ask this question to gauge if your prospect is a strong disability insurance candidate.

Insurance Sales Interview Question

“What is your philosophy regarding life insurance?”

This life insurance question to ask clients gets to the core of what people think is important about life insurance.

You might have somebody say,

“I think life insurance should really just be straight insurance. I just want it in case I don’t live long enough to acquire my retirement goals.”

You may get somebody who says,

“I think life insurance is a rip off because so much of it cancels. All I see are these plans that canceled at a later date, and to me, that’s just crazy.”

In the first case, you have someone more inclined for a term insurance policy.

In the second case, term would not make sense.

Maybe a permanent life insurance plan would make more sense.

The important thing is not to impose your opinions on your clients’ philosophy on life insurance.

Instead, match the person’s goals with the insurance product that most closely aligns.

Insurance Sales Question To Ask

“How do you feel about life insurance on your spouse or children?”

You may have somebody who in response to asking about spousal or children coverage says,

“You know, I’ve never thought about that.”

Well, what happens if your child passes away?

Would you have the money to cover your kids’ funerals?

What happens if your spouse passes away? Do they work? If not, you’ll still suffer an economic loss.

These are great questions to ask because they may not have considered these things before.

Insurance Sales Technique

“What would happen to your family if the income you were taking in stops today?”

This is a perfect life insurance question to ask clients who are working people and business owners.

It allows for the mind to travel to an uncomfortable area to figure out the answer and work through it.

They may tell you,

“Well, we’ve got savings. But, if I make $100,000/year, and I’ve only got $50,000 saved, then that is only six months of living. That’s not good. Hmm.”

It is disturbing! But the question provides perspective.

What happens if you’re disabled for two or three years? How are you going to make it?

Is your partner going to go back to work? And if they do, they probably won’t make as much money as you.

Now, are they going to take over the business from you? Would that be practical? Will the business run on its own? 

These are questions few people deeply consider. As you can see, they just lead to so much opportunity.

Insurance Sales Pitch Question

“How much life insurance do you have? Why did you purchase that amount?”

Of all the fact finding questions for life insurance, I ask this question a lot.

For example, when selling final expense, I ask,

“Well, why did you purchase $5,000 instead of $10,000 or $15,000?”

And I’m genuinely interested because I want to know what the rationale is.

They might say,

“I purchased $5,000 because that’s all that was offered to me.”

Or,

“I purchased $5,000 because at the time that was all I could afford.”

If you sell a working person, they might tell you,

“I felt that reaching my financial goals, a half-million-dollar policy was sufficient to fund the kind of retirement that I wanted to live.”

Maybe, their lifestyle has changed. They could be making more money now, and they need more coverage.

Either way, it’s good to know why they did what they did.

And then, of course, knowing how much they have fills the gap on what is needed in closing an extra policy.

Insurance Sales Interview Question

“What steps have you taken to enact a retirement plan?”

This is one of the best life insurance questions to ask clients.

You can ask this of your term insurance cases, working people, or business owners.

Asking this question may lead to larger sales opportunities like annuities and IUL cases.

This is because you get people thinking, especially a lot of business owners.

Business owners are so dialed into business that they don’t think of a succession or retirement plan.

They don’t think of what happens when they reach retirement. It is the last thing a lot of them think about.

Insurance Concept Selling Question

“What happens to your business if a key employee becomes hurt, disabled, or passes away?”

If you sell to business owners, you know business owners may have an employee in a key position whose death would adversely change the course of regular business.

This is a great lead into discussing key person life insurance or disability insurance.

These products protect the business against the loss of that person through death or disability.

What if he walks out forever? What happens to the business?

Asking more of these disturbing questions lead to sales opportunities.

Insurance Sales Pitch Question

“When was the last time you met with your insurance agent?”

As you enter the business, you learn the failure rate in insurance sales is high.

It’s common that policyholders that haven’t seen their agents in years don’t have an active agent anymore.

In fact, the agent has probably quit the business.

And without a long-term relationship with his life insurance agent, the client does not receive annual policy reviews.

This means he may lose out on discovering opportunities to add more insurance coverage.

Asking your prospects about the last conversation they’ve had with their insurance agent helps get them thinking,

“Yeah, you’re right. I haven’t looked at this in a while. I think it would be a good idea to do a review.”

Best Sales Pitch For Life Insurance Question

“What are your thoughts on getting a second opinion?”

Think of this questions as if you are diagnosed with a need for a back surgery.

Perhaps you’re not convinced of surgery.

You think physical therapy is all that’s needed. So you consider a second opinion to get a measured perspective.

The same concept applies to insurance.

It’s good to get second opinions. Most people agree!

Plus, it’s free for our prospects.

It’s good to get a different perspective.

Prospects can cross-check against the original proposal and have their mind opened.

Insurance Question To Ask

“Do you plan on dying before 80 or after 80?”

This is a strong question that I ask when selling final expense prospects.

Many final expense prospects unknowingly have term insurance plans that cancel at 80.

I ask this question because it’s a bit silly. It gets the mind thinking about the product that my competition offers.

When I ask,

“Mr. Jones, are you planning on dying before or after 80?”

They look at me, and they’re going to say either one of two things.

“I don’t know” or “I hope not.”

Most DO NOT say, “I hope I die before 80.”

In those cases, I don’t really have much to say!

Instead, most say,

“I hope I live past 80” or “I just don’t know.”

And, the response to that is,

“That’s exactly right. So, why get a plan where the policy may go away before you actually pass away?”

It gets the client thinking about value over price. They consider what really matters within the policy.

Often, these term insurance plans are less expensive, but who cares about the price if their goal is to have something no matter when they pass, right?

It’s a very powerful question that reinforces the value of a permanent plan on protecting for final expenses.

It shows them how much better this is anyway because if you live past 80, you’ve spent all that money for nothing, and you have nothing to show for it.

Insurance Sales Question

“What is the most important asset in your business?”

This is a fantastic question to ask small business owners because most small business owners insure their business.

They insure their factory, land, equipment, and people.

Business owners insure every aspect of their business… EXCEPT themselves!

It’s a great reminder that they spend all this money on all sorts of assets that produce the products they sell on the market.

It’s a practical idea to insure their components to produce whatever goods they’re selling.

But, in reality, the biggest asset in the business is the person in charge.

Think about it.

Why would you not insure yourself – the key factor in your business – above and beyond all else?

The most important component of a business is the BUSINESS OWNER! He is the epicenter of his business.

This drives home the importance of self-insurance. It shows them why they should have life and disability insurance.

Insurance Question To Ask

“Have you ever stopped to think that your business lasts only as long as you do?”

And, that’s a good one, too.

This if from Ben Feldman in The Feldman Method.

What happens when the business goes away?

You are the business. You have this name, you have this company, and you drive this business forward, but what happens if it is gone?

Insurance Sales Question Technique

“It isn’t a question of if you’ll pay the estate tax. The only question is, with whose money? Yours or mine?”

Another great Ben Feldman “disturbing question,” where Ben is proposing the idea of paying for estate taxes with life insurance for pennies on the dollar, versus a fire sale to come up with money to pay the estate tax upon passing.

The proposition is that you can’t get around what the IRS requires.

The question makes prospects consider if they are going to have to convert capital into cash to pay Uncle Sam, or to utilize “discounted dollars” from a life insurance policy.

This is a great setup for the business owner who understands that.

It’s much better to get things at wholesale and at discount, instead of paying retail price out of principal.

Insurance Concept Selling Technique Question

“What arrangements have you made when your insurance runs out?”

This proposes a potential need for life insurance on a permanent basis.

Maybe your prospect has term insurance, and they think of how it’s important to have term. 

But now they’re getting older, and realize they need coverage that lasts forever.

Now they start to think,

“Well, what arrangements have I made when I outlive my coverage?”

When prospects ask this, it gets them thinking about the utility of having some kind of permanent protection in their life insurance portfolio.

Fact-Finding Question For Life Insurance

“How would you like doing all the work and having to share all the profits?”

I really like this question.

This is for a partnership deal where you are in business with a partner and the partner dies or becomes disabled.

While there is still a joint interest in the company, you are now responsible for all the work.

Your disabled partner or his bereaved family still own half the operation, so you must continue splitting the profits.

Using disability or life insurance to fund a buyout is the angle we are working at with this question.

Insurance Interview Question

“Does it sound like I’m hearing what you’re saying?”

This is a question that I ask at the very end of my sales call. I call it “the summarization.”

I think it’s important to make sure everybody’s on the same page BEFORE you present or persuade.

I say,

“Okay, to make sure I understand, here’s what I’m hearing. You don’t have life insurance.

“You WANT to cover the mortgage if you pass away. You WANT to have coverage to replace your income.

“You’re worried that, if you don’t get this stuff that, God forbid, something happens, it will negatively affect your loved ones. And you DON’T want that to happen.

“Does that sound like I’m hearing what you’re saying?”

If they say, “Yes,” that’s, in a sense, like a trial close, meaning you have a good chance of closing the deal.

Also, prospects really appreciate it when you restate what they said using similar verbiage.

Why? It shows you’ve listened carefully.

It shows you’re concerned with their goals, and you understand what they want.

Suggested Books

Here’s two books that contributed much to this article regarding questions. Consider buying both:

Marv Feldman’s Man On A Mission. Marv’s book is an excellent primer for agents starting in the traditional process of selling life insurance.

You’ll learn many great disturbing questions. This book is good for agents focusing on selling business owners.

The Feldman Method by Andrew Thomson.

We can thank Ben Feldman (Marv Feldman’s father) for the concept of selling using disturbing question.

He was a master at it, and it allowed him to sell really big life insurnace cpolicies back in the 60s to the 80s.

NOTE: Both of links above are affiliate links.