Have you ever had a sale that was a turning point for you? I call these level up moments.
I believe that level up moments can only happen when facing adversity.
One of my first level up moments was meeting John and Rebecca. John met me at the door and immediately met me with a frown and gave me a list of excuses as to why he and his wife couldn’t sit with me.
“Today isn’t a good time.”
“I’m not feeling well.”
“We are leaving in a little bit.”
“We already have something in place.”
All of them…
At this point, I was pretty tired of leaving money on the table. (That is a key to making a change, being tired enough of going through the motions and being brave enough to try something new.)
I told him, “John, I totally understand. To be honest, I am busy too. I have a ton of people to see. I am guessing that you sent this in because you care about your family and were a little curious about how these plans work. All I need to do is get you the information. What you do with it is up to you. I’ll go get your stuff and I’ll be right back.”
As it turns out, I had a great sit with John and Rebeecca. They agreed to needing what I had to offer and decided to apply, but as we were filling out the application he gave me two more excuses.
“I don’t like giving out my social security number.”
“I don’t like anybody getting into my bank account.”
I told him, “Jon, I totally understand. I don’t usually like giving out my social security number either. This is one of those rare instances where it is necessary. The whole point of this policy is to make sure that Rebecca is taken care of, right? Then I am assuming that you don’t want some other family to receive the twenty thousand dollars that is set aside for Rebecca, do you? This is designed to protect you and Rebecca. What is your social security number?”
When it came to the bank account, I said,”Jon I totally understand. I would never let anybody into my account either. Nobody is getting into your account. This is just setting it up to be paid automatically by the bank. It is just like writing a check and dating it for later. Again, this is to protect Rebecca. Many policies lapse because of missed payment due to a long term hospitalization. You would probably agree that is when you need the coverage the most, wouldn’t you? Okay, what is your routing number and account number?”
In this instance, I got the applications and some hugs at the end of the sit. I really felt like I leveled up and learned something from this interaction.
What did I learn? Some people are just complaining. It is that simple. A complaint is not an objection. It may feel like it, but it isn’t.
Maybe they are having a bad day. Maybe you just happened to interrupt an argument. Maybe they are just hangry, or they are just grumpy by nature.
It doesn’t mean that they don’t care about their family or don’t want to do the right thing. They actually probably want to do the right thing and want you to help guide them to the right decision.
Most people want to be guided to a decision by someone who knows what they are doing.
When I train agents, one mantra that I try to instill is, “nothing is a big deal unless you make it a big deal.” When you come across a complaint, simply move forward by:
- Acknowledging the complaint.
- Addressing the complaint.
- Asking for the close.
Here is an example:
“I am busy, it’s not a good time.”
- Acknowledge the complaint: “I understand, I hear that a lot.”
- Address the complaint: “I am busy too, I have like 200 people to see.”
- Ask for the close: “I am going to go get your stuff I’ll be right back.”
Complaints are not objections. When you understand this and act accordingly, you will write more business. All you have to do is practice and be brave enough to act accordingly. If you can do this, you will level up and write more business.
If you have any questions about your sales or your business we would love to hear from you. To us, there is simply no such thing as a dumb question. We may have the answer for you, but if we do not we will find it with you. You can reach us on any of our social media channels or you can reach us at [email protected].
