Selling Insurance From Home Made Easy – 11 Powerful Tips for 2023

With the pandemic that changed our world completely in 2020, we see many people working remotely. Selling insurance from home is also a trend that has been around but was fully embraced last year. According to an article by Global Workplace Analytics, when it came to performance, out of the 94% surveyed employers, reports came out that the company productivity had been the same (67%) or higher (27%) since the employees had started working from home once the pandemic started.

In the same article, it is also reported that the number of people who work from home has increased by 140% since 2005. While the pandemic definitely contributed to the work from home culture, it has existed quite before that too.

How you pitch your product is as crucial as the product itself — sometimes, the “how” matters even more than the “what.” Meaning, an insurance agent should be well-versed in not only the insurance product but also the techniques of making sales. Here are some powerful sales tips and tricks to enable you to grow a large book of business and a happy clientele. These tips will also come in handy whether you’re selling insurance from home or meeting your prospects in-person.

Pre-Sales Techniques For Selling Insurance From Home

Before moving on to sales tips and tricks, check out these effective pre-sales techniques.

Mirror

If you’re just getting started on the insurance selling journey, you don’t want to miss this step. You may think that rehearsing in front of a mirror looks stupid, but it is actually a great way to practice selling. You can see your facial expressions and body gestures and think about what works and what doesn’t. But more importantly, it helps you build confidence in how you are presenting yourself to prospects.

Role-play

Role-plays, whether with another insurance sales agent or a person with no insurance knowledge, will help you in dealing with different sales situations. Ask one of your colleagues to spare a few minutes and help you practice. Do the same with someone who doesn’t have much understanding of insurance technicalities. Role-playing with a person without insurance knowledge helps you discover if you’re overusing insurance jargon. Such role-plays will help you form an idea of what you’ll actually find out in the field.

Record yourself

Recording the role-play or yourself on video is one of the best ways to observe how well you will do in the field. It’s also helpful to have other people view the video and get their critiques. It allows you to see what your clients will be seeing. You can identify the things you’re doing right and the things that need improvement. Therefore, even if you’re selling insurance from home or are just making an audio call from your office, record yourself.

While recording, consider the following:

• Do you sound and look confident?
• Do you use too many filler words such as ‘um’ or ‘uh’?
• Are you listening to the other person and fully answering their concerns?
• Eye contact, posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, etc.
• Tone and speed of your voice.
• Do you have emotions in your voice or do you speak in a monotone?

Use Insurance Aggregators

An insurance sales agent can significantly benefit from an insurance aggregator. Aggregators allow you to be a member of a broad network and reach a wider audience. Through an aggregator, customers can quickly compare multiple insurance agencies online and easily find policy details. According to Statista, 96% of people aged 18-29 use smartphones, while 53% of those over 65 own a smartphone. Moreover, the rate of smartphone users has been growing over the past five years. That’s why if you’re not a member of an aggregator and aren’t using a digital platform to get more leads, it’s very likely you are losing potential sales opportunities.
Therefore, before regardless of the type of insurance you’re selling – auto or home insurance, these tips will prepare you.

Selling Insurance From Home: During the Sales Pitch

Whether you are selling insurance from home or in person, these tricks will land you a good number of sales.

Know your target audience

Before you go out selling insurance, you need to know your prospect. Have a basic knowledge of their name, profession, where they live, etc. Call your prospects by their names because people love hearing their names. Knowing your prospect is also vital to finding common ground between you and your client. People are more comfortable talking to you when you share a commonality or two.

Pain points

Pain points are problems that your prospective clients are experiencing. Those points could be fear, pride, or the need to be a responsible person. Use those trigger points and offer your products as solutions. For instance, your cyber insurance leads are likely to fear losing money and their business’s reputation because of cyber crime. Similarly, your house insurance leads may feel pride in securing their homes.

Only if you’re able to find the trigger point will you be able to put your best foot forward while selling insurance from home or the traditional way.

Ask permission

Don’t directly ask about the policy that your clients may be carrying. For instance, asking, “Are you happy with your current policy or current agent?” can be too direct and your clients may hesitate to talk further. Hence, politely ask your clients if it is okay to share their current policy details with you, or if possible, talk to your clients until they volunteer information about their policy. Once your clients agree, you can ask what you need to know. You can talk about their policy gaps or the better deals that you can offer to them.

Weave a story

Everyone knows that insurance takes care of financial expenses resulting from covered loss events. However, saying only that is not likely to be enough to encourage leads to buy what you’re selling. That’s why you need to compel your leads to understand the necessity or benefits of carrying a policy. You can even prepare a script beforehand and use it during the meeting with your leads.

For instance, instead of saying, “You should get an auto policy because it takes care of your car accident costs, and third-party liabilities,” lead your clients to really believe in the benefits of carrying a policy. You can say, “The aftermath of road accidents can be brutal to you physically and financially. Imagine getting hurt and also having to worry about paying the medical bills of an injured third-party. Not to mention, the large repair costs on your plate! Your auto policy covers all these costs so that you don’t have to be stressed over something that happened in the blink of an eye.”

Cost and saving amounts

People like it when they get more than what they give. Hence, one of the best strategies you can use, regardless of whether you’re selling insurance from home or in-person, is to deliver insurance costs in monthly figures and discounts or premium savings in annual figures. For example, if you want to convince your client to save money as a retention strategy, give them the amount they would save annually. On the other hand, if you’re upselling liability limits to your existing client, tell them the monthly increases in cost.

Confirm your next appointment

When concluding a meeting with your clients, don’t forget to confirm the next appointment. Don’t ask your leads to make the effort of scheduling something with you if they feel that the deal that you’re offering is good. That’s a big NO. Instead, take the time to propose your next meeting while you are still talking with them and confirm if that date and time is okay with your lead. By doing so, you can slim the chances of canceled appointments and dead leads.

Journal of lost sales

Whether an agent is selling insurance from home or their office, one thing is true for all – no one likes to lose. However, your lost sales can be your greatest teacher. Keep a journal of lost sales, where you record why you lost the sale and what you can do better the next time. A journal like that can help you reflect and improve for your next sale.

Other Sales Tips and Tricks

Here are a few other tricks that any insurance sales agent can benefit from:

• Talk about discounts.
• Refrain from using, “Do you understand?” Your clients are likely to answer “yes” even if they don’t fully understand what you’re saying.
• If the cost is $2010, don’t say two thousand ten. Instead, say twenty-ten; twenty-ten sounds less than two thousand ten
• Don’t overuse jargon. Keep the communication simple.
• Show your clients additional benefits besides monetary compensation.

Extra Tips If You’re Selling Insurance From Home

Check whether your leads prefer a voice call or a video call.
Check your internet connection.
Having an insurance agency management system will help you record details and operate efficiently.

If you don’t put your best foot forward, you’ll lose potential sales opportunities. That’s why you need to know effective sales tips and tricks to make terrific sales. Although selling insurance from home could initially seem challenging, following these tricks will definitely help you expand your sales.

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