Resistance Breakers 4

Paul J. McDonald:
One of my clients died last year, but you know, I never saw his accountant at the funeral service.

It was his accountant who advised Paul's client not to buy any life insurance. He told him that he (client) doesn't need one. The client's wife later had difficulties to pay for all the bills / debts owed by him and she couldn't afford to pay for his funeral fees. :(

Styles and Techniques
What constitute an effective response to the various objections is a subject of many great debates among trainers and sales professionals. Many styles and techniques have evolved over the years. And only one thing emerged certain--no agents can stake an irrefutable claim that his is the only right method.

As a case in point, many top producers while differing in philosophy and ways of approaching the issue, had each remained equally successful in the business. There exist a dictum amongst the sales fraternity, "if you spit at prospects and they buy, keep doing it!". Of course, this overstatement should not be taken literally. It is merely an extreme citation to stress that we should not be rigid. If your methods were effective, carry on employing them no matter how weird or unconventional they may appear to be. The fact is, sales resistance can be dealt with in a diversity of equally effective ways. Each can be handled in differing ways depending on the agent's individual experience, personality, degree of creativity and the circumstance surrounding the sale.

However, I do not mean there are no preferential methods. Over the years, some methods have been proven to be consistently more effective than others when dealing with specific objection under a particular situation. The intention of this sharing is to explore some of these techniques and to help equip new agents with a blueprint of dealing with prospects' objections effectively. Many examples of commonly faced objections and practical responses to them are cited here.

It is the author's contention that new agents should get a good hang of these methods prior to developing their own unique sets to confront the day to day challenges of dealing with objections. Once an agent is coversant with these techniques, he is in a more befitting position to bevolve new ones that are compatible to his style and personality.

Take the process of learning music as an illustration of this point. We can observe that even creative and talented musician such as:-
Vanessa Mae - The daring and somewhat controversial child prodigy whose techno-acoustic fusion album, The Violin Playin sold over a million copies!--has to master the basics of violin playing and music first. Only after that can she create her own unique brand of music.

Likewise creative agent can only truly exercise his creativity after mastering the basics of objection handling and building on these skills continually.

Resistance Breakers 3

Norma H. Fitzgerald:
Life Insurance Is The Most Beautiful Love Letter You'll Ever Write

Professionals appreciate that facing up to these resistance are a necessary part of the sale process. Therefore, they are highly cherished. No resistance, to them, meant less chance of landing a sale. Hence, professional agents study and anticipate sales objections. They learned how to deal with them effectively and take a proactive approach to this issue. They face them with a smile.

Resistance Breakers 2

James M. Champman, CFP:
You always buy life insurance when you don't need it because you can't get it when you do.

which also means that when you buy it, you don't need it. But when you need it, you can't buy it.

A prevalent attitude among agents, however, especially those who are inexperienced, is to dread facing sales objections. Perceiving them as threats or troublesome obstacles to their sale, they often try to evade them. Of course this is an utterly fruitless attempt. Unless the agent sells only to clients who love him too much to pain him with objections or they trust him, his skills, his company and his products without any reservation, it is only natural that some form of objections will arise.

To the professional agent, objections are in fact welcom because they are viewed as opportunities to a sale. They are not treated as undesired obstacles. The professional agent understands that, more often than not, where a sales presentation involves some mode of ressistance, it is usually a sign or indication that the prospect is either:-

A: Interested, but not fully convinced yet

B: Still concern about certain areas in the agent's presentation

C: Providing the agent with an opportunity to close the sale

D: Providing the agent a chance to demonstrate his Know-How

Resistance Breakers 1

In the coming posts, I'll be sharing with you what I've read, understand and learnt from a book written by Lim Yuen Seong. I'll be copying from his book to this blog to share with my readers here. The following contents in this and the coming posts in italics are solely from Mr Lim and not from me. Kindly take note.

James E. Halket:
Life Insurance Is Like A Parachute: If you ever need it and don't have it, you will never need it again.

Introducing the Concept of Objection Handling

Lim Yuen Seong:
Don't handle the customer, handle his concerns.

Have you ever been wedged by the customer's objection during a sale? The answer will likely be a yes, especially if you are raw to the selling game.

Resistance, in the form of sales objections, is as natural to selling as water is to fishes. Genuine customer's objection merit a sound response from the agent. The obvious reason is that when they are removed, it could lead to a sale. And it precisely because it can make or break a sale that the ability to deal with them skillfully is so crucial in selling.

So, from this first topic, do you get to understand something that you never knew?