No one will argue the value life insurance can play in your agency.
Generally, the agent with the most leads wins. The problem with life insurance leads today is the unbelievable over-saturation of over-marketed lists. It has changed (and cheapened, in my view) the life insurance business and it only appears to be getting worse.
P&C agents who want to branch out into life insurance have a unique advantage: their own client base.
They have already established relationships and successes which will allow them unique access and opportunity to discuss their clients’ life insurance needs. Does this sound like you?
Many P&C agents dismiss life insurance as a distraction. The sales cycle can be longer than P&C and, despite what you might read elsewhere, selling life insurance is not as easy as falling off a log.
The successful P&C agents we work with don’t see it that way at all. They recognize the unique position they have with their clients and believe they can simplify and condense the sales cycle because of the relationships they have built over the years.
The secret recipe of cross selling life insurance in a P&C agency consists of three parts passion, two parts instincts and one part prospects. P&C Agents who have a consistent supply of these three magic ingredients will consistently generate new life insurance leads and continue to grow their book of business. Read along and don’t forget to watch the short video and download your free cross selling script!
Types of Life Insurance to Cross Sell
One of the first steps in learning how to cross sell life insurance is knowing what your options are. Below are the common types of life insurance many of the agents in our network sell. Choose which type makes most sense for your clientele and build a cross selling strategy around it.
- Term Life
- IUL
- GUL
- Whole Life
Below are some scenarios for different types of P&C agencies that cross sell life insurance.
Commercial Insurance
If you’re primarily working with commercial clients, you should absolutely be talking to them about Buy Sell Agreements and Indexed Universal Life. Once you have your foot in the door, you can also begin to implement annuities to help business owners better plan for retirement.
Our bread and butter is helping agents with planning for business owners using life insurance and annuities. We are happy to discuss any cases you might have and the best way to approach them.
Auto Insurance
If you’re mainly selling personal lines in a low income area or certain types of health insurance, try cross selling final expense insurance. Selling final expense is a great way to help your clients with low face amount life insurance designed to cover the basic burial expense. These policies are most written without the need for a medical exam.
Homeowners
Lastly, if your focus is homeowners insurance, you can easily begin cross selling mortgage protection insurance.
My suggestion would be to include a life quote with every single homeowners quote you send out. Simply play the numbers game and you will definitely increase your life insurance sales through cross selling. You can even get a head start on this by learning the common sales objections and how to prevent them.
Now that you have an idea of the types of life insurance products you can cross sell, lets look a little closer at what to do next.
Cross Sell Life Insurance in Your P&C Agency
Leverage Relationships with Existing Customers
Customers already know you, like you and most importantly, they trust you.
This makes for ripe picking versus paying high dollars for insurance leads each week. Rounding out your accounts has never been easier when you have relationships with clients who are willing to open your emails, take your phone calls and listen to what you have to say.
Not sure how to start or what to say… download a free script right here.
Download our FREE “Insurance Cross Sell Script”
Trust Your Instincts
Just like the baker who decided offering coffee might increase business.
You are instinctively geared around servicing your clients which you should use to your advantage. Sometimes you might forget that your customers appreciate your service!
P&C agents have all the ingredients to effectively cross sell more life insurance. The right instincts on “how” to transition a discussion from P&C to life are key. It’s all about knowing “who” your client is and asking the right questions.
Common life insurance fact finding questions
- What type of work do you do? Type of business?
- Who is the primary breadwinner in the household? Does your spouse work?
- Do you have children? What are their ages?
- Are you still paying on your mortgage? What is the balance?
- What are your hobbies, interests?
- How is your health?
- Are there any health issues in your immediate family?
- What major family issues will need to be funded over the next 15-20 years (e.g. college, retirement, etc.)?
- How well would you say you have planned for retirement?
- What would happen to your family if you died today?
Below is a great video from one of our favorite insurance marketing gurus, Mike Demko at www.myinsurancevideos.com. He does an excellent job explaining this process from start to finish.
http://myagencyvideos.wistia.com/medias/g3odthmtls?embedType=iframe&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=600
Communicate Your Passion for Life Insurance
Successful life insurance agents are full of passion around how life insurance positively impacts families.
The good ones believe what they sell is a critical part of an individual’s or a family’s overall financial picture.
So it goes with P&C agents who have decided to add life insurance to their bag. Car insurance is about protecting a thing.
Life insurance is about protecting people.
Agents often miss this distinction, but I can assure you clients don’t. The more involved and interested you are with clients they more successful you will be.
Please give us a call today if you are ready to start cross selling life insurance in your P&C agency. We are eager to help you succeed.
Start cross selling life insurance today
