#1:The Causes of Objections When Selling Insurance

agents marketers - #1:The Causes of Objections When Selling Insurance
It is an important fact in human nature that each person's mind tends to construct and live in its own mental world and to resist invasion. Hence, there exists in most people a strong predisposition to object to
proposals which they think will commit them to an unaccustomed course of action, or which will necessitate a rearrangement of ideas.

The person who is being solicited for any sort of proposition almost instinctively takes a defensive attitude. The more experience a person has had with salespeople, the more this defensive attitude is developed. In the language of the army, the more he has been shelled, the more defenses he has erected, including barbed-wire barriers, as well as listening posts.

A prospect may flatly refuse to consider life insurance, as such, because the idea does not fit in with his existing fund of experiences. But if the idea is presented to him as a continuance of the monthly check which he is in the habit of giving to his wife, his mind travels over a track which leads to a "Yes" response. Remember you are the engineer who is running the train of the prospect's thought, and if the signals tell you that the train is headed on the "No" track, you must be able, through a knowledge of the underlying causes of objections, to switch his train of thought so that his mind will travel on the "Yes" track.

It is, of course, difficult to determine the real basis of objections in any individual case. However, in general, they may be due to any of the following reasons:

The prospects fears - probably fear of investing too much of his surplus in insurance or fear of starting something he can't finish without financial loss.

Unwillingness to change his buying habits - prospect may have a certain plan which he follows in buying other commodities. He may have the habit of shopping around before he buys, and will, therefore, not close the insurance deal until he has had the opportunity to look over other propositions.

Dislike for some feature of the policy - this may be due to a positive dislike or a prejudice arising from incomplete knowledge of just what the policy will do.

Dislike for the agent - the agent's attitude may not be pleasing. He or she may be persistent in trying to sell a policy that obviously does not fit the prospect's needs.

Incomplete understanding of what insurance will do - if the presentation of the case in favor of insurance has been faulty, the prospect may not realize the true function of insurance, and objections, due to a lack of knowledge, will arise. The prospect may actually see no need for insurance or feel that he or she can't afford it.

Some personal reason for not buying insurance - the prospect may feel that the type of insurance or the insurance program proposed by the agent does not fit his needs. The agent may have failed to find out the actual insurance needs of the prospect, and, consequently, is not able to suggest an insurance program which will fit these needs.

Fear of general business conditions - the prospect may fear a panic or hard times, assuming, of course, that in such times all unnecessary expenditures should be eliminated. Such a prospect fails to see that in a panic insurance is doubly valuable. It may be the only estate left to a family if the breadwinner dies during the period of business uncertainties.

Remember this: the "best possible service to the community" rather than "the largest possible commissions" is the slogan under which every top insurance agent works.