Investors seeking to invest money usually don’t look for an annuity.  What investors want are the benefits that the annuity delivers.  Similarly, people don’t walk around wanting a root canal.  What they do want is relief from tooth pain.  This most important distinction between the product and it’s benefits means that if you start talking to people about annuities rather than the benefit of annuities, you will forfeit a lot of sales.

Think Like a Marketer, Not Like a Sales Person

Sales people have a focus on how to sell their products – the features, the benefits and the sales pitch.  Marketers have an interest in what prospects want to buy.

Successful annuity agents have an interest in prospects that have interest in their finances (e.g. financial planning, mutual funds, tax reduction) but have not expressed any interest in annuities.  The smart agents know that many people purchase annuities who started off saying they did not want an annuity (because they had no idea what it was).  Here’s the logic of the smart annuity agents in cultivating and selling to  a wider group of prospects:

1. When people express interest in a financial product or service, it does not mean that they will buy that particular product or service and it does not matter.  The smart agent merely wants an appointment to explore the motivations of a prospect who takes initiative and determine if the prospect’s desires fit with the products/service the agent offers.

2. A prospect who takes initiative (e.g. completes a form on the Internet with all of their contact information) means that the prospect is motivated to seek a solution.  That’s the important part–talking to a prospect who takes initiative and action.

The smart annuity agent wants to speak to any motivated viable prospect and has sufficient confidence that if an annuity will help the prospect achieve his goals, the agent will have a sale. And that agent is also okay finding out that there may not be a fit with the prospect and ends the meeting. The end result is:

• meeting more people with motivation
• selling more annuities
• getting more referrals

How many clients have you lost because you have failed to cultivate a general interest ?