Think Pink: Sales psychology lessons for the life industry

A couple of other interesting tidbits gleaned from Pink's session:

• Questions can be a very effective selling tool. Pink noted how Ronald Reagan, on his way to defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter, memorably asked voters during a 1980 presidential debate, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" He also noted that the Romney campaign very briefly dusted that one off last year but quickly shelved it when many people were not answering as they intended. Pink said that when people have their own reasons to agree with you, they believe it more deeply and adhere to it more strongly. "When the facts are clearly on your side, use questions," he said. "When the facts are not clearly on your side, get some new facts."
• Most business schools don't teach sales, which is kind of alarming. Pink said there are 15 million people in sales in the United States, which is about 1 in 9 adults. Pink noted that people still have a negative impression of sales, which he says is an outdated perception that still leaves a barrier. The old "buyer beware" warning isn't so much the case anymore because we no longer live in a world of "information asymmetry." Today, information is so readily available that consumers approach a sales situation with lots of information.

For more coverage of the 2013 AALU Annual Meeting, read:

• AALU to Congress: Life insurance is not a tax expenditure
• Condoleezza Rice urges action on domestic issues
• Strong growth of life insurance product sales expected

For more from Brian Anderson, read:

• Great opening questions for DI producers
• Life market: Bar is low, opportunity is high
• What MetLife's learning from its Walmart pilot program