It has recently come to my attention that many of you are struggling with appointments.
A common trend today is to avoid being offensive or "pushy," putting too much pressure on the prospect for an appointment. In our zeal to keep from offending people, we are actually causing a disservice. If our products and methods will truly improve the quality of life for our prospects, then we should be aggressive in helping them overcome their ignorance of available solutions to problems.
For example, most government employees, both federal and local, are woefully underinsured or are paying premiums that are excessive for group term life insurance. Because we know that these prospects can benefit greatly from what we do for a living, then all we must do is get an appointment.
After getting a name and number of a prospect and referral source, the next step is usually pretty easy, but even if you don't have a referral, being bold and mildly aggressive with your call will help. The old tried, tested and proven feel, felt, found formula works really well in overcoming appointment resistance. Preparing your brief phone contact in advance will help you get past call reluctance and keep the conversation going in the right direction.
You must be prepared for a voice mail and for a live pick up. A voice mail should go like this: "Hello Mrs. Smith, I'm Kim Magdalein of Magdalein and Associates. I understand you are a postal employee and therefore probably have life insurance that is offered by payroll deduction. My postal clients have found that I have been able to save them literally thousands of dollars. Please call me back or accept my call on my next attempt. The caller ID will be (904) 343-3532."
You could actually mail a post card to announce the coming call. That would help your chances of them accepting. I have found that about 20 percent will answer the call on the first attempt. After three attempts I will only mail post card follow-up attempts. After 12 post cards, I give up. Oh well, some will, some won't, so what.
