Reaching Annuity Clients Without Jargon
Annuity Seller Tips! Are you reaching for annuity clients with the industry jargon? The concept of an annuity is based on very human values like planning for retirement and passive income you can rely on, but all too often when it comes to financial matters, people have a terrible time seeing through the jargon and details. Insurance and tax policies tend to come with a lot of unfamiliar multi-syllable words that are downright intimidating. Especially to someone who is thinking about how to plan a reliable grocery and recreation budget for their retirement years. It is important for your clients to understand the kind of financial decisions they are making. So, you want to explain as much as possible in relatable terms rather than technical details. For annuities, cover the central human concepts, and skip the financial terms until the second half of the conversation. Annuity Clients Think About Personal Retirement Everyone wants to retire well, but retirement isn’t what it used to be. Social security only covers so much and company retirement policies often have contingencies. Introduce the idea that a personally controlled retirement plan can’t be revoked, drained, or have the terms changed without their knowledge. They get to know exactly how much to pay in and how much they will get out of it. Lay out the options, but leave the technical stuff to the side or keep it as final points. They will want to know the difference between the variable, fixed, and income annuities. Let them sink their teeth into the human-relatable benefits first. Annuity Clients Thinks About Passive Income Even if a client is not looking for a specific retirement plan, you can sell them on the idea of non-retirement passive income. Most people work for a lifetime contributing to a retirement plan to gain some passive income. Why wait? Explain that some annuity plans allow them to put in either large sums or regular payments into the annuity. The funds will transfer it into a reliable passive income whenever they want it to start dispensing. This is great for people who have a large saving that they don’t want to overspend. Also, people that get paid irregularly that would like to live on a regular supply of money. By highlighting the human flexibility of the plan types, you can help clients understand annuities. That they can be used for almost anything that could benefit from a steady monthly fund. Annuity Client Think About Funding for Loved Ones It is easy to get into a one-beneficiary mindset, but annuities don’t have to benefit your client alone. Most people have at least one person they care for that they would like to see taken care of. Older couples might want to set up an extra income for their surviving spouse. Grandparents can use annuities to make sure there is college money available for their grandchildren. One under-recognized group is the adult children of aging seniors. Think of adults with parents in a retirement home. These adults are often busy with their own children and are worried about being able to care for their aging parents. An annuity in their parent(s) name could create a safety net. This would ensure that their elderly parents will be well taken care of if they can’t handle it in the future. Clients need to understand what each plan has to offer them in terms of life quality, timing, and financial peace of mind. Once have an idea of what they want from an annuity, then they will be ready to talk about taxes, payments, and financial policies. Start with the concepts they know like retirement plans and assured income before you jump into unfamiliar financial jargon. We would love to help you with your annuity sales product needs. Contact Us!
Marketing & Branding the Insurance Agency: You’re a Small Business Owner!
We may not always think of representatives who sell annuities for insurance companies as small business owners. However, at a minimum, being an agent for a company makes you a contractor. You will only earn enough to live on if you’re aggressively setting and achieving personal sales goals. That being said, you must focus heavily on relationships with clients. For this reason, it is easy to think of yourself as having the needs of other small business owners. Your little agency is a mini-organization with the needs of all similar firms. In a past article in Entrepreneur.com, it explains why it is important to know what your competitors are doing. Then use the same strategies. Chris Simpson explains below: “Look around your industry. Watch what’s going on. Study your competition. Follow what works. Why wouldn’t you? Your competitors are selling their wares to the same target market you are. And if what they’re doing is working, you can bet it could work for you too!” Take a Step Back This advice is immediately applicable to reps like us marketing annuities to consumers who are risk-averse but are unconvinced that they want to buy a product now. We must look at how other sales reps for insurance companies are effectively marketing their products and achieving more sales. On the one hand, you can call your contacts in the annuity industry and see what they are doing. On the other hand, you can read our blog and get ideas. Hence, an annuity-selling agent must try new strategies to establish and build those relationships with prospects. We are in the sales business, after all, to make money! Learn From Your Own Mistakes Simpson mentions that you can learn from the mistakes of your competitors, but you can also learn from your own. Last year, if you sent out a postcard to everyone in your prospect database and got only a few responses, this year you need to try a different marketing tactic. It could be time to consult with marketing experts about print or digital marketing strategies, but it could also be time to revisit your website and blog. For example, you should be able to look at your own blog and determine which posts have received the most hits in the past six months. You want to remove the pieces of content that had few clicks and to write more pieces like the ones that had the most clicks. You also want to read any comments and follow up with those individuals. They may have questions about your agency or about the annuities and other life insurance products that you sell. Create a Sense of Urgency Simpson also explains that people can use their marketing materials, whether email letters or glossy postcards, to build a sense of urgency in prospective customers. You want to write blog posts and other kinds of marketing copy that encourage people to learn more about annuities right now. They need to understand that they aren’t protecting their financial interests or those of their dependents without the right product. You can also create a sense of urgency when you talk to people in person, over the phone, or on email. You can say something like this: “Well, I am glad that you asked that question, Ms. Perez. A multi-year fixed annuity can give you minimum returns year over year, making it a predictable investment with an acceptable risk. Of course, I want you to bring Mr. Perez and your son into my office to get all their annuity questions answered too! We should really sit down and look at the type of annuity that best fits your needs.” With this kind of speech, regardless of the mode of communication, you are creating the need for the person to set an appointment, and then you can make the case for their purchase of an annuity instrument.