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When you think about doubling your sales you most likely think that it would take twice as much time and money spent prospecting and selling. However, according to Donal Daly, CEO of TAS Group, an agency focused on helping sales professionals be more productive and effective, that’s not always the case. They’ve identified that you can double your sales by making small incremental improvements to your sales process. Here’s what you can do to work toward doubling your sales:

1. Pre-qualify your sales leads 20% more accurately. By purchasing higher quality leads you are less likely to be calling the people not in your target demographic. Take a look at what areas you have been successful and where you haven’t been doing as well. Create a quick profile of your ideal customer and target those specifically.
   
   
2. Disqualify your sales leads 20% faster. At this point in your career you’ve learned to identify pretty quickly which prospects don’t need your product or don’t have the money to afford it. Don’t waste time with those false opportunities! Politely end the conversation as quickly as possible and move on to the next prospect.
   
   
3. Close 20% more of your opportunities. Obviously, the more opportunities you close the more customers you will have, and thus the more money you will be making. However, where doubling or tripling your close rate is probably impractical right away, anyone can make a 20% improvement. The easiest way to do this is to stop trying to sell and instead listen for your “go-ahead signals” during conversations with prospects. Put aside a fear of failure and ask for the business.
   
   
4. Increase the average value of each deal by 20%. There is a fixed amount of time and money connected to each of your sales efforts. Making two deals for $300 each takes far more time and effort than one deal for $600. Therefore, it’s important to constantly be aware of additional ways that you can help the customer. Maybe they might also be interested in a Final Expense or a Hospital Indemnity product during a Medicare presentation. This is not upselling; it’s providing a better service to your client.

Then numbers work out like this:
How much you’re selling now: $100k
After eliminating 20% of your bad leads: $120k (better use of time)
After disqualifying 20% more non-opportunities: $144k (better time usage)
After a 20% increase in your conversion rate: $173k
After a 20% increase your average total sales could be: $207k

For any questions or further discussion on improving your sales or the best lead companies feel free to contact your PSM marketer at 1-800-998-7715.

Source: Inc.

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As you unwind from a hectic AEP and gear up for the holiday season, we thought we’d share something lighthearted for the blog this week. As texting becomes more and more prevalent, I'm sure you’ve noticed your children (or maybe you’ve even done so yourself) adapting acronyms for common phrases to further speed up the process. Phrases like "TTYL" (talk to you later) and even "POTUS" (President of the United States) have taken on a new understanding to those who use them often. Here is a humorous take on those acronyms for the senior crowd.

ATD - At the Doctor's

BFF - Best Friend's Funeral

BTW - Bring the Wheelchair

BYOT - Bring your own teeth

CUATSC - See You at the Senior Center

DWI - Driving While Incontinent

FWIW - Forgot Where I Was

FYI - Found Your Insulin

GGPBL - Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low

GHA - Got Heartburn Again

LOL - Living on Lipitor

TOT - Texting on Toilet

TTYL - Talk to You Louder

WTP - Where are the Prunes?

PSM wishes all of our agents a happy holiday season and New Year. If you have any questions about your current products or would like some advice for planning 2013’s business plans, give your marketer a call at 1-800-998-7715.

Source: E-Blast

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Even the best sales people have calls that go sour. Sometimes a lead that was warm goes cold and other times a client who looks promising walks away. However, knowing when to change up your talking points, delivering your talking points in multiple ways, preparing alternative educational techniques, and asking open-ended questions can not only turn those sour calls around, they can even save some of them. Otherwise, in some cases, it’s best to know when it’s time to give up and move on to the next prospect.

• Get Away from Your Script – Rather than reading directly from a script, trying listing only a few talking points and asking open-ended questions. Scripts can often depersonalize you call and make your prospects feel like just another number on your list. By asking open-ended questions and only using talking points to help you remember to mention key features, you are free to allow the conversation to progress organically.
  
  
• Provide Alternative Information Methods – If you found you’ve caught someone on a bad day or seems to be in a rush to end the call, offer to send them more information. It’s a good idea to have supplemental materials available in version that can be either mailed or emailed depending on the preference of the prospect. Schedule a follow up call to see if you can discuss the materials at a time that is more convenient to them.
  
  
• It is All About the Customer – If you can, it’s important not to blindly call a prospect. Gather your notes from previous conversations to remind yourself what you’ve discussed previously and what points you should make on this call. Knowing as much as possible about the prospect as you can before you pick up the phone reduces a significant amount of risk. Also, though it can be easy to get caught up when talking up your product, remember to focus on the prospect and determining their needs. Apply the information to their specific circumstances.
  
  
• Use Open-Ended Questions – Even after preparing for a call you can find that your research and the client on the line don’t match up. In these cases, don’t panic. Instead, fall back on open-ended questions to discover more about the prospect you are speaking with. Be genuine and concise, asking what you need to know in order to learn about the needs of your prospect.
  
  
• Know When to Give Up – If the call becomes unsalvageable, don’t fight it or let it drag on, instead end the call before you reach a dead end. That way the sale might not be lost, even if the call did not go as well as you hoped. You can choose to schedule another call or follow up with an email. A bad sales call doesn’t necessarily mean the loss of sale. It’s an opportunity to learn from and try again.

The most important tip for calling is to not give up if they go sour. When you approach calls positively, with a good amount of persistence, your sales will be rewarded. Every call is another chance to hone-in and improve your sales strategy. The more calls you make, the more experience you will have, and the easier it will become.

Source: InsuranceNewsNet

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With just a month left to prepare for the Annual Election Period (AEP), Precision Senior Marketing wants to make sure you are ready to make it your most successful one yet. For the first time we are offering an “In-Store” Pharmacy Program for our agents during AEP. This program is an in-store insurance selling platform with access to 22,000 pharmacies to choose from nationwide. Including Walgreens, as well as independent stores, this program will allow you to meet with customers as they visit their pharmacist with questions regarding Medicare’s Part D benefit.

The is an excellent way to connect with the seniors in your community and grow your business through referrals. Once you establish a relationship with the pharmacist at your location, you can become their resource for those customers looking for the best coverage to suit their needs. You can keep a flexible schedule and coordinate what time is busiest for the pharmacy you are assigned to. You might also think about leaving a time sheet at the pharmacy for consumers to request a time to meet with you.

This is one of the largest “in-store” agent programs ever created. The Pharmacy Program is affiliated with an affordable Part D plan that gives agents full support, free personal training and certification, as well as kiosk and supplies. Ask your marketer for more information on this exciting new product entering the market. The complete unveiling happens October 1, 2012.

We’re excited by the response so far to this program and are starting to assign pharmacists to their locations and certify agents to sell. For the best selection of pharmacies, be sure to contact us! Partner with PSM to make the best use of this AEP selling season.

Request Details

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Precision Senior Marketing is looking for New Agents that want to get in on the ground floor of our Prescription Drug Plan being launched in Partnership with Community Pharmacies across the Country. We will be partnering with a preferred network of over 22,000 trusted community pharmacies including select large national pharmacy chain locations, the largest national pharmacy chain with over 8,000 stores.  The pharmacy program is currently planned to be offered to qualified seniors in all 50 States, plus Puerto Rico.

This new pharmacy program expects to have the largest "in-store" agent program in the country for 2013 Medicare open enrollment. Upon completing a free certification course and qualification process, agents will receive $0 access to a product-branded agent kiosk located inside select pharmacies within our network of preferred pharmacies.

By teaming up with select large pharmacy chain locations and a national network of trusted independent and regional neighborhood pharmacies across the country, this opportunity will be uniquely positioned to play a significant role in shaping prescription solutions for seniors. This program has been designed with community pharmacists to address the shifting Part D landscape and to meet the ever-changing needs of the current Medicare population, in addition to the 10,000 people who are turning 65 every day across America.

If you are a self-motivated and competitive individual who is looking for a unique and rewarding new opportunity, join the PSM team and take advantage of this ONCE IN A LIFETIME PROGRAM!

Build a better life for your family while making a positive difference for others!

Request Information online or give us a call at 1-800-998-7715 to be assured you get your choice of pharmacy. Locations are limited and filling up fast! We hope that you take this opportunity and look forward to continuing to offer you ways to grow and strengthen your business in the future.

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Every once in a while it’s important to evaluate your sales process. What activities during your day may not be setting you up for success? Are you chasing the wrong prospects? Perhaps you’re doing your paperwork during the time you should be contacting potential clients? Or maybe you are using old techniques that are no longer working for you. Taking the time to influence yourself is something rarely done by sales professionals. However, identifying the things that are prohibiting you from obtaining the success you want and eliminating them from your routine will have an immediate positive effect on your sales process.

Tips to influence your sales process in a positive way include:

• Have a healthy perspective in dealing with resistance and rejection
  
  
• Use strong, truthful self-talk both when things aren’t going well and, more importantly, when they are going as expected
  
  
• Prioritize activities, relationships, and goals
  
  
• Adopt optimism that flows through your day and the people around you
  
  
• Show a great attitude

When you find yourself struggling with keeping a positive attitude in your business, whether you have a sudden influx of "no"s from prospects, or are not meeting the sales goals you hoped for, an onset of negativity can creep in and effect even more of your business. Instead, focus on creating a positive outlook with what Dan Seidman, a U.S. Olympian in basketball calls, the "Heart and Head Check Self-Test." Seidman explains, "our attitude solution is anchored in this concept: Focus on gratitude to improve your attitude. On a piece of paper, create positive responses to your feelings [to the following prompts]."

Sample Head & Heard Self-Test prompts:

• Your Industry of Foucus
  
  
• Your Business
  
  
• Your Prospects’ Perception
  
  
• Your office
  
  
• Your Job
  
  
• Your Self

For each prompt, write down a positive response and notice how you can find the light at the end of every tunnel. Once you finish, print out your responses and put them by your workspace so you can refer to them with ease. There are two ways to look at everything and when you change your attitude to one of gratitude you will see that your sales and process improve as well.

Source: InsuranceNewsNet

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As an agent, your main focus is to educate your clients on the best Medicare Supplement plan to fit their needs and close the sale. Recent studies from CSO Insight’s, "Sales Optimization Management Key Trends" have shown that closing the sale has declined 12% in the last five years. This is mainly from forecasted sales resulting in "no decision," which have increased by 26% in the same time frame. If you find a lot of your prospects leading to "no decision," two questions to ask yourself are "Why are these 'no decisions' increasing?" and "As an agent, what can I do to reverse the trend?"

Here are three strategies to put in place in order to increase your closing rate:

• Sales target segmentation and qualification process – Spending the time to identify which prospects fit your agency the best will allow you to target that market and work toward catering toward their specific needs. Do you want to work with the aging in 65 market? Or older seniors who are looking to get a lower rate on their Medicare Supplement? Once you determine your agencies "sweet spot," you will be able to categorize your prospects into strong, neutral, or weak sections and focus your time on each one accordingly.
  
  
• Well-defined and documented sales stages – Once you have defined your prospecting stages and customer activity you will reduced the chance of your pipeline becoming deflated. These stages will also help you to see when your prospect goes from suspect to qualified status and reduce your "no decision" buyers. Be sure not to label a prospect qualified before they have identified they have an need and want to evaluate the plan you have proposed.
  
  
• Implement a strict sales pipeline management – Most of the time "no decision" prospects come about when a sales cycle goes past your usual timeline and goes cold. If this happens, you should either restart the sales cycle or call in a loss. By keeping your sales pipeline conservative you will also be keeping it accurate and your numbers strong.

If you find yourself faced with more "no decision" prospects than usual, it might be a good time to reevaluate your sales cycle. Be sure you are focusing on those prospects in your target demographic and determining their interest the first time you speak with them. This way you can cultivate the clients who are interested rather than wasting time ones who are not going to result in a sale. If you would like more tips and strategies with your sales process, give your PSM marketer a call at 1-800-998-7715.

Please give us your feedback!
Have you seen a rise in your prospects leading to "no decision"? What do you do to prevent them? Do you currently have a pipeline management system in process?

Source: LifeHealthPro

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This is the second in a series of articles which focuses on: Appointment Setting Essentials, An Education Based Sales Presentation & Do the Right Thing - Earning a Customer is More Important than Making a Sale.

1. Lead Pre Qualification - After receiving a lead or referral, make sure you are gathering all pertinent client information that could influence the sale. Proper lead pre-qualification is commonly overlooked and can have a large impact on your closing ratio. Your time is valuable and should not be wasted with clients that cannot qualify medically or are not in the buying process. We’ve drawn up a Sample Lead Pre-Qualification Form for you to review.
   
   
2. Value Based Selling - If you’re selling strictly on price, you’re inevitably teaching your clients to leave you. In a residual based marketplace, this can be extremely detrimental to your revenue stream. Here are a few things to consider incorporating into your sales philosophy:
• Educate your client on their options and empower them to make the choice that is best for them. Don’t sell them anything.
• Let your client know that rates are going to increase annually, especially in the Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage markets, and not to be alarmed when they are notified of a rate adjustment in the future.
• Be proactive. Call your clients when you get notification of a rate adjustment; don’t wait for them to call you. By proactively calling your clients, you can let them know the rate adjustment was moderate and, based on the current market landscape, they still have one of the best products available in their area.
  
  
3. Earning a Customer is More Important than Making a Sale - Situations will arise, no matter how many carriers you represent, in which the best coverage for your client will be with one of your competitors. In these situations, it is in your best interest to communicate this information to your client and provide them with the contact information to purchase coverage through the other carrier. If you sell the client a policy that’s not in their best interest just for the sake of making a sale, these clients end up being more of a headache than it’s worth. Not to mention they’ll tell everyone they know not to purchase insurance through you. On the other hand, if you do the right thing and help your client get the proper coverage, they’ll happily refer several people to you because of how you conduct your business. Word of mouth can be the best or worst advertisement for an insurance agent. Do a good job and clients will tell 3 of their friends, do a lousy job and they tell at least 10.

Last week’s article covered the Presale Basics: Dressing for Success, Proper Hygiene and Appearance and Punctuality.

Next week’s article will cover Increasing Your Closing Ratio, Cross Marketing Opportunities, How to Obtain Referrals and Technologies to Help Grow Your Business, primarily with CRM and website development.

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In the next few months Mutual of Omaha will be implementing some big changes to their Medicare Supplement plans. For seventeen states, their Med Supps will be introduced under different companies in order to offer lower rates, a household discount in most states, and increased commission.

In order to receive your advances on the new United of Omaha and Mutual of Omaha products you will need to complete an updated advance agreement. Also, for several states, the new Omaha Insurance Company Medicare Supplement product will be available and those currently contracted will need to fill out an updated General Agent Agreement and Advance Agreement (optional). Omaha Insurance Company is the newest Mutual of Omaha Medicare Supplement carrier and offers all the benefits you would expect from their company.

The states directly affected by these changes are as follows:

New United of Omaha states
AL, MT, UT, WA, WY - Approved for sale
Download United of Omaha Advance Agreement

New Mutual of Omaha states
MO - Approved for sale 03/17/2012
ID, IL, TN - Pending approval
Download Mutual of Omaha Advance Agreement

New Omaha Insurance company states
KY, MD, MI, OH, PA, SC, WV, CT - Pending approval
Download Omaha Insurance Company Contract Addendum

In order to avoid delays in New Business, please return the documents to PSM as soon as possible. If you need any updated supplies or have any further questions about the impending changes, please contact your Marketing Director at 1-800-998-7715.

Additionally, PSM offers top Omaha Insurance Company contracts and commissions to qualified agents. Request information online or give us a call.

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Happy New Year! We at Precision Senior Marketing want to take this time to wish all of our agents and their families a happy holiday season. We appreciate your business and the opportunity to assist you in your senior market endeavors. As always, we are committed to bringing you the most competitive products with personal service from our dedicated staff. In 2012 we have several new and exciting products coming to market that we look forward to adding to your portfolio.

If you are new in the senior market let 2012 be the year you expand your business to include Medicare Supplements, final expense, and annuities. Give PSM a call at 1-800-997-7715 to get started

Here’s to a successful and prosperous 2012!

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