Successful Closing Tips: How to Complete Your Lead

Successful Closing Tips: How to Complete Your Lead

You've received an insurance lead, established contact with the prospect and informed them of how your services can meet their needs. But how do you complete the sale?

At InsureMe, we know even the best leads are no good if you can't use them to expand your business! That's why we've put together some tips to close your sale—and turn the referral into a client.

Lay the Foundation

As an insurance professional, you understand that it's your job to determine the customer's needs and help them understand how your services can more than meet those needs—creating a foundation on which to build a business relationship.

A good sales foundation should:
Establish rapport and trust with the prospect
Result in an understanding of the prospect's problems, needs and values
Address how your services can meet the prospect's needs
Get the prospect's attention

It's important to understand that without a strong sales foundation, you won't stand a chance of closing the sale. For more tips on how to sell your leads, check out our article, How Great Agents Work Insurance Leads.

Focus on the Prospect

While some insurance professionals rely on textbook closing techniques, the majority of successful agents close sales by focusing all their efforts on the prospect and how their services can fulfill the customer's needs.

By focusing on the prospect, you give them the sense that you're committed to helping them, which inspires confidence and trust—drastically increasing the likelihood that the consumer will buy a policy from you.

Need help staying focused? Below are six tips to help you:
Relax! Even if you desperately need the sale, keep your emotions in check—your anxiety will be evident to the prospect.
Learn something personal. Connecting with the prospect on a purely human level will allow them to see you as a person, rather than a sales agent.
Call the prospect(s) by name. Calling your prospect by name will help foster a relationship—a key factor in closing a sale.
Look the customer in the eye. Giving the prospect your undivided attention will build trust and confidence.
Address the prospect's needs. Once you've learned your customer's needs and motivations, tell them how your services can help—and refer back to them often.
Listen. Through even the simplest of discussions, people often reveal their needs, motivations and desires. Listen, and adjust your selling techniques accordingly.

Employ these tips to stay focused on your prospect. Doing so will make it clear to the consumer that you have their very best interests at heart—increasing the chance that they'll sign on as a new client.

Trial Closing

Many insurance professionals also find success with trial closing. Trial closing involves asking your prospect questions to reveal how he or she feels about the information discussed. By asking trial closing questions, you can gauge your prospect's opinions and get an idea of where the prospect is in the buying process.

Your trial closing questions might include:
"How do you feel about the information we've discussed?"
"Do you see how our services can meet your financial needs?"
"What questions or concerns do you have?"
"Do you need more information about the policy or financial services?"

Try integrating these, and other closing questions into your sales presentation. If you are met with resistance after your trial closing, remember to readdress your prospects questions and concerns and reiterate how your services can meet them—before bringing out the heavy-hitting closing tactics.

Closing the Sale

So you've set a solid sales foundation, built a trusting, casual rapport with your prospect and received some positive feedback from your trial closing questions—and yet the prospect is still on the fence. How can you still make the sale?

Establish a deadline. Some experienced agents suggest determining a deadline date, by which an offer will expire. And, while you run the risk of losing the prospect, establishing a deadline will help you distinguish legitimate prospects from those who might keep you on perpetual hold.

Know what your competitors offer. Keeping track the competition will enable you to keep up with your adversaries and speak intelligently about why your service is better or more affordable.

Discuss the consequences of sitting on the fence. Ask your customer to estimate what it would cost not to buy a policy from you today. This could be anything from the cost of an uninsured accident to spending hundreds more with another agency. This too must be done tactfully, without bullying the prospect.

Remember that getting a decision out of the customer—one way or the other—is good for your business. If you don't end up closing the lead, keep in mind that this leaves you open to pursue all the other prospects coming your way.

And, like most skills, when it comes to closing your insurance leads, practice makes perfect. Try integrating these techniques into your sales repertoire until you find what works best for you—and watch as the sales pile up.


This information was provided by InsureMe, the leader in online insurance leads for the insurance industry. Since 1993, InsureMe has helped thousands of insurance agents succeed in the insurance business by providing top quality leads that are both detailed and affordable. For more information on InsureMe leads, please visit our agent Web site at agent.insureme.com