What Annuity Agents Do WRONG | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 253
Chad Owen and Caleb North break down mistakes annuity agents make, starting with over-explaining on calls and losing the point. They cover how to tighten your pitch and lead conversations toward a clear close instead of rambling through details.
Chapters
You know, one of the things agents often do wrong in their sales process is they talk too much on the phones. They'll over explain things.
Okay. Come on, have some enthusiasm.
All right.
Okay.
You know, one of the things agents often do wrong in their sales process is they talk too much on the phone. They'll over explain things redundantly. Explain things, go back over the same thing multiple times. That was an example of doing that redundantly.
Not feel convicted and guilty.
Oh, I see.
You're saying that because this is the pot calling the kettle black to the core. I mean, I. I can't tell you. There are times I've told Caleb, hey, shut your mouth. Let them talk. And that's usually when he's talking to me. So it's true. But yeah, that is. That's a lot.
I hear it a lot. Yeah, I see agents. I, you know, ask them about their phone process or whatever in their, like, as a piece of the sales process, knowing full well that you take 10 to 15 minutes at most to book an appointment with your. With your leads on your lead calls.
Now why. Why don't you want to meet with me? Because you gave them everything. They don't need to meet with you. It's like, why would they want to. They already know. You won't shut up. It's kind of like the water softener guy that comes to my house and eats my cookies. Oh, man. That are sitting on the counter and then starts talking to me for three hours when he only told me it was going to take 35 minutes, which was a complete lie.
There's some odd specificity to that. Sounds like there's some. Some wounds there.
It is, man. I had a box of do si. Do Girl Scout cookies Cookies on my counter. And he opened up that box. He opened up the cookies and he asked if we had milk.
Just helped himself.
Yes.
No way.
Yes.
So you haven't done that at an appointment?
No.
Start snacking.
I can't do stuff like that. They offer me stuff all the time. This is Texas, man. They got a pecan pie ready for me, our peach cobbler. And I have to say, can't do it so well. Thank you guys for joining us. I'm Chad Owen. This is Caleb north. And we are going to talk about that today because I'm telling you, man, there are some things that if agents would just tweak a tiny, tiny bit, it would make a big difference. And how they get customers or clients to respond to them. And then they would stop saying or going, well, I can't get anybody to meet with me. Heard it's just watch. Now listen to the guru.
We. Well, I say we. You posted a poll that we created on LinkedIn and Facebook.
I could say we. Yeah, I mean asking you think likely me. I do sometime sometimes at about 5% capacity.
And that's usually what.
You can call me Lucy.
Oh, that's such a good movie. Okay, I reached anyway.
Yeah, but anyways.
In the poll we asked what. What are you wanting training on? And 50% of the responses from both platforms said sales process specifically. So what we decided was we'll do three. A three part series starting this week and then there'll be another one next week and the week after that where we're diving specifically into sales process. So this week we're talking about things agents often do wrong in their sales process. Next week we'll talk about replicating a proven sales process, talking about yours. And then the last one we'll talk about tips for improving an already working sales process. So you're having success but you want to refine it and improve it a little bit. We'll give you some tips on that.
Can you explain to me why Apple doesn't have a clock on their phone? I mean a clock on their computer.
I. Well, they do. You just have to hover.
Okay, pause. Just sec. Okay, let them in.
Hey, Cam.
Cam.
Okay, just check it.
We'll go back to.
Yeah.
Can you tell me why Apple does not have a clock on their computer?
They do. You just have to hover.
Because if we're talking about this, you are for sure. I don't have my phone. Give me your phone. I need to make sure we have a clock on this because we're going to take free setup.
I don't have.
There, there. Okay, now we can make sure this guy doesn't talk too much.
Well, that is one of the things, as we already mentioned, one of the big areas that agents typically get wrong. And I've actually got today's episode segmented into two sections. Phone process errors because that's part of the sales process. And then appointment process errors because that's also part of the sales process. But yeah, that was the first one I noted down for phones was just talking too much.
So you segmented things. Did you like do bullet points on each one Subcategory. So we're gonna.
Okay, yeah, it's outlined.
Let's do it.
All right, so you got the first one talking too much. As I've given you ample example of today already over explaining, redundantly explaining and creating irrelevant conversation. Right.
Not getting to the point, oh, that's so important. I mean, you know, what do you really care, honestly, how many kids, grandkids, they have, what painting they have on the wall, what the dog is barking in the back. I mean, often it's trying to relate. Now I obviously, I mean, I. They have grandkids or they have kids. I mean, that's a very good point. But most people, when you're on the call with them, when you're getting the first phone conversation, you need to be the professional that this is what I do, this is what I'm looking for, this is how I can help you. And that's it, you know, get that appointment as long as they're qualified. Because of course, I had a client today call me from, oh man, he's, he listed me 2014 and he's like, man, I've saved up a ton of money since then. I'm like, okay, not a problem. How much do you have? 35,000. I'm like, that's still not enough. And so, I mean, I got straight to the point. Not that he didn't care about his situation, but there are so many people, you know, this I have, man, I'm in double digit appointments now weekly. And I just need to make sure I'm being very efficient with my time. And if I can't help them and if I go into, oh, I hear a dog barking in the back or a kid crying or whatever, that's wasted time.
Right?
You know, and it's like you said, we're not trying to be ingenuine and we're not trying to be where we don't care. It's just, be the professional, get straight to the point and don't share a whole bunch of unnecessary information just to break the ice.
Yeah, well, and you got to think too. You're calling people, you're calling leads at a convenient time for you. The odds are pretty good that they're not just sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. Well.
They'Re more than likely doing something.
Whether that's Rocking Chair gets a lot of our clients. Yeah.
Don't you have a lot that are still working?
I do. It's weird though, because they'll answer the phone. I mean, you've seen this, right? They answer the phone and they go, hello? And then start talking. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm at work. Why did you answer the phone?
Right.
Like they'll answer the phone even if it's inconvenient. They'll do it. And then they'll realize, oh, this is a sales call. That's why it's so important to get straight to the point.
Exactly.
You know, I tell them, hey, you reached out to me, you requested information, I'm an expert in this area. What can I answer for you? Absolutely not. Get not. You're not wasting.
Because if they get the sense that you're just gabbing on and on about random things, they're not going to stay on that call. They don't want that. They're probably doing something else. Get to the point, remind them that they reached out to you and get on with it.
So the kiss of death for me is if you're a telemarketer and you go, this is so and so, how are you doing today?
Click.
Yeah, I mean that's, that's the kiss of death. They don't care how I'm doing today. And now if they have something that's valid, something they need, something that will bring a benefit to me, then that's what I'm interested in. Continuing a conversation.
That's right. Another one is not communicating with the end in mind. Okay, so treating the conversation very open ended.
So what's the end in mind?
Well, you got to qualify them and if they're a sales qualified lead for an annuity, then the goal becomes book the appointment. Those are the two things you qualify. That's it.
It's not more complicated than that.
It's not more complicated than that.
It's so simple. People over complicate. If you're over complicating the phone script, I can't imagine what you're doing. The appointment, it's true. Or product picking.
Right.
You know, it's like the kiss of death in our industry is over complicating simplicity. And it's whether it's the phone conversation, it's the appointment. The whole purpose of that first call is to how much money do they have? So can we help them? And of course, getting the appointment if we can. Yeah, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
It feels to the client like it's just floundering about. If you don't have an end in mind that you're working toward, it feels like it's unled. It doesn't feel like you know what you're doing. If you're reliant upon them to try to pull the call along, that's a failing strategy. You need to lead the call, know where you're working them toward, and then recognize is this somebody that would actually benefit from what I do, or are they unqualified for it? And if they are, tell them and move on to the next. And if they're not, then the goal becomes. The only thing you're saying selling is the appointment. Because there's another thing that I have noted down here is it's an error to try to sell anything other than the appointment. That's the next thing is the appointment.
So, sure, that's a really good way to put it because there's often. I mean, I lost count in the number of agents I've helped with phone selling, and they try to sell themselves, sell the product.
