Here's a letter to the editor I wrote to the Northeast insurance magazine The Standard on one of my favorite peeves, cold calling:
Sir,
I'm prompted to write in response to your article, "Sensible Sales Strategies Work, South Shore Agents Learn" (The Standard, April 25, 2008).
Hogwash!
The strategies espoused by Mr. Nanigan may have worked in the last century, but they are ineffective in 2008. Interruption marketing techniques like cold calling are the last resort of desperate, unsuccessful salespeople. Nobody wakes up in the morning hoping they will be interrupted in their work by phone spam. No business person, upon realizing that they are talking with a cold-caller, thinks, "It's my lucky day, an insurance salesperson is calling me!" What professional would want to start a relationship with such a negative?
Cold-calling does nothing for you. The occasional successful appointment only teases cold-callers into thinking that they are being productive. In reality, of twenty unsolicited calls you make, nineteen of the people on the other end of the phone think that you must be a loser if this is the only way you can get new business. Stop cold calling.
Even the suspect who does allow you to meet with them thinks poorly of you, as you started the relationship on a negative. Your chances of establishing a profitable long-term relationship are almost zero.
I'm prompted to write in response to your article, "Sensible Sales Strategies Work, South Shore Agents Learn" (The Standard, April 25, 2008).
Hogwash!
The strategies espoused by Mr. Nanigan may have worked in the last century, but they are ineffective in 2008. Interruption marketing techniques like cold calling are the last resort of desperate, unsuccessful salespeople. Nobody wakes up in the morning hoping they will be interrupted in their work by phone spam. No business person, upon realizing that they are talking with a cold-caller, thinks, "It's my lucky day, an insurance salesperson is calling me!" What professional would want to start a relationship with such a negative?
Cold-calling does nothing for you. The occasional successful appointment only teases cold-callers into thinking that they are being productive. In reality, of twenty unsolicited calls you make, nineteen of the people on the other end of the phone think that you must be a loser if this is the only way you can get new business. Stop cold calling.
Even the suspect who does allow you to meet with them thinks poorly of you, as you started the relationship on a negative. Your chances of establishing a profitable long-term relationship are almost zero.
In my twenty years as an agent I made my share (and more) of cold calls. Even ten years ago they were limited in their success. Now, cold calling just irritates potential suspects.
Now to Mr. Nanigan's most outrageous advice: if you can't get through to someone, deceive them with a tricky voice mail message. His suggestion that you leave a short message claiming that the conversation is important is the pinnacle of arrogance. Clearly, the call is important to you. The person you call will be less than thrilled at being hoodwinked by your message. Would you buy from someone who deceived you into calling? Who wants to treated that way?
If you consider yourself to be a professional, you will act as a professional. Market yourself by showing exceptional value to your clients. Referrals from clients can open the doors to their friends who need (and deserve) your help. Write articles for your local newspaper and trade publications. Speak to industry association meetings. Be seen by your market as the go-to person for insurance help. Create a body of knowledge and work that causes great prospects to seek you out. Such marketing gravity puts you in your prospect's mind as a vital, valuable resource. Price now becomes a secondary matter in the insurance transaction.
Mr. Nanigan's suggestions, as made in your article, are misguided at best, unethical at worse. Insurance professionals are better than that.
Regards,
Scott Simmonds, CPCU, ARM, CMC
Insurance Consultant & Coach