Your sales letter doesn’t sell insurance…
People don’t buy insurance from a sales letter. People buy insurance from a person.
Your sales letter should be written to make people call. Then you sell insurance!
We believe every customer and every sale starts with one word: “Hello!”
Here’s an easy way to generate a phone call with a sales letter —
We’ve always believed one of the best techniques for generating calls is simple: offer a free booklet with a GREAT title.
To make sure your sales letters are effective, make sure your letters are written solely to generate phone calls.
The sales letter’s goal is not to sell the insurance, the sales letter’s goal is to generate a phone call.
In this article series on creating successful sales you’ve seen what every insurance sales letter needs to make people call: credibility and trust to build a relationship, plus a great offer with a great reason to call!
One GREAT reason for readers to call is by offering FREE booklet with a G-R-E-A-T title. If there are more effective ways to make your phone ring, show me – because I’ve never seen them.
Get a good look at a sample insurance letter so you can use these ideas and lead generation techniques as a springboard to create your own campaign. These insurance marketing strategies also work when selling life insurance and apply to writing life insurance prospecting letters.
The easy-to-create FREE booklet: a how-to tutorial.
Offering a FREE booklet with a G-R-E-A-T title is the best, lowest cost way to make the phone ring.
For comparison here are the two things you can do with a sheet of paper. First, take a sheet of paper and fold it in thirds. Ta da! You have a brochure. Don’t get too excited, it’s worthless. You can get free brochures anywhere. Car dealerships, drug stores, even your local dry cleaner offers you a free brochure.
To create a sheet of paper that has value, take that same sheet of paper you used for a brochure and instead of folding in thirds, fold it in half. Now… whoa – now you have a valuable 4-page booklet. Nest another sheet inside and you have a very valuable 8-page booklet. It’s all in the presentation. Knowing where to make the fold helps a lot, too.
Success. Your offer of a FREE booklet with that great title made your phone ring. Congratulations.
Potential clients are now calling for their free booklet.
Callers are friendly. They’re open for questions and ready to talk because hey, they’re getting something for free – they wouldn’t want to jeopardize that free offer.
Your new FREE BOOKLET gives readers a “Non-threatening reason to call.”
Why does offering a FREE booklet work so well?
The booklet offer quells caller’s fears about what to ask for when they call (yea, some people really worry about this!) They also worried someone was going to try to sell them something (yea, people worry about this, too!) The FREE offer makes the phone ring because you said right there in your letter, “Call and ask for our FREE Booklet!” So they are. You see, you’ve given them what I call a “Non-threatening reason to call.” You’ve eliminated the “Friction” that keeps people from calling.
And, they’re getting something for FREE! How great is that!
No, no salespeople are involved, they are simply calling for their FREE booklet. Mentioning FREE is always good in your copywriting. Notice it’s always in capital letters, too? Would your rather have a free booklet or a FREE booklet? Makes it stand out, doesn’t it. Your “FREE” booklet offer should have the word “FREE” in all caps, too.
Make sure your booklet title is something your readers can’t resist. The better the title, the more calls. Simple as that. Good title = good response. Great title = great response.
Probing the call – insiders view.
So the phone rings and in a friendly way, you ask their name – after all, you’re going to send them something valuable for FREE! You need their name.
Now use their name in the conversation you start. Start by being a real person. “Thanks Jeff, I’d be happy to send you our FREE booklet. Say, where did you see our offer?” Even if you know exactly where they saw it, this is a great conversation starter.
Because right now, your job is to start a conversation – nothing more. Open a dialog.
Ask about anything else – besides their address. Seniors are usually happy to talk to you. Heck their kids moved out years ago and they’re tired of talking to their spouse after 50 years, or at least that’s the way to bet. Anyhow, you’re going to give them something free, and seniors like free. They are in a receptive mood.
This conversation really is the pivotal period where you find out if the caller is a viable prospect for what you’re selling. Ask stealthy questions to see if there’s a need for what you’re selling while getting their address.
You must be willing to talk to folks on the phone for whatever length of time it takes to see if they are a candidate for your products and services. This is your real job now. Do this right, qualify callers early in the conversation. If they qualify, set up an appointment to see them in person to close the sale. And that’s what you do here.
This is your objective: qualify the caller, then set up an in-person appointment to close the sale.
Sure, ask their street address. Then comment about their home, their neighborhood. Slip in a question or two about their insurance or financial needs. Ask about their kids. Repeat their address to let them know you’ve written in down correctly. Comment on their neighborhood or car. Ask more probing questions. Get their city and state. Ask more questions. Be interesting. Get their zip code and, “Oh yea, can I have your phone number so I have all your information in one place. Thanks.”
This is where you spend the time to get them to sit still and listen. Because what a waste of time on this call if you only wrote down their address to send them the booklet. The goal – hidden objective – of offering the booklet was so you can speak with them on the phone.
If you had to call back to see if they are a viable prospect, you missed your first golden opportunity. Heck, you were on the phone with them already – it doesn’t get any better than that!
So the phone call is really the qualifier. Spend a few minutes asking specific qualifying questions. It’s fair to say, “Do you mind if I ask you just two questions about your insurance – I promise I’ll be brief. Thanks.” See? That didn’t hurt you or them, did it? If the results are positive, set up the appointment time to go over where their current insurance coverage is failing. Meanwhile, “I’ll place our booklet in the mail?” works well in your favor – when they get the booklet in the mail you’ve just established credibility that you will do what you say when you say you’ll do it.
GOAL: By the end of this call a few things have happened. They trust you because you didn’t sell them anything. You have their name and address, phone. You know if they are a likely candidate for your products or services. And if all went really well, you set up an appointment for a personal sales visit. If all went perfectly, you know pretty much 100% if they are qualified, ready and willing to buy, and the in-person appointment is just the formality for them to sign the papers. Nice.
Bio, Jeffrey Dobkin
Jeff Dobkin has written 5 books on effective direct marketing methods. He also writes sales letters and marketing material for clients – Just call and ask.
He’s just finished writing a series of 12 incredibly responsive sales letters specifically for insurance agencies. These letters are written and designed for just one purpose: to make your phone ring. You can click here to see a sample letter, or go ahead – take a shot and buy these sales letters on line by clicking here. Questions? Call Dobkin directly with questions or comments at 610-642-1000.
PS – How to Design Your Booklet.
Did you notice I didn’t say anything about the design of your FREE booklet, or the information in it — just the title.
There’s a reason: While I like nice literature, elegant well-written informational booklets with over the top designs, I don’t think it’s important here.
You see, once they called you, the booklet – or rather the booklet title – has served its purpose: to generate a call. Keep in mind sending a nicely written letter and a well designed booklet further increases your credibility, while a lousy one hinders it. But the goal, the objective of the letter has already been fulfilled – to speak with them on the phone. That’s the single goal of any insurance sales letter: to make people call so you can speak with them on the phone.
Hope this was helpful. Call with questions. Jeffrey Dobkin
To see a sample letter from Jeffrey Dobkin’s 25 insurance sales letter series for Insurance Agencies – Please Click Here. Thanks. To read more articles, here a link to one of our Article Pages. And a link to my very favorite article of all times: The 23 Best Lines in Marketing. Thanks for visiting our website. We appreciate it.