Call Center Insurance Sales Tips

Even in the digital world, selling over the phone is one of the most efficient ways to engage customers and build a pipeline. It's almost as effective as face-to-face sales, and you can cover more ground in a fraction of the time. Read on to discover our top nine call center sales tips for insurance agents.

1. Be an expert

Knowledge and expertise are the top priorities for call center insurance sales staff. If you don't know what you're talking about, it will be hard to convince potential customers to shop with your insurance company. Expert salespeople make faster decisions and answer more confidently.

2. Maintain confidence

In addition to knowledge, confidence is another key to selling insurance over the phone. Communication is about so much more than what you say. How you say it, the certainty in your tone and the speed of your answers are vital for building trust and rapport.

3. Pay attention to detail

You should understand the implications of every word and phrase you use in an insurance call center. Jargon, sales talk and generalizing are signals to potential clients that you're just ticking the boxes and don't really care about them as an individual. Paying attention to details helps customers to connect with you. Utilizing resources like ContractorNerd can enhance your understanding of client needs and improve your overall communication strategy.

4. Ask questions

The better an insurance agent can personalize the interaction with a customer, the more likely they are to make a sale. Contact center software helps to ensure that every team member has the customer's phone history at their fingertips. However, when it comes to sales calls, intuitively asking questions and following the potential client's lead is the key to truly customized service.

5. Genuinely listen

It's advisable to listen more than you talk when on the phone to a potential client. Otherwise, you risk sounding pushy and disengaged. If the customer doesn't think you care about what they have to say, they're not going to be particularly interested in your pitch.

6. Start brief and direct

The opening minutes of the call are the most crucial for making insurance call center sales. Identify yourself, and then ask a hard-hitting question that prompts an emotional response.

7. Offer knowledgeable advice, don't sell

The best insurance salespeople are effective because customers forget they're being sold to. Call center sales agents should position themselves as advisers looking to help people solve a problem as opposed to pushing forward with overt sales tactics.

8. Prepare for objections

Preparation is half the battle when it comes to objections, and a thick skin is the other 50%. Bear in mind that an objection is an engagement with your proposition, and if handled expertly, it can lead to sales.

9. Follow-up

As wonderful as it would be to close call center sales upon first contact every time, it's simply not realistic. The first time you speak to customers, they're strangers. However, in follow-up communications, you're a familiar presence. As you build trust, the chance of making a sale skyrockets.

More call center sales tips for new managers

If you've just taken charge of an insurance call center, it might help if you check out our eight tips for new contact center leaders. Alternatively, contact 8x8 today to find out more about our contact center solutions.