How to overcome 3 common objections

You finally nailed the appointment and had the chance to outline a plan for a new client. You’re waiting for the round of applause on what you’ve put together, but the next thing you hear is, “I have to think about it.” Objections are a part of the process for financial advisors, but a discouraging part nonetheless.

Yet overcoming objections can be as simple as educating clients on the product, providing the numbers behind the recommendation or setting up a meeting with both spouses or business partners. Here’s what some MDRT members are doing to overcome the most common objections.

1. “I don’t understand the product”

“Perhaps the advisor simply missed a key point or fact. Or the advisor has made the presentation without connecting the client’s unique situations to the solutions being presented,” said William Marvin Richardson III, CLU, CFP, a seven-year MDRT member from San Francisco, California. “Sometimes, the client needs a better or clearer explanation. They need you to better describe how this fits for them.”

2. “I don’t have the money”

This is a prospecting issue, said Walter F. Putnam, CFP, CLU. “If the reason the client isn’t buying is because he doesn’t have any money, we need to work on getting referred to more qualified people who are financially capable of taking our advice,” said Putnam, a 37-year MDRT member from Charlotte, North Carolina.

3. “Because of my age, I don’t need insurance”

“I simply ask, ‘At what age do you think you’ll need insurance?’ Once they answer, I show them what it costs at that age, and what it costs now,” said H. Larry Fortenberry, CLU, ChFC, a 41-year MDRT member from Jackson, Mississippi. “With the obvious difference in premium, the next question becomes, ‘Why would you want to wait and pay so much more premium?’ It’s cheaper to get it started now.”

• Read more about “Overcoming objections”Written by Liz DeCarlo, Round the Table editor