For some of the people you’re calling, you’re creating a negative experience. It’s not personal. A telecommunications company surveyed thousands of young people and found that 81% of respondents feel anxious about making or receiving a phone call. Why?
- They consider it a waste of time.
- They do not like to do favors, and many times when someone calls, it’s to ask for something.
- And if some stranger calls them, they feel it’s an intrusion on their privacy — almost an offense!
Yet, as insurance agents and financial advisors, we are taught to prospect using our lists of 100 contacts or referrals from people who don’t know us, and we make call after call. And doing this with younger generations is like using a weapon of mass destruction on our careers since many people do not trust strangers and don’t like to be sold — much less over the phone.
This is from the prospect’s point of view, but I am an insurance agent — and a millennial — and I don’t like talking on the phone. I’ve been told many times over, “If you don’t like calling prospects, you should find yourself another job. In this profession, no calls mean no sales.” I believed that for a long time.
It took me eight years to understand that phone calls were not the only way, nor the best way, to prospect. One day, I decided to seek out a way in which I could present my ideas, strengthen my credibility, make people want to listen to me and eventually buy from me.
Then I learned about social selling, which is basically a sales model that uses digital tools, such as social media, to broadcast useful content that will allow you to establish conversations with prospects.
Social selling saved my business. It helped me attract several prospects interested in buying insurance. This sped up my sales process and improved my results dramatically.
3 keys to successful social selling
1. Credibility and trust
If you struggle to sell via social media, it is probably because you are not focusing enough on your credibility. Your main objective is to be recognized as an outstanding financial advisor. This first step will help you grow your network so you can help people in a massive way, and not only one on one.
2. Create content that positions you as an expert
Create content that shows how you are the authority on the subject. If people learn from you with a one-minute video or a post, you will earn their trust as well as their money.
The key to selling on social media is the connection you create with your followers, so share light and appealing content that helps them make better decisions and solves their most frequent questions.
3. Traffic attracter
It’s important to reach out to more people to position ourselves better. Here are a few ways to attract new traffic to your social media networks.
- Earn it: Share useful content and gain followers organically.
- Buy it: Pay for ads that expand your outreach and segment them to reach market niches.
- Borrow it: Look for collaborations with other people and businesses on social media, especially those with large followings. You can share posts or videos to make yourself known to the audiences of those other accounts.
With social selling, the prospect is attracted to your brand first, then gives you their trust, looks to you for advice and is the one who decides to buy from you. And I love it when someone buys from me out of conviction and not out of insistence.
Cynthia Rodriguez Barbosa, of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico, is a one-year MDRT member. This post was excerpted from her 2022 MDRT Annual Meeting presentation.
Learn more about social media marketing:
- Read “Social media shortcut” [MDRT members only]
- Watch “Attracting clients through social media”
- Read “How to effectively leverage social media” [MDRT members only]
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