The Secret Flow

The “Secret Flow” of Sales Power – What is it? 

Winners close sale-after-sale-after-sale in the same day. How do they do it? Does this seem like a mystery to you? To close daily sales, National Top Producers tap into the “psychology” of a buying customer.

I averaged 14 life insurance sales per week at the start of my insurance career in 2003. The three steps below may help you structure similar sales success.

1. Following the mindset of a “buyer” is a fancy way of saying that you have to hone in on the art of what, when, and how to speak to an interested customer. The more I speak “buyer inducing language,” the more appealing I become to a customer. There are certain things a customer must hear upfront to feel comfortable about moving forward with an agent’s sales presentation. A winning sales approach employs specific steps, together with exact sales verbiage, to instantly generate rapport, build mutual respect, increase immediate value, and induce “buy now” urgency.

Speaking about certain things too soon, or at the wrong time (i.e. customer payment information), will “spook” your customer, and result in watching them slink away from your sales presentation. Top Producers utilize exact words, industry wisdom, and a sure-fire way to relate important benefits that result in a closed sale. Following the psychology of a buying customer will make the sales process successful more times than not. The “Secret Flow” of sales power is not magic, it is a strategic sales presentation that masters this order: Verify Customer Request, What I Do For You, Customer Warm-Up, Identify Need, Prequalify Health, Financial Decision Maker, Benefits Explained, Present Quotes, Ask For Sale, Objections/Rebuttals, Close the Sale, Collect Payment Information, Application Process, Congratulate Customer, and Collect Referrals.

2. Tie Downs. Each section listed above contains a “Tie Down” question. A Tie Down is a mutual agreement or decision shared between a customer and a sales agent. Most inept sales agents make a “beeline” for the close of their sales presentation within a few minutes—overlooking the many question marks lurking inside the mind of a buying customer. If a customer sees a buying decision as too soon, too confusing, too ominous, or “threatening,” they will muster up 20 different objections to get out of the conversation about coverage.

However, if a customer and sales agent have enjoyed a meaningful series of small, mutual agreements together as stepping stones to the close of a sale, a customer is more likely to see a buying decision as doable today. Why? Because it is simply another small decision in a sequence of small, sensible agreements you’ve already made together. At the same time, Tie Downs also nip many specific customer objections in the bud one-at-a-time. I normally do not hear customer objections for 80 to 90 percent of all the sales that I close. Why? Because I believe it is worth doing a thorough job upfront to cover every Tie Down question in each section from start to finish.

3. Top Producers only spend their time talking to buyers. I never spend my time trying to convert a non-buyer into a buyer. A “secret sauce” to sales success (closing 1-4 daily sales) is to only spend your time on that which gains profit. It is not profitable to waste time becoming a “sales beggar” with a non-buyer. Once I have identified that the customer I am speaking to is not a buyer, I immediately stop my sales presentation and move on to someone else. A sales professional must employ a great sales script that allows them to identify within 10 minutes whether or not they’re speaking to a buyer. And, even when I find out that my customer is not a buyer, I still “squeeze a lead” for referrals and locate other potential buyers by utilizing powerful and exact verbiage for collecting referrals. To close between one and four daily sales, I must deliver five to eight sales presentations per day. A consistently high volume of daily sales is only accomplished by wisely conserving time and dealing exclusively  with buyers.  

Hey, Sales Pro! The only thing you get paid to do is serve policies. Before you can break out as the powerhouse salesperson you know that you are, you must get plugged into the “Secret Flow” of what works in closing daily sales. Sell smart to realize your full potential, and tap into a sales method that takes care of your customers’ needs first, meets their criteria of professional care, and generates an urgency to act immediately. Witness the realization of your daily/weekly sales goals, and watch the dreams of your life unfold in 2014!  I believe you can!