 Hey, most insurance agents are making mistakes right now on the phone. You may be as well, stay tuned in this video to make sure that you don't make those mistakes anymore. Okay, so I'm going to go over eight rules for calling insurance leads. There's eight rules that you can use to make sure that you don't make mistakes, to make sure that you have success, to make sure that you actually set appointments, okay? Because that's the goal. If you think about, okay, what is our goal when we are calling insurance leads? I believe it's twofold. Okay? A, I believe it's important to keep control of the call. Okay, when you're making calling insurance leads, having control, super valuable. Okay? B, part two, the goal is to obviously set or book appointments if that's what you're focused on. So these eight rules will make sure that you're able to stay in control and it'll help you set more appointments when you call leads, all right? So let's jump right in. The first one is you need to assume that the right person answered the phone. One of the biggest mistakes that I see insurance agents make when they call leads is they say, are you Betty? I'm looking for Betty. Is this Betty? Can I speak to Betty? Instead of saying, hello, Betty, right? It's a much more confident approach. You think about it, hello is this Betty or hello, Betty? Which one sounds more confident? Which one's less likely to be lied to? Because we've all done it to where a telemarketers called you and you said, no, you got the wrong number. When in fact, it was actually you, they were asking for you and you should have said it was you, right? However, they ask, they didn't tell, right? Great sales people tell, they don't ask, okay? So that's rule number one, assume the right person answered the phone, okay? Rule number two, say your first name. I don't believe in saying last name, right? It may sound official, but it also sounds stupid because they're not going to remember it. So who freaking cares? All right? So drop the last name. I only want to give them enough information for them to actually make a decision. Too much information, they're not going to remember anyway, right? So I drop last name. I don't ask last name, okay? Also I don't say company name. I know that's a little rare, a little odd. I don't say company name because in the past what I've noticed is when I say, this is Cody from SecureAgent Insurance, okay? That'll give them a chance to interject and say, I don't know who is this or I don't know who SecureAgent is or I didn't do this or who are you or what'd you say you are again or who was that again or who is that or what, you know, why are you calling, right? I don't want them to interject yet, why? It goes back to keeping control of the call. If you want to be in control, okay, keep it extremely simple. I say my first name. That's it, right? Hello, Betty. This is Cody. That's it so far. Okay? I also, moving to the next piece, rule number three, I also love the phrase, we're getting back to you about your request for the blank, okay? I love the phrase, we're getting back to you. It's simple. It's less because most, I mean, here's the example of a wrong call. Most insurance agents will make a call. They'll say, hey, I'm looking for Betty. Is this Betty? Hey, this is, you know, this is Cody Askins with SecureAgent Insurance. How are you doing today, right? Another mistake. I'll talk about it later, okay? Then we'll say, you fill out a form to do this or to buy this or to talk about this and then we pause. Instead, we're getting back to you, right? It's not saying, hey, you did this so we're talking, we're getting back to you. You requested it, so I'm just simply getting back to you. That's why I love that phrase, we're getting back to you, okay? Rule number four, I love drop-off information, okay? I love drop-off information. So we're getting back to you about your request for the blank. I'm the local foot underwriter and I'll be out in your area on Friday. Should I drop this information off in the morning or in the afternoon, right? That's why I also love the either or as well. Drop-off information and I love either or. Get them to make a decision. Dropping off information, what's amazing about that is, about nine out of ten of them actually forget that you were ever dropping anything off anyway. You say, well, Cody, what am I dropping off? Most forget. Even if they do remember, you can drop off a card, you can drop off quotes, you can drop off you, you can drop off your brain full of knowledge or after, or you can drop off yourself on their freaking couch and then 60 minutes later you're doing business together, right? You can do whatever you want. However, dropping information off, because the goal is to set appointments. It's easier to set appointments when you say that you're dropping something off versus if you said, I would like to set an appointment for this time. Can I spend an hour with you? Can we sit down together at your table forever, right? Two hours sound good. I'll be out in your area on Friday. Should I drop it off in the morning or afternoon? Simple, okay? Moving on, okay? Number five is I always finish with a question, 100% of the time. That's one of the things when I'm calling leads. I believe that you should be finishing with a question always. That's a powerful opinion of mine that's correct. Anytime I speak on the phone, I finish with a question. The only time, taking us to rule number six, because I don't believe in pausing but the only time I will pause is if I just ask a question, right? Most insurance agents say, hey, you responded to talk about this and then they pause. That's how you lose control immediately, okay? That's why I always finish a question and I only pause after I finish with a question. Otherwise I never pause. The pause, the pause is the death of the call. It's the absolute killer of freaking phone calls. Pause and watch what happens. When you pause, you're showing a lack of confidence. You're saying I don't know what to say. You're saying I don't know what to do and you're also saying, hey, Betty, please say something that dumb that you don't mean that would object to anything I'm saying right now. You're like, please insert an object. I don't have confidence, Betty. Please insert an objection here right now, please, okay? So that's why I never pause, right? I believe in keeping it simple. I believe in it as being a path. I believe in following a script and I believe in never, ever pausing unless you've asked a question, then you can pause, okay? It shows a lack of confidence, control and you're begging for an objection. Rule number seven is I believe in always, always, rule number one of cells, always, always, always agree. We are trained. It's human nature to be combative, to be disagreeable, to attack them, to confront them when in reality we should be in a state of agreement always, right? I hate your guts. I'm with you, right? Most people do until they get to know me. I'm not interested. I understand. Most people are not, right? Be agreeable, be agreeable. That's why we teach the three As to overcoming objections, which we will talk about in a different video if we haven't already, is agree, answer and ask. When you get an objection, agree, answer and ask, right? Asking a question puts you back in control. So always be agreeable. I don't care what they say, I don't care if they say, I didn't do it, right? I'm with you. It's easy to forget. You put your date of birth as this. I'm assuming that that helps you remember that you didn't do it, right? Agree, answer and ask. Always, always, always, always, always agree, okay? And rule number eight, don't say, we've got new sales people down there. I caught one of them saying this earlier, and I'm like, dude, you do not care how they're doing. You do not know them yet, okay? Nobody cares. What's the number one thing a telemarketer always starts a call with? How are you doing today? Right? Do you want to be a telemarketer? No. You want to keep control of the call? Yes. How are you? You're doing horrible. Why are you calling me? Right? I didn't do it. I'm not interested. What do you mean? You're not interested. I said, I said, how are you, right? So don't even say how are you? Keep control of the call and set appointments. Nothing else matters. You can figure out how they're doing. You can think about them. You can talk to them. You can get to know them once you actually sit down, okay? So think about this. If hypothetically you were to assume the right person into the phone, hello buddy. You were to say your first name. This is Cody. You were to say we're getting back to you. You were to give an either or and actually offer to drop the information off. You were to always finish the question. You were to never pause. You were always agreeing and you never said how are you. Would you set more appointments yes or no? Absolutely. And fatically, yes you would. 92% of insurance agents fail. Most are horrible on the phone. They don't know what they're doing. And these are my eight rules for calling insurance leads. So from now on, remember when you make one of these mistakes and you're probably making multiple today, right now, just a minute ago, or you will in the future unless you actually start to adopt these. If you want to have success calling insurance leads, you will implement these into your business and your practice right away. Hey, if you like this video and you want to learn how to generate high quality insurance leads, then go right there. Watch that video. Click on that and I'll see you there. Today I'm going to go from start to finish on our entire advertising process to get a lead for an insurance agent. And hopefully you'll learn a thing or two about how to also