Question: I marvel at top insurance advisors when they talk about how they sell. They make it seem so natural and easy. How can I be that good? 

Watching top advisors sell is almost mesmerizing. They are so good that we want to buy what they are selling ourselves.

The good news is that high performance like this is a learned skill so you can do it too.

Great sales professionals are “instinctive” and that’s why it is so marvelous to watch them work. To be “instinctive” means to say and do the right thing at the right time without thinking or reasoning. There is no “hemming or hawing”. There is just pleasant, comfortable, forward progress to the intended objective.

Instinctive selling is saying and doing whatever it takes unconsciously, naturally, and automatically to help people do what they wouldn’t do except that we helped them along. It’s not being manipulative. It’s being supportive so your clients can do what they need to do to get the results they want for themselves, their families, and their businesses.

Here’s how instinctive selling looks:

• Instinctive professionals don’t have think about adjusting their presentation when their prospect is interested in something they didn’t consider before they got there. They just do it. They pivot and move forward.

• They welcome objections because they know they can handle anything their prospect brings up calmly, professionally, and effectively. In fact, they know that objections and proper responses will only solidify the sale and make the close easier.

• They use the right word at the right time with the right prospect to get the right response every time. They are communication experts in their field. They know the words, stories, and questions that help people buy. 

• They ask the perfect question when their sale looks to be lost so they can turn the situation around and get the deal anyway.

• They know the right motivating story for every situation in their specialty and deliver it so that it sounds new and believable every time. Nothing ever sounds contrived or fake.

• They don’t believe every comment or objection they hear from a prospect during an interview because they know that when people are under pressure, they will say anything. And they usually do. They know people balk even when they want to take the prescribed action, so they soldier on.

• They ignore some questions and objections because they know they are fake and only intended to delay or as an unconscious response to their anxiety.

• They presume that everyone buys because they know that with the right presentation the sale is made. So, they get started with the paperwork. Almost no one stops them. 

Becoming an instinctive sales professional is a “do-it-to-yourself project”. It takes desire, effort, commitment, rehearsal, and practice. A lot of practice. And focus. 

Focus because the only way you can ever know enough about your business to be instinctive is to specialize. Focus is the very essence of professionalism and instinctive sales. Without focus you will never be instinctive.

With your focus in mind, you must then research your business and the industry. Read, watch, and listen to everything you can about your specialty. Also read and watch more about professional selling especially in the life insurance business. Read and watch the stories of the greats like John Savage, Burt Meisel, Roger Zener, Bruce Etherington, George Sigurdson, Ben Feldman, Marv Feldman – and others – maybe like Brian Tracey. Watch them on YouTube. Buy their books. Take notes.

Great producers are students of the business. They know their business and especially their specialty as well as anyone. They know their favourite polices better than the actuaries and marketers at home office. They know underwriting as well as underwriters. They know the appropriate tax law as well as the accountants. They know their specific legal responsibilities like they lawyers. They use compliance as an advantage – a stepping stone and not a stumbling block. They get the professional coaching they need to help them do their job even better. Become a student of the business, the business will become more instinctive. You will become more successful.

However, knowledge is not enough. Many advisors are knowledgeable as evidenced by their lengthy lists of designations but are still not instinctive. They are missing a key requirement. They are not sufficiently rehearsed and practiced. They still must think and reason their way to a response.

To be instinctive, you must seriously, honestly, and diligently rehearse every line you use and every thing you do in an interview many times over. To be instinctive you must practice not just until you get it right, but until you can’t get it wrong. That means the right words a the right pace and with the right tone. Put in the time. The life insurance business is only a half day job, and you can work any 12 hours you like.

Something else. Rehearsal is what you do in front of a mirror, or on video, or with your staff person. Practice is what you do in front of actual prospects. You need both. Practice with leads that didn’t work out before and trying again for meetings. Talk to old prospects. See enough people so that you build good sales development momentum. And to be clear, this takes time. Don’t think that you can be a success in this business by putting in just 4 hours a day. This is not a “side hustle”.

When you build narrow and deep knowledge in a specialty and put in enough time so that you can act and react without thinking and reasoning - you will have made selling instinctive. Yes. You. Can. 

This column by renowned advisor coach Jim Ruta was first published in the December 2023 edition of Insurance Journal magazine.

For more information on the tools to use to build your brand, check out www.advisorcraft.com/solis

Jim Ruta’s mission is simple – to preserve, promote and propel the financial advisor business. A former insurance advisor and executive manager of a 250-advisor agency, Jim is a highly regarded coach, author, podcaster and keynote speaker. He has spoken 4 times at the MDRT Annual Meeting including the Main Platform. Jim Ruta is an Executive Coach and Keynote speaker specializing in life insurance advisors and leaders. He works with top advisors around the world and re-energizes audiences with his deep insight and passion. 

If you have a question for Jim, you may send an email to [email protected]