Let me preface this by saying that I realize the importance of life insurance in our lives.

But, have you been called on lately by a life insurance agent? What do you notice? And can we B2B sales people learn a lesson from them (how not to do things)? The answer is YES!

Last month, a young man called me from a reputable, brand name life insurance company. He was a great guy, trying to make it in a very tough business. I asked him how he got his new clients and, of course, his answer was: Referrals.

Being in the sales training business, I was interested in how he accomplished this since I know that referrals can be difficult to get in that business. Everyone has been ‘hit up’ repeatedly for ‘names of friends.’

What he told me was remarkable.
Remarkable in the sense that it’s the same routine agents have been using for eons. You know the drill: after the discussion (whether a person buys or not) he asks for names of 5 of my friends that he could talk to. No wonder there is such a high turnover among young agents in that business.

Ever wanting to help my friends, here are some suggestions for him and any of us that depend upon referrals for new business.

1. Make it easy. He made it tough. I am sensitive to my brand (and you should be too). If I give one of my clients’ names to him and he treats them shoddily, then I pay the price. We know how valuable good relationships are — don’t make me risk those relationships. He didn’t make it easy for me.

He should have had a product (a CD or a White Paper) stressing the pains that the average insurance consumer has in their life–and what to do about it. He should have given me a few to send my friends so they could become educated prior to ‘the call.’ Had he done that, I might have sent it out to a few people and who knows what would have happened.

2. Invite me to an event. I know everyone says ‘its hard to get people to seminars these days.’ Well, it is if it isn’t compelling. He should have a series of events lined up so that he could invite me to them–then I could get to know him and his team better. This seminar could have been a ‘pain-finding’ exercise where he could have educated me to the problems I have (that I may not know I have.) Don’t make this event a one hour sales pitch.

3.  Focus on solving my problems first. He didn’t ask me any questions about my issues, my future, my concerns. I feel like I have things under control, but maybe I don’t. But he didn’t do that. I felt like he was interested in one thing only and that was ‘getting to my database.’ How can I make an engaged referral to a friend if I didn’t see value in his offer?

My friend, John Jantsch, (Duct Tape Marketing) has written extensively on referrals. One of his great suggestions is to make getting referrals a part of doing business with someone. In other words, when someone buys, tell them upfront that you will be asking them for referrals (how many when and how). But that’s onlyY AFTER YOU DO BUSINESS WITH THEM.

What about you? Are you making it easy for people to refer you to their associates? Or, are you depending upon your charm and good looks to do that? People refer their associates when they think it’s in their best interest to do so–and that probably means that you bring enormous value and solve big problems.

But if your whole sales approach is “me centered” or “product centered” then don’t expect me to open my database. It’s too risky.

(I’m sure I’ll get numerous comments (some ugly) from the insurance market. But this is in the spirit of helping, not shaming.)