If You Don't Need a Chevrolet, You Don't Need a Chevrolet

By Bill Broich

Ever really looked at how cars are sold and hyped? Ever really talked to a car salesperson? They are always trying to sell the newest model with a simple formula. Car dealers try and build a need with us by explaining all the latest gadgets and features of the car. They try and get us to imagine how it would feel to own the car and have it in our garage. They try and create a need by expressing that purported need as a desire, a desire we must have. The fact of the matter is if I do not need a new car then I am not going to buy a new car!

Insurance agents are in so many ways like car dealers. Insurance agents can’t wait to tell you about their product and to show us how it works. They talk about all the bells and whistles and guess what, the prospect could care less! Why is it that way? The answer is because unless there is a need for the new car (or annuity) the wonderful product doesn’t work. The need must come before the solution. A very famous life insurance case written the 1950s tells the tale. A very large Fortune 500 company was having difficulty keeping its key executives from leaving.

Raises and more perks didn’t seem to help and nothing was working. Along came an insurance salesman who suggested they buy cash value life insurance and have the cash value available to them for their own use after a period of time which became known as “the vesting period.” It worked like a charm and the large company was able to increase key employee persistency and it was much cheaper to pay the premiums than it was to hire and train new executives.

This new idea was seized upon by tons of agents who ran all around the country showing companies how to use this product. There was a big problem the product was not the goal, solving the problem was the goal and not everyone had the same problem as the original company. The end result was agents trying to sell a product without knowing if it solved a problem. The problem was selling a solution without knowing if the solution was going to be effective in solving problems in the business.

Selling a solution without solving a problem is like trying to sell a car to someone who has no need for a car. It is a failure and will not work. If you sell insurance for a living make certain your “plan” actually helps a prospect and is not just the latest hot product. Selling to needs is the only way to sell any product.

Bill Broich is thirty year annuity salesman who helps agents generate leads and sales. To discover more visit his website: Annuity Leads System