How I Make Events/Expos Successful
A lot of my in-person marketing is done at events and expos that I either sign up for or put together myself. I have found a few ways to grab attention to my table and acquire the information from prospects needed to follow up and convert them to clients. In this article, my intention is to share with you a little of what I have learned so far and what works for me. I’m sure I will add to this in the future, but this is what is working for me now.
To obtain information from a prospect I must first attract them to my table, stand, booth, or wherever it is that I am marketing from. It is important for me to separate myself from the crowd and do something unique to attract attention since many of the tables look the same. I utilize a large prize wheel with flashing lights that people can spin to win various prizes that I purchase at dollar stores or an online store that New York Life works with for branding. The value of the prizes themselves don’t really matter, so there’s no need to spend a ton of money on something like this. $40 at the dollar store can get you 50+ prizes of a few different categories.
Having a prize wheel helps for a few reasons. One, it makes people feel engaged. They are interacting with me outside from a typical sales interaction. It is not intimidating and allows a fun activity to precede my pitch and ease any apprehensiveness in the prospect. The second reason why I like the wheel is because it allows for me to evenly give away the prizes that I buy, and allows me to, in a way, tell the prospect which prize they will be taking. In situations where I am simply giving away prizes, people often ask for more than one, and the majority of people seem to concentrate on one or two of the five items I purchase, leaving the less attractive prizes for the people who come in at the end. People get excited about having to take a chance to win the prize that they want! Lastly, I really like the wheel because it gives me a reason to approach people at the event. Asking people (especially their children, who always want a free toy!) to spin the wheel for a chance to win a prize is pretty easy if you do it enthusiastically and with the right attitude. Its an easy way to get someone over to my table.
After the prospect has spun the wheel and won a prize, I go into my pitch. I used to say all this elaborate stuff about who I am, what I do, the company I represent, etc, but what I learned is that people really don’t care about that stuff. They don’t care about what I tell them, because they’re not interested in me, they’re interested in themselves, so I need to show interest in them. I now ask them a simple question; “Who do you have your life insurance with?”. That is a great question for me because if they response with “No one”, I respond with, “Awesome, most of my clients didn’t have coverage before they met me. Do you feel like life insurance is important?” If they respond no, then I ditch the life insurance pitch and go into financial planning and then explain how I’d love to keep in touch with them because at some point in their life they will need my help. I’m not going to spend 5 minutes convincing someone that they need life insurance when someone right behind them needs my product and wants it. The easiest way to avoid this objection altogether is to target events and expos that bring people who are in a position where they know they need life insurance, like baby expos, wedding expos, real estate expos, business expos, etc.
If the client responds with “Yes, I have policy through…” then I respond from the standpoint that I would love the opportunity to provide them with a better service, a better product, and a better price.
Regardless of what the person says, the next step I take actually goes against what most people say, people who adopt the old “smoke and mirrors” style of selling which will be obsolete sooner than later. I tell them, “I would love to provide you some information, a quote, and quotes from my top competitors as well so that you can see how affordable a great policy is. All I need is an email so that I can get it to you.” Rarely do people object to giving an email, so once they start filling out the card, if they don’t fill in the phone number section, I say, “ And if you can provide me with your phone number as well, I can shoot you a text with my direct contact information so that if you have any questions about the information I send you, you can reach me instantly. I promise I won’t harass you and you’re information will be kept private. Oh, and put in your date of birth so I can send you a personalized quote.” Most of the time, since I eased the air with the wheel, the prize, a great attitude, and an attitude of being here to give them the information they want, I get their contact info.
Immediately after the event, or during a dead period, I text the prospect directly with my contact information to let them know I will be sending their quotes and information over via email as soon as I can, and that it was a pleasure meeting them. I always see what I can do to provide the best service as possible to my prospects regardless of whether or not they expressed interest in buying right away.
I have often been told by veterans in the life insurance business not to send quotes and to get the appointment before sending the quotes. I feel like this is an outdated way of selling. I’m not going to pull some 1950’s car salesman stunt and say, “Oh well it’s a disservice to you to not sit with you in person..” because if someone said that to me they would immediately lose credibility. Saying something like that indicates you are hiding something in the eyes of the client. I have sold several policies using the technique I outlined and used Skype to verify the client’s identity. In these cases, I got the appointment on the delivery of the finished policy. People want easy, and I feel like this business must adapt to the consumer. The company and agents who can adapt to the 21st century way of selling will win out in the future, that is my firm belief.
Once I send them information, quotes on various amounts of coverage, and quotes from competitors, I follow up and ask if they have any questions. Then I ask if they’ve seen enough information to make a decision. At that point it’s a follow up game. I have never lost someone to a company with a lower quote, because the service I provide my customer, backed with the reputation of New York Life, is worth paying the extra money for in their eyes.