Are you using pre-approach letters in an effort to secure appointments? How well are those cards working for you? If your results are lower than you’d like, this article will help you make some adjustments to those letters and improve your insurance sales results.
Keep in mind that when you take the time and money to send out an advance approach letter, that letter has to produce results that are greater than the costs associated with sending it. If not, then continuing to do what doesn’t work won’t produce any different results. It’s not a huge surprise, but it amazes me how people keep sending a letter they already know isn’t working and hoping for a miracle.
There is an incremental process that has to happen for a pre-approach letter to work for you. The first step in the process is to open your letter. Do not use one of your fancy letterhead envelopes when sending these letters.
If you want your letter to open, it absolutely has to look like personal correspondence. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to use a plain, hand-addressed envelope sent with a live stamp. A live stamp is just a postage stamp like you buy at the post office instead of any kind of bulk meter postage.
Your reader is standing over the wastebasket sorting through their mail and deciding what to set aside to look at and what to throw away immediately. They open yours because they are curious about who sent them a letter. You have succeeded in the first step.
When they take your letter out of the envelope, it should look like a personal message, so again, don’t use your fancy letterhead because doing so will immediately trigger their defenses. As they begin to read your letter, your first prize should clearly communicate to them the value of reading your message. They should immediately understand that you understand what is going on with them.
The reader will see no value in an offer from you for a free review or personal appointment. They are thinking so what. You’re a complete stranger, they don’t know anything about you, and they certainly don’t see any reason to date you. That is the wrong offer.
The right offer will get them something that does have perceived value to them. Offer them something they do want and tell them the exact actions to get the offer. Then let them contact you first.
Some will communicate immediately, others will not. You need a system to properly track each person. Your goal when calling people who have contacted you is to determine if this person is a good lead for you. Only extend an offer for an appointment to people highly qualified to work with you who realize there may be a reason to meet with you to learn more.
Look at your current approach letter and compare it with the recommendations in this article. Improve and refine your letter. Then be sure to carefully select who you’re going to send those letters to.
When you learn how to develop your own highly proprietary list instead of wasting money on lists that will never produce like a well-developed list, you will enjoy great results from your letters. You won’t waste valuable marketing dollars sending tons of letters that don’t produce when you can selectively send small amounts that consistently produce highly qualified leads. Selling insurance doesn’t have to be so hard if you just stop doing the things that don’t work and learn to do the things that do work.
