Business News

Improper Speech in Life Insurance Sales

Your clients can hear you!!

Written by: Paul Bloodsworth

August 6, 2024

[6 minute read]

Summary

Have you ever listened to yourself in a recording? Maybe you create content. Maybe you simply replayed a home video that you recorded on your iPhone...

The questions I have are these:

Did you cringe at the unpleasant and improper speech you heard?

What do you think your clients can hear?

In my case, I would quickly mute the audio when my voice appeared in a video. Why? Simple... because I didn't like what I was hearing.


If you're in sales, you must be aware of how your speech sounds to your clients.

  • Do you sound professional?
  • Are you the authority of the consultation?
  • Are you the expert?
  • Are you impressing the client with your extensive vocabulary?


If you're unaware of how much your speech matters in your ability to make Life Insurance sales, this article is going to make you think about why some of your sales opportunities failed to close.


In this article, we will highlight 3 major points:

74% of people claim to catch grammatical errors in others' speech

Why Speech is Important in Life Insurance Sales

Financial services and life insurance sales are not necessarily a task of selling products. Once you participate in this profession, you should quickly realize one very important fact:

Clients aren't purchasing commodities, THEY ARE PURCHASING YOU!! In other words, you should be SELLING YOURSELF.


If you do not "sound" professional, you will very likely fail in financial services. Think about it. The clients are sharing their intimate details about their family's money and health.

Do you expect to get a complete and accurate assessment from a client if you sound uneducated and unintelligent???

[Don't shoot the messenger...]

The number of life insurance agents in the industry is increasing by 8%, year over year, over the next 10 years. That's an average of over 48,000 new agents each year.

If you haven't noticed, the barrier of entry to become a life insurance agent is rather low. It's a mere process of a single exam to get licensed, and most enter the market with little startup capital. Plus, you may have also noticed that IMO's and Life Insurance Agencies will recruit inexperienced warm bodies who are willing sip their flavor of kool-aid.

{{That's a topic we won't touch today... but, you can watch this video if you're curious about How We Screw Up Recruiting}}

Bottom Line:

Clients want to work with Professionals! They deserve it, right? Clients simply will not feel confident, or even comfortable, in sharing their financial information with someone who doesn't sound professional.

Additionally, much of your communication is performed over the phone lines. Think about this: "More than 70% of communication is nonverbal." So, if you're involved in Telesales, your speech is literally the ONLY COMMUNICATION means you get to work with during the interaction.

Doesn't it make sense to put some emphasis proper speech?

IMPORTANT!

We are building a team of financial advisors and life insurance agents who take professionalism seriously.

If you are looking to join a team of advisors, minus the kool-aid, click here.

Why We Screw It Up So Badly

Culture? Our Environment?

Have we lost our English education?

Let's face it. There's never a person who gets accused of speaking "too properly." However, there's always those who "need to work on their speaking skills."

Let's consider 2 components of proper speech:

  1. Accent
  2. Grammar

ACCENT: Your accent can be a double-edged sword, and we all should be mindful of how use our accents to our advantage. Southern accents can be "too country," and ebonics can be too "ghetto." We all must admit that the extreme versions of these accents can be indicators of "lack of intelligence." [Again, don't shoot the messenger...]

Basically, any strong accent can be overcome by using smooth articulation.

Meaning... Speak with clear, pronounced sounds, and you're accent becomes a strength.


GRAMMAR: THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! If you want to win in sales, you must not sound like you skipped elementary school English & Grammar classes. We have become so unaware of our improper use of basic grammatical principles.

A few examples:

  • Double negatives: "I don't have no money..." [seriously?]
  • Lazy tongues: "I'm gonna go to the grocery store..."
  • Nonexistent words: "Ain't" is NOT a word. [ Your client doesn't care that Britannica finally added this their dictionary.]

Bottom Line:

Speak clearly and use proper grammar.


How To Overcome Poor Speech

It's all about effort....

Respectfully, most people with poor speech do not even realize that they are doing this. Personally, I've diligently worked on my speech since grade school, and I still cringe when playing back videos on our channel.

Slow down... Your nerves are showing.

  • It begins with awareness. Listen to yourself, and acknowledge that your speech MUST be a priority.
  • Be proactive. Study. You will have to go back to the basic grammatical concepts that you've forgotten.
  • Practice. You will benefit so much by repeating proper speaking methods. You will soon find yourself catching your own poor grammar. {{HINT: Stop and correct yourself during a conversation. The other person in the conversation will respect your efforts and become impressed with your self-awareness.}}
  • Research. Look up new words. If you hear someone use a word with which you're unfamiliar, Google it... Incorporate it into you own speech. An extensive vocabulary will make you the authority of the call....
  • ATTEND A PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR. Learn from those who have a passion for professionalism. Our Excel Blue Ocean Strategy seminar includes an entire section of how to speak professionally to prospective clients.

FOR BROKERS AND AGENTS...