Why Telling is NOT Selling LTC Insurance

Many agents make the mistake of telling the client how about their wonderful company and product are, but fail to answer the question of what it means to the client.

Every person is tuned in to radio station WIIFM (“what’s in it for me?”) – so you must be prepared to answer the question “So what?” to any statement you are going to make about yourself, your company or your product.

A key distinction in answering the “So what?” question is understanding the difference between features and benefits:

Features: facts, data or information about your products or services. LTC insurance examples include “pays 100% of your nursing home costs” or “pays up to 21 days per year to reserve your bed in the nursing home.”

Benefits: show how a feature can help a buyer. LTC insurance examples include “ensure you are not an physical, financial or emotional burden to your family” or “provide you with the peace of mind that you have protected yourself.”

Features are neutral and unpersuasive. While providing this information to your client does not hurt you, it does not help you either.

Benefits must show a cost savings, meet a need, appeal to the personal ego, be unique compared to your competitors or offer a buying motive.

Translating your features into benefits is critical. You must turn every statement you make into the benefit to the customer (WIIFM).

More importantly, you must focus on the explicit needs the customer has expressed. For example, you may know that a feature of your product can be used to help the customer protect their assets.

Stating that feature as a benefit is an improvement over a feature, providing you with an advantage.

However, if a customer has expressed the concern that they want to avoid welfare, you will go much further to completing the sale if you demonstrate that feature as a benefit in those terms.

This creates a true benefit, played on radio station WIIFM for that customer.