Personalize Your Message to Stand Out

When I started in insurance my training was “Go knock on some doors”.

No training in how to sell. Just product knowledge and “Go get ‘em champ”. 

This is a good mindset to get you hustling to make your sales but it doesn’t provide a framework to start. 

You need something practical you can fall into when you're making the introduction. Which for me has always been the most difficult part.

You can’t stop someone from hanging up the phone on you most of the time but you can increase your chances of them hearing you out. 

Imagine you get a call and the first thing you hear is “Hi John, I’m Casey and I’m with XYZ Insurance Company. Do you have insurance? Because I got the perfect thing for you.”

That example is a little inflated but you get the point. In seconds most people know that you're a sales person and it’s a tough road from there.

Instead, if you take a tiny amount of time to research someone before reaching them you can build almost an immediate personal connection if it is genuine.

Imagine you’re the one getting a call and you hear, “Hey John. Thanks for taking a second to talk with me. I used to be a landscaper too and I know what a crazy time of year it is right now for you.”

Maybe they know you’re a salesperson right then but you’re building a true connection immediately.

The last example may have been a little on the nose.

How about, “Hey John, I saw your video on how to properly shape my hedges, I think I finally understand what I’ve been doing wrong.”

There are a lot of ways to get creative with this. As long as there is some sort of online presence of your prospect you have information about them at your fingertips 99% of the time. 

Here are a few examples:

• You see someone's portfolio and notice a company they worked with that you know someone there who could be a mutual acquaintance (this has happened to me).

• You can praise someone for their longevity in business.

• If you’re into cars and you notice your prospect is into cars, you can build off that.

• Watch a short video or ad and comment on how helpful/entertaining/informative it was.

The biggest hurdle might be the ability to compliment easily. It takes practice and being genuine. You just find the easiest gap to bridge then do it.

This isn’t just for face-to-face or over-the-phone sales, it works with copy too.

With emails, you just need a subject line that grabs their attention and they can SIP on.

SIP:

• Short

• Intriguing

• Personal

You need a personal message that intrigues them and is as short as possible. Putting someone's name in the message always helps with this.

The first line or two in the email after it’s opened should be your personal message then you need to deftly segway into the rest of the email.

Word of warning, sometimes you can skate a line between personal and creepy. If you think you might go too far with what you plan on saying it’s probably best to pull it back a little.

In conclusion, you need to stand out. People love talking about themselves and when you cater your message to that, watch how many more appointments you set.

Your friendly reminder to compliment but not be creepy,

Casey Puckett