As a life insurance agent, you have a wealth of tools at your disposal when it comes to interacting with clients. Whether that’s cutting-edge insurtech or products they can’t find anywhere else, leveraging those tools is critical to your success at Symmetry Financial Group.
Still, one of the greatest tools a life insurance agent can wield is connection. Connecting with clients, communities and recruits is key to your success in the life insurance industry. Cue the power of storytelling.
Knowing how to tell a good story can give you an edge in the field while developing your personal brand as a life insurance agent. We’ve put together this blog to give you a better understanding of the importance of storytelling and how to effectively use it in your life insurance sales.
Understand the landscape of life insurance sales
To understand the importance of storytelling in life insurance, you must first understand the landscape of the industry. As insurtech grows, a need for more engagement within client acquisition does also.
Today, clients can choose an entirely digital purchasing experience. As a life insurance agent your biggest advantage is a human connection. Buying life insurance is an intimate purchase for many, and engaging with your clients is how you outperform a digital application alternative.
Storytelling is a human gateway to truth telling . It’s how we form opinions and make decisions. It’s a fundamental piece of understanding ourselves, each other and the world around us. By leveraging this human connection, you can help more clients make informed decisions around their life insurance policies.
The future of the life insurance industry is going to require that life insurance agents build meaningful relationships with their clients centered around trust. Storytelling will help you build those relationships.
Identify your audience’s needs
It’s been said before, but life insurance is not a one-size-fits-all product. There are many uses for coverage, and where your client is in life (and what that life looks like) will dictate what kind of policy they need and how much coverage that requires .
The story you tell your clients, and how you describe the policy, will depend on what they’re trying to protect. If it’s keeping their mortgage up-to-date on payments should they lose a source of income due to death, disability or critical illness, you could tell them a story about mortgage protection.
If instead, their goal is to tackle growing credit card debt and student loans, you can describe what a Debt Free Life® would look like. Your story should demonstrate a clear understanding of your client’s needs. Without that, you’ll have a deflated narrative that goes nowhere.
Craft compelling insurance narratives
Crafting these life insurance narratives should revolve around a question. For example, “If one or both of the breadwinners were to become unexpectedly sick or injured, would all the bills still get paid on time?” or “What could you accomplish if you were free of loans or debt?” Either question helps the client attribute a real-life benefit to purchasing a particular life insurance policy. By starting these narratives with a question, you’ll make your clients consider the answer.
Telling these stories requires an understanding of how life insurance works, but it also demands that you choose relatable scenarios that incorporate real-life examples or case studies.
It’s not enough to weave a grandiose tale of how a certain product will solve all their financial problems. Instead, keep your narratives grounded in reality. It’s important that you create a strong balance between empathy and professionalism.
Tell a story that gives your clients the space to understand how a given product works and how it will affect them and their family.
Master the art of ethical storytelling
It’s important that the narratives you build ensure transparency and honesty. Ethical storytelling should be one of your chief concerns when meeting with clients. Anything that misinforms or manipulates your clients into buying a policy they don’t need should have no place in your sales strategy.
If you’re unsure of where the line is, remember that your stories should center around real-life examples of how a product can help your client.
If you’re dealing in fiction that in no way describes a product’s actual benefits, then you’re treading dangerous territory. Your narratives should be accurate depictions that don’t give your clients unrealistic expectations of how their policy will work for them.
Above all else, be sure your stories aren’t manipulating your clients into buying a policy that doesn’t fit their needs.
Your story matters
When you’re thinking of storytelling, remember that your story matters too. It matters to your clients. It matters to your recruits. Think of your story as personal branding that can be leveraged to establish better relationships with your clients and team.
Build your story on your own experience selling life insurance. Think of the families you’ve helped. Maybe you have an inspiring story of a family that saw tangible benefits in a product you sold them.
Life insurance can be transformational for your clients. Maybe you have a story of helping a family find coverage that you eventually saw pay off for them.
Memories like that will shape how you view yourself as a life insurance agent, be sure to share that with prospective clients. Stories of a family receiving a life-changing death benefit can be more influential than any online review.
Tell your story with Symmetry Financial Group
The power of storytelling can be a great asset to any life insurance agent. Whether it’s making an emotional connection with your clients or giving them real-life examples of how their coverage can help, telling a story will help you succeed.
If you’re interested in stories from some of Symmetry’s own agents, check out our “Symmetry Stories” playlist on our official YouTube channel.
