5 Ways Your Local Insurance Agent Can Help Your Freelance Writing Career

Your local insurance agent is more than just your access to risk hedging; he or she is a one-person model of efficient and successful selling. Each and every method your insurance agent employs to get clients is one that could benefit your freelance writing business.

Here are some of the methods your insurance agent uses that you can tweak to make work for you.

1. Your insurance agent obtains a targeted list of prospective clients (leads). This list is either purchased or obtained from the member lists of local business groups, community groups, church groups-whatever groups contains the business owners or families that create your agent's target prospect. Because your insurance agent is a specialist, he or she is better able to find prospects. If you become a specialist writer you will enjoy the same ease of prospect finding and can even use some of the same list gathering methods.

2. Your local insurance agent makes cold calls to the prospects on his list. During these cold calls, your local insurance agent has a general script that he or she uses. This script has been developed over time and is a successful, succinct teaser about his or her services and how they can benefit the prospect. You too can develop a script with the same guidelines and benefit from cold calling.

3. Your local insurance agent finds out what the prospect needs and sets a follow up appointment. During the cold call, the agent figures out what his prospect wants-insurance for income and estate planning, college tuition for his kids after his death, health insurance with a preexisting condition, etc. The insurance agent then says he will gather some relevant information together and sets an appointment with the prospect. He or she works between the call and the appointment to develop a targeted marketing kit that addresses their prospective client's needs. You too can gather the above information from your prospects and develop a bid or proposal that speaks directly to their needs.

4. Your insurance agent knows his product inside and out. He or she knows what the available riders are and what they do, he or she knows when the surrender period on a policy ends, what the sub accounts consist of, what the insurance company's AM Best rating is, etc. He or she answers every question the prospective client has with confidence, patient explanation and details. As a writer, your product is you. You must know yourself and your abilities as well as your local insurance agent knows the insurers he or she represents.

5. Your insurance agent focuses on closing the sale. "Should I get that application out for you?" "Do you want to pay the initial premium with bank draft or check?" "Are you ready to get started with the health interview?" "When should I schedule your paramedical exam?" Do you focus on closing the sales with your prospects, or do you leave the ball in their court after answering all of their questions? You must be as devoted to closing the sale as your local insurance agent is if you want to increase your success ratio.