Escape Voicemail Hell: The Method That Triples Your Appointments

Stuck in voicemail hell, stonewalled by gatekeepers, and losing deals to the incumbent agent who always gets last look? 

This episode breaks down two systems that flip the game: Bold Statement Appointment Setting, which rebuilds the first five seconds of every cold call, and the Seven-Layer Voicemail and Email Strategy that positions you as the problem-solver buyers actually call back. 

Randy Schwantz shares the exact opening line that stops prospects from hanging up, plus the story that busts the incumbent relationship before you ever set the appointment. Producers running this went from one appointment per 100 dials to one per 23, and reached million-dollar books nearly ten years faster than their peers. If you're tired of dialing all morning with nothing to show for it, listen before your next call block. 

If this episode was helpful, share it with a producer or agency leader who needs it. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hey there. Do you ever feel stuck in voicemail hell? I mean, struggle to get past the gatekeeper? Does it seem impossible to get your prospect on the phone to even ask for an [00:00:10] appointment? Well, if you said yes, it's time to rethink your approach. You know, when you bump into gatekeepers and your prospects won't return your phone calls, setting appointments is very difficult, and without the [00:00:20] right strategy, you're just another salesperson your prospects are hoping to ignore until you disappear.

Welcome to the Agency Growth Machine podcast, where it's [00:00:30] all about transforming potential into profit. And now your host, Randy Schwantz.

Hi there. I'm Randy Schwantz, author [00:00:40] of six books on selling insurance. I've trained over 10,000 producers in a sales process called the Wedge, and I developed Bignition, the triple threat solution which integrates [00:00:50] sales CRM, sales training, and sales management into one cohesive platform, simplifying growth for middle market insurance agencies.

What if I told you that the [00:01:00] key to growing a million dollar book of business isn't luck or even experience, but having the right prospecting system in place? See, when producers have a [00:01:10] system where your prospecting workflow and technology are the same thing, you become much more efficient at setting appointments and winning business.

We're gonna break down how a well-built [00:01:20] prospecting system helps you set quality appointments faster and easier. See, when you book quality appointments with your ideal prospects, meaning they're right revenue, [00:01:30] you have the markets to compete and the services to win, you're not just being busy, you're meeting with prospects that enable you to stack one win on top of another [00:01:40] and rapidly grow a huge book of business.

So this is the first secret to becoming a million dollar producer. Prospect the right accounts that you can win and [00:01:50] retain, and you'll grow fast. So here's where many producers go wrong. They lack a structured system for prospecting. I mean, too often, producers have no niche [00:02:00] focus, a weak or outdated database, poor contact information, and no method to capture a prospect's attention.

This leaves them chasing anything that [00:02:10] moves, typically small accounts with low revenue that are price sensitive, buyers that don't see value in having a great agent. So even if you [00:02:20] win them, they're hard to retain, and they churn a lot, and this won't help you reach your long-term goals of building a million dollar book.

So when producers [00:02:30] don't have a method for prospecting, they waste time on poor leads and fail to land the types of clients that will really grow their book, and this leads to frustration for [00:02:40] both the producer and the agency owner as goals are missed and growth remains sluggish. So let's look at the standard approach to prospecting and why it doesn't [00:02:50] work.

There are three common strategies producers use to prospect. Number one is the bump theory, and that just means that if they join enough [00:03:00] networking clubs, the local country club, or go to contractor association meetings, all places where they bump into people, also referred to as networking, [00:03:10] someone is gonna ask them to work on their insurance, and this will generate some revenue, but mostly small accounts.

And on occasion, there'll be a cherry in the [00:03:20] mix, but for the most part, it's a slow path to building a million dollar book. Look, I've met thousands of producers with 20 to 30 years in the [00:03:30] business. They've grown a $500,000 book with 300 accounts to manage that did it that way. Contrast that to the young guys we've coached [00:03:40] that get to a million dollar book in the five to seven years with a focused prospecting strategy, and you decide for yourself which would be better.

Number [00:03:50] two, the second prospecting strategy is cold calling, and there are three common scripts. I mean, most of the time producers have been told to introduce themselves and state their [00:04:00] purpose for the call. So they say something like, "Hey, it's Trey Jones with Risk Management Associates. We specialize in writing insurance for contractors.

Are you looking for a [00:04:10] second opinion on your insurance this year? If so, I'd like to come out and talk to you." Or, "I have a special program that I'm not sure you qualify for. [00:04:20] If you do, it could potentially save you a lot of money, and the only way we'll know is to get together. When would be the best time, Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 2?"[00:04:30] 

And then the third is, if I can improve your coverage and save you some money on your insurance, is there any reason why we couldn't meet next week to talk about it? Now [00:04:40] look, there is nothing wrong with any of these scripts except they are shooting off a flare saying, I want to sell you some insurance.

And when you do that, [00:04:50] most buyers find a way to hang up fast. And then number three is a more reactive approach to prospecting. It's where a producer sits at their desk waiting for an [00:05:00] unsolicited referral or an inbound lead that no one else really wants. It keeps them busy quoting on small stuff. They generally end up with writing [00:05:10] 10 to $15,000 of new business a year, just enough to replace those accounts that left.

They end the year with zero net growth. And while these methods might [00:05:20] occasionally bring a nice client, they lack consistency and don't allow producers to concentrate on their ideal target markets. So what should they be doing? [00:05:30] Well, imagine a producer had a niche, maybe two. He has a database of 300 prospects.

He has the primary buyer and their phone number and [00:05:40] email address. He also has at least three to four markets that have an appetite for these kind of accounts and want to write it. He's done his research, talked [00:05:50] to underwriters, claims managers, and loss control people so he understands the problems of the niche.

He's identified the top three to five pains these kind of buyers have [00:06:00] and knows how to solve them. How powerful would that be? Let's contrast that to my experience as a salesperson. My bosses put me on the phone with [00:06:10] no coaching, no strategy. I had no clue what to say. I just made it up. It was hard, and I struggled.

I had nothing to believe in. [00:06:20] I had no clue what our differentiation was. I didn't know why our prospects needed us. I was just trying to sell something to make a living, not sell to improve my [00:06:30] prospect's situation. And when I finally got into business for myself, things changed. I knew that one of the biggest problems my prospects had was [00:06:40] getting used by their prospects to keep the incumbent agent honest.

In other words, producers were quoting on accounts, the incumbent agent would somehow get the [00:06:50] last look and chance to match their price, and they were getting rolled by the incumbent agent and suffered low closing ratios. And I was confident I could help them solve [00:07:00] that problem. So when I got my ideal prospect on the phone, here's how the call would go.

They'd answer the phone, 'This is Bob.' I'd go, 'Hey Bob, [00:07:10] Randy Schwantz.' And I wouldn't say anything else. And there was generally a pause, and then they'd say, 'Uh, yeah, hi Randy, how can I help you?' [00:07:20] If I'd said, "This is Randy Schwantz and I'm trying to sell you something," they would have immediately hung up. And that's why we need to be willing to [00:07:30] break rules from the old school days.

Most people would tell you that you have to introduce yourself, tell them who you're with, and the purpose of your call [00:07:40] Do that if you want, but at the point the buyer feels the sales pressure, they're gonna say, "Thanks, but we're happy," [00:07:50] or, "We just renewed," or, "My brother-in-law is my agent," or, "We have a three-year deal.

Call me back in 24 months." So the first [00:08:00] principle is quit sounding like a salesperson, because that makes them act like a buyer and they hang up. So after he said, [00:08:10] "Hi, Randy. How can I help you?" I'd simply say, "I help insurance agents bust the incumbent relationship. Is this an [00:08:20] okay time to talk?" So here's principle number two.

Stir up some curiosity, and do it around the number one pain that your prospect has. We teach a three-step [00:08:30] formula called the buyer's pain blueprint to discover and isolate these hidden pains in our workshop. Once you understand this formula, this becomes relatively [00:08:40] easy. People who don't figure it out often stay stuck selling price and coverage, and it's a tough way to try to make a living in the insurance business.

[00:08:50] That simple and direct phrase, "I help insurance agents bust the incumbent relationship," opened the door to great conversation. I would then follow [00:09:00] up with a story that created a context for the solution I could provide. So principle number three, use a story or analogy to create context for your [00:09:10] differentiation, your deliverable, or your solution.

I would say this. I have a bookshelf with over 200 books on selling. They all have one thing in common. They say that there are two [00:09:20] people in a sales interview, and if you can build a relationship, find out what your prospect wants, and bring them what they want, you'll get rewarded. Well, I think they're half [00:09:30] wrong.

Instead of there being two people in a sales interview, I think there are three, me the seller, you the buyer, and the bad boy incumbent. And not [00:09:40] only do you need to have a strategy to build the relationship, you better have a strategy to bust the incumbent relationship, or they'll get last look and keep the business.[00:09:50] 

Make sense? Now, obviously, this was a cold call, and a lot would engage by saying, "Yeah, you make a good point," and would work to [00:10:00] set the appointment. Others would tell me they had a great sales team, never suffered from this kind of problem, and it was over, but it didn't matter because I got more than [00:10:10] my fair share to set an appointment, and that is the goal.

Since then, I've trained hundreds and hundreds of producers in that process. I call it Bold Statement [00:10:20] Appointment Setting, and the first goal is to improve what happens in the first five seconds of a cold call, then a strategy to deliver your mechanism for solving their [00:10:30] problem through the power of story.

That leads to more appointments with the right kind of buyers, and it's based upon the value you bring. Contrast that to [00:10:40] attracting bottom feeders, those who are interested in getting a quote from you to keep the current agent honest. Now, this is a big deal if you wanna grow a million dollar book, but it's [00:10:50] only half the equation As everyone knows, the hard part is getting the buyer on the telephone in the first place, and it's easy to get [00:11:00] stuck in voicemail hell or held off by the gatekeeper.

I've asked hundreds of producers, "Do you leave voicemails?" And most of them tell me the first [00:11:10] time they call, they do, but after that, they don't. And it hit me one day as I was driving down the freeway that Verizon and McDonald's had [00:11:20] billboards all along the interstate, and I was thinking, "Why do they waste money on those billboards?

Everyone knows who they are." And then I went back to a [00:11:30] book I read a long time ago called Positioning: The Battle For The Mind, and these guys named Ries and Trout, both advertising guys, said that a big part of [00:11:40] advertising and marketing was to be there when the buyer was ready to buy, not just when you are ready to sell.

And they [00:11:50] said that people have file cabinets in their brains. There is one for insurance. When they have a problem, they open the f- insurance file cabinet to look for a resource or a [00:12:00] solution, and you want to be the first file folder, not the 10th or worse, nowhere to be found. So I started thinking, how many buyers of [00:12:10] insurance have a problem with their insurance sometime during the year?

It might not be at renewal. It might not be in the first 90 days. But somewhere along the way, [00:12:20] they have a problem. A claim didn't get paid that they thought should. A certificate was slow, and their truck couldn't get on site. Their insurance cost took a huge leap, and the [00:12:30] agent said, "That's just the way it is.

We did the best we could." Who knows? There are hundreds of things that could go wrong. Back to Verizon. [00:12:40] They keep their billboards up to position themselves as the solution when you're ready to buy. So where's your billboard? How often are [00:12:50] you getting a powerful pain-oriented message to your buyer? And so that's when I came up with the Seven-Layer Voicemail and Email Strategy.

[00:13:00] Using the three-step formula in the Buyer's Pain Blueprint, you come up with the seven biggest pains your buyer has that you believe you can fix. You craft short [00:13:10] but powerful voicemails and corresponding emails so you can market yourself as a solution to those problems. Now, let's suppose you are [00:13:20] relatively new at selling insurance.

You've got 200 to 300 prospects in your database. Your first problem is they don't have a clue who you are [00:13:30] or what you stand for, so you set a call block for every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. You are prepared to dial the phone for 75 minutes. [00:13:40] If you have a system, you'll make about 50 dials.

You'll probably get two to three buyers on the phone. You'll have six to eight conversations with gatekeepers, [00:13:50] and you have 40 or more voicemail opportunities. What are you doing to capitalize on those voicemail marketing opportunities? [00:14:00] Well, your primary goal is to set an appointment. Your secondary goal is to position yourself as the go-to problem [00:14:10] solver.

You wanna be positioned in the mind of those buyers as someone that understands their problems and can fix it. And when I ask producers, "What are you [00:14:20] doing to take advantage of that opportunity?" most say nothing. You spend the time building the list, making the dial, [00:14:30] and 80% of the time you go straight to voicemail and hang up.

What if instead you leave a voicemail about the problem you solve and a [00:14:40] corresponding email about the same problem? You just laid two messages on them, one auditory, your voicemail, and one visual, your [00:14:50] email. You do that once or even twice a week for eight weeks, you stack problem on top of problem.

You've put 16 [00:15:00] powerful pain solution messages on them. Now, how many of them do you think will start to see you as a resource, a problem solver, and wanna talk to you? [00:15:10] And for those of you wondering, I built a system to make it easy for you to do it called Bignition. And we've got stats on producers going from two [00:15:20] appointments a month to four in a week, from a ratio of one appointment per 100 dials to one appointment per 23 dials.

I mean, it's a life [00:15:30] changer. Producers that have a system to prospect and set quality appointments with their target prospects get to million-dollar books about 10 years [00:15:40] quicker than their peers. So have you tried Bold Statement appointment setting or the seven layer of voicemail email strategy? If so, what's been your experience?

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