Little known stats about sales prospecting

While the common feeling we all arguably have, when interacting with salespeople, would be that of resistance, a survey report by The RAIN Group, we stumbled upon has essentially debunked such a notion!

Writer’s note: this survey was done in the US, but we think the findings can be highly relevant here as well.

Majority of clients WANT to hear from you, even at the early stages of their research

So with the internet at the fingertips of everyone these days, it is often assumed that most clients will do their own research; that the salesperson can only interject, midway through the buying process.

According to this survey report though, clients want to hear from the salesperson at the early stage when they are

• looking for opportunities to improve their business (71%)
• trying to solve a problem (62%)

Only 2% said that they do not want to talk to a salesperson at all. 

In the context of insurance and insurance intermediaries, this bodes well. 

To begin with, insurance baring the more commoditised ones is not the most easy to understand!

8 in 10 clients prefer communicating over email first

78% of the clients surveyed said they like to connect via email first.

However, over half of them say that they will not mind speaking over the phone as well. An interesting nugget we read was that the busier the client (VP or C-suite) the likelier the preference for a call.

Minority of clients mentioned that they are open to communicating with salespeople at industry events (34%), via LinkedIn (21%) and social media (18%).

82% of clients say they are likely to take a meeting 

This is an encouraging stat!

But what is more important is being on the correct side of this 82%.

Needless to say, the majority of clients mentioned that the biggest factor to connect with a salesperson is whether they need the product or service they are offering (75%).

Budget is the second most important factor (64%)

The most important stat we want to call out, and is also the third most important factor, is if the salesperson offers to provide something of value (63%).

For insurance intermediaries, this is where we feel Surer will be able to help.

Traditionally, the quote sourcing process is tedious and it is hard to get a set of quotes that an intermediary can feel confident about.

However, with Surer, we take the pain out of this process – essentially, you commit to the action of creating ONE proposal ONCE, but have the ability to then get quotes back, from multiple sources.

Now, because it is so much easier to get a quote, the intermediary can leverage the Surer technology to be able to tell their clients ‘hey, why not let me know what your requirements are, and I will start sourcing for a quote… no obligations’.

67% of clients say tailored solutions will get them even more interested 

When asked what time of information can help influence the client to accept a meeting, the most popular answer, at 69%, was to have data relevant to their business.

This is not surprising, because as a client, I know I am already deriving value from the salesperson, even before buying anything.

So for example, if you are speaking to an SME, help them understand why they are underinsured!

Once again, they mentioned that information that are specific to them (67%) will be the most interesting to them.

So in the context of insurance, as mentioned in the point before this, if you can arm yourself with the ammunition to be able to tell this client that you can share quotes with them, and discuss from there on, we feel it will be extremely powerful. 

>90% of clients feel a sales meeting is more valuable if you help them better understand their needs

While common belief is that the clients will think that they already understand their needs, the fact from this survey says otherwise.

92% actually mentioned that they will deem a conversation to be worth their time, if the salesperson is able to better understand their needs.

We covered this topic in more detail in this article. Do have a read!

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While the role of the salesperson and especially, an insurance intermediary is definitely not easy, we hope the stats we shared in this article have given you some encouragement!