Insurance Agents Changing Sales Script

The country’s leading insurers are redrafting the scripts used by their sales agents to sell life insurance policies and collect renewal premiums from customers as they adjust to the new business changes in the wake of Covid-19. 

They are now retraining their agents to convince customers to buy and renew policies through digital channels such as WhatsApp or Zoom, while also recasting sales strategies beginning with the manner of approach, said industry sources.

The sales pitch now has an emphasis on selling more pure protection covers instead of the investment and savings products in keeping with the changes in customer demand after the recent equity market meltdown, a falling interest rate regime and higher awareness about insurance covers as a result of the pandemic.

Most of the sales happening prior to the lockdown was of savings or investment products to save tax or accumulate returns. When we did customer conversations, we found out that risk covers are resonating better with customers. Sales scripts are undergoing changes to emphasize more on these elements of risks.

In the absence of face-to-face selling, insurers are now ramping up their digital channels to replicate physical interactions between sales agents and customers through the use of conferencing and data sharing tools.

The main change that took place is enabling the agents to have the conversation on the phone, which meant use of material which has been shared in advance with customers. The scripts now also cover digital transaction safety and explanation of the onboarding process to the customer.

Agents are now the primary leads as bancassurance sales have been severely hit due to lower branch walk-ins resulting from Covid-19 restrictions.

General insurers have also made similar modifications in their scripts and sales strategies. Insurer's focus has shifted on renewals in segments such as motor and travel where new sales generation is not happening.