Framing is simply creating a space in which we have no competitors. This one thing is the most important thing you can do in the first few minutes of sitting down with a prospect. You need to establish right away that what you do is unique and fills an overlooked gap in exposure with your clients.

One way to help this process along is to NOT use words that your “competitors” (New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, Farmers, AFLAC, Combined, Colonial, Allstate, etc.) are using: Benefits, Supplemental, Gap coverage, Deductibles, Co-Pays, etc.

The fact is, our policies have living benefits, disability payouts, lifetime income – not to mention return of premium if they’re not used. There’s a vast difference between a simple term policy that only pays someone else when you’re dead and the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have at their disposal the entire time they’re covered with one of our policies.

The simplest way to navigate those obstacles, though, is to create a playing field that’s all yours and no one else’s. We call that “Framing”.

• Start by spending 5 minutes building rapport. Ask all business owners these three questions to remind them of what they’ve built and how valuable it is:
  1. How did you decide to get into this business?
  2. Did you build it yourself or buy it from someone else?
  3. What do you plan to do with your business when you’re tired of running it every day?

• Find their injury, disability or illness story, learning what other insurance they have, and talking about your other clients.

• Explain the living benefits. Cancer, heart disease, strokes, accidents and disabilities are the major, income-threatening risks a business owner faces.

• Explain Direct vs. Indirect costs. Point out the financial impacts and that it’s the #1 cause of bankruptcy. Ask which costs would affect them the most, personally.

• Obviously, it makes way more sense to have someone else pay for those costs – so the policies pay them directly, in addition to anything else, and they choose how much they want to take out.

• Explain the icing on the cake – it’s 100% refundable!

• Finish with why YOU decided to use this carrier to cover your clients.