For the last 37 years, Ed Lamont has been a commercial property casualty insurance agent, selling insurance to construction contractors and manufacturers. Almost 20 years ago, he started a separate company focusing on insurance companies, insurance associations, state associations, and insurance agencies outside of his immediate territory.
His motto? Sell value, not price.
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Ed:
What is Street Smart Selling?
Ed believes that all training is esoteric until you take it to the street. His book, Street Smart Selling, is broken down into four sections:
- Beliefs
What do you believe about your product? What do you believe about the value of a protection plan, safety & survival, and people’s assets?
- Marketing Strategies
Cold-calling, cold-walking, networking, use of information technology
- Specific Sales Skills
How do you hit on objection? How do you use questions to get somebody to open up? How do you ask for the order?
- Management
Strategies for Prospecting:
- PURPOSE
Tell the purpose of your call. Don’t try to trick someone into a visit. Be direct. Tell them something you believe in and tell them what you’re going to do next. That is a cold call.
- PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
Study what your product does and how it works. Know your product’s coverage, service, risk management, and the benefits of your product.
- BELIEF
Believe in your product. Believe in what you’re doing. If you can find a problem the customer has and solve it with your product, idea, or good service then they will believe it. Once you know the benefits (meaning truly believing them in your soul) then you can communicate them. Belief is your key to becoming a super producer across an industry.
Strategies for Developing Relationships:
- Give them ideas on how to become more profitable.
- Patronize your client (if it’s a restaurant, for instance)
- Refer their business.
- Make matches with your current customers.
Marriages with their own industry with people that can benefit them.
- Simply ask them what they want.
- Be a sleuth of influence.
The 2 Career Killers in Insurance:
- Not asking for the order
- People are just lazy
Why?
- People don’t want to hear “no”
- They fail to build the value proposition in the entire part of the sales process
- People don’t want to put the time to set the stage for the close and to make the close more natural.
- Inability to handle the objection well
Strategies for Closing:
- Set the rules of negotiation all the way through and confirm them all the way through
- Handle objections by understanding them first before solving them.
Ed’s Major Takeaway:
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.”
Current projects Ed is working on:
- Speaking engagement
- Expanding his historical speaking
- Book #3 in queue
Get in touch with Ed Lamont by calling 561-737-7388 or visit www.lamontconsultinggroup.com. Connect with Ed Lamont thru 
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