I believe humans are at the core of any business, regardless of what you are selling.
I would like to share my recent experience. I was in the process of updating my health insurance. Hideous task in my books. Too many choices, lots of research required and lots of confusion. You can go to iSelect, who offers several options (I did go through them first as well, great marketing for sure), but still not clear what is the best option for ME.
After making a few calls, I called AHM Insurance.
It was Friday morning and without much waiting, I was connected to a real human. Her name was Lee. She asked me for my basic details and led me on the right path straight the way. She asked me what the weather is like in Sydney. “Sunny” – I replied. “Where are you, Lee”?
She said: “I am in Adelaide”. In the next few minutes, Lee sold me on Adelaide and the reasons I should definitely visit, as I told her I had never been to Adelaide. We had a long chat, we discovered that we were born in the same year, hence she can also recommend what extras I need at my age/our age. We laughed a lot. She said: “ You are my first call today and you made my day. I could talk to you for hours.”- she said. I laughed. To finalise the insurance was my top priority for the day. It was my “eat that frog first” task (if you are not familiar, eat that frog is a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also the one that might have the greatest positive impact on your life). Lee made this task very pleasant. I should eat more frogs.
We talked about the training that the AHM insurance company does for their salespeople and how her boss was listening to her conversations with a client and said to her, please never change.
I’ve been in sales for many decades. I get how some salespeople find it very difficult to do sales. The biggest mistake, in my opinion, they make is to focus on a sale too much, on ticking the boxes and following the procedures and in the middle of all of it, forgetting that they are dealing with humans.
Lee was different. She cared. She focused on my needs, and she listened. She was not selling me anything, she was providing the right information and guidance that was relevant to my situation. She made the decision process so easy for me. While on the phone I gave her my credit card straight away, and she guided me through the app and how to use it. She was a pro.
It was the most productive phone call of the day.
At the end of the call, I said. Listen, you have all my details. You are welcome to find me. Not sure how your privacy policy works but I give you my permission.
Guess what, an hour later I got a Facebook message: “Hey lovely, this is Lee from AHM”
I think she deserves a pay rise.
I will find out who her boss is and will make sure he/she sees this post. She is gold for this company and a great example of how regardless of what you sell, human interaction will always win.
You never know with my new contact in AHM, before you know they could also become my client. Why not, right? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right?
If you are looking for health insurance, let me know. I definitely can help. And for all your other insurance needs I have another gem, Polina.
These people are rare. They help us sleep at night because they have got us covered.
I am grateful for them and my ability to talk to strangers.
PS: “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” – William Butler Yeats