Head of Content
Director
As a busy financial professional, you already know that selling protection insurance calls for a completely different skill set than selling tangible assets like a house or a car. You are selling an intangible promise - a safety net for the worst-case scenario. Naturally, this triggers consumer defence mechanisms.
It can be incredibly frustrating when you know a client desperately needs income protection or life insurance, but they throw up roadblocks. Finding the time to nurture these hesitant prospects can eat into your valuable fee-earning schedule.
To help you turn these hesitant prospects into active clients, here is how to handle the three most common protection objections you'll face on the phone.
1. "I don't trust insurance companies to pay out"
This is fundamentally a trust issue, often fuelled by sensationalised news stories of a single rejected claim. Clients fear they are paying into a black hole.
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The Rebuttal: Equip yourself with hard industry statistics. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) regularly publishes payout rates, which consistently sit above 98% for life insurance.
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The Strategy: Pivot from selling a "policy" to selling "certainty." Use providers with strong, transparent payout histories and bring this data up proactively before the client even has a chance to raise the objection. If you address the elephant in the room first, you instantly build credibility.
2. "I need to think about it / I'll sort it out later"
Because there is no immediate, tangible benefit to buying life or income protection today versus next month, prospects easily kick the can down the road. This apathy is the silent killer of protection sales.
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The Rebuttal: Emphasise the literal cost of waiting. Remind them that premiums are based on their age and health today.
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The Strategy: Create a sense of urgency without being aggressive. Frame securing the policy today as locking in a discount for life. Point out that a minor medical incident tomorrow - even something as simple as elevated blood pressure - could render them uninsurable or drastically inflate their premiums.
3. "I need to discuss this with my partner"
This is often a legitimate need, but just as frequently, it is used as a polite stall tactic to get off the phone.
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The Rebuttal: Don't fight the objection; facilitate it. Say something along the lines of: "I completely agree. This policy protects your family's future, so you both need to be 100% comfortable. Let’s get a joint 15-minute video call in the diary for tomorrow evening so I can answer their questions directly."
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The Strategy: Take control of the follow-up rather than letting the prospect vanish. By offering a specific time and medium (like a video call), you transition from a salesperson to a collaborative adviser helping a family make a joint decision.
Why lead quality makes objections easier to handle
Knowing how to handle these objections is crucial, but the easiest way to overcome objections is to speak to people who have already overcome them themselves.
If you are buying cheap, shared data or relying on cold outreach, you are going to spend 90% of your day battling apathy and distrust. The prospect hasn't asked for your help, and they are likely being hounded by several other firms at the same time.
For the vast majority of protection advisers, outsourcing lead generation to a specialist marketplace like LeadCrowd is the most efficient choice.
When you buy exclusive protection leads from LeadCrowd, the prospect has actively gone online, researched their problem through our consumer-facing brands, and submitted a request for help. They already know they need the cover. Furthermore, because our leads are 100% exclusive, they aren't suffering from prospect fatigue. You are speaking to an engaged, high-intent consumer who is expecting your call.
With LeadCrowd's self-service platform, you can filter by location and specific protection types (such as Income Protection or Critical Illness), ensuring you only pay for enquiries that match your business needs.
Register with LeadCrowd and start receiving enquiries today
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