Life insurance offers important protection and peace of mind for families and their futures. However, in 2022, 106 million Americans were either uninsured or underinsured

To seize the opportunity that exists in today’s competitive market, life insurance sales teams not only need the right technology, but they need sales scripts that convince and convert even the most stubborn of prospects.

Wondering how to sell life insurance over the phone with a script? Use this guide to life insurance sales scripts to improve your sales conversations and expand your book of business. Browse best practices and tips for selling life insurance over the phone and, best of all, find script samples agents can put to use starting today.

Well-thought-out, battle-tested scripts are essential for today’s life insurance agents. However, the key to scripting’s success isn’t necessarily in providing lines for agents to follow word for word. Instead, life insurance sales scripts are often most effective when they provide agents with a roadmap for successful (and compliant) conversations.

That’s because, on sales calls as in day-to-day life, no two conversations are the same. Rather than try to work against that fact with a rigid script that has to be followed, life insurance telesales scripts should offer a guide during all stages of a call, equipping agents with the openings, statistics, and rebuttals they need along the way while still enabling them to have a natural conversation and build rapport with their customer.

That’s the goal of crafting the right life insurance phone scripts: giving all of your agents the conversational tools they need to have consistent conversations. Because consistency is an essential component of quality. Plus, consistency also provides your business with a method that can be tested and improved.

So how do you build those winning sales scripts? Start with these tried-and-true best practices and you’ll be well on your way.

There are two things at the heart of every effective sales conversation: a great product along with an understanding of the customer and their needs.

When crafting a life insurance sales script, these two elements should always be your starting point. Consider who your customers are, what paint points or issues your offering solve, and why they should believe you above everybody else.

To create the right message, put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Leverage any data you have at your disposal to better understand the journey they’ve taken to come into contact with your business and create a story that spells out why you can provide the right solution.

While some generalizations will go into initial scripts targeting different customer personas based on their demographics, sales journey, and other factors, it’s still crucial to personalize your life insurance sales pitch script whenever possible.

Not only are consumers more likely to make purchases from brands that personalize their experiences but consumers of all stripes have come to expect personalization.

Identify areas of your script that can be easily customized based on information from your CRM. This will help agents establish a connection with the prospect, build trust, and ultimately close the deal.

Many prospects on the receiving end of sales calls will come to the call in a defensive posture. (Always remember that by calling, you’re asking to take up some of their time.) That means your opening introduction needs to be efficient and compelling. Agents need to quickly introduce themselves and their purpose for calling while giving leads a reason to continue the conversation.

Here, a quick statistic—such as how much you save your average customer—can help pique interest and establish credibility. Likewise, an open-ended question can give structure to a lead’s response. For instance, assessing their awareness of the types of life insurance coverage can help you understand what they might need to ultimately be persuaded.

Even with the best life insurance telesales scripts, agents are bound to face objections. Incorporating effective responses into your script templates can make life much easier for them.

Evaluate your customer conversations to see during which phases of your conversations customers tend to have objections. Craft potential responses to each of the most common objections and build them into your call flow.

It’s important to understand that sales scripts are never going to be set in stone. Your business, your approach, and customer needs are all naturally going to evolve over time. Life insurance sales scripts need to evolve right along with them.

Close monitoring of different scripts’ performance and testing out new ideas can help you improve scripts more quickly. Regularly collect agent feedback on scripts to identify areas for improvement. Better yet, as expert Heather Griffin pointed out in a recent webinar, the latest AI-powered call center QA tools can be trained on your agents' conversations to recognize patterns and discover phrases that are leading to more conversions.

Of course, QA tools are just one example of technology that can help improve your scripts and sales process. Robust contact center reporting and analytics solutions can deliver granular insights in real time and help identify what’s behind drops or improvements in performance. Meanwhile, dynamic scripting software can automate much of your scripting process. Dynamic scripting solutions like Convoso’s improve conversion rates and reduce onboarding time by guiding your agents with customized (and personalized) scripts that adapt to the flow of each conversation.

What do these best practices and principles look like in action? Look through the two samples below to generate ideas for high-performing new sales scripts.

For organizations with robust insurance lead generation programs, a large number of the leads you’re dialing are going to have raised their hands and expressed interest in your offerings. Your life insurance sales scripts for these conversations should open by referencing this interest. And if they can include the exact lead source in the life insurance sales pitch, it will be even better. For example:

Agent: Hi, [Customer Name]. This is [Agent Name] with [Company Name]. I’m getting back to you about the life insurance policy information you requested [lead source, e.g., “on our website”]. Do you have a few seconds to hear about our options? Based on the information you provided, I think we can save you some money without sacrificing coverage.

This simple script opener reminds them of the fact they wanted to be called in the first place. In addition, simply asking how your prospect is doing gives your agent the opportunity to build some rapport from the outset. After an exchange over their response, the agent can quickly proceed with the script:

Great! Well, [Customer Name] the good news is that it looks like there are some new, state-approved plans that you might qualify for.

So, [Customer Name] it’s my job to quickly verify some basic info with you. Then I’ll connect you with one of our licensed underwriters who will be able to give you the information you requested and get you the coverage you qualify for. May I just ask you a few quick questions?

From here, the qualifying questions you ask will vary according to your organization’s own process. Run the prospect through your list of questions, confirming any required info like name, location, beneficiary, and bank account types. Once finished, it’s time to transfer them to speak with an underwriter or set an appointment for them to do so.

[Customer Name], it’s been a pleasure speaking with you. I want to thank you for your patience and providing me with all this information. I’m now going to go ahead and transfer you to one of our licensed field underwriters.

They will be able to explain the many benefits of our plans and confirm which plans you qualify for. I think you’ll be pleased with what they have to show you.

Now, in just a second you’ll hear a quick beep and I’ll stay on the line with you and introduce you to the underwriter. Thanks again for your time and patience today. They’ll be with us shortly.

OR

[Customer Name], it’s been a pleasure speaking with you. I want to thank you for your patience and providing me with all this information. To answer any questions you might have and get you the coverage you’re looking for, I’m going to schedule time for you to talk to one of our very best licensed underwriters, [Underwriter Name]. Are you available to chat with [Underwriter Name] sometime on [Date] between [Available Times]?

In life insurance, the quote is an indispensable tool for sales teams. When gathered online it can be a great way to generate leads and customer data that informs sales. However, it can also be a great thing to generate customer interest over the phone. Consider the following life insurance sales script sample:

Agent: Hello, my name is [Name] with [Company Name]. Am I speaking with [Customer Name]?

Prospect: Yes, speaking. May I ask what you’re calling about?

Agent: I’m calling to discuss your life insurance coverage. I’m offering free quotes to [local businesses/people who have expressed interest] this week. There’s no obligation to buy and it only takes a few minutes to see if we can save your family some money on your monthly premium. Do you have time on [Date] to run through your needs and options?

Alternatively, many agents will be able to follow up with a free quote via email, eliminating any need for an in-person meeting. In this case, after an agent has received the necessary preferences and data to inform the free quote, ending the call with a confirmation of next steps can establish a firm timeline and keep a customer moving down the sales funnel toward purchase.

Agent: So, now that I have this information about the kind of plan you’re looking for, I’ll be able to generate a personalized quote for you and your family. I will have that in your email inbox by the end of today. To confirm, your email is [Customer Email], correct?

Prospect: Correct.

Agent: Great, thanks. Once you receive the quote, you can review it and let me know if you have any questions at all. I’ll plan to check in with you again on [Date and Time] after we’ve finished our review process. Is that okay for you?

Prospect: Yes.

Agent: Perfect! I’ll get started on your quote right away. Thanks so much for your time. Looking forward to talking with you later this week. Have a good rest of your day.

The samples above cover just two of the many possible ways to build life insurance sales scripts. Ultimately, your goal should be to assemble an arsenal of various scripts designed to meet the needs of many different situations and types of prospects that agents face while dialing leads. Download the guide to life insurance scripts below and find more in-depth script-building resources, including how to handle objections and more.