How to Overcome Client Apathy and Drive Sales

As an insurance broker, the primary objection I have to overcome with driving sales is apathy. It’s not a specific competitor or a product I can’t offer—it’s that my clients often don’t care about what I’m selling.

It’s almost funny to think about insurance having this problem because, let’s face it, nobody likes insurance. But the truth is, this challenge exists in every industry. My first job was as a rental agent at Hertz Rent-a-Car (yes, hurts, doesn’t it?). My job was to convince people at the counter to buy additional insurance, making them worry about how they’d cover damages if something went wrong.

Later, I sold IT solutions. Aside from cold-calling during the aftermath of the 2008 economic collapse, my biggest obstacle was overcoming apathy. Prospects didn’t feel their pain strongly enough to change. They were content sticking with a familiar but flawed situation rather than seeking a better solution.

This idea hit me again after a recent conversation with a prospect. By chance, I got the business owner on the phone during a snowstorm when their usual receptionist was out. We scheduled a 15-minute introductory call.

During the call, he described how previous brokers had asked to “earn his business,” speaking in the same tone you might use to describe getting your teeth cleaned. He then invited me to do the same.

Businessowner in their office, bored by their phone conversations

Instead, I followed my usual script. By the end of our conversation, he said, “If your goal was to make me really angry at my current agent, then you succeeded.”

Here’s how I made that happen. Here is how to overcome client apathy and drive sales:

1. Know the Five Most Common Pain Points

This step is trickier than it sounds. Many of us don’t truly understand why clients buy from us. I certainly didn’t when I started in the insurance industry. I assumed people cared most about price and coverage. Wrong.

This misunderstanding misdirected my sales process. I focused on uncovering coverage gaps and saving clients money. The result? My proposal often went straight back to the incumbent agent, and the client stayed put. In the insurance industry, we call this getting rolled.

The same thing happens in other industries: paints, copiers, contracting bids, IT management, etc. To succeed, you have to understand what people are truly buying.

After years of studying, I realized clients chose me for five recurring reasons:

1. Their agent was unresponsive.

2. They received late renewals.

3. They didn’t understand what they were buying.

4. They didn’t know how to get a better deal.

5. The process felt too painful.

   
   

These five pain points kept showing up. I’ve heard similar ones in other fields, like Managed IT: unresponsive firms, unclear services, perceived overpricing, unfriendly techs who intimidate clients, and overly complicated transactions.

For your business, identify the five most common reasons people buy from you.

2. Develop Simple, Detailed Solutions to These Pain Points

Every business exists to solve problems, and your solutions must be simple enough to explain in one sentence. People understand simple ideas; they’re confused by complicated ones, and confused people don’t buy.

In my world, most problems can be solved with a proactive approach and good strategy. Key solutions include:

• A renewal strategy meeting.

• A detailed market strategy.

• A comprehensive market analysis.

• A risk management plan to improve how clients are perceived in the market.

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Figure out your solutions, and make sure they’re clear and actionable.

3. Frame Solutions as Questions

This is how you deliver your solutions. No one likes being told what to do. People prefer arriving at their own conclusions. Our job as salespeople or fundraisers is to guide prospects toward realizing they need our solutions.

How do we do this? By asking the right questions.

It’s not that people don’t care about what we’re selling; it’s that they’re overwhelmed. Our solution is often buried beneath a mountain of other priorities. Good questions bring their pain to the forefront, making it a top-five issue instead of number 135,687.

Some of my go-to questions include:

• When your current broker took you to market, what did that process look like?

• How would you like it to look?

• What did they do to make you as appealing as possible to underwriters?

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These questions encourage clients to examine their current process. Often, they realize their broker is reactive rather than proactive. The beauty of these questions is that they tap into latent feelings—frustrations the client may have been ignoring.

That’s the key: sales is like archaeology. You can’t make someone feel something they don’t already feel. But you can help them uncover buried emotions and realize they don’t have to live with those frustrations.

4. Write and Practice Multiple Versions of Your Questions

Sometimes, you have to ask the same question in different ways to get the response you need. People don’t always open up immediately. They don’t want to admit they have problems or seem like they’re losing control.

More importantly, they don’t want to feel sold. Being sold feels like being cornered by a predator. Solving their own problems, on the other hand, feels empowering.

Here are several variations of the same question:

• When your broker took you to market and showed you multiple options, what did that look like?

• When you and your broker decided to create competition, what did that process look like?

• When you and your broker examined the marketplace together, what was the approach?

These subtle variations help the client reflect on their experience. If they don’t respond to one version, another might resonate.

Conclusion

By the end of my conversation, my prospect was furious with their current agent. They realized their agent was asleep at the wheel, collecting a check while doing nothing to help.

The more the client thought about it, the angrier they got. That’s when they became open to change.

Of course, this approach doesn’t always work. Some people aren’t ready to open up. Others are willing to tolerate a bad situation for reasons we need to understand. But questions can still help you uncover those reasons, allowing you to make informed decisions about pursuing the opportunity.

Ultimately, helping prospects realize they’re angry and want change is about empowering them to solve their own problems. When they’re ready, you can show them the way out.