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Life Health > Life Insurance

How Facebook Live can make you better at sales

By Bradley Flowers

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The light comes on, you see yourself on the screen, the clock ticks down: 3, 2, 1. You’re live.

No not on television, you’re on Facebook Live and you’re about to talk about what I believe is one of the most difficult subjects to discuss from a marketing and interest standpoint — insurance and financial services. No subject, in my opinion, is harder to intrigue your audience with than the business we are in, an intangible product that people have to buy and hope they never use. However, doing this in your marketing and branding will make you a much better salesperson.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the first people on periscope, the first social platform that allowed you to ‘live stream’ to potentially millions from the comfort of your home. I downloaded the app the day it came out and only consumed information from various talking heads and motivational coaches. I never went live.

Then one day while driving across the causeway from Mobile, Alabama, to Daphne, Alabama, I noticed how beautiful the water was and decided to go live, 38 seconds into the foray someone said something negative on the feed and thus I was scared of even thinking about talking about insurance.

Fast forward a few years, and Facebook Live debuts and starts to gain popularity and I start hearing from friends in different businesses that they are getting a ton of exposure with this. The Facebook algorithm is geared toward a huge reach and engagement with the live feature, thus providing a great opportunity for anyone willing and brave enough to try.

On Sept. 6, 2016, I did my first live Facebook video on the subject of insurance. It was 27 seconds long and detailed something cool I had done for a client. I also made an offer for a contest I was doing. That particular video got 53 shares, 2,300 views and 43 likes, and my page at the time only had about 500 followers.

Since this slow start, I have done several live videos, all on the subject of insurance and financial services. Some are less than 5 minutes and some are more than 30. I can definitely say that it has made me a better salesperson. My in-person presentations are now seamless and less nerve-wracking.

Read on to learn three ways Facebook Live will make you a better salesperson too.

Fun video

It is OK  to be yourself and add personality to your Facebook Live videos. (Photo: iStock)

1. Gain confidence

You haven’t experienced fear or nerves until you’re on a live stream with 200 people watching and another 2,000 more tuning in after the fact. You know if you screw up, your mistake is permanent. Nothing on the internet goes away.

After doing a live video and going back to a normal sales presentation, you realize it’s no big deal if you slip up because three people will know about it at the most. This makes you more confident.

2. Audience appeal

The biggest challenge I have when shooting videos is not finding interesting subjects or ‘attention getters.’ I’m relatively good at bursting through the noise and getting viewers. The challenge is keeping them, which is why I always recommend having some sort of special offer or tip that you don’t present until the end of the video. But you still have to make the insurance and financial services piece interesting to the viewer.

This is something that you can implement in your sales presentation that will be a game changer. Most of us sound vanilla and bland to the client when we talk about our product in a presentation and if we can implement a little bit of self awareness and actively try to keep the clients on the edge of their seats, we win.

3. Be yourself

This is the most important tip. Too many advisors sound just alike, thus producing average social media results. Mix it up. It is ok to be corny. It is ok to be yourself. It is ok to show clients you are human being just like they are.

I did a video of myself riding on a skateboard in a suit and tie. This has nothing to do with insurance, but it accomplishes two things. One, it makes the viewers remember me, and two, it makes them know I’m real. I cannot convey this enough. This is a huge strategy that I think a lot of advisors can implement into their sales presentations.

Now obviously you don’t need to go into a sales presentation riding a skateboard, but add a little humor or personality into your pitch. Personally, I research my clients on Facebook before I meet with them and find out what they like. Then I try and fuse that with something that I like and bring it up during the presentation.

When it comes to marketing on live video or any social platform, the important thing to do is just start. One of the biggest regrets of my professional career is not being the Periscope or Facebook live advisor right when the platforms debuted. The only way to accomplish this is to start early.

I vowed to never make this mistake again, which is why I have created huge leverage on Snapchat. If you want to market to your clients in the 21st century, you have to get into their phone. As Gary Vaynerchuk says, “The phone is now the tv, and the tv is now the radio.”

Think about that. 

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