Once you have identified a prospect for your estate planning services, the process you will follow is essentially the same as you currently follow in developing personal and business insurance sales.
In general, the estate planning process entails the following activities:
- Schedule a meeting.
Use an approach that creates a desire in the prospect to learn more about what you have to offer — your estate planning services.
- Open the meeting.
Since many prospects do not realize the need to plan their estates and the consequences of not doing so, your opening should be designed to interest and compel prospects to learn more about their situation.
- Gather information.
Once the prospect agrees to the need for estate planning, your next step is to gather the information needed to analyze the estate. This may be a more extensive information-gathering process than you are used to. You will need to assemble the complete facts about the prospect's income, assets, liabilities, and family and business situations, as well as (and most important) uncover the prospect's feelings concerning estate distribution wishes.
