The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way insurance advisors approach prospects and present their ideas to prospects. One of the effective ways is using webinars. How do you run effective webinars? I personally use webinars as my way of prospecting, and I found that the results are tremendous. Ninety percent of my clients during the pandemic are the result of my webinars where I conducted webinars every month. There are several reasons why you need to use webinars:

• They build authority. People will look at you as an insurance expert.
• They are low cost.
• They become your digital product.
• They drive traffic to your site.
• They boost your sales.
• They lead you to be invited as a speaker in other communities.

There are three steps to having an effective webinar:

1. Create the webinars 

Good webinars can be a little like independent movies — they leave you feeling wonderful, inspired and ready to take on the world. Keep your webinar to no more than 60 minutes. Find interesting topics and enhance your topics by inviting other experts to your webinars. Collaborate with your clients who have expertise to talk at your webinars, such as doctors, business owners, etc. When you add value to others, people will be interested in coming to your webinars.

Usually, after 30 minutes on a topic from guest speakers, I then continue to explain the sales concept for 10 minutes. Have adequate equipment to support your fantastic webinar, such as a good internet connection, green screen, headset and ring light in order to produce your picture in an online platform well. People will be impressed if you can give them excellent picture and video quality in your webinar. This will be their first impression just as in a face-to-face meeting. People will review your appearance in the first five seconds. Facts tell; stories sell. I always include a client’s claim testimonial in my webinar. I asked my client whose stroke claim I handled about his experience. He said that he did not expect to have a stroke during a pandemic. And as a business owner, he really felt so grateful to get the critical illness insurance paid out to help him pay his employees’ wages and to support his living while his business was slowing down due to the pandemic. Rehearsal is a must for you to make sure that everything will go well.

2. Promote the webinars 

The challenging part is to bring people to your webinars. Promote your webinars 10 to 21 days before through group chats, social media, such as Instagram and Facebook, and also email marketing to your database email. Find your centers of influence and ask them to help you promote your webinars. Create a video teaser to attract more people to join your webinars. You can collaborate with speakers to bring their tribe too. For example, when I invited a medical doctor from one of the hospitals in my city, I asked the hospital to put the event flyer in their social media too. This will increase the number of participants in your webinars. You need to realize the fact that the attendees usually are only 50 to 70 percent of registrants. Either they can attend your webinar or not. You can use this webinar invitation as a door opener to having one-on-one meetings with your prospects.   

3. Convert the webinars into sales 

Provide an e-feedback form so that you can ask your attendees to fill in the form, and you can give them several things as giveaways, such as a door prize or free e-book. You can put several questions in your e-feedback form, such as: What is your opinion on our webinars? Are you willing to be invited again to upcoming webinars? and the last question is very important.

Do not ask yes or no questions, such as: Do you want to know more about critical illness insurance? This question will put you into two groups of people: those who say yes and those who say no. I prefer to give a yes and yes question format, such as asking: What is the most concerning thing for you in this pandemic? They may say, “Having the emergency cash for health issues or the stability of income.” Whatever their answers, you can have the chance to follow up with the participants and ask for a one-on-one appointment to further discuss their concerns. Webinars are the door opener to engage with your prospects. I always ask for 30 minutes of time in a Zoom meeting to further discuss the sales concepts.

Crisis brings opportunity. In 2017, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and I was so shocked to know that I got a cancer at the age of 42. Life is so fragile. But I experienced the miracle of insurance. When I received my critical illness claim paid, I can testify that it was the biggest claim that I had ever handled. After I recovered from my illness, I went back to my clients and shared my story. Facts tell; stories sell. They bought more critical illness insurance, and I achieved my first Court of the Table that year.

The pandemic brings opportunity for us to reach out to more people. Webinars are my way of working right now. You can spread your message more effectively and bring great results. When I started conducting webinars in April 2020, I started getting results. And my highest result happened in September 2020 when I achieved one MDRT target. I repeated it again in October 2020 when I achieved one MDRT target. That brought me to achieve my first Top of the Table goal in 2020.

Because I conduct webinars, I was invited to several communities to talk at their events. I was invited to talk about financial planning in my church. I was also invited to talk about charitable plan giving in nonprofit organizations. It boosted my branding among my church friends, and some of them bought insurance policies from me.

This is not the time to slow down. This is the time to speed up and use webinars to boost your sales.

Miliana Marten, CFP, has been working as a financial advisor since 2004 and is the author of “Burning Flame of a Champion.” A national and international speaker in the life insurance industry, her passion in education has led her to establish Miliana & David Academy.