Why is it that 16-year-olds can be taught to sell veritable acres of deep fried potatoes to hamburger buyers, but many sales professionals find it difficult to even suggest to a health insurance client they might want to consider, maybe, if it's not too costly or inconvenient, to perhaps think about dental coverage or group life or disability?

Having closed the sale for medical coverage, too many producers seem anxious to find the door before their clients change their mind. Having heard the word “yes” they are unwilling to risk hearing that most dreaded of utterances of “no.”

Yet given the benefits of cross-selling additional products to existing clients, this aversion to even broaching the topic of other products seems counterproductive. It's not just that there are commissions unearned on sales not made, although that should be a real concern. Producers invest considerable time and money to turn a prospect into a client. These are sunk costs. Maximizing the return on this investment by selling more products to a particular client is good business (as discussed below, the assumption here being the additional products are appropriate for the clients).