How to Sell Annuities Over the Phone (and Close More with Visuals)

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Retirement planners know annuities are complex products. Terms like “surrender charges,” “fixed index,” and “guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits” can make even the most experienced client’s eyes glaze over during a phone call. Without visual aids, these conversations can often leave prospects confused and hesitant to move forward.

The solution isn’t abandoning phone sales. It’s enhancing them. By combining your phone expertise with instant screen visualization, you can transform abstract concepts into clear, engaging presentations that build trust and accelerate decisions. CrankWheel makes this possible without the technical hurdles that typically derail sales calls.

Let’s explore how adding visual elements to your phone-based annuity sales can dramatically improve your closing rate and client confidence.

The Phone-Only Pitfalls in Annuity Sales

Cognitive Overload Kills Deals

Retirement planning involves high-stakes financial decisions. When clients hear a stream of numbers, percentages, and technical terms over the phone, their brains struggle to process the information effectively. A prospect might understand individual concepts but lose the bigger picture of how an annuity fits into their retirement strategy.

Consider explaining a fixed index annuity’s participation rate and cap structure verbally. Even with the clearest explanation, clients often need to visualize these concepts to truly grasp their implications for their retirement income.

Trust Hurdles Slow Progress

Phone-only conversations can feel impersonal, especially when discussing complex financial products worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prospects may wonder what you’re not showing them or feel uncertain about the details you’re describing.

This trust gap becomes particularly pronounced when discussing fees, surrender periods, and payout options. Clients need transparency to feel confident in their decisions. Without the transparency, the deal can fall apart on the spot.

Missed Upsell Opportunities

Without visual comparisons, it’s challenging to demonstrate the value differences between annuity tiers or explain how additional riders enhance benefits. You might have the perfect solution for a client’s needs, but without clear visual representation, they default to the basic option or delay their decision entirely.

How Adding Screen Sharing Elevates Your Pitch

Instant Trust Through Transparency

Screen sharing immediately demonstrates transparency. When clients can see exactly what you’re viewing (whether it’s rate charts, benefit illustrations, or contract details), they feel more confident in your recommendations. This visual openness breaks down barriers and establishes credibility from the first screen share.

Visual Clarity Reduces Confusion

Complex annuity features become manageable when clients can see charts, projections, and payout structures in real-time. A visual timeline showing surrender periods alongside benefit growth makes abstract concepts concrete. Clients can follow along with your explanations and ask informed questions about what they’re seeing.

Real-Time Engagement Tracking

Modern screen sharing tools provide engagement cues that help you adjust your presentation on the fly. You can see where clients focus their attention, allowing you to spend more time on areas that interest them most and quickly address concerns they might have about specific features.

Why CrankWheel Is Perfect for Annuity Sales

Frictionless Client Experience

CrankWheel eliminates the biggest obstacle to visual sales presentations: technical complexity. Clients simply click a link you send via text or email, and instantly see your screen—no downloads, no account creation, no technical setup. This simplicity is crucial when working with retirees who may be less comfortable with technology.

Phone-First Integration

Unlike traditional web conferencing tools that treat phone calls as an afterthought, CrankWheel is designed specifically for phone-based sales processes. You maintain your natural phone conversation flow while seamlessly adding visual elements when needed.

Professional Tools That Scale

CrankWheel offers features that help you refine and scale your sales process:

  • Preview pane: See what clients are viewing before and while sharing
  • Remote control: Let clients interact with calculators or forms
  • Recording capability: Create compliance records and follow-up materials
  • Custom branding: Maintain professional presentation standards
  • CRM integration: Streamline your workflow with existing systems

Industry Trust and Reliability

With a 4.9-star rating across multiple review platforms and over 50,000 users, CrankWheel has proven reliability in professional sales environments. Insurance agents and financial advisors consistently rate it highly for its ease of use and effectiveness in client presentations.

Step-by-Step: Selling Annuities with CrankWheel

1. Set Up Your CrankWheel Account

Start with CrankWheel’s free trial to test the platform with a few client calls. The setup process takes just minutes, and you can upgrade to paid plans starting at $15/month when paid annually for unlimited usage and all standard features included.

2. Prepare Your Visual Assets

Before your first enhanced call, organize your presentation materials:

  • Rate comparison charts
  • Benefit projection tables
  • Timeline illustrations showing surrender periods
  • Fee structure breakdowns
  • Client-specific benefit calculations

Keep these files easily accessible on your desktop for quick sharing during calls.

3. Start the Call and Share Your Screen

Begin with your normal phone conversation to build rapport and understand the client’s needs. When you’re ready to present specific annuity options, simply generate a share link in CrankWheel and send it via text message. Clients click the link and immediately see your screen.

4. Use the Preview Pane Strategically

CrankWheel’s preview pane shows you exactly what clients see before you share it. This allows you to prepare the perfect view—whether it’s a specific section of a rate chart or a particular page of a benefit illustration—before clients see anything.

5. Engage Interactively with Remote Control

For particularly engaged prospects, use remote control features to allow your prospect to explore rate calculators or input their own information into benefit projectors. This hands-on involvement increases their investment in the decision-making process.

6. Record for Follow-Up and Compliance

Record your presentation to create follow-up materials and maintain compliance records. Send clients an animated preview of the recording via email, allowing them to review key points with their spouse or financial advisor, and get notified when they play your video.

Real-World Results from Insurance Professionals

Users report significant improvements in their sales processes.

One agent noted, “It builds instant trust because clients can see I’m not hiding anything. There are no downloads or tech issues for the client to worry about.”

Another sales specialist emphasized the credibility factor: “Instant credibility is crucial when you’re dealing with contracts and complex financial details. Being able to show exactly what I’m talking about has transformed my closing rate.”

The common thread among successful users is increased client confidence leading to faster decisions and smoother closings.

Best Practices for Maximum Impact

Keep Visuals Clean and Focused

Senior clients can feel overwhelmed by cluttered presentations. Use clean, simple charts that highlight key information without unnecessary details. Focus on one concept per screen to maintain clarity.

Leverage Professional Branding

Branded presentations reinforce your professionalism and help clients remember your firm. Use consistent colors, fonts, and logos across all your visual materials.

Monitor Engagement Cues

Pay attention to where clients focus their attention during your presentation. If they’re spending time on fee structures, be prepared to address cost concerns directly. If they’re focused on benefit projections, emphasize the value proposition.

Maintain Compliance Standards

Record important presentations and store them according to your firm’s compliance requirements. This creates an audit trail and helps you improve future presentations based on successful approaches.

Common Questions and Quick Solutions

“Do clients need to download anything?” No—they simply click a link and view your screen in their browser. This works on computers, tablets, and smartphones without any software installation.

“What about clients using mobile devices?” CrankWheel works seamlessly across all devices and browsers, including older equipment that some retirees might use.

“Is the connection reliable enough for professional presentations?” Yes—CrankWheel is specifically designed for low-bandwidth environments and provides consistent performance even with slower internet connections.

“How much does it cost?” CrankWheel offers a free plan for testing, with unlimited features and usage for one agent available for $15 per month when paid annually.

Transform Your Annuity Sales Process

Visual screen sharing transforms phone-based annuity sales from abstract conversations into transparent, engaging consultations. By adding tools like CrankWheel to your sales process, you remove friction, build trust faster, and help clients make confident decisions about their retirement security.

Start with a free trial to test the platform on a few client calls. See for yourself why 1,000’s of agents across the world choose CrankWheel.