"There are some companies in this industry that invest a scant amount of resources into their agents. They give them the bare minimum of information that is necessary to help them pass various series exams, and then ask that advisor or agent to go sell... If that's their management philosophy, shame on them because it hurts the whole industry."
-- Larry Barton, Ph.D., president and CEO of The American College. See related article, "Larry Barton: The American Way."
According to Barton, a producer with the CLU designation makes 27% more total income on average than a non-CLU producer. A producer with the CLU and ChFC designations makes about 51% more
than a producer without either of those designations.
73.5% of buyers of individual LTCI policies in 2009 were age 55 or older when they applied for coverage. The vast majority of buyers of LTCI are married. Some 54% of purchases involved couples covering both lives. 24% involved couples or partners where only one individual was covered, and 22% of policies were purchased by single individuals.
Source: AALTCI
$240,000: Amount the typical couple at age 65 will need to cover long-term care costs.
Source: Fidelity Investments
From the Archives - April 1940
Editor's note: The following excerpts are from the April 1940 issue of Life Insurance Selling.
Four Presentations that Sell the Sole Proprietorship
By Paul W. Cook, CLU, Mutual Benefit Life, Chicago
There are four important phases to sole proprietorship insurance:
1. Protecting the estate against business debts.
2. Offsetting the "diminishing value of the business" caused by the death of the man responsible for its operation.
3. Providing a depository for annually withdrawable profits.
4. Delivering the business to a successor at death of the present owner.
The sale may be made on any one of these appeals. However, if all four appeals are used, the buyer may become confused. The important thing in selling a sole proprietorship plan (or any other insurance) is to ascertain quickly the appeal which will fit the interest and experience of the prospect. It is just like opening an oyster. It is impossible to open an oyster by force, but if you know just where to insert the knife the oyster gives up without a struggle.
You Determine Your Future in the "Apprentice" Years
By B.C. von Senden, New York Life, San Francisco
Ours is a highly competitive business. We must guard against any traces of dishonesty in our transactions. We must avoid jealousy of our fellow agents. And we must be willing work hard.
Therefore, if you want to succeed in this business, make up your mind that you must labor twelve or fourteen hours a day for a few years. Is that asking too much? If you wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, you would have to spend years and thousands of dollars before you began to earn money. Why should you expect to do otherwise in the life insurance business? In any profession, one must serve an apprenticeship, but I know of no other profession where the rewards are so liberal while learning.
Points That Help You Sell
When your prospect brings up Social Security as an excuse for not buying life insurance, the shortest and most accurate reply you can make is, "Social Security can supplement, but not substitute, for life insurance." That, in reality, is the case. Social Security was not designed to take the place of life insurance, nor life insurance the place of Social Security. When a person buys life insurance he chooses the amount, the term, the method of paying premiums and the beneficiary as well as how the benefits will be paid to the beneficiary. The company must make payment -- and be in position to do it any time. It is not possible for any workable Social Security plan to provide adequate protection. Life insurance must step in to do the job where Social Security leaves off.
