According to David Jeffrey, if you don't own long-term care insurance (LTCI), you're crazy.
The No. 1 LTCI salesperson in the country - according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance -- Jeffrey, 60, has witnessed countless long-term care situations in both his personal and professional life, and has a deep understanding of the need for this product.
"People forget what LTCI really is -- it's health insurance," Jeffrey said. "Bad things happen to good people -- no one is immune. No one is immune from an accident, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, ALS, leukemia, etc., and it could happen to you tomorrow. I truly believe it is health insurance. You get sick, the doctor says you're disabled, and then at that point, you're entitled to the benefits, just like a medical plan."
It is this passion for long-term care that has driven the San Francisco-based Jeffrey to be a top-10 LTCI career agent for Genworth Financial almost every year since he entered the insurance industry in 1995, and No. 1 the past four out of five years. Jeffrey has built a successful business using a focused system of referrals and strong client relationships that stem from his emphasis on always doing the right thing for them. And to Jeffrey, that right thing is long-term care insurance.
"I'm selling people a product that can not only change their lives, but everyone's lives they're involved with. I'm not doing this for a job; I'm doing this because it's my life's work."
Family experience
From early on in Jeffrey's life, the need for long-term care was apparent. For most of his childhood in Rhode Island, his grandmother, suffering from Alzheimer's, lived with his family. Later, his mother also developed the disease and endured 17 years of home and facility care before passing away. Several other relatives experienced Alzheimer's or some form of dementia, and Jeffrey's other grandmother required 15 years of home care after a stroke.
"I lived through seeing my mother go from being a very intelligent person with a little bit of memory problems, to not even knowing who I was," Jeffrey said. "In my family, they are walking, talking long-term care. It was right in front of me my whole life and I saw how much it cost."
With no long-term care insurance, his mother's care cost well in excess of $1 million, Jeffrey estimates. And for the whole family, he guesses that $3 to $4 million was spent on home and facility care over the years. "It doesn't get more real than what I experienced."
Despite his family history, LTCI was not a part of Jeffrey's first career. After working for major advertising agencies in San Francisco, he started his own firm. Fifteen very successful years later, Jeffrey sold his business and at age 44, had enough money to retire, but wasn't yet ready to stop working. As he searched to find a business that truly appealed to him, Jeffrey decided to try his hand in financial services.
"At first, I was going to become a full-service financial planner, but the more I learned about the people who did this, the more it didn't appeal to me," Jeffrey said. "There were so many things that were just filling a financial void, but not doing anything for a person's lifestyle."
However, when he came across long-term care insurance, Jeffrey knew that "this was a good way of doing things I believe in -- helping people and offering products that actually help a person's lifestyle -- but also being able to build a business."
The need for LTCI
Jeffrey works completely from referrals, focusing on building relationships and stressing the importance of LTCI.
"My vision for my business was that I really wanted to make sure that the people I met with knew that I'm not some slick salesman, but I'm the most important person they're ever going to see," Jeffrey said. "I've never looked at a client and thought, 'I've got a deal today.'"
Jeffrey has thousands of clients from San Francisco, the San Francisco peninsula, San Diego, and Hawaii, with an average age of 48 and an average net worth over $3 million. He works mostly with younger clients, conveying to them the need for LTCI now, not later.
"You could be disabled today or it could be 15 years. Or maybe you won't be disabled today, but health changes -- how will you feel if you had a health change today and couldn't buy a LTCI policy later? What are you going to do then?
"I am not there to get an order. I'm there to protect their lives, and if they want to protect their lives, they need to do it today. They have to make a choice. Be realistic."
Jeffrey hopes to reach the younger clients now as he finds that the older generation is a much more difficult demographic to sell.
"For older people, LTCI is very expensive, very hard to get them qualified, and harder to sell because they have been in denial for so much longer," Jeffrey said. "There are 35 million people over the age of 65, and 78 million baby boomers alone. Would I rather sell to 35 million people who probably can't buy because of health or would I rather sell to 78 million, who, the majority can buy because they health qualify? That's not a hard question to answer."
While he is thriving in the long-term care insurance marketplace, Jeffrey recognizes that in general, it is hard to find people who are interested in the product and understand the urgency: "If I came into the business today, it wouldn't be as easy. Denial always exists, and it's even worse now with the recession." Even more so, he sees too many agents who do not have the proper mindset to sell LTCI.
"There are agents who don't even have long-term care insurance themselves, so how can they sell it to their clients? Most likely they won't even talk to their clients about it -- which is probably better because they probably couldn't sell it anyway -- they don't believe in the product," Jeffrey said.
Personal connections
Because he believes so strongly in LTCI, after placing a policy with a client, Jeffrey makes sure to stay in touch through value-added newsletters four to six times a year, along with yearly updates.
"I keep my clients constantly informed about things that are important to the area we are working in. It might be about a trust; it might be about looking out for elder abuse."
With so many clients, Jeffrey is witness to the whole cycle.
"I've visited them in the hospital; I've visited them in their homes. I visited a 10-year client of mine last week in an assisted living facility -- he's a clinical psychologist in his late 40s who has Huntington's Disease. Without LTCI, he'd be broke, stuck in some welfare place. Instead, he's in the nicest facility in San Francisco, 100% paid by the insurance company," Jeffrey said.
Through those types of personal connections, Jeffrey doesn't have to worry about searching for his next client.
"When my clients come across someone who is looking for LTCI, they'll know who is the best person to talk to," Jeffrey said. "I've ended up with entire circles of family members who have been referred to me, one by one. If you do your job right -- whether you're an insurance agent or an auto repairman, or selling appliances -- and people can depend on you, they're going to refer you to other people."
Jeffrey also routinely "adopts" clients who have become "orphans" when their agents left them behind by retiring or leaving the business after writing their policies. He requests to have those orphans assigned to him, and then contacts the policyholder, asking to become their agent and help them manage their LTCI policy. While Jeffrey does not benefit financially from the role, he is able to gather more referrals from his generosity.
"These orphans have bought the policy, but then don't hear from their agent for years, and all of the sudden, they have someone calling them, offering to help. They don't understand why I'm doing it. It's because it's the right thing to do. It's what was ingrained in me for generations prior to my birth."
Always moving forward
While he has reached the status of No. 1 LTCI salesperson in the country several times, Jeffrey does not focus on attaining that goal every year. Instead, he aims to set seven solid appointments every week, see five or six when a couple appointments inevitably fall through, and write an application on 90% of the people he sits down with. By achieving those numbers, he has been able to place $500,000-$700,000 in 40 weeks of work a year, with no night or weekend appointments.
"When I'm at my office, I'm always working -- either talking to a client or a potential client. I'm always moving forward, staying busy purposefully," Jeffrey said. "The biggest mistake people make is they just stop. They come to a crossroads, and they don't want to go either way. I'm going to take one way or another -- right or wrong, we're going."
Jeffrey also offers his clients more than just LTCI through Genworth. Under his corporation, California Life & Disability, Inc., he is a broker for products including universal life, annuities, disability, Medicare supplements and small group medical insurance from several companies, including MetLife, Prudential and John Hancock.
With the number of clients that Jeffrey works with, spread over a large geographic area, he relies on help from his general agent, Cory Stepanek, in San Diego. He also refers business to and splits commissions with another agent, Frank Markley, in Orange County, Calif., and has formed alliances with other advisors in the area for the clients he cannot travel to meet.
However, Jeffrey's most important alliance is his wife and fellow insurance agent, Janet Xu. Working with Jeffrey, Janet focuses less on LTCI and more on other products, creating a good partnership.
"Working in the same industry makes life a lot better -- you understand what each other is going through. We delegate and play to each other's strengths very well," Jeffrey said.
Janet is also a huge help to Jeffrey in the Chinese market. About half of his clients are Chinese. Originally from China and able to speak several different Chinese dialects, Janet can communicate with those clients that Jeffrey cannot. In San Francisco, the couple has been invited to speak at all of the Chinese churches.
"One of the ministers at the church told me that I should run for mayor of Chinatown," Jeffrey said. "He said, 'Everyone I know, knows you, likes you, and trusts you. If you ran, you'd probably win.'"
Instead, Jeffrey would rather spend his free time with Janet and their five children: James, Alix, Mac, David and Karen. With 12 weeks off every year, Jeffrey travels often, spending time at homes in China and Hawaii, and tries to keep up with his wife's competitive-level ballroom dance skills.
In the near future, Jeffrey hopes to cut back more on work, and develop a succession plan, so none of his clients become orphans like those he helps. And while he is pleased with his consistent No. 1 rankings and the accomplishments he has garnered in the LTCI market, Jeffrey is most proud of the way he has built his business.
"It's never been about me. My dad used to say, 'It's better to fail honorably than to succeed without honor,'" Jeffrey said. "It's always been about my clients and helping them change their lives with such a vital product."
Case study: LTCI in action
"A married couple that I was referred to were Auschwitz survivors. Before they went into Auschwitz, they were dating, and he could have escaped but he stayed with her and they both ended up in the prison camp.
The first thing I ask people when I sit down with them is why is LTCI important to you? What are the big concerns that you have? The wife said, 'We were in Auschwitz, and I never ever want to be in a facility in my life. That's the most important thing." And the husband agreed -- 'we want to die in our home.' So they bought very nice policies from me.
Several years after that, I got a call from the husband. He said, 'Mr. Jeffrey, I have a problem. I've been trying to take care of my wife -- she has Alzheimer's -- and I just can't do it anymore. I just got back from the doctor and he says if I don't get help -- because I promised her back in 1939 that I'd take care of her -- I'm going to die. I need your help.'
So I went over the house, and when he answered the door, I gasped. He looked like he had just gotten out of Auschwitz -- he had lost 60 or 70 pounds -- he was skin and bones. With the policy they had, they had no waiting time for home care, so I sat down with the wife, and I said, 'Your husband told me that you're having a few problems, and he looks pretty tired, so why don't we look into getting some help for you guys?'
I filed the claims for them, and before I left, I asked her, 'Do you remember, when we met, I asked you why LTCI was so important to you?' And she said, 'Yes, I do. I told you that I never wanted to be in a facility in my life and I wanted to die at home.' She looked at me with tears in her eyes and she said, 'Mr. Jeffrey, I'm not going to have to go into a facility, am I?' I said, 'No ma'am, you're not.'
She was taken care of in her home, and she died in her home, with the long-term care company -- Genworth -- taking care of her. She died with her husband and sons by her side, in her home, because I sold her that policy -- I did the right thing. You can't put a price tag on that."
