Agent’s Sales Journal July 01, 2006
Short Takes
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Learn the "Red Flags" of Underwriting: A Case Study
You just got back to your office after having your third meeting with one of your best clients. This 60-year-old executive is finally going to go ahead with the estate planning you've been recommending for the past few years. He is married to
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Information Key to Insuring the Uninsurable
Special risks. Substandard risks. Impaired risks. No matter what euphemism we use to describe them, potential life insurance clients with health problems can be a source of frustration, wasted work, and lost time. But that does not have to be
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How to Get That Special Risk Past the Underwriter
Are you having a problem getting many of your cases issued? Are too many of your cases taking forever to get approved? Are far too many of your cases being flat out declined? Maybe your problem is not that underwriter -- maybe the problem
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No More Vanilla Life Insurance Policies: Try Accelerated Death Benefits
The nation's first accelerated death benefit policies provided benefits to people who had just six months to live -- a timeframe that has since doubled, and in some cases, is even a bit longer. The time has come to take this benefit one
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Offering Your Clients IUL
Index universal life (IUL) has been around for the past 10 years but has recently taken the life insurance market by storm -- some projections say IUL business will double in 2007. So why is this product slated to be such a success?
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Sell to "Wants," Not to "Needs"
The problem of poor insurance sales is multifaceted. First, agents typically operate from a "needs analysis" -- how much insurance does the family need given their financial commitment for education, retirement, support, etc.
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New Strategies for Selling Life Insurance in the Senior Market (And Why it's Good Business)
Contrary to popular wisdom, older Americans have substantial life insurance needs. Even more importantly, they have the money to buy it. We do a disservice to both the 60-plus group and to ourselves if we ignore this growing market. Even so,
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How to Prospect for Life Insurance Clients
According to the CIA's "World Factbook," it is estimated that there will be 298,444,215 people in the United States as of July 2006. Only a percentage of those people are prospects for life insurance agents. Rather than trying
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Life Insurance: An Agent's Perspective
Like most insurance markets, the life insurance market is continually evolving. New products continue to be unveiled with new riders and features; older products fall out of vogue, then back in again. To uncover the state of today's life
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Effective cold calling of seniors
Boomers and older adults with enough money to be good clients are typically not good prospects for cold calling. They are experienced consumers and are not likely to be receptive to someone they don't know selling something they often
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Research Shows Advisors Seeking Alternative Ways to Reach Clients
A report presented at a new insurance industry conference shows advisors are not satisfied with their ability to effectively reach their client base and are seeking alternative distribution models to reach their clients. The study surveyed
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WellPoint Profit Up 20 Percent as Evidence Mounts About Denials of Care
WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer and parent company of Blue Cross of California, announced a 20 percent profit increase as evidence mounts that the company is engaging in widespread and illegal cancellations of coverage.
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LTC Association Produces New Marketing Tool to Boost Sales
The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) has published a new consumer brochure designed to help agents and brokers make consumers aware of discounts available when applying for long term care insurance protection.
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SEC and North American Securities Administrators Association Set Out to Protect Senior Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission and North American Securities Administrators Association are joining together to protect seniors from investment fraud and sales of unsuitable securities. The initiative, which builds upon the success of
Front Page News
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How to Disability-Proof Your Clients' Retirement Plans
If all goes according to plan, most of your clients can look forward to a financially secure retirement -- thanks, in large part, to their participation in a qualified retirement plan. But what if they become disabled along the way? In that
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Do You Repel Your Prospects? 4 steps for turning prospects into clients
You've been repelling prospects since you got into the business. If you need proof, compare the number of prospects that have become clients to the number of prospects that have not become clients. I suspect it's at least 10 to 1, which
Sales Review
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Living in a 3-Dimensional World
Bob Dylan once said, "What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." Unfortunately, in today's money-obsessed world, people typically measure
Perspectives
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Lessons From My Parents -- Life Care Communities
We often learn the most about working with seniors from our own families. My parents, Will and Esther Littell, have made many (to my surprise) excellent decisions in retirement. Probably the best -- both from their and my perspective --
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Your Clients Are Slackers! (but it could be worse)
What is the number one challenge producers face when selling life insurance? According to the latest Agent's Sales Journal study (see page 16), the number one obstacle to selling life insurance is not finding qualified prospects. It's
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New Plans for Solving the Health Care Crisis
Perhaps there is hope for fixing the health care crisis after all. Hillary Rodham Clinton, author of a failed attempt to overhaul health care in the 90s, and Newt Gingrich, engineer of the 90s Republican revolution largely brought on by
Marketing
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The Language of Influence: Three Paths To Persuasive Sales Pitches
The word "persuasion" has gained a reputation it doesn't deserve. Many tend to associate it with advertising, propaganda, or downright manipulation. On the contrary, it forms the very foundation of an ethical sales process, and
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Practice "Consequence Management" to Close More Sales
During the late part of the 1800s, an Italian businessman, economist and botanist named Vilfredo Pareto discovered a consistent operating model still used today. His theorem was that 80 percent of the world's wealth and land was controlled by
From The Agents Desk
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From the Agent's Desk A satirical look at an agent's work life, from the files of Joe Dokes, CLU
Joe Dokes, CLU Licensed Insurance Agent George W. Bush White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: Ask yourself this question: What would our country look like if ONLY licensed insurance
Objection of the Month
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Objection of the Month July 2006
How would you respond to a prospect who says... "I already have life insurance through my employer. Why should I buy more?" That's great that your employer offers life insurance as a benefit to the employees. But in most
