Life Insurance Selling August 01, 2008

Features

• Managing the Sales Process: Making the Most of Opportunities

  By Robert Arzt

  Research unveils 15 Sales Success Factors that set ordinary insurance professionals apart from the exceptional. Mastering the behaviors, motives, attitudes, traits, and self concepts included in these factors enable

• Million Dollar Showcase: Insight and Inspiration from MDRT 2008

  By M. Michael Babikian

  We present highlights from three presentations in Toronto, featuring life insurance in legacy planning; how to select profitable clients; and leading by example in long-term care planning:Life Insurance in Legacy PlanningM. Michael Babikian, JD,

• LTCI Partnership Update: The Challenge of Multi-State Training -- and the Solution

  By Staff Writer

  It has been a hot summer for long-term care partnerships! AHIP has recently activated training for five more states: Arkansas, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, and Oklahoma. Colorado has just approved our course, and it is now available. And we expect to

• Voluntary Benefits from an Employer's Vantage Point

  By Brian D. Baetz

  What kinds of things do employers want you to do when you are offering voluntary benefits for their employees? Attendees at the Mass Marketing Insurance Institute annual conference, June 9-11, in Denver, heard Keith Wiedenkeller, senior vice

• Changing Your Life From Success to Significance

  By Millard J. Grauer

  An important cornerstone of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) for more than 45 years has been the "whole person" concept. One description of a "whole person" is the following: A full whole life balances many qualities and

• Changing Disaster Into Hope

  By Terry P. O'halloran

  You should always remember your wedding anniversary for the right reasons, and this year on December 1, I shall certainly remember my 35th wedding anniversary. However, I will remember it for two reasons, rather than one. On my 34th wedding

• Relationships Are His Endowment

  By Laura Graesser

  Experience and education -- you need both to make it in the insurance business. Forty years ago, Thomas McCleary got enough of both as a home office underwriter at Prudential to convince himself he could make the

• Transforming Wealthy Friends Into Clients

  By Bryce M. Sanders

  You know people in the community who could be great clients. They are successful, affluent community leaders. They know who you are, where you work, and what you do. They may even ask: "How's the market?" Yet they have never asked:

• Indexed Annuities Help Boomers Prepare for Days of Necessity

  By Michael Harrison

  When it comes to retirement planning, baby boomers are inundated with advertising, news stories, and marketing literature about what they should be doing now to prepare for retirement. Despite all of the warnings and

• Accumulating Wealth or Protecting Your Money: Which Should Come First?

  By Michael B. Fitzpatrick

  Here's a question I'm sure you've been asked at least once: Is it better for young people, in the prime of their life, to concentrate on accumulating wealth, or to protect their resources with forms

• Selling Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Policies

  By Cameron B. Waite

  The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 encourages Americans to take more personal responsibility for covering the cost of their long-term care. One of the act's provisions allows states to establish qualified

• Improving Your Income as a Term Sales Professional

  By Alan S. Protzel

  Few would argue that when compared with selling permanent insurance, the sale of term insurance is more dependent on prospecting than on the actual sales process. And for most, prospecting is more difficult than

Columns

• Believe and Achieve

  By Burt Meisel

  Last December, Sharon and I went to a baton recital starring our twin "great" granddaughters. I say "great" because all of our grandchildren are great. Sharon and I are not that old yet. These

• Saltzman: Andrea Gail Meets the Bard

  By David A. Saltzman

  In late October 1991, forecaster David Vallee of the National Weather Service noted "a little, innocuous" low pressure system forming over the Great Lakes. Little did he know what would soon become of this

• What's Going On: Twenty-Four Hours

  By Gordon Bess

  As I write this, 24 hours have passed since a horrific accident on Interstate 64, only a few miles from my office, killed two people and left several more in serious or critical condition. On a bright, cloudless

• Hoe: Unrest

  By Richard Hoe

  The first two quarters of 2008 came straight from Charles Dickens: the best and the worst at the same time. Priming the PumpI like to think about things relatively. The fuel crisis is obviously a speculative bubble,

• Postscript: Marketing - Discover More Sales with the Discovery Letter

  By Larry L. Cox

  If you sell life insurance via the preferred total needs analysis approach, your sales process generally takes two interviews. In the first interview, you establish trust, gather facts and financial objectives,

• The Way I See It: Strategies for Bolstering Your Good Reputation

  By Larry L. Cox

  Most insurance salespeople, optimistic by nature and always striving to get better, sometimes are tempted to adopt whatever great sales method or marketing strategy comes next. It's impossible to adopt all the

Departments

• Sales Sizzlers: Emotions Are the Key to Consistent Sales Success, Part 1

  By Larry Pinci

  What really drives people to do business with you? You might think it's your expertise, product knowledge, great customer service, or even competitive pricing. Certainly, these are all important, but in