The main task of an insurance agent is to educate the client. We've been writing about education first, sales second for years now, but I fear that many agents aren't taking that to heart.
When you focus on education, you're not worried about whether or not the prospect buy from you. You're more concerned with making sure they understand their options.
Take fixed annuities, for example. Most seniors honestly don't know that there's a middle ground between the safety and low-interest of a CD versus the volatility and high-interest of the stock market.
When you take the time to educate them about the safety and moderate interest of a fixed annuity, they may or may not buy one, but at least they know it's an option.
The same concept goes for life insurance, and we have a pertinent, must-read story from a producer that we work with.
[Case Study] What Happens When You Don't Educate Your Clients
One of the producers that works with New Horizons shared a very true story with us about a client.
One of his long-time Med Supp clients died at the age of 81. The client’s daughter notified the agent that her mother had passed.
At that time, the daughter asked the agent about her mom’s life insurance. When the agent replied “she didn’t have any,” the daughter had 1 statement and 1 question;
Statement:
You were my mom’s insurance agent for over 15 years.
Question:
Why didn’t you make sure her Final Expenses were covered with a life insurance policy?
What if you find yourself in this situation and someone asks YOU about their parent's life insurance?
Even if that agent had educated the client about life insurance and she decided not to buy it, the agent would've had a better answer to the daughter.
He could've said something like, "I told her every time we met that she needed to buy life insurance, and she insisted she didn't want it."
That's a much better reply than having to admit that you never mentioned it.
Educate Yourself So You Can Educate Your Senior Clients
Part of the problem is that many agents don't understand the need for certain products, or perhaps they understand the need, but they're not comfortable talking about the product.
I realize that learning about a new product can be time consuming and difficult, but we've made it incredibly easy here at New Horizons.
Take final expense life insurance, for example. This is the product that hits home for many individuals when a family member passes. We’ve seen it happen way too often – a person dies, and their family is left with debt and final expense costs that they can’t afford.
What follows is bankruptcy, GoFundMe pages, and so on. It’s not a great way to go.
We've made final expense sales easy by taking care of all the back-office support including scrubbing the app, submitting it to the carrier, ordering all requirements, and doing the legwork needed to place your case.
All you have to do is complete the app with your client, send it to us, and check your back account for your commission!
You can also access full training and marketing materials for several products including:
- Life Insurance
- Annuities
- Short-Term Care
- Lasso Healthcare MSA
- ALL product lines in the senior market
Learning new products doesn't have to be hard, and you owe it to your clients to understand the need for them!
Don't Make Up Your Client's Mind
The other issue we've heard agents talk about is that they assume their client either won't want the product or they can't afford it.
Never make up your client's mind!
Chase, an experienced senior market agent explains that often times, he thinks an insurance policy is too expensive, but that's his own perspective as a younger agent:
"I [may have thought] it was too expensive, but that’s not for me to decide. It’s just asking a question and presenting a solution."
It's also happens to agents in our local office. One agent recalls a client who always wore torn up clothing, drove a very old truck, and gave off the impression that he was... well, broke: "I assumed this guy didn't have a penny to his name, so I never asked about his money"
Well, it turns out this client had millions in the bank. He was a local farmer who just didn't like to spend any of his wealth – and he ended up being the perfect candidate for a large fixed annuity.
Never judge a book by its cover! You may think your client can't afford something, but just like Chase said, it's not for you to decide. Give your clients the chance to consider a product, and they'll decide if they can afford it.
So... Do You Have a Good Answer?
The story of the daughter who asked the agent that simple question: "Why didn’t you make sure [my mom's] Final Expenses were covered with a life insurance policy?" – does that resonate with you?
What would you say to that client?
Whether it's life insurance, a cancer plan, short or long-term care insurance, or something else, can you think of any clients that need help now?
What is stopping you from offering these products to clients?
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