Sales & Marketing

One of the biggest challenges most financial professionals face is helping clients (and prospects) truly understand life insurance.  The harsh reality is that life insurance is a very complicated, misunderstood, and often overlooked piece of a comprehensive financial plan. The best solution I found is to make this difficult discussion an educational process – versus a sales process.  What most …

A lot has changed since 1985 when I entered the senior insurance market.  Back then, I worked with a captive company and learned as much as I could about Medicare, long-term care, and individual life insurance and fixed annuities. When the government standardized Medicare Supplement plans in 1992, this product became a commodity.  This was great for consumers, but not …

We’ve all heard the old adage that timing is everything. This is certainly true in the world of estate planning and wealth transfer, especially right now. In 2010, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act postponed higher taxes and lowered the estate tax exemption we expected in 2011–but only until 2013. The act included a higher exemption …

One significant strategy of my Referral Advantage Program® is working to gain referrals through Centers of Influence (CPAs and other trusted advisors).  One way to tap into this gold mine of referrals is through a formal networking group, a group that becomes your own personal sales force or board of directors. A Referral Master While delivering my referral seminars and boot …

An ancient Chinese proverb reminds us: “To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well.” While everyone can benefit from this sage advice, these words of wisdom are particularly appropriate for professional salespeople. Would you consider yourself a good listener? Perhaps a more important question might be, how would your customers, business associates, friends and …

Healthcare reform continues to offer a few sobering facts for brokers. The 80 percent minimum medical loss ratio– for individual and small group insurers–will continue to squeeze commissions, and advances now are a thing of the past, while the workload is as high as it’s ever been. New sales distribution channels, including private exchanges and federally-mandated state exchanges, provide consumers …

Many agents walk away from potential sales because they think the client is too sick or too old to obtain coverage. Years ago, there was a true impaired risk market where companies such as US Life and State Life would underwrite cases using different criteria and many times accepted risks that other companies would not. That is no longer the …

Every producer at one time or another has dreaded the idea of prospecting and has struggled with figuring out an effective system for building their business. In studies of successful people in our industry, it has become clear that those who reach the Top of the Table have similar characteristics. First of all, they have discipline. They have a plan, and …

As insurance professionals we have for some time had to adapt to the rapid changes that face our industry. Agents are forced to deal with the major cuts in health commissions in both the underage and overage markets, major structural changes to core plans, and the fear created by health care reform. As a large health insurance brokerage operation, never …

Everybody gets angry sometimes, and as an old green friend once said, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”  Most people are not “likable” when they are upset because anger is a strong and defensive emotion, one that is defined as “an aroused state toward someone or something perceived to be the source of an aversive event.”  When we sense …