Now is the Time to Sell Life Insurance

Life Insurance. Everyone needs it. It’s cheaper than ever before. And yet almost no one has enough. Why? Because before now it wasn’t profitable to sell.

It’s a well documented that Americans are dangerously underinsured when it comes to life insurance. One of LIMRA’s latest studies reveals that 62% of Americans say they need more life insurance, 40% plan to buy it in the next two years and 24% report they don’t know where to get it.

To insure Americans with the amount of life insurance they need is what LIMRA calls the “trillion dollar opportunity.”So how can you get your share of this large market potential?

Traditional life insurance agents are a thing of the past and so Middle America is buying its life insurance from property-casualty agents, financial advisors, financial institutions or even from the TV or Internet.

P-C insurance agencies have an opportunity to tap into this business from their past, current and future clients because there’s now a better way to sell, process and deliver it.

Traditionally getting a new policy in force required significant effort, time and expense, but now the industry has embraced new technologies and processes that streamline the process and lower overhead costs. The result is that profit margins can now be realized on policies and income brackets that previously were unattractive business prospects.

Some of the advancements used by today’s p-c insurance agents selling life insurance include:

• Proper quoting upfront. New instant quoting technologies ensure the client is asked the right questions and receives an accurate quote. More than ever before, the client knows the cost going in resulting in far fewer surprises and delays.

• Electronic applications. All information is submitted instantly online and is much more likely to be received in good order which speeds up the processing time of each case.

• Paramed integration. New systems integrate policy-related exams with the medical professional’s schedule, allowing the exam to be completed more quickly.

• Case concierges. Each case has an individual concierge who responds in real-time to requests from exam companies, doctors, clients or insurance companies. This results in fewer delays waiting for these requirements.

• Quick issue products. Customers can apply today and have quality life in force tomorrow, and agents get paid the next week.

These new technologies and processes ensure new life insurance policies are quickly issued and fully underwritten in days, not months. These outsourced, back office solutions use the latest technologies to efficiently process policies and maximize profit margins. This is different than a GA or BGA value proposition. It actually outsources the processing responsibilities of the agent. Agents identify the prospects and move them to action—then the third-party processor does all the rest.

With only the need to complete an online form and push submit, the sale of term life insurance is suddenly profitable for everyone who sells it.

Pat Wedeking (patw@quicklifecenter.com) is president of The Quick Life Center, which provides financial advisors, p-c firms and other financial professionals with comprehensive back end systems to process life insurance policies.