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As you’ve probably noticed our email inboxes have been inundated with AEP lead options, carrier appointment solicitations and everything in between. This also marks an excellent opportunity for Life Insurance.

One of the first things to do and often overlooked is contacting your current book to do annual policy reviews. It’s a great way to see if everyone has enough coverage, has the appropriate coverage for their goals, and to see who might be ready for a policy conversation.

If you’ve had the unpleasant experience of joining an unethical IMO, they will be using your book to provide new recruits the opportunity to rewrite your clients with different products. Doing a review with these clients might just save your business from replacements creating chargebacks and Vector’s for you.

If you’re an agent who works AEP, then setting up another appointment to talk about their life insurance is a must. At the very least be sure to contact each one of your new clients after the first of the year to go over their new AEP policy and review what they have setup for life insurance.

For life agents working the Final Expense market it’s time to stop lead campaigns for directmail and reduce digital campaigns. The reason for this is during AEP people often get confused about who they’ve contacted or been contacted about their insurance. You’ll still be able to sell FE it will just take more targeted and qualified leads for the same production level you had prior to AEP.

The best market for life agents to work during AEP is Mortgage Protection and Family leads. These folks are generally a little younger than the FE market and more tech savvy which translates to a better understanding of the lead they have returned and the agent calling on them.

Both the Mortgage Protection and Family markets use simple issue products to achieve the clients’ goal for life insurance coverage. Most often simple issue term products are used to achieve a client’s goals. Be sure to talk about the features and benefits of living benefits that now, come with most all simple issue term products built in without having to add a separate rider.

The presentation is very similar to final expense in that it is a one-call close. As this clientele is more tech savvy they have and use their email. Meaning it’s easier to walk people through remotely signing their eApp.

The premiums for Mortgage Protection v. Final Expense are similar or higher with persistency closer to 85% to 90%. Meaning less time chasing business for premium lapses or NSF’s.

Family leads are the same. Providing additional income protection for newlyweds, college tuition, and spousal retirement income protection should a bread winner pass away.

I’ve seen a significant jump in Go-Fund-Me pages to help families with medical bills and funeral expenses for people that said “…I’ll get it later.” I don’t want any person I talk too to have to beg for money on the internet.

A day in the life of an insurance agent can be a challenging one. While there are many reasons we joined the insurance profession, freedom of schedule without giving up income was an important one for me.

Like some of you, I was not always an agent. My working life began in the restaurant industry where to make a solid living meant working around 60 hrs. a week and most every holiday unless the restaurant was closed. Even though I was more or less a workaholic, that took a toll both on my family and me physically.

Similar to many of you I swallowed the Kool-Aid with the promise of high income and freedom of schedule joining a captive company. It did not take me long to realize that those promises were severely lacking on all points. There had to be something better out there that could deliver on my goals of high income while freeing up time to spend with family.

Moving to becoming an independent life insurance agent was the answer. Having the ability to increase my income based on my work ethic and proficiency. It turns out this was the best decision I could have made.

That’s not to say there were no bumps along the way, there were. One of those was realizing that I needed to set a schedule for myself that my family and I could live with while maximizing income potential.

This led me to also, look for lead generation that could work in the background while I focused on selling without breaking the bank. I tried appointment setters, but finding the right person proved an almost impossible task. The adage of “No one sets an appointment better than the agent” is so true.

I found a life insurance lead generation company that used digital leads but, put those prospects though a funnel starting out with sending a text message within seconds of them completing a form with my contact information and the opportunity to schedule an appointment with me directly.

All that without me doing anything. It’s worked out great, allowing me to focus on sales without having the drop everything to reach out to the client with a text.

The leads were far less expensive than directmail which has seen a steady decline in returns year over year for the last several years. After working out my financial plan and determining my lead budget, I went to work.

My schedule now looks something like this:

Monday:

• What appointments do I have already set for the week?
• Review the good and not-so-good from the previous week
• What phone calls do I need to make to meet my appointment goals?
• Review submitted business for outstanding requirements.
• Deliver inforce policies – in-person, snail mail, or electronically – whichever is applicable.

Tuesday:

• Sales day – running appointments (can be either face-to-face or over the phone/Zoom)

Wednesday:

• Review what has been written so far?
• Determine how many more apps I need to reach my minimum financial goal.
• How many more appointments do I have set?
• How many more appointments do I need?
• Run any appointments scheduled for today

Thursday:

• Sales day – running appointments (can be either face-to-face or over the phone/Zoom)

Friday:

• How did the week go?
• How many appointments do I have for next week (I like to have 7 or 8 appointments set for the following week)
• Do I need to set appointments for Saturday? (If I missed my minimum financial goal, the answer is always yes)
• Run any appointments scheduled for today

I’ve worked this schedule week after week for over a dozen years, and I can honestly say this has met and exceeded my expectations of high income and schedule freedom. Remember, an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

How to help close growing insurance gap

The sudden and devastating nature of the coronavirus pandemic jolted consumers awake to the crucial importance of life insurance and a holistic financial plan. With many Americans experiencing the financial implications that traumatic life events can bring, nearly half are without any or an appropriate level of life insurance.

However, it's crucial for the insurance industry to help close this growing protection gap by recognizing the varying needs of different generations of consumers—from millennials to baby boomers—and understanding how to serve them in different ways to ensure they're covered for life.

Closing the protection gap requires educating customers and taking a tailored approach. Different generations' misconceptions about life insurance can discourage individuals and families from purchasing policies. While some individuals may think they're too young to consider coverage, others may believe that life insurance is too expensive or that policy terms are too rigid.

To set the record straight with clients, agents must explain how each type of life insurance aligns with their specific needs and create a plan for the best path forward. Once this is established, agents must also cater their service model to meet their clients' preferences and expectations.

Here are a few tips to consider when working with specific client groups:

Millennials: Use digital tools. Deliver instant gratification and take a hands-off approach. In general, millennials tend to prefer independence, sourcing information on products digitally and adapt to new technology quickly. Educate them using online calculators, checklists and quoting tools, but also guide them through the process to ensure they are using the correct tools and looking in the right places.

Generation X: Use data. Offer multiple scenarios, including a worst-case, and provide information and research based on facts and statistics. Gen Xers appreciate full disclosure when weighing options, which ultimately gives them a sense of maximum control. Stay connected after the sale because they also value trusting relationships.

Baby boomers: Make it personal. Create face-to-face opportunities and get to know them personally—remember their family's interests, birthdays and hobbies. Boomers appreciate professionalism, experience and accreditations, and prefer to envision a holistic, big picture long-term life plan.

The agent of the future is a proactive advisor in a digital world with less paperwork, better sales tools and simpler processes. Agents who can use digital tools, build trusted relationships and cater to different generations' needs will be well-positioned to boost consumer confidence in purchasing life insurance and their business.

The life insurance industry plays a vital role for families and individuals. Through education, consumers will better understand the value coverage provides. Agents can help close the protection gap by making sure consumers are properly aware of how they can be protected.

The Magic bullet to Success

We’re all back to the grind looking to overcome the last year and put those 12 months in the review mirror where it belongs. I have fielded a greater number of calls from agents looking for life insurance leads regardless of their IMO dissatisfied with what they may or may not offer.

Most everyone gravitates to the least expensive leads asking if they’re exclusive and fresh. I use this when I meet with clients:

“We have three components to our service. Our service can be cheap, it can be fast, and it can be good but, you can have only two out the of three. If you want it to be cheap and fast you can’t expect it to be good. If you want it to be cheap and good, you can’t expect it to be fast and if you want it to be fast and good, you can’t expect it to be cheap.”

A similar analogy can be applied to leads. Fast and cheap does not always equal good. Fast and good does not equal cheap. I would equate most digital leads in the fast and cheap category. There not always good, its why you need a lot of them to succeed. The power is in the numbers.

If you want leads to be good quality and fast, they are not cheap. Direct mail is neither fast nor cheap, but the quality can’t be beat. Regardless of where you fall in this analogy, you need capital to fund your lead campaigns.

So, what’s the Magic Bullet to Success: Consistency/reoccurring and Capital. If we are looking at what we do as a business, then there is some risk. That risk is capital which at the beginning generally comes from a charge card or savings account.

If you decide to risk some capital and by a one-time lead order of, let’s say 10 Mortgage Protection Life leads you aren’t likely to succeed. You need to be consistent/reoccurring and risk four week’s worth of 10 leads a week. If you work Final Expense, expect that number to double to at least 20 leads a week. If you work phone sales, then double that number again.

Why do I say this, because not every lead campaign will be the same. Some will be great where you’ll close 5 out 7 leads one week and the next 1 out 7. But, with consistency come balance; the unpleasant weeks will be overcome by the good and at the end of the month you’ll have done $8000 to $10,000 in sales.

The adage of “with risk comes gain” is very true. If you’re not willing to risk some capital, then your career is over before it got started. A career as a life insurance agent can be very rewarding. What you hear about unlimited income potential and setting your hours is all true. It’s great to attend your kids’ functions. However, it takes commitment and it’s not cheap nor fast.

It’s been said: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

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