Articles

The Agent's Perspective

Filling Out Life Applications Reflecting
On My Days as an Agent

By Lincoln Tedeschi, President, IBU, Inc.

When I think back to my six years as an insurance agent, what I remember the most is the feeling of constant pressure to write new applications. I needed to write business to make a living. There were also the Tuesday and Friday reports to the manager, and you never wanted to go "blank" for a report. Even if you had fulfilled your own financial obligations, there was always that constant question of "what have you done lately". When I left the career agency system to be an independent agent, there was still on-going pressure from the GA to produce "x" amount of volume, to validate the contract, or to get the higher commission level.

Agents cannot rely on people calling into the office to buy life insurance. My days consisted of prospecting, prospecting, and more prospecting: making appointments with people who have somewhere between some interest and no interest in buying the products I was offering.

There are three possible sales scenarios. The best scenario is when I find someone who is already thinking of buying life insurance. All I have to do is sell the prospect on the company and convince him that the company's product is competitive and hopefully, I would have the sale. This person is likely to prepay and I can deliberately and thoroughly ask the health questions.

The next best scenario happens when the prospect is somewhat open-minded about the products I'm offering. I uncover the client's need for insurance by capturing his emotions: getting the prospective client to imagine that someone in his life (i.e. spouse or children) will suffer financially if he dies. In this moment, I pique his emotions just enough to say "yes"! My adrenaline is pumping. The pen is shaking as I say, "I just need to ask you a few questions". I rush through the questions, trying to finish before buyer's remorse sets in. He signs the app. I ask for the check. He looks at his wife for approval. They usually prepay. I love this business!

In the third scenario, the prospect is also somewhat open-minded about the products I'm offering but I fail to convince him that he needs insurance. Somehow, I manage to get him to sign the application anyway. Maybe it's my charisma, or the prospect likes me. Perhaps the prospect has trouble saying "no" to sales people. The prospect may have less than perfect health and say, "what the heck, why not try for the insurance". At least I have an app. to submit with a chance of placing the business. Getting this app. signed requires a different tactic; I skip all the way down to question #16 of the application. With a perfectly straight face, I then ask the retired couple, "Do you sky dive, race motorcycles, or fly hot air balloons?" With this question, I now have them chuckling, "Are you a pilot or a member of a crew of any aircraft, or do you scuba dive?" Now that they are loose and laughing even more, "Who is your doctor? Why did you see him?" Usually it is just a physical. "You seem healthy, do you have any health history?" The answer is usually "no" and I check off all of the "NO" boxes; maybe there is one "insignificant" "yes". The prospect signs! Prepaid is a bonus. Who cares anyway, we're having fun!

The point of this discussion is that life insurance is sometimes bought but most often SOLD. The focus of the agent is to get the prospect to sign the app. In the heat of making a sale, asking the questions is secondary. In my case, I usually felt the more committed the prospect was to buying the insurance the more comfortable I was about asking the health questions thoroughly and deliberately. Even with the most committed prospects, I can hardly say that I was unbiased. "Full recovery"… "No complications"… my favorite little phrases.