Tips For Closing More Life Insurance Sales

Tips For Closing More Life Insurance Sales - In the life insurance business, it is a super competitive world out there for the young insurance professional to create a viable and sustainable practice.

Many young advisers are looking for ways to increase their sales and their revenue.

So today, I wanted to offer you some specific tips for closing more life insurance sales in your business and having more impact with your clients.

First, it is imperative that you listen in your client conversations.

Yeah, I know I bolded that word, but it needs to be.

Now here is the trick: It isn't about what your prospect or client says; it is about how they say it.

Listen for emotions in their words.

Observing these characteristics can allow you to tailor your recommendations according to their pain.

It isn't about about your agenda, it is ONLY about theirs.

The second tip I can give you is be solutions oriented.

A top adviser is always process and solutions oriented.

In fact, this is one of the biggest tips for closing more life insurance sales I can offer for any young insurance professional.

The inherent problem I notice is a product driven focus.

Stop being so quick to sell and just be an educator. Your sales come when your prospect or client is feeling so much pain that they have nothing left but to act on your recommendation.

The third and final tip is set goals and deadlines.

Set 90 day goals instead of yearly goals. What!? Roger, I always set yearly goals..

Set 90 day goals instead of yearly goals. It is a process called "Periodization"

In order to have the tenacity and the focus needed to reach your intentions it is imperative that you focus your production intentions from a 90 day time frame. One year is 90 days now. One day is treating like one month.

Most production happens in the 4th quarter of a year. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Stay consistent for a 90 day time frame and you can reap large rewards.

My fellow adviser, in being in this industry for 15 years, I have seen many good people go, simply because they didn't have the right mindset, marketing nor business practices to be successful. Not to mention discipline.

Take these steps and implement them into your practice. Leave your comments below and let me know how this has helped you.

Love to hear your feedback and results that you have gained from implementing these strategies.

In any business, it is imperative that you have a sound business and marketing plan to reach your intentions. Part of my marketing plan is reaching my target market through blogging. This is a very big tips for closing more life insurance sales. Why you ask? It is a passive form of prospecting and allows you to connect with people at their core desire level. What is going to make people want to set an appointment with you? It is simple. It is reaching their internal desires for change.

I have created an ebook for entrepreneurs that want to learn how to get more traffic to their websites/blogs etc, get more targeted leads that can turn into appointments so you can ultimately turn those into sales.

It is called "The Digital Marketing Mastery Blueprint" My intention is for you to tap into this information to learn how blogging and video marketing can help you explode your results in 2015.

I am confident of it. You must keep up with the pack in this industry. Technology is here and it's time to embrace it. Pick up your FREE copy athttp://www.dmmblueprint.com

How to find lost life insurance policies

You think your dad named you as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, but you didn't get the details before he died.

So where do you turn?

It's a frustrating problem many people have faced. In fact, regulators estimate that more than $2 billion in benefits have gone unclaimed from lost or forgotten life insurance policies.

Whether you're owed $1,000 or $100,000, you can take steps to find a lost life insurance policy. And recent changes in the insurance industry may ease the search.

Life insurers are taking greater pains to locate beneficiaries in the wake of multistate investigations in the last several years into the industry's lack of effort to locate policy beneficiaries. State regulators found that life insurers were using the U.S. Social Security Administration's Death Master File, an up-to-date list of recent deaths, to halt annuity payments once a contract holder died. But many insurers did not use the same list to check whether any death benefit payments were due to beneficiaries of life insurance policies. Audits revealed that companies often would draw down the cash values of forgotten policies to cover the premium payments, even after the insured people had died.

In settlements with states, a slew of major insurance companies agreed to use Death Master and other databases to look for life insurance policyholders who have died and then make concerted efforts to locate beneficiaries. Investigations are continuing. California State Controller John Chiang announced last year that multi-state settlements with 18 insurers so far were worth an estimated $2.4 billion for beneficiaries across the country.

But don't wait for a life insurance company to find you. All you need is the name of the insurer that issued the policy; from there you can contact the insurer to start a claim, even if you don’t know the policy number.

Here are best ways to try to locate a lost policy:

Personal records

Search through files, safe deposit boxes and other areas where your loved one might have kept insurance documents. If you can't find evidence of the policy there, try to find out the name of the life insurance company that issued the policy. For clues, go through bank and credit card statements to look for evidence of premium payments made to an insurance company. Review recent income tax returns for any taxable withdrawals or dividends related to a life insurance policy. Go through address books and contact financial advisers who might have known about life insurance policies.

Employers and groups

Check with the employee benefits administrators of your relative's former employers to see if any group life insurance policies are still in effect or if your loved one purchased additional voluntary coverage at work. Fraternal organizations, unions, professional associations and other groups also make life insurance available to members.

Insurance companies

Contact insurance companies where your relative had other types of policies and ask if he had a life insurance policy there.

Some insurers, such as New York Life and MetLife, have lost-policy finders on their websites for policies they sold. The tools let you submit basic information about your deceased loved one. The companies then will search for any policies on which your loved was the insured. If you are named the beneficiary, the company will contact you. If a policy is found, but you're not the beneficiary, federal and state privacy laws restrict what the insurance company can tell you. The company will notify you if that's the case.

You can also contact each insurance company in the state where the policy likely was issued, but that could be hundreds of companies. The state's insurance department will have a list of insurers that are licensed to do business there. Find your state insurance department contact information.

Your state government

The trouble with lost term life insurance policies As you search for a lost policy, keep in mind that if it was a term life insurancepolicy, then you as the beneficiary collect the benefit only if the insured person died within the term. If your relative died after the term ended, the life insurance company owes you nothing. Only permanent life policies, such as whole or universal life, pay a death benefit regardless of when a person dies, as long as the premium was paid.

A growing number of states have created online policy finders to help beneficiaries. So far they include:

• Alabama
• Louisiana
• Missouri
• New York
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Texas
• Vermont.

The New York Department of Financial Services Lost Policy Finder, for example, lets the executor or administrator of the deceased person's estate, a member of the deceased's immediate family or the closest living relative make a search request. To submit a request, you supply some basic information, including the deceased's date of birth, date of death and last known address, as well as a certified copy of the death certificate. The website provides information on how to acquire a copy of the death certificate if you don't have one.

The department then forwards your search request to all New York licensed life insurers. The insurers will search their records to identify a policy on which the deceased was the insured or owner, whether the policy was issued in New York or another state. Insurers that are incorporated in other states will search only for records of policies that were issued for delivery in the state of New York.

If the search turns up the policy and you are named the beneficiary, then the insurer will contact you directly. If a policy is found but you're not the beneficiary, the insurer will try to contact the beneficiary.

Another place to check is your state's unclaimed property division. Insurance companies turn policy proceeds over to these divisions when they know the insured person has died but can't find the beneficiary. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators website provides links to unclaimed property divisions in each state.

Other life insurance locator services

If your loved one applied for life insurance in the last 18 years, then MIB Solutions Inc. has the names of companies to which he applied. MIB's database contains records of insurance inquiries made to virtually every U.S. and Canadian insurer since Jan. 1, 1996. You pay $75 for MIB's policy locator service to conduct a search. Only the following can use the service: an executive or administrator of the decedent's estate or a surviving spouse, a child if there is no spouse or estate representative, or closest living relative if there is no estate representative, spouse or child.

Another service, FindYourPolicy.com will have information about the policy if your relative registered his or her policy with the service. Registering your policy is free; the fee to search is $19.95.

You can also pay $108.50 to The Lost Life Insurance Finder Expert to search for the policy. Paul Archibald, a retired insurance professional, runs the service. He says he'll fax 420 life insurance companies on your behalf to find the policy.

Meanwhile, as you search for the policy, let this be a reminder to get your own affairs in order. Talk to your loved ones about your life insurance, and make sure your beneficiaries have the names of the insurers and policy numbers before you die.

By : www.insure.com

5 Secrets to Inexpensive Life Insurance for Seniors

Life insurance for seniors doesn’t have to be expensive.  Just because you’ve been around the block a few times doesn’t mean life insurance companies should take advantage of you.  Am I right?

The good news is that if you are senior you can probably obtain life insurance for a lot less money than you think.  That’s because people are living longer and staying healthier than ever.  Because the risks to insurance companies are lower, prices for term life have really dropped.   You might be surprised just how inexpensive this coverage is these days.  And you can take the following 5 steps to drive prices down even lower:

1.    Don’t Buy Too Much

Your life insurance needs change over time.  Typically, as people age, they need less insurance.  That’s because they usually have fewer financial obligations.  The kids are hopefully out of the nest.  The house might be paid off or close to it.  And hopefully your retirement investments have grown.   If any of these describe you, you probably need less insurance today than you did a few years back.

You can save a bundle by simply not overbuying.  Having too much insurance is a mistake I see many people make.  Make sure you know how much life insurance you really need before you go shopping.

2.    Working For A Living

If you are still punching a clock, you might be able to participate in a group plan that your employer offers. If she doesn’t offer such a plan, use some initiative and suggest that she set up such a program.  The boss can pass all the costs on to the staff if she wants to.  If so, it would be a wonderful employee benefit that is completely free to the employer.

If your employer does offer a plan, find out if you can maintain the policy once you separate from service.  Many plans do offer that option.  A group plan is almost always going to be the least expensive option so look into this alternative first.

3.    Become a “groupie”

Even if you aren’t still working, you might be able to join other groups that offer life insurance for seniors.  Contact groups that you are active in and find out if they offer a group life plan.  Look into other groups and consider joining if they provide such options.  AARP offers a plan and it might be worth looking in to. But proceed with caution.  Not every group plan is worthwhile.  You should always verify that the offer is attractive by comparing term life insurance quotes.

4.    May the Quotes Begin

Different life insurance companies price age groups very differently.  It all boils down to underwriting.  That means some life insurance companies will be more competitive and offer better prices than other companies.  You can take advantage of this by getting lots of quotes (or talking to an agent who knows which company is going to be the best fit for you – like me).  The nice thing is that it doesn’t cost you a thing to get quotes (or talk to yours truly) so take advantage of this resource.

5.     Insurance of Last Resort – Kinda

There are two kinds of life insurance policies that I normally don’t recommend – whole life and guaranteed issue life insurance.   But in cases where cheap term life insurance is not available, both of these might become options.

With whole life, you might be able to structure a policy that doesn’t build up much cash values.  If you do that, in essence you bought yourself a term life policy.  Depending on your age and health condition, this approach might work.

As a last resort, consider guaranteed issue life insurance. This is a policy that most people can buy regardless of age or health.  These companies take just about anyone – but the death benefits come with strings attached.  First, you can’t buy a great of coverage.  Typically you can buy at most $100,000.  Also, you have to survive 2 or 3 years in order for the policy to take effect. Finally, the premiums are usually high.

As you can see, if you are a senior and need life insurance, you have options.   First, make sure you really need insurance and if so, get clear on how much you really need.  Next, try to get the coverage through your work or a group you can join.  Then, get plenty of quotes no matter what.  This keeps everyone honest and it will help you make a smart decision.

By : http://www.mcmha.org