Selling Insurance For Estate Planning

One of the most vital aspects in building a solid client relationship, especially from an estate planning perspective, is trust, which usually occurs when first meeting prospective clients. They must understand that their agent is not doing business with them just to get a commission; rather, they are doing it for the benefit of the client.

Before I ever discuss money and financial issues, I like to chat about family relationships, trips we’ve taken, etc., to help them understand we’re actually peers; I have the same life experiences, problems, fears, and family life they have. We drive luxury cars, work out at the gym, discuss membership at country clubs and go to Oakland A’s baseball games.

Talking about these things during initial meetings allows clients to feel that doing business with me won’t change my lifestyle but will make them feel better about theirs. It’s really a matter of developing that level of trust. If you can’t do that, you’ll never receive business from a potential estate planning client.

It’s also important to let the client know how competent you are in your work in order to build a relationship. There is a lot of guilt by association that goes on, especially with people of high net worth. It greatly helps if we can show the client that we are already doing business with people like them–people in the same professions or similar businesses, even people they already know!

Many times, when conversations transition into financial matters, clients will fill out a form outlining what they own, what they owe, what their income is and where it’s from, what they have set aside for retirement, and so on. It’s important to explore what their money really means to them–how they use it, how they want to use it, and what it’s going to do for them.

Taking this approach suddenly shifts the idea of money being a commodity to it being a way to express what their real wants are rather than what their needs are. When I have those kinds of discussions with clients, it really changes everything.

Once you’ve established trust and that you are very good at what you do, then it’s okay to start talking about the specifics of a client’s situation. After getting the client’s financial materials, we discuss what they want to have happen when they retire. I’ll probe them about where they want to live, what they want to do, what type of relationship they have with their children and grandchildren, and how they’d like it all to work out in the future.

Thus, it’s always about much more than just the numbers. The byproduct of not being afraid to discuss estate planning is better client retention, improved relationships and greater success.