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May 18, 2008 at 04:00 PM
So, what’s the best way to sell a disability policy?
Without a doubt, the answer to that question is that there is no single best way to sell disability insurance. Sales approaches will vary as different consumers have varying needs and “sales triggers”–not to mention that every insurance representative across the country probably has his or her own unique preferred method of making a sale that is most comfortable for them.
Following are some tried-and-true approaches for selling disability insurance. Perhaps some of these, or variations of them, will work for you.
Show your passion
Because many of the people he meets have little or no disability insurance, one of our reps talks up the product wherever he goes. When he was younger, his father had a heart attack and couldn’t work for 3 years; the family nearly lost everything they had. The rep knows there’s a pervasive, unmet need for DI and doesn’t assume that clients have coverage through their employers–7 out of 10 workers have no long-term disability coverage, so he’s sure to mention DI in every circumstance possible.
Another rep’s father was disabled at age 47 and never worked again. His monthly disability benefit meant he could pay his bills and keep his dignity.
Both reps remind people that 43% of Americans older than 40 will experience some health crisis that will take them out of the workforce for 90 days or more. They relate their own experience and explain how disability can be as financially devastating as a death to a family–and tell people they’re more likely to be disabled than to die during their working years. Yet disability income protection isn’t even on most people’s radar.
They’re working to change that.
Cross-sell your way to success
About one-third of disability sales at my company are collateral sales with life insurance. Life insurance is the easier sale as most people know how important it is, while the need for DI is not as well known and people have an “it’s not going to happen to me” attitude.
Some of our reps pair disability and life plans to show prospects how to protect their mortgages, and more. They call DI “economic life insurance” since incurring a disability is economic death as it kills future plans, financial stability, etc.
Other reps often present disability and critical illness coverages together–their clients like knowing that the CI coverage can provide money immediately while they wait for the disability insurance to kick in.
Cross-selling allows you more flexibility to tailor your coverages. One of our reps sold a 61-year-old man (ineligible for a regular CI policy because of his age) a small disability policy with a critical illness rider. The coverage was exactly what he needed.
Ease into it
