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February 16, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Congratulations! You have made the disability income sale, you have a satisfied client and you are ready to close the books and move on to your next customer.
Before you say goodbye, ask yourself if you’ve left any stone unturned. Often, DI clients have other unmet insurance needs that you and they themselves may be unaware of. If those needs include life, long term care and annuity products, then you are in luck–those 3 are a good fit with DI.
There are numerous strategies for cross-selling life, LTC and annuity products with disability income insurance. The next time you make a DI sale, try this approach:
“Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, my specialty is not just income protection. I also specialize in evaluating people’s financial planning needs. When I return with your income protection policy, that’s what I’d like to do. I’ll take a few minutes to look over what you already have and make sure all your needs are covered. OK?”
Then be sure to do it.
Life insurance
People need life insurance for much the same reason they need disability coverage–to protect their family’s lifestyle.
DI helps people maintain their way of life when their income stops or when their income is reduced. When a family member passes away, that person’s income is lost forever. What happens to the family’s lifestyle then? That’s when life insurance comes into the picture.
Your empty-nester DI clients also may have an unmet insurance need. Many of your boomer DI clients may have purchased term life insurance to cover their needs until their children left the house. If they didn’t “invest the difference” between term life and permanent life when they purchased their term life policy, the cost to renew their term insurance may help them see the wisdom of permanent insurance this time around, particularly if they’ve had a change in health status.
Remember to highlight that permanent life insurance provides:
o Safety of principal.
o Tax-deferred growth at competitive interest rates.
o Cash accumulation.
o Lifetime protection at level premiums.
o Flexibility to change the plan.
o Easy access to their money through policy loans or withdrawals.
o A means to pass on a substantial lump sum of money to their heirs or a charity.
o An immediate increase in the value of their estate and allows their recipients to receive the benefits tax-free.
Talk to these folks about whole life, guaranteed universal life or single premium life to meet their life insurance needs. Their children may now be gone, but the need for life insurance remains.
Long term care
Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make the transition to a long term care discussion. Here are a few questions that can help:
o “Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, what percentage of your retirement assets have you set aside to pay for long term care services?”
o “Your DI coverage meets your current needs, but are you concerned about the impact a chronic illness would have on your retirement savings?”
o “If it were necessary to increase your spending by $3,000 or $4,000 per month (to pay for long term care services), would that be a concern to you?”
