Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Life Insurance > Term Insurance

Use the 'three bridges close' technique

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Effective face-to face presentation is a critical part of the LTCI sale, but what if you’re having trouble making the transition to closing the client and getting him to admit he needs this protection? To overcome that hurdle, look at employing the Three Bridges Close.

Start by saying, “Most people face three significant risks to their financial security. These risks could mean an extremely large out-of-pocket expense. What are they?”

Draw a representation of the client’s street and then draw three bridges on it.

Then say: “Bridges are made to be safe and secure, but if any of these bridges collapses, it could mean thousands of dollars out of your pocket. What are these bridges? The first bridge has to do with your home.”

So write: “Home” over the top of the bridge and ask the client how many years they’ve lived in the home. Then you tell them: “OK, so that means you have had homeowners insurance for XX years. What you have done is created a safety net.” Then, draw the safety net and ask: “What are the chances of this bridge collapsing to the tune of thousands of dollars (i.e., your house burning down)? Chances are 7 percent over your lifetime, assuming you own a home for 50 years.” Write 7 percent over the bridge. “But you don’t have to worry about this risk, because you have homeowners insurance.” Draw an arrow between the road and safety net. “Are you going to drop your homeowners insurance? The answer is no.”

Now do the same for auto insurance, using 50 percent as the statistic, assuming the person drives for 50 years. The client isn’t going to drop his auto insurance.

“Here’s the last bridge – long term care.” Write “ Long term care” over the top of the third bridge. What are the chances of this bridge collapsing? By that, I mean the probability of your needing long term care at some point in your life. The likelihood is more than 50 percent for one person.” Write 50-plus percent over the bridge. “This is the one area where you don’t have a safety net. So if this bridge collapses, you have a major problem.” Draw the arrow from the bridge.

You are now going for the close. Ask these two questions: Would it make sense for you to pass part of this risk to an insurance company? Do you need long term care insurance?

If the prospect says no, you need to probe and determine the objections that are preventing the sale. If the client says yes, you are ready to move onto a discussion of benefit guidelines and to recommend an appropriate combination of benefits for his specific needs and which policy or policies are best.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.