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March 07, 2011 at 07:00 PM
Every life insurance advisor knows the basics of the business. Unfortunately, that’s not enough today. The work of even the most diligent producer can be undermined by failing to take into account the significance of the three relationships that profoundly influence the outcome of life insurance cases: the producer-client relationship, the advisor-general agent/broker-general agent relationship and the GA/BGA-carrier and underwriter relationship. At no point are they more critical than with a difficult or impaired risk case. This segment focuses on producer-client relationships.
The producer-client relationship
There is nothing more fundamental to success than the interaction between producer and client. Any life insurance purchase is necessarily personal, which is why it’s critical that the communication between client and producer be open and candid, so it includes the individual’s most confidential business and personal details.
Because clients are called on to face the reality of death – their death – when buying life insurance, this makes the sale inherently challenging. When we probe further about their health history and prognosis and ask them to recognize that they will not live forever and, in fact, may have a shorter life expectancy than was anticipated – the difficulty escalates even further.
In many cases, an advisor may not appreciate the value of knowing as much about a client’s medical situation that may affect the underwriting and pricing of the proposed coverage. While this may apply more to financial planners, it applies to all advisors because some are reluctant to touch upon issues that may negatively impact a sale. However, an advisor must not let anything stand in the way of gathering all available information from the client. To accomplish this, both client and the advisor need to work together regarding the reality of the client’s situation.
