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Life Health > Long-Term Care Planning

3 new ways to pitch LTCI

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Hello, team! How was everyone’s off-season? This is a loaded question, of course; we know that there is no such thing as an off-season when you are a sales leader. It’s just that with the Major League Baseball season now upon us (Go Rockies! Yes, I am from Colorado.), it got me thinking about how we can “pitch” long-term care insurance to existing clients. Here are three methods to consider.

1. Incorporate LTC planning into your estate planning review.

One of my favorite approaches is to talk about long-term care while I’m taking inventory of an existing client’s estate plan. This is a natural time to talk with your clients about the need to include a long-term care insurance policy in addition to a life insurance plan. Most traditional estate plans are set up to save taxes upon one’s death; however, it is extremely important to plan for old age as well as for death. Good estate planning is not always good later-life planning unless you include a long-term care insurance policy. Without an LTC policy you could lose everything before you actually die due to health care costs. The national average of just one year in a nursing home can cost nearly $100,000 a year.  

2. Talk to business owners.

Another time I like to pitch long-term care insurance is while talking to business owners. Most business owners will tell you that they have key employees who are vital to their success. Naturally, they want to retain these employees. One good way to do this is to offer long-term care insurance. Remind your business owner clients that group medical health plans DO NOT protect against the risk of a long-term care event, and that LTCI can be a way to help entice their key employees to remain with the company. Adding this benefit is truly a win-win: The employee is protected from the risk of a long-term care event and, should a key employee have to care for a loved one, the business owner is protected as well. Additionally, remember that LTC insurance premiums can be deducted as a business expense. It’s kinda like pitching a no-hitter or a perfect game.

Initiating the conversation about a group/worksite long-term care insurance program positions you brilliantly by bringing a unique, value-added service to these owners. Your ability to help them with key employee retention while protecting their business will solidify your role as their trusted advisor and can position you to deliver additional products and services for years to come. We just hit another home run with this approach!

3. Involve your clients’ children.

One last pitch I’d like to share with you is the idea of approaching your clients’ children. When you do this, make sure you use the right language. Instead of pointing out what their parents can lose (home, assets, piece of mind, etc.) demonstrate what the children themselves risk losing. Talk about the financial duress a long-term care event can put on the entire family. Many children do not live near their parents anymore. I don’t and haven’t since I was in my twenties. I actually bought a long-term care insurance policy for my parents years back. I pay $2,500/year for it, and it is one of the best investments I’ve ever made. Over the course of 25 years, the financial burden will total $62,500 in premiums; mere peanuts compared to the current cost of long-term care (remember, nearly $100,000 nationally — and that’s without inflation). We just hit yet another home run with this approach and it becomes a grand slam if you can speak personally about it, as I can do.

Now that’s three new pitches you have in your arsenal when selling long-term care insurance. Used correctly, you can make the jump from the minors to “the show.” As Kevin Costner’s character says in the classic baseball move Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” Now, let’s play ball …

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