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July 26, 2019 at 01:38 PM
As people’s lives change so do their insurance needs. Buying a home, having a baby, adding new drivers to the household, and other common life events can help insurance companies proactively retain policyholders and generate new business opportunities.
The problem is life insurers and their agents often don’t know how these life changes could affect their policyholders’ needs until it is too late. Knowing when these events happen can help create an on-going relationship with the policyholder at the right time to manage the relationship before the change negatively impacts both the agent and carrier’s book of business.
(Related: LexisNexis Shifts Life Insurance Underwriting Into High Gear)
Life events often offer new cross-sell and upsell opportunities, so it is important for agents to discuss with carriers how they can receive these triggers, so they can be there to address their policyholder’s changing needs. Life event triggers should be viewed as opportunities to reach out to policyholders in an advisory role to build rapport, review coverage, and ultimately strengthen retention.
When comparing other lines of business such as auto or property, there is a regular cadence of policyholder contact that at a minimum happens at renewal. Ultimately, within these lines of business, the relationship with the policyholder is on-going, whereas in life insurance, the relationship can be a one-time/one-stop event. Making sure your carriers have these life event triggers in place, can give agents a competitive advantage and a reason to have an additional conversation about life insurance.
Educating Americans on their options is more critical than ever because the nation is experiencing a significant life insurance gap. According to LIMRA studies, there is an estimated $340 billion worth of new life insurance needed each year, which is a gap of about $200,000 per household . Considering that there are approximately 124 million life insurance policies currently in force, with 13.5% of those policyholders experiencing a triggering life event each year, the market opportunity to cross-sell or upsell life insurance to individuals who have experienced a life event is $14.3 billion .
Having the right data at the right time will lead to a focused conversation, helping agents close the life insurance gap for customers while maximizing their ability to sell policies.
Executing on Life Events
People buy insurance when they are ready to buy, not necessarily when the agent wants to sell. Reacting quickly to changing life events gives agents the opportunity to reach customers when they are most receptive. Having the right data at the right time increases life insurance cross-selling and upselling opportunities while coming across as trusted advisor.
