Globe Life Agents Shift to Virtual Sales Strategies

“However, I am encouraged by the positive attitude of the agency owners,” Hutchison said.

At Globe Life’s direct-to-consumer internet operation and call centers, applications “have increased significantly,” Hutchison said. “As we have noted in the past, difficult times tend to highlight the importance of basic protection life insurance.”

Here are some other things executives said:

Persistency: At this point, Hutchison said, policyholders are keeping up premium payments about as well as they were before COVID-19 came along.

COVID-19 mortality: Frank Svoboda, Globe Life’s chief financial officer, said the company is assuming that the pandemic will lead to about 80,000 U.S. deaths, and about 2,500 to 3,000 life insurance claims for Globe Life, for a total of about $30 million in life insurance claims.

Agent commissions: Svoboda said Globe Life expects lower sales to reduce spending commissions and other sales-related expenses, and for those spending reductions to offset some of the cost of COVID-19-related insurance claims.

The U.S. Postal Service: “There has been a significant discussion in the media about the Postal Service running out of money and shutting down in the next few months,” Hutchison said. “We believe that it would be unrealistic from any perspective, political or otherwise, for the federal government to allow the Postal Service to cease operations.” At this point, he said, “post office service levels are in line with what we’ve experienced in the past. We have not seen any impact on our mailing processes.”

— Read Publicly Traded Life and Annuity Issuers Prepare to Talk About COVID-19 With Investors, on ThinkAdvisor.

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