David J. Murphy

“Involuntary” is an interesting word. The American Heritage® Science Dictionary1 states that “involuntary” means, “Not under conscious control. Most of the biological processes in animals that are vital to life, such as contraction of the heart, blood flow, breathing, and digestion, are involuntary and controlled by the autonomic nervous system.”

There is one involuntary process that we all wonder about, sometimes laugh at or find embarrassing or strange. It is yawning.

Yawning
“Even thinking about yawning can cause you to do it. It’s something everybody does, including animals, and you shouldn’t try to stifle it because when you yawn, it’s because your body needs it. It’s one of the most contagious, uncontrollable actions a body does.”2

“The most scientifically backed theory about why we yawn is brain temperature regulation. A 2014 study published in Physiology & Behavior3 looked at the yawning habits of 120 people and found that yawning occurred less during the winter. If the brain’s temperature gets too far outside of the norm, inhaling air can help cool it down.” 

What does all this have to do with life insurance?
Consumers have an almost involuntary ability to procrastinate when it comes to buying sufficient life insurance to protect their families. If the “deadline” for buying life insurance is just soon enough to have the policy in place before you die, it is easy to perpetually delay taking action.

The reasons why people yawn are the same for why people procrastinate when it comes to buying life insurance.

Tired: The consumer is a weary person, weighed down with work and family responsibilities and distracted by all the media coming through the TV, the phone and the computer. One main reason the consumers do not pick up their phone to research how to purchase life insurance may be that they are busy and tired. The consumers’ involuntary ability to procrastinate when it comes to buying life insurance is directly proportional to the lack of the energy it takes to be proactive.

Bored: Have you ever met someone not in the life insurance industry gush all over with enthusiasm for the subject? Life insurance is a subject consumers choose to ignore rather than address. Not only is the subject boring to most people, it is also morbid and strange. The involuntary ability of the consumer to procrastinate when it comes to buying life insurance is related to the mundane and morbid (perceived) nature of the subject.

Seeing No One Else: In the reverse of yawning, which can be stimulated by seeing someone else yawn, consumers have an involuntary ability to procrastinate when it comes to buying sufficient life insurance simply because they see no one else doing it! Who among us announces to neighbors, friends or work associates, “Hey, you know what? I just bought life insurance!”

Preventing Inappropriate Yawning
We all meet people for the first time and want to make a great first impression. I have on occasion found myself stifling a yawn just as others are beginning to tell me about themselves. At those moments, I have a small panic, and take deliberate steps to prevent the yawn from rising. I will take a deep breath through my nose or quickly interject a question.

“Yawning is a good thing. It’s one way we can keep the brain awake and alert. But, there are definitely times when an unexpected yawn can be embarrassing. It gives the impression that you’re less than enthused, and that’s definitely not something you want while you’re in the middle of a deep conversation.”4

Turns out, there are two simple techniques you can use to prevent a yawn from materializing. You can:

• Take a sip of ice water; or,
• Take a deep breath through your nose.

Breaking the Procrastination Habit
There are simple techniques that successful independent financial professionals use for breaking the consumers’ involuntary habit of procrastinating when it comes to purchasing sufficient amounts of life insurance. These techniques include:

• Present the cold, hard facts. Much of the time our brains are warm and cozy simply due to ignorance of the potential dangers all around us. Consumers are unprepared for the unexpected. It is 100 percent certain they will die, but people do not know the timing of their demise. It could happen tomorrow. Prudence therefore calls for urgency.
• Present the financial realities. People underestimate how much is sufficient. A good fact finder helps uncover the need in an objective manner. Use multiples of income recognized by carriers in their underwriting guidelines.
• Use familiar words and clear reasoning. Do not lead with either illustrations or product descriptions. Walk the consumer through basic financial realities. Explain why Congress chose to give life insurance certain tax advantages. Inform the consumer about life insurance as a means of by-passing probate and achieving protection from creditors.
• Dispel myths. The consumer often believes life insurance is way more expensive than it really is. It has always been, and will likely always remain, an opportunity to buy dollars with pennies. For other mythbusters, check out Who Needs Life Insurance Myths  (www.lifehappens.org/insurance-overview/life-insurance/who-needs-life-insurance-myths/) and 6 Reasons Why People Don’t Buy Life Insurance And Why They’re Wrong (www.lifehappens.org/blog/6-reasons-people-dont-buy-life-insurance-and-why-theyre-wrong/)

A Yawning Gap
Have you ever heard of this expression? It is “used to describe a difference or amount that is extremely large and difficult to reduce.”5 Example: there exists nowadays “a yawning gap” between rich and poor.

​LIMRA has repeatedly warned about America’s Yawning Life Insurance Coverage Gap: 

• “Life Insurance ownership at its lowest level since 1960.”6
• “There are nearly 5 million more U.S. households that have life insurance coverage, compared to 2010.”7
• “30 percent of households remain uninsured, equal to the record low set in 2010.”8
• “There is a $16.0 trillion coverage gap and more than 37 million American families are completely uninsured and at financial risk if their primary wage earner dies unexpectedly.”9

Summary
We all yawn. Sometimes we laugh at it or find it embarrassing or strange. It is, at the end of the day, harmless. All of us in the life insurance industry know about the yawning life insurance coverage gap. There is nothing humorous about it. In fact,  it is downright embarrassing! When we consider the digital marketing tools available to us, the phenomenal improvements in ease of procuring life insurance policies compared to a generation ago, the fact that the premium rates are at record lows, that there exist today products of remarkable ingenuity and design and that today’s life insurance is as much about living benefits as it is about death benefits, we are completely without excuse!

When you read about the millions of families unprepared for the unexpected, I hope you do not yawn.

If any aspect of your business model involuntarily contributes to the status quo, it is high time to take conscious control! Consumers have an almost involuntary ability to procrastinate when it comes to buying sufficient life insurance to protect their families. All of our purposeful efforts are needed to help the consumers break the procrastination habit. Helping more people buy life insurance needs to become a contagious habit for all independent financial professionals!

Breathe deeply through your nose, sip some cold water and take the next step to meet the desperate needs of the very real families all around you.

Footnotes:

1. The American Heritage® Science Dictionary, Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin
2. https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-we-yawn
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24721675
4. https://www.livescience.com/36110-yawn-contagious.html
5. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/yawning
6. http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/09/08/limra-life-insurance-coverage-gap-substantial-and?slreturn=1513280462
7. According to LIMRA’s 2016 Trends in Life Insurance Ownership study,
8. http://www.limra.com/research/abstracts/pdf/2016/160928-01.aspx
9. Ibid. http://www.limra.com/research/abstracts/pdf/2016/160928-01.aspx

In 1965 recording artist Otis Redding released a song he had written called Respect. Aretha Franklin re-arranged the song from that of “a plea from a desperate man”1 to “a declaration from a strong, confident woman.”1 The song became a 1967 hit and a signature song for Franklin.

All around the world people became familiar with Franklin’s innovative addition to Redding’s song:

 “R-E-S-P-E-C-T—Find out what it means to me!”

People are occasionally singing this song still today, but it seems to this writer that many elements of society have generally forgotten what respect means. In particular, there is a paucity of respect shown to others in social media. It does not have to be this way. Respect for others starts with each of us doing our part. I have made a personal commitment to contribute positively to conversations, interactions and to make respectful contributions on social media.

Climbing down off my soapbox, I want to urge you to consider how you are demonstrating respect for others in your work.

Respect for clients and prospects
Aretha Franklin sang:

“I’m about to give you all of my money—And all I’m askin’ in return, honey—Is to give me my propers…”

As an independent financial professional, you ask clients/prospects to trust you to guide them regarding their money, whether that’s with their life insurance, an annuity or otherwise. In return, are you giving them their “propers?”

Six habits that demonstrate respect to your clients/prospects

1. Respect their time!
a. Ask yourself, “Have I formed the habit of always sending an agenda before every appointment and client meeting?” An agenda allows others to know what will be discussed. It communicates respect for another’s time. It also helps you control the conversation, stay focused and achieve your objectives.

b. Be prompt! “Remember, they are sacrificing their time for you. Don’t make them wait. Show up to your scheduled meeting on time, be prepared and don’t drag your message longer than it needs to be. Sometimes the quicker the better, get to the point and be respectful of their time.”2

c. Send follow-up notes that summarize the conversation, decisions made and next steps.

2. Listen! 
a. Construct your agenda items to indicate your commitment to listen. Examples: 

• I am going to listen to you describe your life in financial terms.
• I am going to listen to you describe your financial goals and priorities.
• I am going to listen for your financial anxieties and uncertainties.

b. Show humility. “Respect for your customers is essential to marketing success. Respect requires listening and it requires humility. One of the New York window washers who founded Snapple® put it like this: ‘We never thought of ourselves as any better than our customers.’”3

c. Discover what they know. Your clients/prospects have access to unlimited information and are habitually looking for it. Pay them the compliment of seeking what they have discovered. You will find that most people are not seeking more information, but rather, understanding.

3. Remember your customer’s name!
a. “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”—Dale Carnegie

b. Use their name at the beginning and end of a conversation with them.

c. For difficult names, ask for a pronunciation.

d. Do not call them by a nickname unless they have agreed to this. You can always ask “And you like to be called Michael, not Mike, right?”

e. Use their name when asking “tie-down” questions to verify that the client understands the explanations you provide when presenting potential solutions. (Examples: “Rachel, do you know what I mean?” “Wouldn’t you agree, Nabeel?”)

4. Remember your client’s preferences!
a. Given a client’s occupation, family situation, shift hours and other commitments, there are certain days, and times of day, that are inconvenient. Learn these and remember them when scheduling future conversations.

b. People prefer to be contacted in various means. Some want to receive a phone call. Others prefer texting. Email is preferred by others.

c. Meeting in their personal homes is awkward for some people, while meeting in offices is intimidating to others. It is not unusual for people to prefer meetings in coffee shops.

Keep your commitments! Ask yourself these questions:4
a. Am I following up with my clients annually for a “client review” to ensure that their evolving needs are met?

b. Do I treat every client with respect at all times by keeping them as a priority in my frequent contacts?

c. How many connection points do I have with my clients? (Facebook, Twitter, texting, phone calls, face-to-face, FaceTime, Snapchat, etc.)

d. Am I sending a thank you note and small token of appreciation when a client provides me with a referral?

e. Do I honor my commitments to my clients?

Ask for their feedback!
a. When you ask a client for feedback, it communicates respect. Seeking your client’s viewpoints implies that you will take them into consideration when refining your process.

b. Ask your clients, “How important were each of the following attributes in your decision to purchase the product/service?”

• Knowledge we exhibited
• Information we provided
• Objectivity
• Our experience
• Pricing
• Ease of use
• Quality of products/services
• Responsiveness of support staff

Summary:
Showing respect to your clients/prospects is vital to your success. It can be as simple as complimenting them on a choice they made during the appointment, or as profound as showing up in person when the unexpected happens. “Respecting the customer is really just treating them the way you would like to be treated.”5 

In his novel Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”

You care about making a difference in your clients’ lives. You may not be able to truly love every single one. Perhaps the greatest impact you can have is to show all of them respect. They may not be finding it in very many places.

Footnotes:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_(song)
  
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-ways-show-your-clients-respect-robin-richter
  
• https://hbr.org/2007/12/what-i-learned-from-you-2
  
• North American Company has agent best practice tools, including 415NM Persevering Business Practices, available from Sales Development at 800-800-3656, ext. 10411
• http://www.financialwisdom.com/pflsresourcecenter/DacotahBank/SmallBusiness/RespectingCustomers.shtml

The opinions and ideas expressed by Dave Murphy are his own and not necessarily those of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance or its affiliates and they do not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas.

“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”-Henry David Thoreau

In December, 2015, my mom passed away. Five days later, my wife’s mom also passed away. Losing these two charming, gentle and endearing women from our lives brought great sorrow. We began the sad task of settling their estates and dealing with their belongings.

My mother-in-law was an avid reader and bibliophile. She owned numerous hardback books, generally thick novels that took up significant space. My wife and I enjoy reading, but we already had bookshelves full of books. The key word is full. With all respect to Thoreau, books are not necessarily a fit inheritance.

My wife and I downsized in 2017. It’s a decision many people are choosing to make. Whether it’s simply moving to a small apartment or even researching “tiny house cost” and seeing if this latest trend is suitable for your new home. After our youngest daughter got married and moved out, we sold our home of 25 years and bought a condominium. Greatly reduced space meant sorting out and giving away. We did think about renting out a storage space, like these storage units in pueblo west co, but then we thought that maybe our kids might want some of the stuff. We offered to give each of our kids the thick files we have gathered over the years of their drawings, report cards, notes, photographs and other memorabilia. They looked at these mounds of faded paper, smelled the faint mildew and graciously declined. Hoards of documented, stored memorabilia from our children’s upbringing, as it turns out, are also an unfit inheritance.

Cultural Reality
A shift has occurred in American society with regard to what the successive generation deems worth keeping from the preceding one.

“For generations, adult children have agreed to take their aging parents’ possessions-whether they wanted them or not. But now, the anti-clutter movement has met the anti-brown-furniture movement, and the combination is sending dining room sets, sterling silver flatware, and knick-knacks straight to thrift stores or the curb.”1

“The fact that one generation’s treasures are another generation’s trash is bad news indeed for stuffed-to-the-gills Boomers, who now range in age from 52 to 70 and fret about what will become of their family heirlooms and precious possessions should they downsize to smaller digs-or, well, move on to the great beyond.”2

In addition to the marked change in what one generation prizes from the former, attitudes are changing among the people currently in possession of the wealth that comprises potential inheritance.

It is estimated that Baby Boomers will pass down $30 trillion in assets to their children and grandchildren. There are two groups within the Baby Boomer demographic, divided by their commitment to leave an inheritance behind. One group plans to leave inheritances. The other is the no-inheritance camp. Interestingly, both groups share the same concerns:

• They’re afraid of running out of money and becoming a burden to their families.
• Both groups contribute financially to their children and grandchildren, but the no-inheritance camp prefers giving while they are still alive.

Planning your estate can be a daunting task, and many people believe that putting it off and saving it for later is the best option for them, especially if they think they don’t have the money or are just afraid of running out of funds if they do leave an inheritance. However, speaking to someone similar to this estate planning spokane wa firm may be the right choice since many might find themselves without an inheritance.
Laura Varas, co-founder of the Hearts & Wallets financial services research firm said, “There are different life philosophies and one isn’t right.”

The no-inheritance camp is generally less wealthy than the other group. “But those who plan to leave inheritances are terrified of running out of money,” said Varas.

“The parents who do plan to leave inheritances,” Varas noted, “view this generosity as the ultimate insurance policy against ever running out of money.’ They carve out a portion of their assets for their children” and then force themselves to live on the funds they designated for retirement. These Baby Boomers fear having to tap into the funds they want to leave as an inheritance.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute published a survey in January, 2012, entitled, Multi-Generational Views on Family Financial Obligations. The study discovered that among Baby Boomers “who feel some responsibility to leave something behind for their heirs, the largest shares suggest the appropriate amount is either under $20,000 (30 percent) or between $20,000 and $50,000 (23 percent).”4

One of the studies concluded, “If leaving an inheritance is important, then it has to be planned for. This is especially true for Boomers nearing retirement, because legacy planning’ needs to be incorporated into general plans for spending and saving in retirement.”4

Legacy Planning
In an article entitled What Keeps Senior and Baby Boomer Clients Awake at Night?5 Bryce Sanders identified four major worries facing Baby Boomers:

1. Preparing for retirement and providing financial security for their surviving spouse.
2. Costs of long term care and catastrophic medical expenses.
3. Being squeezed by rising prices.
4. Passing wealth to future generations.

If we combine these four concerns with what we learned above, we can build a solid blueprint for legacy planning. A successful plan will contain accommodations for the following concerns:

• Providing an inheritance that will be appreciated (cold hard cash).
• Maintaining access to the funds in the event they are needed (liquidity).
• Designating even modest amounts as legacy funds.
• Hedging against inflation.
• Incorporating possible need of the funds to meet long term care and catastrophic medical expenses.
• Maximizing the amount of the legacy fund.

In an article entitled Boomers Going Out with a Bang: A Historic Transfer of Wealth that appeared on Kiplinger.com, investment advisor Kirk Cassidy wrote, “There can be dozens of decisions that need to be made to help properly pass down this money -to help preserve it from taxes and avoid going to probate, to make sure it goes to the intended people.”6

Legacy Planning Tool
The life insurance industry has created a product that meets all of these requirements! It is Single Premium Indexed Universal Life (SPIUL). Single Premium Indexed Universal Life may be one of the most favorable methods for building a legacy because it transfers funds efficiently. For the Baby Boomer client intent on legacy planning, SPIUL products will typically offer the following:

• Leverage: Immediate leverage of a single premium into a larger guaranteed death benefit.
• Efficiency: Life insurance death benefits pass to beneficiaries generally income tax free and outside probate.
• Room to Grow: Beyond the death benefit guarantee, with non-guaranteed cash value growth, and non-guaranteed death benefit, may grow well beyond the guaranteed coverage amount.
• Liquidity: Cash values can be accessed through withdrawals or standard policy loans. Some products offer withdrawals made in year two, and beyond that are surrender charge penalty-free for amounts up to 10 percent of the account value per year. In addition, SPIUL products often have a Return of Premium feature.
• Access to funds for terminal or chronic illness conditions: Policyholders can accelerate their death benefit for these needs.

Best of all, these products are not available to just the ultra-wealthy. In accord with the aim of many Baby Boomers to pass on modest amounts of legacy money to their heirs, SPIUL products have a minimum premium as low as $25,000. These funds represent assets that Baby Boomers do not plan to use for retirement. The funds may currently be held in an annuity, IRA, or savings or checking accounts.

Legacy Planning Client Profile
SPIUL insurance products are designed to optimize the legacy that Baby Boomer clients wish to leave to their heirs. The prime client for legacy building using SPIUL is typically the following:

• Male or female, aged 5080.
• Can qualify for, and appreciates, the leverage of death benefit protection.
• Has funds of $25,000 – $200,000 currently parked in low-yielding instruments, unofficially designated for legacy but also intended for use in case of an emergency.
• Readily identifiable on Facebook because they are seen spending time with children and grandchildren and treating them to vacations or other activities.

Summary
The goal of leaving behind a legacy is as old as mankind. The question of what is a fitting inheritance changes with each generation. Cash generally never goes out of style. For those Baby Boomers inclined to engage in legacy planning, the life insurance industry has a very attractive solution in Single Premium Indexed Universal Life insurance products.

There is a huge opportunity for the independent financial professional to help even the somewhat hesitant Baby Boomer leave a legacy that can help please the next generation.

References:

1. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/06/04/baby-boomers-are-downsizing-and-the-kids-wont-take-the-family-heirlooms
   
2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/08/baby-boomers-rebuffed-heirlooms/93484620/
   
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2016/01/21/how-boomer-parents-feel-about-leaving-inheritances/#6b0bc46877ac and http://www.heartsandwallets.com/a-segment-of-baby-boomers-use-legacies-as-ultimate-insurance-to-avoid-running-out-of-money-in-retirement/news/2015/12/
4. https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/highlights/mmi-multi-generational-obligations-highlights.pdf
   
5. https://www.accountingweb.com/practice/clients/what-keeps-senior-and-baby-boomer-clients-awake-at-night
   
6. http://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T021-C032-S014-boomers-will-see-a-historic-transfer-of-wealth.html
   
7. Source: (CNBC 11-30-16, Morgan Stanley 2015, Accenture. The “Greater” Wealth Transfer Capitalizing on the Intergenerational Shift in Wealth, 2012; Accenture 2016)

Indexed Universal Life Insurance products are not an investment in the “market” or in the applicable index and are subject to all policy fees and charges normally associated with most universal life insurance.

Income and growth on accumulated cash values is generally taxable only upon withdrawal. Adverse tax consequences may result if withdrawals exceed premiums paid into the policy. Withdrawals or surrenders made during a Surrender Charge period will be subject to surrender charges and may reduce the ultimate death benefit and cash value. Surrender charges vary by product, issue age, sex, underwriting class, and policy year.

Neither North American Company for Life and Health Insurance nor its agents give tax advice. Please advise your customers to consult with and rely on a qualified legal or tax advisor before entering into or paying additional premiums with respect to such arrangements.

The opinions and ideas expressed by Dave Murphy are his own and not necessarily those of North American or its affiliates. North American does not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas nor does the company or agents give tax advice. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed as to accuracy. All information is for agent representative use only and cannot be used, in whole or part, with consumers.

Proposition:  In independent life insurance distribution, nothing happens until the life of an independent financial professional (IFP) intersects, in an impactful way, with the life of a consumer who is unprepared for the unexpected.

 To begin, we need to define a term from jurisprudence.

Definition #1: Proximate Cause  
“Proximate Cause is defined as an act from which an injury results as a natural, direct, uninterrupted consequence and without which the injury would not have occurred. Proximate cause is the primary cause of an injury. It is not necessarily the closest cause in time or space nor the first event that sets in motion a sequence of events leading to an injury. Proximate cause produces particular, foreseeable consequences without the intervention of any independent or unforeseeable cause. It is also known as legal cause.

To help determine the proximate cause of an injury in negligence or other tort cases, courts have devised the ‘but for’ or ‘sine qua non’ rule, which considers whether the injury would not have occurred but for the defendant’s negligent act. A finding that an injury would not have occurred but for a defendant’s act establishes that the particular act or omission is the proximate cause of the harm, but it does not necessarily establish liability since a variety of other factors can come into play in tort actions.” (From: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/proximate+cause.)

Proximate Cause as a Metaphor
The term “Proximate Cause” is borrowed in order to illustrate, metaphorically, the prime element that drives independent life insurance distribution. Proximate cause is generally viewed in the negative sense as being that one primary factor that contributed to a loss. This article will turn this upside down and use the term “proximate cause” positively, to mean that singular action conducted by an IFP that produces vital improvement in the preparedness of a consumer.

Consider the following unexpected consequences of everyday life for which many consumers are completely unprepared:

• Dying too soon and leaving a family or business partner financially unable to continue as anticipated.
• Developing a chronic or critical medical condition that prohibits continued income and may require considerable expense.
• Reaching retirement age with insufficient funds to actually retire completely or at least maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
• One’s children reaching college age and having nothing saved to offset, partially or in whole, the expense of tuition, room and board.
• Discovering late in life that one’s savings and retirement funds have been exhausted; or in other words, outliving one’s assets.

Enter a properly-trained and motivated IFP driven by passion to help people protect their families and business partners from financial risk of loss. As in everything (science, innovation, improvement, discovery, invention, etc.), nothing happens until the right questions are asked and answered. The IFP who is armed with the right questions can become the proximate cause in the consumer’s life and will lead to particular, foreseeable consequences in the form of a plan and a product.

Sample Proximate Cause Questions:
What worries you the most about your financial future? Would you be interested in life insurance as a way to help supplement retirement income and include a self completion of funds even if you were to die prior to retiring?

• What do you wish you could afford to do in retirement?  Do you have a plan to meet that goal?
• Would your family continue with their lifestyle if tomorrow you developed a serious illness or died?
• How many months or years’ worth of your income have you saved?
• What if you could buy dollars of future income for pennies today that would be paid to your family if you died and your income stopped? How many dollars of future income would help to meet your family’s future financial goals?

Without the intervention of an IFP armed with the right questions and trained in the right solutions, most consumers will go on being unprepared for the unexpected. But for the intentional interaction of an IFP, the family and/or business partners of the unprepared consumer may end up bearing the consequences.

This is why the impact that an independent financial professional (IFP) is rightly viewed as a proximate cause in the positive sense.

Next, we need to define a term from chemistry.

Definition #2: Catalyst

1. a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed at a usually faster rate or under different conditions (as at a lower temperature) than otherwise possible.
2. an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action. That waterway became the catalyst of the area’s industrialization. He was the catalyst in the native uprising.
   (From: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catalyst.)

Catalyst as a Metaphor
The term “Catalyst” is borrowed in order to illustrate, metaphorically, the second most important element that drives independent life insurance distribution. In independent life insurance distribution the MGA (BGA, IMO, etc.) is the party best suited to help IFPs become the proximate cause in the lives of more and more consumers! The MGA can help the IFP improve effectiveness and therefore speed significant change in the lives of existing clients and cause prospecting to happen at a faster rate!

 Again, nothing happens until the right questions are asked and answered.

Sample Catalyst Questions: 

• What concerns are most pressing among your clients?
• How many families and businesses can you help to protect through life insurance this year?
• How many of your past clients own life insurance products that do not feature the living benefits available in today’s products?
• How much of your annual revenue originates from life insurance sales?
• How many of your clients have you not seen in the last four years?
• Can you state whether or not your clients are well-covered with life insurance?
• Why are more people not buying life insurance from you?
• Are your referral-gathering skills below average, average or above average?

Without the MGA investing time by asking the right questions, an IFP will likely not change, and the number and frequency of contacts with consumers will remain static.

Summary

• In independent life insurance distribution, nothing happens until the life of an independent financial professional intersects, in an impactful way, with the life of a consumer who is unprepared for the unexpected. 
• The IFP armed with the right questions and trained in the right solutions can become the proximate cause that produces vital improvement in the preparedness of a consumer. 
• The MGA who asks the right questions can be the catalyst who helps the IFP improve effectiveness and therefore speed significant change in the lives of existing clients and cause prospecting to happen at a faster rate.

Are you ready to become that proximate cause, or that catalyst, so that the widely-acknowledged life insurance coverage gap among American households can be speedily reduced?

But for you, who is it that will remain unprepared for the unexpected?

The opinions and ideas expressed by the author are his own and not necessarily those of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance or its affiliates. North American Company does not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas nor does the company or agents give tax advice. 

I began my career as an agent for a large mutual insurer. My agent number was 855. Whenever I had occasion to call the home office, the employees first asked, “What is your agent number?” No one called me by name. Years later I picked up another contract with a carrier on the opposite coast. I was assigned the exact same number and suddenly developed a twitch! Turns out, no one at the latter company ever referred to me by anything but my name.

Some of us experience a neurological phenomenon in which we see faces in random or ambiguous visual patterns.  This falls under a category known as “pareidolia.” This is me. I tend to see human faces in the whorl of grain on a wooden door, in the marbling of a granite countertop, and, of course, in electrical outlets.

The irony is, while many of us see faces where they do not actually exist, many of us fail to see faces where they do exist. We develop work habits that relegate people with real faces to the status of just names on files, email addresses or contract numbers.

Seeing a face is one step in the process of perceiving another person as human. Perceiving another being as human is one step toward establishing a sense of connectedness and community.

We have all had the feeling that we had somehow fallen into a circumstance of being processed like nameless, faceless objects, of being part of a long line of faceless inconveniences. We stand in line at airports waiting for our “zone” to be called. We order our fast food, get a receipt and are told to wait for our number to be called. “Number 127!” Sometimes when we place our order the cashier takes our name, and calls out our name when our food is ready. “Dave!” That is a little better. With the technology we have today, could these restaurants not take our picture when we place our orders, and display our images when our food is ready? Wouldn’t that be powerful?

Where Are You
Your business processes are designed to either accentuate relationship-building or to drive business in an impersonal manner. Ask yourself, “Am I seeing faces?”

If you rely on blast emails for getting out your marketing messages, you are not seeing faces.

If you have lost track of customers with whom you have had no contact for a lengthy period of time, their faces have faded in your mind.

If you transfer someone’s problem to another associate without at least giving a brief description of who the person is, you are simply passing on a faceless problem.

Practical Application
Consider these simple techniques for seeing faces:

• Microsoft Outlook allows you to upload a photo for the person you are setting up as a contact. Do you use this?
• Sales Force allows you to upload a photo for each contact. Do you use this?
• Your iPhone contacts can be personalized with a photo of each person. Have you used this function?
• LinkedIn features the faces for each contact in your network, in messaging and in your home feed. Are you seeing the faces of your customers and commenting or liking what they share, and sending messages on their work anniversaries and birthdays? If you work in the same office as they do, are you thinking of work anniversary ideas to celebrate?
• Are you making use of video conferencing? There is a free App for your iPhone called appear.in that enables you to conduct a video conference with as many as eight people simultaneously.
• If you have associates who have regular contact with the customers, but have never met them in person, arrange for at least one video session so everyone can see what everyone else looks like.
• Do you host client appreciation days? Posting a photograph of your customer for all your associates to see helps them remember that your customer is a real human being. It will also prepare them to recognize your best customers should they actually show up in your offices.
• You can capture a photo on your phone of anyone you are talking to via FaceTime. You can send that photo with the follow-up notes from your FaceTime meeting, thereby reinforcing to your customers that you see them as people.
• Taking a photo of yourself with your customer creates multiple opportunities. First, you can share it on Social Media. I often tweet photos of me standing with my key customers. That shows the customer you value the relationship enough to want to celebrate it publically. In addition, you can create a card to send to your customer using Microsoft Publisher or a similar tool, to send on the anniversary of your business relationship.

As an agent, I created a file folder for every new client. On the inside front cover I stapled a photograph of the client and the client’s family with their dates of birth, wedding anniversaries, job titles or grades in school. A year could go by and I could pick up the folder, be reminded of who the client was and be instantly prepared to ask some simple questions that indicated I remembered who they were.

Connectedness and Community
In the financial services business, we are just as prone as any other industry to focus merely on process and transactional efficiency. However, we are just as capable of remembering to make this our focus: people serving people. 

I enjoy staying at Ritz-Carlton properties. Their employee motto is “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” In my experience, Ritz-Carlton employees remember my face from the day before, from last night’s reception and dinner. They really see me as a human being. I have experienced a sense of community with people serving tables that is on par with the connectedness I have with the other people at the table.

In our competitive environment, wind-swept by regulation, low interest rates, aging demographics and technological upheaval, we stand or fall depending on the strength of our customer relationships. Those relationships are based on connectedness and community. These, in turn, rely on frequent contact, on genuine interest and shared commitments. It all starts, simply enough, with seeing faces.

The opinions and ideas expressed by the author are his own and not necessarily those of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance or its affiliates. North American Company does not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas nor does the company or agents give tax advice.

When we are looking for real evidence, we need to be clear as to what we are trying to prove.

Real evidence concerning whether or not a substance is actually honey requires that we taste it.

Real evidence concerning whether or not a substance is actually ammonia requires that we smell it.

Real evidence for whether or not a client’s family needs life insurance is not more product knowledge nor a better handle on its tax advantages, but rather actual stories of other families that benefited from it. The glory and exclusive wonder of life insurance is in its singular ability to positively impact lives intersected by major (and often devastating) changes.

Sharing only product performance through illustrations may only make clients believe in illustrated performance. It may not help them believe their family needs it!  It is the beautiful singularity of life insurance to deliver funds when most needed that is the proper object of our conviction!

Believing that life insurance has generally great tax advantages, or a decent internal rate of return, does not translate into a belief that it can really do a client’s family any good.  While educating clients regarding how life insurance products function is essential, such information is insufficient to prompt action.

Honey can be easily known through taste and ammonia can be experienced through smell.

Life insurance, properly presented, is truly only known through real stories of actual families that stayed in their homes, whose kids were able to attend college or whose comfortable retirement was made possible because the individuals supplemented their income using qualified plans and permanent life insurance.

There is a difference between intellectual knowledge and the emotional conviction that leads to action. Knowing and believing are not the same thing. Believing includes the willful embrace of what is believed. Knowledge does not necessitate action.

People do not typically relate well to life insurance. The terms we use are unusual. Paradoxically, stories of real people whose lives were improved by life insurance make it seem less foreign.

“When someone starts to describe your experience in words you have never heard, and in ways you have never understood, suddenly the strange words all sound exactly right.”*

Sharing the experience of others whose lives are similar to the clients’ lives makes the idea seem more tenable.

In 2017, we need to train independent financial professionals to transmit information and knowledge, certainly, but more important, to motivate their clients through effective stories! 

The opinions and ideas expressed by Dave Murphy are his own and not necessarily those of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance® or its affiliates. North American Company for Life and Health Insurance® does not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas nor does the company or agents give tax advice. 

Reference:
*”A Peculiar Glory,” Dr. John Piper, Crossway, Wheaton, IL 2016

I am a good fisherman. I stink, however, at catching fish. You would enjoy having me casting a line beside you. We would talk about a wide variety of subjects, laugh together and enjoy the water and sky. If you are competitive, you would certainly enjoy catching more fish.

This is my 35th year in the life insurance business. Imagine that you and I could sit together in the parade bleachers and watch a procession of all the financial professionals we have each known, walking briskly by. We would recognize the MDRT qualifiers, the award winners and the sales leaders. Figuratively, we would nod and say, “Those people can catch fish!”

 On the other hand, a throng of people will pass, smiling and waving back, who have only ever had mediocre success. These are some of the nicest people we have ever met. Quality people. Trustworthy people. Friends of ours.

What if you turned to me, quizzically, and asked, “Dave, what caused some of these people to reach high levels of success while the others muddled along for years and years?” This article is the answer I would give.

The reason I stink at catching fish is that I have never learned to think like a fish.
Fish eat, and therefore chase bait, in accordance with the season, the time of day, the conditions of the water, the weather, rising or falling barometric pressure, and the natural cycle of insect larvae and available prey. To catch a fish is to provide something that resembles what they expect to see, when they expect to see it and in a manner that resonates with them. 

 Fish have three sensing mechanisms they use to find their prey. They are sight, smell and sound. Colors matter because they change dramatically as they go deeper and therefore become darker. Red is the first to change to black. Yellow appears to get brighter. Some lure manufacturers smear the outside of their products with a scent attractant. Some species of freshwater fish have a lateral line, which is a major sensory element. These fish use their lateral lines to detect water motion. This motion can be generated by the fish itself, water currents or by some external moving object. This motion detection ultimately results in finding food. The senses work together to confirm that the lure presented is actually good to eat.

It is not how awesome I think what I am casting looks, or if I am casting and retrieving continually. What matters is how the fish perceive the lure I am presenting.

Thinking Like a Client
I urge you again to look down from the parade stands at the truly successful financial professionals. You are going to see people who think like a client.

Unlike fish, humans are sentient beings with self-awareness and an appreciation of past, present and future. While fish act and survive according to instinct, humans have the ability to remember, plan and anticipate. 

Just like fish, however, human beings have a natural life cycle. 

The successful financial professional knows that clients live in a stream of time, hurtling toward the future. They also know this about clients:

 • While they intuitively know time passes quickly, the days, weeks, months, years and even decades seem to pass imperceptibly.

• They look up now and then only to discover they have reached a transition.

• They are generally consumed with today and have trouble keeping their future selves in sight.

John Lennon famously said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

Consider these examples:

1. If you graduated from college, you remember the students looking at each other in surprise and asking, “How did the four years go by so fast?” (You may also remember that many students reached graduation with no job lined up, no plans for graduate school and only a vague idea of what was next.) 

2. You were likely the parent watching your child pull on a backpack on day one of first grade as you thought back to what seemed like yesterday when you brought your baby home from the hospital. (You could not imagine this same child starting college in twelve years.) 

3. You have attended the retirement party for the retiree who asks where the years went. (While a better question may be, how many years are ahead and how will I afford to live?)

The successful financial professional presents solutions appropriate for each stage in the client’s life, but more important, realizes that the client only subconsciously knows what it means.

Predictably Unexpected
While a fish cannot fathom the unexpected, clients know that risks are lurking out there because they know people who have died prematurely, developed disabling conditions, required assisted living services or have out-lived their assets. Knowing that risks exist and preparing for them are two different things. The successful financial professional knows that clients are predictably unprepared for the unexpected.

Presenting Clients with What They Need and Want
Clients will take action on a plan when three conditions are met:

• Credibility is established

• Relatability is demonstrated

• Ideas are sound

Credibility is like a lure that looks like real food. It is genuine. Authentic. The successful financial professional is personally financially responsible, can produce testimonials of satisfied clients, can be researched on social media, has designations, is connected in the community and works with other advisors (CPAs, attorneys, etc.) in teamwork fashion.

 Ask yourself:

1. Is my own financial house in order? (Am I prepared for the unexpected?)

2. Am I still growing my knowledge of the business?

3. Have I asked my best clients for testimonials?

4. Have I achieved distinction through earning designations?

5. Do I work in concert with CPAs, attorneys, money managers, and other advisors?

Relatability is like a sweet smelling lure. The successful financial professional listens carefully, demonstrates understanding of the client’s individual situation and communicates with clarity. The solutions are presented with the client as the hero.

 Ask yourself:

1. Do I demonstrate respect for each client by sending an agenda ahead of each meeting?

2. Do I take careful notes during each meeting and repeat what I learned at the end to show the client I listened?

3. Do I know my clients well enough to use their vocabulary, make reference to things important to them and use the names of their family members and business partners in designing their story?

4. Do I present the client as the hero who loves others by resisting procrastination and making important decisions?

Ideas that are sound can be seen from a distance as having merit, and yet, they become more convincing under closer scrutiny. They have the feel of matching the client’s life today and plans for tomorrow.

 Ask yourself:

1. Have I attended to my reputation so my good name arrives before I do?

2. Do I attend to details in developing tailored solutions?

3. Are the ideas I present practical and palatable?

Our industry is in a period of tremendous pressure and rapid change. We have experienced many difficult periods before. The secret to resilience, to be able to succeed in the face of obstacles and change, is to think like your clients.

May you be better at serving clients than I am at catching fish. 

The opinions and ideas expressed by the author are his own and not necessarily those of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance or its affiliates. North American Company does not endorse or promote these opinions and ideas nor does the company or agents give tax advice.

When one year or quarter ends and another begins, the question comes to mind, What can be done differently than last period to affect business growth? These days, there are so many different things that can help a business to grow, so it’s important that business owners pay attention to areas where their business could improve. Recently, a lot of smaller businesses have been starting to digitalize some of their operations. This helps them to increase productivity. However, IT can sometimes cause problems for companies, so it’s important that they have some IT solutions in place to ensure these problems can be fixed easily. Perhaps some companies might want to find a business offering IT Support Melbourne small business services. This should help more companies to digitalize easily, whilst also staying protected from any virus or hardware threats. Hopefully, this will help more small businesses to grow and achieve more in the future.

Nature is all about growth. The cold, hard tooth and claw of nature seek that which has ceased growing and begin dragging it inevitably and unmercifully toward death and decay. In nature, there is only growing, dying, or dead. The same exigencies define the business of independent life insurance distribution.

Growth, in nature, is intricate and tangled. Few organisms grow in a linear fashion, unhindered and free.

In business, we build models, utilize projections and reporting, marketing plans and other tools which contain assumptions of uniformity, consistency, and order. This is not how reality works. Every wholesaling insurance agency must wind its way through roadblocks, disloyalty, stronger competitors, and setbacks. Businesses go through a lot to keep themselves going, they need to test out and do new things to help with their productivity, one way they must be good in, is communication, using a unified communication platform can work with the business to help maintain its growth, these tips on finding the best platform will be useful to the businesses that need to keep connected.

Profit-tropism for Wholesaling Agencies
Plants exhibit phototropismthe tendency to grow toward the light. The battle for position in sun-warmed spaces causes plants to twist, bend and veer off in new directions. Life in the shadows is tenuous and near-fatal.

Similarly, in the business of independent life insurance distribution, the battles are for market share, recruiting candidates and profits.

Right Questions Lead to Finding the Growth Window and Greater Profit
The wholesaling insurance agency achieves growth through its producers. Finding the growth window is as simple as shaping producer behavior to reach the potential business in range of these producers. Some decide to better improve their reach as a business by franchising. There are a wide range of factors to consider when franchising though and it depends if you can support a franchise but if you’re interested in learning more about the law around it to make a better-informed choice for your growing business, consider talking to someone similar to LegalVision Franchise Lawyers for insight into how that process might work legally.

The following questions will discover open space, potential sales and greater profit:

Which producers are contracted currently with only one or two core carriers? They cannot represent to their clients that which they do not know.

Which producers are obviously not making a sustainable income from the sales they produce currently? There must be business going elsewhere.

Which producers tend to write one type of product? (Can all their clients have identical needs?) Limited knowledge of product variety and applicability restricts sales. Perhaps another wholesaling agency is reaping sales in other product lines.

Which producers have a low average premium? This usually means the producer is not conducting adequate fact-finding or has an inability to capture greater premium commitments commensurate with longer-term insurance strategies. Training in fact-finding and sales ideas will uncover growth opportunities.

Which producers developed sales in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 but not in 2015? Did they cease writing business in general, or are they simply directing it elsewhere? Time to reconnect with these producers and survey their business growth objectives.

How many people have the producers served in the past but have not seen in four years? A very high percentage of clients will experience major life changes in every four-year period (different life partners, increases or decreases in number of dependents, new career, promotion, retirement, health changes, inheritances, etc.)

Which producers have clients that now own small businesses who once worked for others?

Which producers have clients who are ill-prepared for retirement? College? Chronic illness? Critical illness? Terminal illness?

What keeps the producers from meeting with these people?

Which producers have no working knowledge of key financial concepts never before discussed with clients?

Right Questions Lead to Profitable Pruning
Often, as in nature, business expansion requires putting off, pruning, shedding and transformation.

In independent life insurance distribution, profits diminish when time, energy and effort are expended with no results. It is always the right time to discover where cuts can yield growth in profits by expense reduction.

Which producers have a low placement ratio?

Which producers order inordinate quantities of illustrations relative to their sales?

Which producers cannot seem to submit applications in good order?

Which producers refuse to embrace the greater efficiencies offered through web sites, e-applications, and other technology solutions?

Action Steps Leading to Profit-trophic Growth
Schedule producer training on how clients can benefit from todays products.

Schedule producer training on the right questions to ask in order to discover needs never before addressed.

Schedule producer training on the right words needed to describe the solution to those needs.

Help producers develop a process for getting in front of more people, learning about them and proposing ideas.

Ask producers how many people have they served in the past but have not seen in four years or more.

Ask producers who among their clients has had life changes since the last meeting.

Ask producers which of their clients now own small businesses who once worked for others?

Ask producers which clients they believe are ill-prepared for retirement, college, chronic illness, or critical illness.

Ask unprofitable producers to find a new home.

Summary
Growing is not optional. Survival depends on it. If you don’t know where to start, then ask for help, as there are plenty of options out there. Planned ascent, for example, offer business consultancy and coaching focusing on growing businesses. Space exists in the market for the wholesaling insurance agency equipped to shape producer behavior to reach the untapped and significant potential business in range of these producers.

The views and opinions expressed are the authors views and opinions as an individual and do not reflect the views and opinions of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.