A Story Worth Sharing
The end of a good year is always bittersweet. As much as anyone, I enjoy celebrating a job well done and objectives exceeded. The holidays bring the joy of time spent with family and the opportunity to rest and reinvigorate for the year to come. Then comes January, a new year, and with it new objectives and expectations. For Mutual Trust, 2017 was a year for the record books–double digit growth in sales and earnings, successful and dynamic distribution partners and excitement about the direction the company is headed. All of this, and being an integral part of the Pan-American Life Insurance Group, provides us with excellent financial strength and tremendous positive momentum as we enter the New Year; one that dawns with new products to sell, new products on the way and a great story to tell.
Though it sometimes gets minimized or even forgotten in the heat of competition, the story you tell matters as much as the products and the companies that you sell. The story creates that first emotional attachment. It’s the window that provides that first glimpse into what you and the companies that you represent truly believe. This is why, to resonate, it must be relevant, it must be true and it must be told by someone credible—because most of us can spot a fake.
The Mutual Trust story begins in 1883 with the Scandinavian Mutual Aid Association, a group of people in Galesburg, IL, who wanted to make sure that the families in their community would be able to survive if something happened to the breadwinner. That spirit continued with the formation of Scandia Life, a company owned by its policyholders for the benefit of its policyholders. It continues today with Mutual Trust Life Insurance Company.
A defining trait of our organization from the very beginning has been focus. One of our founders, Edwin Olson, said, “We can never be the oldest company. We do not want to be the largest. We must always be the best.” Put another way, we cannot be all things to all people, but where we choose to compete we must be among the best. Where we compete and excel is participating whole life. That’s where the company started and it is what has made us The Whole Life Company®.
Our portfolio of products provide guaranteed solutions for clients looking to leave a legacy for their children, business owners looking to protect what they have spent a lifetime building and clients looking for true guaranteed cash value growth with the upside that dividends can provide. Our newest product, Horizon Guarantee™, gives clients our maximum guaranteed death benefit with our lowest guaranteed premium. In a marketplace dominated by products that provide no flexibility and no exit strategy, Horizon Guarantee offers your clients coverage that is guaranteed to adjust as their needs change. All of this with competitive compensation and a sales conference that rewards the work that you do.
That’s a pretty good story—one that will resonate with agents and clients simply because it’s different from the stories they hear every day. What’s your story going to be in 2018? Is it different from your competition? Maybe it’s time to take a new look at an old friend—participating whole life. Through Q3 2017, whole life was 36 percent of individual life insurance sales. Whole life sales among independent agents had grown six percent. What part of that market was yours? What part of it could be? Talk with Mutual Trust and let us help you find out. [LC]
