To My Fellow IDI Producers:
The sale of individual disability income (IDI) insurance has never been an easy one.
Unlike health care, dental and vision policies—which consumers and their families frequently use and understand the need to purchase—IDI plans are a harder sell to consumers who can often be under-educated about the need for coverage. Many producers encounter a “this won’t happen to me” mindset when broaching the topic of IDI plans.
How can we as an industry break through that barrier and get their attention?
As you consider new sales strategies this year, I present you with a new mantra: ability.
The crux of a disability insurance sale is persuading customers that the insurance actually provides ability for someone facing a disabling condition. It’s not just about helping them if they ever incur a disability.
This concept of ability is all-encompassing. It’s the ability to stay within their current standard of living. The ability to keep their self-esteem intact. The ability not to be defined or confined by a disability, be it a chronic illness, unexpected injury or mental health condition. The ability to have hope. The ability to plan for an unforeseen event and rise above it, rather than being defined by it. The ability for a policyholder to focus on recovering both physically and emotionally and not be concerned with financial health.
Successful sales are rooted in producers who are focused on their prospective client’s lifestyle. From there, presenting the need for income protection can help clients understand how IDI coverage supports their standard of living. This can be done by emphasizing to a client that investing in himself—and his ability to create an income through his work—is the purpose of this protection, and that this ability can be unhampered by a disability.
In your sales this year, be prepared to ask more about your customers’ needs and wants, and explain coverage by using examples that are relevant to their lives. We need consumers to recognize what IDI can do for them and what they can do to protect themselves.
Really understand a client’s personal situation. These questions can guide your discussions:
• What are your life goals? What is most important to you?
• Why did you choose your current profession?
• Do you know anyone who has felt the financial impact of disability?
With this refreshed thinking—and ultimately, selling—our best years as IDI producers are ahead of us. In my 30-plus years in the industry, I’ve worked to share the importance of disability coverage and helped create awareness about this important protection. Please join me in this quest to help your clients define themselves by their abilities.
I wish you much success this year.
