Training Director Ronnie James has been in the business of helping people with their Medicare decisions for over 20 years. He has been able to work with and save money for numerous clients along the way, and he wants to help you start selling Final Expense more effectively.
Saving your client money will make it easy to help them “shift” that money they were spending to help them get coverage in other areas.
We Asked Agents About Selling Final Expense
Over the last year Ronnie has spoken with these agents and asked the question “are you selling final expense products to your current book of business?”
He received numerous answers and wanted to share the most common answers with you today:
"I am too busy to learn any new products."
Final expense is not a difficult product to learn. It is a simplified whole life product which means there is no exam for the client, the death benefit never decreases, and the premiums never increase.
The policy is designed to cover burial expenses. Sounds easy, right?
"I am not comfortable asking about it."
Why? If you have helped them with their health insurance plans, they have already shared their health history with you and obviously trust you with one of the most important concerns in their life.
You may be surprised that seniors are very aware that they have less road in front of them than behind them. They are not like your 30 year old client who still feels young and bullet proof. They have some aches and pains and read the obituaries.
Why It's So Important to Ask The Question
Remember that just because you are uncomfortable asking doesn’t negate the importance of it. That client may have just been waiting for someone to allow them the opportunity to buy.
The number one reason people don’t buy is that they have not been asked.
"I have recently started asking."
These agents are experiencing new thrills. They are finding the clients are now at ease when it comes to their final expenses. They are more loyal clients, and the agent obviously has made more commissions by adding products in the home.
"I always ask about final expense."
These agents are the most diversified agents we work with. They also seem to be the happiest group of agents. They have confidence in who they are and what they do. They have clients who would never open the door to anyone else.
They give nice referrals to their friends about their insurance professional. The agent has multiple streams of revenue and has kept the competition from coming in. They do not have to worry about someone taking their clients.
Commit to Selling Final Expense the Right Way
There are some stats that discourage agents from selling final expense. They say the persistency is not easy and doesn't have a good return.
Overall, that may be the case. There are agents who cold call, buy final expense leads, and use high pressure sales tactics to oversell a product that the client cannot financially keep long-term. The client starts out making the payments, but they soon realize that it's too expensive.
Those agents are what we call “policy peddlers.” They are not really interested in helping their clients and only focus on making a commission.
On the other hand, agents who cross-sell already have a business relationship with the individual. They are not trying to squeeze the last dime out of their clients, and they tend to see them more regularly. Because of this, the persistency is much higher for agents who do business with their client in mind, not the commissions.
Don't Leave Money on the Table
As a trainer of agents, Ronnie knows first hand that agents who are not selling final expense plans to their current books of business are leaving way too much on the table. If our job is to help people minimize risk in their health insurance, why wouldn’t we do that with their final expenses?
Not talking about death does not keep it from coming. Being too proud as an agent to be uncomfortable while learning a new product is not fair to your client. A final expense plan makes not only your client, but also their family, happier and more secure. The 30-45 minutes it takes to sit down and discuss final expense is 100% worth it for your clients and their loved ones.
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