When was the last time you walked onto a car lot?
Did you find the salesperson, before they found you, and say “I’d like to buy a car, what do you recommend?” Of course not! First, if you did, they would have lots of questions for you. Do you have a budget in mind? What color do you like? Do you want a truck, a car, a crossover? Do you want a sunroof? Do you want chrome wheels? And on and on and on. There is a lot that goes into car buying or even car shopping before you decide to purchase.
Long-term care insurance is no different. I often get calls and emails saying this: “I need a quote. Here are my client’s names and dates of birth.” Trust me, I can run with that but I’d rather set you
Angie Hughes
LTCi Marketing Manager
800.541.6705
up for the most success I can and I’ve realized that most of my agents that I work with don’t sell long-term care insurance regularly so to say they are comfortable with the topic wouldn’t be accurate. Imagine this: Mr. & Mrs. Client, age 62 and 60 respectively versus Mr. Client & Mrs. Client, ages 62 and 60, has planned well, plans to retire from their jobs in the next 5 years, spoke to their financial advisor who recommended LTC planning, has 3 grandkids and loves to travel. What a different picture that is. I can even work with clients that say, “We only want to spend around $150-200 a month on premiums.”
The Task Force organized its analysis and recommendations into four subject areas:
- Innovation and Product Development – product development and other innovation in the private market, including policies that combine LTCI with other types of insurance products or features offering alternatives to traditional, stand-alone LTCI.
- Regulatory Efficiency and Alignment – improvements in regulatory efficiency and alignment with respect to LTCI, including inflation protection requirements, harmony between federal and state laws and regulations, and cross-state subsidization and other issues relating to state regulatory review and approval of premium increases.
If you know your clients and know them in the community, tell me about them. It is my privilege to help you start the conversation and make it the most successful as I can. Now, this doesn’t mean we will one call close it but what it does mean is that we’ll start the conversation before this is how it goes, “My client just called with an early diagnosis of (insert any health condition) and they are wanting to know if they can buy long-term care insurance.” Think of it this way, you’d rather have your clients tell YOU no before you’re required to tell THEM no. I’ve had a peer tell me, we are all just one doctor’s appointment away from being uninsurable and there is some truth to that.
Now more than ever, consumers want to stay at home. Well, maybe we are sick of being quarantined to our homes, but we always see people who want to be dismissed from the hospital so they can go home, even if it’s just because they want to die at home. Our home is our safe place. There are policies that pay for care in the home. There are policies that pay right along with Medicare so the money can be saved and used later if more extensive care is needed.
What if we sold long-term care insurance in reverse? Now I am just getting crazy! Let’s talk to your clients and explain to them that they can be in control and they can decide when and where and by whom their care is provided from.
I’ve got an entire sales presentation built around this and I’d love to share it with you and what’s even better is that it works as sales are coming in.