Life Insurance Awareness Month

The campaign to persuade customers to buy financial protection they need is under way. Learn from some of the best in the business how to make the most of this opportunity and rev up your production numbers.

By Dave Willis

Excited. That’s how Cathy Thompson, CLU, felt when she first learned of Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM). As director of marketing management for Prudential, some might argue that Thompson is paid to get excited. But her keenness is more than vocational—it’s profoundly personal. You see, Thompson’s dad died when she was 7. “We didn’t have tons of insurance,” she says. “But we had enough to cover the mortgage and keep our house.”

Thompson’s enthusiasm was put to good use as Prudential joined dozens of other organizations last year for the first LIAM celebration. Various industry groups worked with the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) to make agents, advisors and the public aware of life insurance’s unique role life in building a sound financial plan.

For instance, Nationwide offered agents a qualified lead-generation program and a customizable news release template for local media, and solicited and shared stories of how life insurance helped clients. Ohio National worked to further educate agents, who, in turn, educated their clients and prospects about the need for life insurance.

Prudential targeted employees for two reasons, Thompson says. “First, employees should feel good about what they do—that insurance is a good thing and provides a valuable service. Second, if employees haven’t recently evaluated their own needs, they should.”

“I can’t give full credit to the campaign, but last September happened to be our biggest in terms of life sales.” —Bob Ellwanger, New York Life

Nationwide sent awareness emails from key executives to staff and arranged brown-bag seminars. New York Life staged a number of employee events, even tapping television Apprentice Kwame Jackson for a headquarters kick-off.

Insurers also led and supported customer-communication efforts with ads and sales-promotion materials. Nationwide, for example, created service-center, on-hold messages and greetings to boost life insurance awareness. And New York Life spearheaded a one-day call-a-thon, in which it encouraged its staff to contact clients, prospects and centers of influence.

According to New York Life’s Life and Annuity Marketing Vice President Bob Ellwanger, CLU, ChFC, LLIF, through the call-a-thon, agency staff booked upward of 10,000 appointments, which translated into sales. “I can’t give full credit to the campaign, but last September happened to be our biggest in terms of life sales,” he says. “We were up about 28 percent. Some of that resulted from our efforts to promote the campaign to producers and employees.”But the heavy awareness lifting didn’t rest solely on carriers’ shoulders. Agents got involved, too, and their efforts offer motivation and inspiration for advisors looking to make the most of LIAM this year.

Advisors who can effectively reach the women’s market will come out ahead as a result of the awareness push and Henner’s role in it.

In Milford, Pa., Nationwide agent Sonnie Lehman, RFC, CEP, LUTCF, saw LIAM as a chance to work the crowds. “It’s a chance to contact the chamber of commerce, the rotary club, and get 15 minutes to talk about how important life insurance is,” he says. He’s not alone. According to Ellwanger, “Most of our sales offices took part in local events, seminars, chamber activities—all capitalizing on awareness the campaign generated and seizing opportunities to get in front of people.” Lehman also communicates regularly with centers of influence—accountants and attorneys—about life insurance. LIAM is just one more hook to get in touch and strengthen these relationships. Other tactics Robicheaux capitalizes on are discussing life insurance on local television and radio talk shows and participating in newspaper interviews.

Tools and resources
Advisors have a broad range of printed materials to promote life insurance. Take Larry Risley, CLU, LUTCF, owner of Risley Financial Services and an Ohio National agent. He displays Plexiglas-encased pamphlets in his office, including a special LIAM piece on the difference between term and permanent insurance targeted at young families. He also uses direct-mail letters featuring true stories. These messages and activities really work. “I specifically recall moving three individuals off the fence as a result of my contact during that month,” says Risley, who is a Wichita AIFA member. “I had just about given up on them.” Lehman, the Nationwide agent, used print to reach his many property and casualty clients who often go to the office to pay their premiums. “We had something sitting out on the desks that said, ‘Ask me about life insurance’ or ‘Have you had your life insurance reviewed lately?’” he says.

Some materials came directly from LIFE, others were produced by the agencies and some came from carriers. Prudential, for instance, sent agents copies of a LIFE article containing a realLIFEstory. Insurers also provided postcards, co-op ads and even direct-mail campaigns to clients and prospective clients.

Personal interactions
A client responding to one such message triggered ideas for Raleigh, N.C.’s Keith Bettex on other ways to capitalize on the increased awareness. Bettex, a Prudential agent and Raleigh AIFA member, recalls thinking, “Wait a minute. This gives me an opportunity to go back and talk to existing clients—my prime lifers—about their coverage. And it gives me another chance to ask for referrals.” With some 2,000 existing life accounts, referrals are big business for Bettex.

Sometimes, advisors have to catch clients when they can—like when they’re waiting to talk with them. Lehman’s agency uses on-hold messages that discuss life insurance products and the need for regular reviews. Using these recordings is just one more way to sneak in messages promoting life insurance awareness. “We have to take advantage of every second with a client,” Lehman says. “People are so busy today.” All of these tactics can help advisors build awareness—and their business. “If we as producers can use LIAM as a tool and bring to the table our own ideas and experiences, it will help us get the sale and produce referrals from it,” Bettex says. “That’s worth its weight in gold.”

Enthusiasm sells
But what brings all these tools and ideas together? “Some of our offices had greater success than others,” Thompson says. “One thing that led to greater success was enthusiasm—enthusiasm from management promoting it.” Bruce Davison, president of Wichita, Kansas-based Strategic Financial Concepts Inc., and a general agent with Ohio National, takes it one step further. “Because of the heightened awareness, we saw increased talk among agents around the coffee pot,” he says. This peer interaction breeds confidence among producers and cements in their minds the importance of life insurance.

According to Davison, LIAM and related activities make it easier for agents to be more forceful and confident as they sell life insurance. Risley, who is affiliated with Davison’s agency, demonstrates this confidence when talking with clients. Davison says that when people Risley talks with say they want to wait before buying life insurance, Risley responds, “I’m sorry. I can’t let you do that. This issue is too important.” This self-assurance—and some good old-fashioned legwork—can help advisors reap major rewards from LIAM. “If we’re smart enough to grab prospects when they’re receptive, good for us,” Robicheaux says. “If we do a heavy campaign of approaching people, we’re certainly going to capitalize.”

The female advantage
So how do successful advisors recommend approaching prospects? Consider who the national spokesperson for LIAM 2005 is—Marilu Henner. At age 17, Henner, perhaps best known for her role in the sit-com Taxi, lost her father to a heart attack. Her dad, the sole breadwinner in the family and the picture of health before his heart attack at age 52, left behind a wife, six kids and considerable debt. Proceeds from his policy paid off those debts and let the family keep their home.

According to Bettex, advisors who can effectively reach the women’s market will come out ahead as a result of the awareness push and Henner’s role in it. “A lot of women identify with her,” he says. “Women are the most under-marketed segment for life insurance. If you can get into a direct-marketing approach to women, you’re going to be successful.” Jack Wolf, Ph.D., CPT, CLU, ChFC, a life insurance sales veteran and head of Jack Wolf Learning in Bradenton, Fla., notes that most industries are not prepared to service women in this country. “Most of the people sitting on the advisory councils in most industries, including financial services, are men—older white men,” he says But, he adds, in the majority of cases, females make the call on financial services purchases.

Making it personal
Using other true stories—similar to Henner’s story—is another way advisors can turn prospects into clients. Bettex tries to incorporate personal testimonies whenever he can. “If you’re out there enough, you hear these stories,” he says. “I take excerpts and write them down.” The names stay anonymous, he adds, but the stories help break down barriers and put a human face on a financial product. One of his clients is a 9/11 survivor. “He was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center,” Bettex says. “If he had not left at a certain time, he wouldn’t be on this earth right now.”

Bettex had written the client’s property insurance, which led to a claim for a PDA he left behind as he fled. Before 9/11, the man had no interest in developing a life portfolio. “After that one incident, that life event, he’s a humbled man, and he wants to care for his family, his grandchildren,” Bettex says. He’s now a life insurance client. If client experiences aren’t enough, just read the newspaper. “There’s one Ann Landers column, which is approved through my company, about a 43-year-old woman with two children, 10 and 11, and her husband passed away,” Bettex says. “He made a good living but never managed to save anything or have an insurance portfolio. This person was speaking from her heart.”

Detailed stories aren’t always available, and that’s OK. Kelly Dickson, CLU, LUTCF, a Southern Farm Bureau agent and a member of Central Texas AIFA, suggests building on LIAM by weaving awareness of current events—often local and personal ones—into conversations. He does this to get the subject of life insurance discussed and says it’s simple and quick and works like a charm. “No matter what I’m doing,” he says, “I’ll bring up something I read in the paper, maybe about someone in a car wreck, and say, ‘Golly, it makes me wonder if that man left his family with enough life insurance.’ And I’ll leave it at that.” Before long, the conversation will move to a point when he’s asked, “How do you even know how much to carry?” Bingo.

Using other real-life stories—similar to Henner’s story—is another way advisors can turn prospects into clients.

Dickson, a seven-year NAIFA National Quality Award winner, uses a specific formula, often jotting numbers on a napkin that shows what it would take for family members to carry on if something were to happen to the breadwinner. “Every time, there’s a need for life insurance,” he says. Keith Bettex’s “how much” awareness discussion goes back to 9/11. “They did a study of those who passed on after the terrorist attacks,” he says, referring to data on a Department of Justice chart. “Eighty percent of them were underinsured, extremely underinsured.”

Dickson builds on this trifold awareness—product, need and value of life—with a rather provocative statement. “I tell people, ‘As cheap as term is, it should be against the law for you not to have enough life insurance to provide your family with income,’” he says. That’s how he gets into the sales presentation. He sells a lot of term insurance, describing it as a “temporary solution to a permanent problem.” Likening it to renting versus buying a home, Dickson promises to call term buyers before their birthdays to see how they can convert a little each year to permanent insurance. “I’m not just making one sale; I’m planting the seed for next year,” he explains. “The chance is better than 50-50 that I’ll convert some of it.”

Go for the visual
Wolf believes advisors can best capitalize on life insurance sales opportunities if they understand adult learning. “A lot of producers learn about personalities,” he says. “They get trained on how people use body language.” But he reverses that. “When you’re speaking or making a presentation, you’re marketing to a prospect’s learning style,” he notes. “You’re not marketing to his personality. You’re marketing to how he obtains and retains new information.”

Wolf notes that only 10 percent of adults are auditory learners; they learn based on what they hear. Forty percent to 45 percent, he says, are visual learners, preferring printed materials, websites and the like.

The remainder—a group that doesn’t necessarily respond to the most common life insurance marketing techniques, are tactile learners. “They love to touch things,” he says. “They’d much rather have something from you in the way of an interactive handout or a questionnaire. Why are lotteries so popular? Because scratching something off gives people something to do.” Perhaps advisors aren’t ready to hand out scratch-off questionnaires, yet, but they can reach the tactile learner. Wolf uses a V-card—a folded business card that opens up. Why? “Because the tactile will actually have to open it,” he says. He also suggests advisors hand out branded highlighters so prospects can mark up illustrations. When you make a tactile do something with his hands, it reinforces the message.

The extra mile
As any good advisor knows, one way to boost sales is to get referrals from satisfied clients. Many advisors are able to do this just by asking. But Wolf offers a tip when verbal asking fails. In his seminars, he asks producers how many have a Home Depot store nearby. All hands usually go up. He then tells them, “Go down there and get a two-hour rated lockbox, put your brand on it and give it to somebody as a thank-you gift. That’s where they’ll put their policy, their birth certificates and other papers. And they know where it came from. So when you go back and ask for referrals, they’re more inclined to respond, thanks to that special connection.” By mixing the resources and awareness generated by LIAM, a high dose of enthusiasm and proven sales techniques, advisors can dramatically enhance their sales performance this month. And that should make them feel just like Cathy Thompson. Excited.

Dave Willis is a New Hampshire-based business writer and a contributor to Advisor Today.