Insurance Know-How

Decreasing Term to 100

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:30 +0000

Did you know that you can view indebted whole life insurance policies (both Par & Non Par) as decreasing Term to 100? It’s true, and the owner of the policy controls how much they want it to decrease by, and when they want it to decrease.

Alternatively, they can change their mind and bring the death benefit up to the original amount without having to prove that they are still insurable!

That’s the beauty and flexibility built into traditional cash value policies that include a policy loan provision. So when a policy loan is taken, and death was to occur with a loan outstanding, the amount paid to the beneficiary is the original face amount minus the amount of the loan and any unpaid interest.

The policy owner is in total control of the policy – a significant benefit of a ‘unilateral contract’!

Many of these policies are in your in-force block of business or make up part of a book of business you bought.

Helping your prospects and clients to appreciate this and other options like “reduced paid up” will help them appreciate the value and wisdom of their buying decision all those years ago and that opens the door to other conversations like insurance on their children or grandchildren or long term care insurance.

For an organized and professional way to collect and document all details of both “on and off book” life and living benefits insurance policy information the Enhanced Comprehensive Policy Review Guide is for you. Click www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/comprehensive-policy-review-guide/ to get your pdf download for 30% off until midnight (EDT) Sunday, May 26, 2013.

Cheers, Helena

p.s. If you want to do a great Term / Perm Comparison in “kitchen table talk language” click here now while it’s on sale for 30% off – sale extended to midnight (EDT) Sunday, May 26!

p.p.s. Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. Book your Kick Start coaching session now.
Here’s what Bruce Gibson had to say about his session: “In only two months that included the Christmas break, I earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you. But it gets better. My momentum has carried through the first quarter with my sales results coming in at 33% ahead of plan!”

p.p.p.s. Share the knowledge: click here to forward this newsletter to your associates

LifeAssist and Canadian’s Policy Loans

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:19 +0000

Did you know that in Canada 72% of policy owners with policy loans are over age 50 and they bought the indebted policy before 1999? ¹

Why should you care?

Well if they are your clients they are now at least 14 years older, and potentially have become uninsurable. If they have not set up a loan and / or an interest repayment plan then their contract is potentially in danger of lapsing. That means tax free money they planned to have their beneficiary(s) get upon their passing won’t happen.

LifeAssist is new software that data mines in-force policies for these and many other rescue and sales opportunities (see www.lifeassist.ca). While your clients will be aware of their policy loans if they read their annual statements, they will likely not be aware of the risk of their policy lapsing, nor will they voluntarily take corrective / restorative action.

Some advisors look at indebted policy information and think “I’m not going to bother calling because there’s probably no extra money there for additional coverage, so it’s a waste of my time.” Other advisors see policy indebtedness as an opportunity to revisit /redo a current needs analysis (a Canadian Life & Health Association and Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators requirement for compliant insurance files since 2007) and show their client that without taking corrective action their whole life policy may be in danger of lapsing.

All this while current studies indicate that Canadians are still taking on more debt with the average household debt sitting at more than 160% of disposable income!

That begs the question – if debt is not repaid with the proceeds from life insurance when a breadwinner dies, how on earth is the family going to repay it on the remaining income? While lending institutions have gotten good at protecting their loans by selling mortgage and personal line of credit insurance, we all know about the inherent risk of that coverage not paying when it’s needed due to the details in the fine print and the “underwriting at claim time” practice.

Why is no one talking or selling “collateral term” insurance anymore?! Regardless of whether or not the premiums are tax deductable, personally owned and assigned term life insurance is peace of mind for folks with debt – which appears to be the majority of Canadians who need your help to reorganize their spending priorities!

Cheers, Helena

1 LifeAssist’s analysis of thousands of in-force policies and LifeAssist comes with a 2 week free trial click www.lifeassist.ca.

p.s. If you want to do a great Term / Perm Comparison in “kitchen table talk language” click here now while it’s on sale for 30% off until midnight (EDT) Sunday, May 19, 2013!

p.p.p.s. Share the knowledge: click here to forward this newsletter to your associates.

About the Kids – Part 2

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:46 +0000

White toy teddy bear with bow by Horia Varlan

Did you know that losing a child is more common that one might think?

One of our neighbours whose 20 year daughter was a PAN-AM bronze medalist swimmer died 2 weeks before her 21 birthday due to a freak fall. A lifelong friend of my parents son lost his 7 year old daughter to a brain tumour, and a Did You Know subscriber wrote to say:

“My sister died at the age of 15… Funerals are more expensive than any of us even realized, and as you mentioned, the family suffers for a long time after. Having been through it, I would recommend nothing less than $50K per child.”

One of the things that I have come to understand about our North American culture and a person’s passing is that the funeral is not only the last thing we can do for our loved one, it is the last PUBLIC thing we can do – so costs be damned!

On the brighter side, another subscriber wrote to say “Did you know a participating whole life insurance policy bought by a parent or grandparent when a child is born could help pay for their university education, buy a home and even provide them with pension when they retire?” Yes, absolutely!

All that being said, one of the most common objections to buying life insurance on children or grandchildren is “There is no way I want to monetarily benefit from my child’s (grandchild’s) death.” As mentioned last week, none of us know how we will handle such tragedies. And if parents absolutely do NOT need the life insurance proceeds they can use it in any number of ways to benefit others. They can set up a bursary or scholarship in their child’s name or make a significant charitable donation. Money = choices.

If you want to boost your life insurance sales production, and have not yet bought life (and critical illness) insurance on your children or grandchildren – do it! Advisors sell what they own! And if you need help determining “product suitability” for children, and their parents you’ll want to buy www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/risk-tolerance-profit-structures/ on sale for 30% off until midnight (EDT) Sunday, May 12 (Mother’s Day)

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Coaching and Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.p.s. In case you missed it – I am now an advisor coach with www.theeliteadvisor.ca. Check it out – the free newsletter is also fabulous resource for financial advisors!

About the Kids

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:42:32 +0000

Did you know that some advisors won’t talk to their clients about life insurance on their children because “it’s creepy”?

In fact, an advisor in one of my training sessions said, “I think that selling life insurance on children is the sickest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

Before I could say anything, another attendee asked to speak to that. When he finished talking you could have heard a pin drop.

He said,

I’m here to tell you that if it wasn’t for the life insurance my friend had on his son, that family would have gone bankrupt after his teenage son committed suicide. And my friend, just like you and me, makes his living on straight commission. I don’t know how he, or you or I, would get up every day after something like that, go through your morning routine, drive to work without causing a car accident, and then have a hope in hell of being productive. And his wife was so undone she couldn’t get meals on the table on a regular basis. So they ate out a lot even though the family’s income went down and expenses went up – it was the life insurance on the son that kept the family afloat.

Regardless of how a child passes away, a child’s death is always a worst case scenario and life insurance is a financial safety net for when the worst happens.

Through another advisor I heard of a situation where a family had to pay $180.00 / month to a funeral home until their child’s funeral costs were paid off. Talk about rubbing salt in an already horrific wound! Wouldn’t you and your clients rather have a great individual life insurance plan on the kids that:

guarantees their ability to buy more in the future at standard rates
grows money in a tax sheltered environment
allows for a free transfer of ownership when Mom & Dad think the time is right
passes along the lowest rates possible – for life and is at a payment level decided on by you and them, not a funeral home?!

It is stories like these that you can tell your clients and then gently ask them what plans they have made for the worst so that they can live for the best.

If you need help raising the insurance conversation than you’ll want to buy Life & Living Benefits Insurance Conversation Starter on sale for 50% off until midnight (EDT) Sunday May 5th! Click here www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/life-living-benefits-insurance-conversation-starters/

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Coaching and Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.s. Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. Book your Kick Start coaching session now.

Here’s what Bruce Gibson had to say about his session: “In only two months that included the Christmas break, I earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you. But it gets better. My momentum has carried through the first quarter with my sales results coming in at 33% ahead of plan!”

The Boston Marathon Bombings

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:10:56 +0000

Did you know that the story of the Boston marathon runner whose 8 year old son was killed, whose daughter lost a leg and whose wife is left with severe brain damage brought me to tears? And I keep wondering, “How does one man deal with all of that??!!” I can’t begin to fathom that amount of loss all at once. Can you? But it happens – with a bomb, a horrific car accident, fires, floods, tornadoes and who knows what else??!!

My life’s experiences to date have taught me:

none of us know how we will deal with such catastrophic loss until it happens, and
when we don’t have to worry about money we are in the best position possible to focus on healing and supporting.

It is my hope of hopes that the runner had life insurance on his children – as an individually owned policy or rider on same or as a dependent if he’s fortunate enough to have group benefits. He’s likely too young for his advisor to have talked to him about long term care insurance – but what if Long Term Care is the answer for the new reality of his wife’s situation?

Talking about current events like the Boston Marathon runner and his family provide you opportunities to help people see in a very real, yet non-threatening way how life can change in a moment. Helping your prospects and clients plan for the worst frees them up to live for the best!

If you need help raising the insurance conversation in a way that fully and generically discloses all products you can sell with your life license – including critical illness and long term care insurance – than you need Insurance Know How™ “Starting An Insurance Meeting” on sale for 50% off until midnight Sunday, April 28th! Click here http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/starting-an-insurance-meeting/

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. Book your Kick Start coaching session now.
Here’s what Bruce Gibson had to say about his session: “In only two months that included the Christmas break, I earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you. But it gets better. My momentum has carried through the first quarter with my sales results coming in at 33% ahead of plan!”

p.p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Coaching and Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

Ben Feldman on Product Suitability

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:12 +0000

Did you know that one of the characteristics that made Ben Feldman the greatest life insurance salesman ever was his ability to find the problem and state it simply?

Photo by bjornmeansbear

When it came to term insurance versus permanent insurance he would simply say (when appropriate):
“Term insurance is for a temporary problem. Your problem is permanent.”

Then he would pause to let the message sink in before going on to “not sell life insurance, but sell what life insurance can do.”

Ben was renowned for knowing every detail and nuance of all of the products he could sell and his mastery was in keeping the explanations simple. He exemplified the statement, “You have to know something very, very well in order to be able to explain it very, very simply.” (Jeff Shaddick)

The problem is that today’s advisors are as swamped with information as their prospects and clients!

So what is the answer? Use Insurance Know-How™ as your support system. My Term / Perm Comparison is a simple and effective step by step process for illustrating the generic similarities and differences between these products. Even MDRT producers with over 35 years of life insurance sales experience have said to me “… and you can be sure I’ll be using your Term / Perm Comparison when I go back to make my recommendations.” (Rod Hamilton)

http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/comparing-term-whole-life-non-participating-insurance/ is on sale for 50% off at only $14.99 until midnight Sunday, April 21, 2013!

Take Ben Feldman’s lead by investing in your professional development and ability to make the complex simple with http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/comparing-term-whole-life-non-participating-insurance/ because the fact is – people buy what they understand!

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

Lessons from the Greatest Life Insurance Salesman Ever – Part 4

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:56 +0000

Did you know that Ben Feldman’s legacy as the greatest salesman of all time is not only in the amount of insurance he sold, but in the example he set? He would do 30 – 40 walk-in cold calls per week, work 12 – 13 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week and studied from 10:00 p.m. to midnight every day.

Photocredit: Books by shutterhacks

In Ben’s words, “Read! Study never stops because publications never stop coming in. It’s read and study. And think about what you’re studying. Take it apart and put it together. Ask ‘why’ and know the answer.”

Part of Ben’s ‘study time’ was used to develop what he called “power phrases”, and then he’d practice and practice them with a tape recorder. His power phrases were designed to help him sell “softly” as he called it and selling by leading as well. Power phrases like:

“Doing something costs something. Doing nothing costs something. And, quite often, doing nothing costs a lot more!”

Or …

“You’ll have the same problem when I walk out as when I walked in… unless you let me take your problems with me.”

To advisors he said, “The key to a sale is an interview, and the key to an interview is a disturbing question.”

I thought that was common knowledge until I raised the subject of disturbing questions in one of my training sessions and realized it was an “ah ha moment” for most of the attendees!

Insurance Know-How™ has developed a Life and Living Benefits Conversation Starter package of 40 thought provoking / disturbing questions. Click here to buy your copy for a special price of only $9.98 until midnight Sunday, April 14th. Then follow Ben’s example and study, practice, practice, practice!

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.s. Newsflash – Bruce’s momentum carried through his first quarter putting his sales results 33% of his sales plan for the quarter!
Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. Book your Kick Start coaching session now.
Here’s what Bruce G had to say about his session: “In only two months that included the Christmas break, I have already earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you!”

A Ben Feldman Strategy for Getting Life Insurance Sales Appointments – Part 3

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:00:57 +0000

by brian.ch

Did you know that Ben Feldman not only used real $1,000 and $10,000 bills to close his life insurance sales meetings, but that he also used real $100 bills to get appointments?

That was his way of doing whatever it took to get an appointment. Here’s one of his stories that exemplifies that.

Ben’s mantra was “see the people” and he specialized in face to face approaches (also known as cold calling). After weeks of trying to get in to see a busy prominent Youngstown real estate developer, Ben finally asked the developer’s secretary to take five $100 bills into her boss – to buy five minutes of his time.

“If I don’t have a good idea for him,” Ben told her, “he can keep the money.” He got in and ultimately sold a $14-million policy.

But the story doesn’t end there!

A few years later, Ben decided the same businessman needed another $20 million in coverage. The developer who was busier than ever, refused to make time for the required physical exam.

What did Ben do?

He rented a fully equipped medical van in Chicago, hired a doctor, and sent both to wait for the man. (Remember, one of Bens’ 13 Life Insurance Sales Success Secrets is creativity!)

When Ben decided that the developer’s insurance portfolio was complete, he owned $52 million of life insurance because Ben believed in selling policies “designed to turn bricks and steel back into cash instead of frozen assets.”

What drove Ben Feldman to “see the people” and use such innovative and attention getting strategies? Harry Hohn, chairman of New York Life at the time of Ben’s passing, suggested that “Ben really felt everyone in the world was underinsured”.

The power of his conviction – it was that simple!

As I think about all of the life insurance that Ben sold and today’s (Canadian) Life Insurance compliance requirements of a Completed Needs Analysis – I can’t help but wonder what Ben’s Needs Analysis looked like! I can only imagine they were very detailed so that he had an in depth understanding of every life insurance policy, rider and benefit owned by his prospect / client.

To help you do the same, Insurance Know-How™ has developed the Enhanced Life & Living Benefits Insurance Policy Review Guide.

Whether you have been an advisor for 5 minutes or 35+ years you’ll want this document to support your annual life insurance and living benefits policy reviews! By completing this review guide line by line and asking all of the additional questions listed, you will have an incredibly thorough understanding of your client’s entire “on and off book” life and living benefits insurance coverages. Only with that knowledge will you be positioned to go to the next step and do a gap / needs analysis!

Enhanced Life & Living Benefits Insurance Policy Review Guide: regular value of $29.98 for 50% off – only $14.99 until midnight Sunday April 7, 2013!

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.s. Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. ,a href=”http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/life-insurance-sales-coaching/”>Click here to book your Kick Start coaching session now. Here’s what Bruce G had to say about his session:
“In only two months that included the Christmas break, I have already earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you!”

13 Successful Life Insurance Sales Secrets – Part 2

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:35:26 +0000

Did you know that Ben Feldman, the greatest insurance salesman of all time [from 1943 until his death in 1993 he held the world record for the most products sold by a salesman in a career, a year ($100,000,000), and in a single day ($20,000,000)] was not only the master of the KISS formula but also a master of self management? He focused on:

maintaining a positive mental attitude
making the calls
sticking with it (also known as follow up, follow up, follow up!)
paying attention to his image
finding the problem(s)
always putting the best interest of the client first
preparing “with care” his sales presentations / recommendations
being creative while fitting the right products in “a package” of simple solutions

Combine all of the above with an ability to stay enthusiastic, a powerful drive to always “be better” and ‘selling softly’ and you’ll understand his incredible success!

With regard to ‘selling softly’ Ben Feldman said ‘do not push your prospects into a corner’. Rather lead them to their buying decision by clearly identifying the problem and outlining all of the solutions as well as the cost of doing nothing. “Sell a policy designed to make sure a spouse will never be dependent on the children, a policy designed to turn bricks and steel back into cash instead of frozen assets.” (Source PRLog – May, 2009)

Ben Feldman believed that the art of selling financial products is really not an art at all but the science using effective processes. And by following an effective process you will always be well prepared!

Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials has many proven and effective processes for you! Help in raising the life and living benefit insurance conversation in every client meeting and uncovering multiple insurance needs simply and easily is only a click away http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/starting-an-insurance-meeting/ and on sale for 50% off until midnight on Sunday, March 31, 2013.

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.s. The all new Enhanced Comprehensive Policy Review Guide will be available next week in Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials store!

p.p.p.s. Kick Start your life and living benefits sales. Click here to book your Kick Start coaching session now. Here’s what Bruce G had to say about his session:
“In only two months that included the Christmas break, I have already earned tenfold what I invested in the Kick Start coaching session with you!”

13 Successful Life Insurance Sales Secrets – Part 1: Mastering the KISS System

Helena Smeenk Pritchard — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:39 +0000

Kiss by Walt Stoneburner

Did you know that Ben Feldman, the greatest insurance salesman of all time [from 1943 until his death in 1993 he held the world record for the most products sold by a salesman in a career, a year ($100,000,000), and in a single day ($20,000,000)] was the master of the KISS system? KISS – an acronym for:

Keep It Simple, Stupid
Keep It Super Simple
Keep It Short & Simple
Keep It Simple and Straightforward
Keep It Stupidly Simple
Keep It So Simple
Keep It Simple and Systematic
Keep It Short and Sweet

Ben’s KISS formula incorporated all of the above, and here’s an example one of Ben’s closes that illustrates this – and I watched him deliver it on stage at a sales congress.

Ben carried real $1,000 and $10,000 bills (he hired security guards to travel to and from appointments with him.) After having identified his prospect’s problem so that the prospect recognized the problem, knowing the cost of fixing the problem and knowing the cost of doing nothing, he would pull out and hold up these real $1,000 and $10,000 bills and say very softly (as he was a shy and quiet man),

“This is what I sell. How many of these would you like?”

Who is going to say they wouldn’t like any for their family or business?!

Do you need help simplifying your insurance sales process? Or maybe you need help in establishing a process. Insurance Know How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials are the tools that will help. Senior insurance veterans and rookies alike are using Starting an Insurance Conversation, and the Perm / Term Comparison to not only keep it simple but also visual – and a refreshing change from a computer screen!

Click here http://www.insuranceknowhow.ca/store/comparing-term-whole-life-non-participating-insurance for Advisor Sales Essentials 1st Anniversary Special and get these 2 products at 50% off until midnight March 24, 2013!

Cheers, Helena

p.s. Remember all Insurance Know-How!™ Advisor Sales Essentials purchases are all tax deductible Business / Professional Development Investments!

p.p.s. Coming soon – watch for an all new Enhanced Comprehensive Policy Review Guide to be available in Insurance Know-How™ Advisor Sales Essentials store!