How to Navigate the Life Insurance Conversation
Completing a thorough fact finder is important and necessary in order to do the best job possible for your clients. Equally important is asking the right questions. How you open the conversation and what you ask can lead to a deeper understanding of a client’s financial concerns. What Kind of Questions Should You Ask to Open a Conversation?
One of the best ways to start a conversation and establish trust is to allow the prospect to talk and for you to really listen and then provide an answer or potential solution. That allows for a good back and forth dialogue. Several examples for starting a conversation are:
▪ Before we get started, was there something that you had a question about that caused you to agree to meet with me?
▪ I think it is important to get to know you, your needs, and your wants. The best way to do that is by completing a comprehensive fact finder. However, before we do that, do you have any immediate questions or concerns?
▪ Over the years, I’ve found that many people who agree to meet with me for an initial interview have a question that they would like answered or a problem they would like help solving. Do you have anything in particular that is on your mind?
▪ You probably had something on your mind that prompted you to agree to meet with me today. Do you have a question or problem that you want to ask me about before we get started?
Once you have answered the prospect’s question or provided a solution to the perceived problem or need, the prospect will most likely be more comfortable and more willing to go through a thorough fact-finder.
Transitioning into the Insurance Discussion
As you go through your fact finder once you have identified a client with a potential need for life insurance the question becomes how do you transition into the discussion. Following are a couple of questions you could ask your clients to begin the conversation:
▪ Have you ever wondered how long you could afford to live on your savings? Asking this question reminds clients of the realities of life since that is the deal they are leaving their families if there is no or little life insurance. As a follow-up question to help gauge a client’s level of concern with this risk you could ask the client how important is it that his/her family continue to live in the world s/he created.
▪ Have you insured your most valuable asset? Earning power is the most valuable asset, yet most people point to their house. Insure a person’s earning power and you’ve help protect the lifestyle
of the client’s dependents.
If during the fact-finding process you discover that your client has life insurance you can open the life insurance conversation with one of the following questions:
▪ What do you want your life insurance to do for you? Have you reviewed your policies recently to determine if yours is doing it? A recent study found that most people didn’t believe that their life
insurance was doing what they wanted it to do. Furthermore, since no one talks about life insurance much anymore, clients don’t get reviews either. Helping your clients understand the value of their existing coverage, will solidify your relationship with your clients.
▪ Do you know if your life insurance will last as-long as you will? Many clients purchase term insurance when they are in their 30s and 40s falling for the belief that by the time s/he is in the 60s
s/he will have so much money s/he won’t need any life insurance. However, divorce, second families, rampant consumerism, and long-term care expense concerns often change all that. Alternatively, clients who purchased permanent life insurance many years ago may not be aware of the negative impact the persistent low interest rates have had on policy performance. Again, like
the above question offering to review your client’s existing coverage will help to solidify your relationship.
Questions about life insurance should be a common part of meetings with clients. Familiarity with life insurance will elevate your service. DBS can help you every step of the way.