How to Sell Life Insurance During a Recession
In times of recession, consumers may not have the disposable income to pay for life insurance premiums, new riders or other adjustments to policies. For life insurance agents who rely on premiums to generate commissions to live, recessions can be lean times. Life insurance agents should have an understanding of consumer priorities when talking about insurance and offer ways to maximize insurance premium dollars.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Review the various products you can offer as a life insurance agent. These include life insurance itself, long-term care policies and annuities. Look for products that you can talk to clients about that will help ease expenses.
-
2
Sit down with existing clients and look for ways to reduce costs. Recommend tax-free 1035 Exchanges. The 1035 Exchange gives customers a tax-free exchange and may allow the same death benefit for a lower premium cost. Ask clients if they have savings or mutual funds in taxable accounts, and explain the benefits of tax-deferred annuities that can reduce annual expenses.
-
-
3
Propose to customers the benefits of using universal or whole life policies as supplemental retirement funds instead of IRA accounts. The cash value in permanent insurance grows tax-deferred. Cash value can be withdrawn similarly to an IRA but also pays death benefits if the insured dies before withdrawing the money, protecting loved ones from financial loss.
-
4
Seek to combine policies such as life, disability and long-term care policies to reduce the number of policies, overall premium costs and insurance expenses.
-
5
Do the right thing for your clients and then ask for referrals. In difficult financial times, consumers are leery about being taken advantage of. If you are someone known to take care of clients, your reputation will create more leads.
-
6
Hold seminars with specific niche ideas that you are doing for your clients. Ask an insurance company you represent to sponsor the seminar at a local hotel or restaurant to reduce the cost to you.
-
1
