Don't Be A Talking Head!
By Scot Smyth

Do we have what it takes? 

Twenty-three years ago, I was not what I am today.  Twenty-three years ago, our industry was not what it is today.  Change is inevitable and welcome.  What we do with change is the challenge. 

Twenty some years ago, meeting people at the kitchen table and relying on our skills as a “Life Insurance Professional” selling the most incredible love letter of all time, was what brought home “the bacon”.  Insurance companies had “rooms full of money”, competition was nil, product choices were limited and the price of protection was high. 

Twenty-three years later, everything has changed.  Twenty and thirty-year term, ROP, UL contracts guaranteed for life, term wars, multiple rate categories, brokerage companies, computers and the Internet. 

One Thing Has Not Changed 

What has not changed is the “need” for life insurance.  If anything, the “need” for adequate life insurance protection has multiplied.  Those left behind are even more susceptible to the uncertainties of a life without father, husband, wife, mother, provider or caregiver.  Today’s realities of increased debt, two income families barely getting by, estate taxes and other uncertainties have made the job of a “Life Insurance Professional” even more important. 

What is the good news?  Life insurance protection is less costly and more readily available now than any time in history.  But the bad news?  There are so many people under or uninsured.  Why? The question to the question is “Where have all the “Life Insurance Professionals” gone?” 

At a time that the need seems to be the greatest, prices most affordable, protection most available; our profession is atrophying into a state of premium quoting, price motivated, “talking heads”.  These talking heads with little knowledge of the intricacies of the products we offer, the solutions we can proffer, the responsibilities we bear and the profound impact our actions today have on the futures of others in their inevitable time of need. 

There was a time that “Life Insurance Professionals” were called “field underwriters”.  Field underwriters were entrusted with collecting adequate and accurate information about the client so that accurate rates could be discussed and client expectations were tempered with honesty, diligence and integrity.  Insurance amounts recommended were adequate for the needs.   A field underwriter by definition was a “Life Insurance Professional”. 

Accept The Challenge! 

InsuranceOnly has given those of us that “have what it takes” the opportunity to return to those storied days of yesteryear. We can become “Life Insurance Professionals” again. 

We have an unlimited number of clients to approach and we can do it from behind our desks.  We have the support of an incredible software system and the dynamics of a team of Only professionals. They not only care about our success but also know that their success depends on our success. 

Do you have what it takes to accept the challenge?  Will you collect accurate health information, discuss accurate rates that will apply to the client’s situation, and not let you or your client fall victim to the lowest rate quoting “talking head” who has no one’s best interest in mind?  Will you accept the challenge to talk to the client about plans that are actually going to be in effect when they die?  Can we bring them companies that have an intrinsic value as well as a fair premium?  Will you work in the Q with a mindset of helping everyone succeed?  Will you be the professional who inputs accurate notes, discusses accurate rates and resists the temptation to be led by the client down the nefarious road of “I can get it a dollar cheaper over there”? 

Because if we can accept this challenge and we have what it takes, becoming a “Life Insurance Professional” will add value to both your life and that of your client’s.  This is a value for which any right-minded consumer of life insurance protection will gladly pay.  They will gladly pay that extra dollar to have you, “the professional”, working for them. 

My father, a forty-year “Life Insurance Professional” used to say, “If you strive to do what is right for everyone involved, every one will profit”.  I think he was right.

- Scot Smyth