DECLINED! Now What?

Agents in the crowd, does this scenario have any resonance with your experience:

Worked hard to get the appointment,

Met with the prospect,

Filled out the factfinder and revealed a need,

Presented a product to fill the need,

Found prospect receptive and willing to make an offer/application for the coverage,

Submitted application,

Underwriting does their thing for what seems like 18 weeks (actually 10-14 business days), DECLINED FOR COVERAGE!

Ooof! What the Heck? 

The air goes out of the plan all at once. If you have a heart for the people you meet with this is a huge disappointment. The lost commissions are one matter but the lost opportunity to help the person is the bigger matter.

Let's take a step back from the wreckage to do a little post-game analysis.

The events I outlined really cry out for some early "Plan B" exploration. In fact the overall plan is easier to engage the prospect with if it shows that depth. ("If we have any difficulty getting this application through underwriting, we can approach this from this other angle...") You the agent have now distinguished yourself, set yourself apart from the "product-peddlers" in our industry. The product peddler disapears like smoke upon decline.

I'm finding that I need to have some extra resources in my bag to really help some of these harder cases. I know agents who are contracted with multiple companies to have a maximized number of small face value policies stitch into a 'quilt' to amount to (or close to) the needed face value. I admire the agents who are willing to put shoulder to the wheel and get the client up that hill.

For sure, the 'decline' can be dispiriting the applicant too. No rejection feels good. If you have the resources in place to move to plan B the client should be starting to really understand why having you as their agent in an advantage. 

Everyone has a point beyond which they can not practically go. It's an individual choice. I think that in the long run the agents who err on the side of giving the client too much service do make it up in the end with gaining hard won experience faster and reaching heightened levels of efficiency soon in their career.

I'd love to see a lot of comment on this topic. YMMV and I'd like to know how the other perspectives and experiences play out. Please share.