Good Day To Be Working The Streets

So, we were door knocking in Bellevue NE this morning.
We being myself and another new agent named Marc.

We pulled a half dozen names off of our list of people who are having a 65th birthday in September and started ringing door bells.

I walk up to a door and knock. The gentleman comes to the door and I induce myself. He looks kind of surprised and flustered. Says to me, ?But, I just saw the commercial for your company. I wrote the number down and I was gonna call in a few minutes. You?re here already??

I just started laughing. ?We are known to be very responsive but this is a coincidence.?

Talk about a great icebreaker. Sharing a hearty laugh about something fluky really works great.

This was a fine morning to be meeting people. Bright blue-sky morning, slight chill in the air, many people home and in a light mood? This is fun work when people are glad to see you.

This Is Not The ‘Self-Service Lane’

“Well, I don’t see a reason you can’t give me the information over the phone.”

This is a phrase I’ve heard a several times recently. I’ve also read a similar variant in the context of email.

The scene plays out like this usually; the caller or emailer is contacting an agent (me) and requesting the “details” for this insurance product or that one.

The request, if taken at face value seems reasonable. ‘I’m a busy and intelligent person. Give me the details I need to make up my own mind and I’ll get back to you if I like the “details” you provide me.’ Streamlined, efficient, respects the persons autonomy... But, as a practical reality, it is a poor way to help people make insurance buying decisions.

When I’m pressed for a response to the phrase that begins this blog post: “Well, I don’t see a reason you can’t give me the information over the phone.” The shortest answer goes like this: “I understand your request. However, I am not able to offer any more details in the context of a phone call. There are legal and company guidelines that I must conform to.

The long-form answer I know in my heart is: People all have a complex set of conditions, concerns, history, finances, knowledge, resources… To manage a good fit between the specific condition of a person and the vast array of insurance options is a task that benefits greatly from the technical skill and care of a professional.

Our training makes us experts in the ‘details’. But even more important are the interviewing skills to discover the weaknesses in the current insurance program and prioritize them in a logical order. There is no way to cover this vital step if I just hand off the ‘details’ to you and let you ‘go it alone’.

Can you imagine going to see a doctor for some medical problem and the doctors shows you to a room full of medical reference books and a pile of prescription drugs and tells you to “help yourself”? Bad plan, really bad plan!

The products we sell are complex and the details are exacting and precise. But that complexity pales in comparison to the complexity and infinite variation in the people and what is happening in their lives.

Why does it have to be so complex? Why can’t the choices be simpler and easier for the consumer to sort out on their own? It’s not that way. I’ll write some thoughts on that ‘side’ question in a future post. One short and durable answer is “The insurance has to work when you need it.

On the whole, we agents are in this profession to help people. We lend a high level of technical and professional skill to persons who do not have the time to make the investment in building these skills in themselves.

When I am approached by a person who wants to reduce my role to that of “The man behind the curtain” in a fictional “Insurance Search Engine” of sorts, I worry that the person has a flawed understanding of what we agents (and myself specifically) have to offer. They sure don’t understand that I have obligations as an insurance professional.

The truest answer to the statement at the top of this blog post: “I can’t do that because I care about you.” If I didn’t care what really became of you and the people you love I’d be delighted to just shovel “details” out to you.

This is not the ‘Self-Service-Lane’.

I don’t shy from telling people the truth on this question. I won’t give you the details and let you sort it out for your self because you and your loved ones matter to me. I want to be sure that you and your loved ones get good value in your insurance buying.

The Porch, Real Joy

I'm just in from indulging in one of my late fathers fondest joys. Sitting on the porch, sipping coffee in the cool of the morning.
The mind slips and rambles away, miles away. Just free.
There's a point where a little twinge of "Time to get going and start the day, make something happen..." creeps in. I can usually squeeze in twenty more minutes of porch time before I really have to start the day.
Oh, that's good time. Nearly stolen from the working day.

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.

Show Me You Love Me

I think I really surprised my youngest sister last week.

She asked me (in a rather off-hand way) "So, How's the insurance biz?"

My reply, "Oh, my gosh, I'm loving it. I help people do the most amazing things with their insurance choices."

She was kind of confused by that. She asked me what I meant.

Most people don't understand what we (the agents) find engaging about being insurance agents. They assume that we're mostly in it for the big money. Rake in as much premium dollars as you can, work three days a week and retire early on the residuals from the low value policies you tricked people into buying by exploiting their paranoia... 

Speaking only for my own perspective and motivations, I can tell you I do this work because it is very rewarding to help people use these insurance products to accomplish the things that mean the most to them.

I'm old enough to have learned that in this mortal world we have a few tangible resources. The places you commit these resources say a lot the depth and direction of your love.

Of the products I'm licensed to sell, Life Insurance is the most obvious extension of this course.

One of my favorite cases to date is a guy I met in northern Nebraska. He's a retired gentleman in his middle 60's who lives with his adult daughter and her little children, three of them all under five years of age. He asked about life insurance to do a very specific job. He wanted a policy that could be used to cut the principal of his 30 year mortgage in half if he dies prematurely. This was a simple and sure plan. I ran a couple of projections and we settled on a program that would serve this need and meet his budget.

I took the application and hopped back in my car to head home.

When I’m driving I either engage in some type of distraction (talk radio, sing songs I learned at summer camp, continuing education CDs...) or spend the drive-time thinking. That day I was in thinking mode. I kept mulling over this guys plan and how sweet it was. It wasn't the most expensive policy I've ever sold, wasn't complex or technically cleaver. Just a solid expression of his love and care for his daughter and grand children. What a privilege it is to serve this client.