The sale of Life insurance to Personal Lines Property/Casualty customers has long been an issue with traditional independent insurance agents and brokers. There are very few agencies that haven’t tried, at one time or another, to develop a program to cross-sell Life, Health, or Disability to existing customers. Many agencies have even hired a “Life Person,” only to end up with a big expense and little income to show for the effort. This has only added to the frustration of the agency owners. So what’s the answer?
Let’s first discuss the motivation of the buyer. In the arena of personal insurance, the purchase of Life insurance is a highly emotional decision. We in the Property/Casualty business are used to dealing with the customer on a logical basis (price) and customer’s need to buy – required by law, lender or contract. Because most CSRs (who usually administer Personal Lines) aren’t trained salespeople, the problem seems hopeless.
But wait. Leading edge Life salespeople tell us that certain occurrences propel individuals to consider Life insurance and other types of personal protection: 1) birth of a child; 2) purchase of a home;3) change of marital status; and 4) recognition of their mortality. CSRs should be aware of these buying signals when they discuss policy changes, renewal reviews (you are doing renewal reviews, right?), and claims.
Items 1, 2, and 3 are easily recognizable, but what about number 4. Again, normal customer contact will provide this. How so? CLAIMS! That’s right, claims. Such life- threatening losses as auto collisions, household fires, and burglaries, present an opportunity to offer Life insurance. These types of occurrences cause individuals to think about the inevitability of death and the need to provide for survivors.
Once you’ve recognized the “buying signals,” you can start the sales process. For items 1, 2, and 3, I recommend that you:
- License all Property/Casualty producers in Life, hire a Life producer, or develop a relationship with a “Life person”
- Train CSRs to recognize the buying signals
- Train CSRs to provide some recommendations of coverage to stimulate interest
- Refer names of interested parties to the Life representative for follow-up.
Use a different procedure for following up on claims. Have the CSR refer the name, phone number and circumstances of the loss to the producer of the account. The producer should call the customer and ask if they’re OK. If the response if favorable, the producer should say, “Thank goodness. When I heard that you were involved in this incident, my first thought was that we hadn’t discussed what you have done to provide for your family if something happened to you. Have you taken care of those needs?”
Although some people might feel that this is a sleazy approach, I disagree. If the producer hasn’t discussed these coverages, he or she should feel bad. It was their job to do this anyway, if they consider themselves a professional agent and have their customer’s best interest at heart.
The leading edge agent does not make the customer define the policies and coverages they should purchase, any more than a patient should define the medication and treatment that a doctor should prescribe. If you take the time to determine your customers’ needs and recognize buying signals, selling Life insurance should not cause a problem. Your customer will buy this protection anyway, so why not from you — but you’ll have to ask for the business!