Like most people I find comfort in performing the many routines of my day-to-day business even when I know intellectually that these daily chores will not increase BJFIM’s bottomline one iota; they are maintenance functions. Please, don’t get me wrong; paying bills, writing commission checks, having staff meetings, working with insurance companies to get problem cases issued are all important in the scheme of running the agency. Making outgoing calls, learning about a new product or sales process or just thinking about the work I do and how to make it more productive often gets pushed to the end of the line as I deal with the tedium or brush fires of day-to-day operations.
Wednesday I got pushed out of my comfort zone. One of our brokers asked Susan and I to speak to a study group of CPA’s and business consultants most of whom are chief financial and/or operational officers of companies in the greater Los Angeles area. We were given a chance to put our theories to the test. Do our ideas regarding employer sponsored long-term care insurance resonate with hardened business professionals’ What were the risks’
- Would anyone come to a meeting on the topic of multi-life long-term care insurance’
- Did any of these folks care about the impact of long-term care on their employees and companies’
- Would the messages that we’ve been honing and sharing with you for the last year or so hit the right chord’
- Would there be any follow-up response from the attendees of the meeting’
The answers to questions 1 though 3 were a resounding YES. The room was full of heads nodding in agreement on the topics of the emotional and financial cost-of-care and the hidden expense that companies absorb when their employees have to take time off from work when a spouse or other family member needs long-term care. These business professionals were also surprised to see that for one-dollar a day (or less) they could provide a valuable employee benefit that would make a difference to their employees and their business. No one had ever talked to them about long-term care insurance in this way.
As to question number 4, only time will tell. Most of the CPA’s and business consultants stayed after our one-hour presentation to ask for more details. A gentleman that I spoke to has a law firm where one of the partners had a kidney transplant about two years ago. I checked with our multi-life underwriting guidelines when I returned to the office and if this firm is willing to pay the premiums for three or more employees the partner can qualify for long-term care insurance; something that would be close to impossible on an individual basis. All of the ‘leads’ and questions have been referred back to the agent who invited us to the ‘dance’ and over the next few months we will assist him in cultivating this potential gold mine.
I understand the issues of personal inertia. I also get the fact that no one wants to hear a ‘NO’ from a client on a new idea or present an additional cost item to an employer in an environment where health insurance and other benefit premiums are constantly on the rise. But multi-life long-term care insurance solves a great many problems for a very small cost. It could be the salve that allows an employer to overcome the negative impact of having to reduce other employee benefits that have just become too costly.
It may just be a seed that you plant today that sprouts a year or more from now. The employer may decide that they need to take care of this risk for themselves and help their employees later on. Regardless, you are doing the right thing when you discuss the issues associated with long-term care, personal and business, in a cogent, forthright and convincing way, each time you discuss your benefit suggestions and strategies with your clients.
Barry J. Fisher/Paradigm Insurance Marketing is here to help you master the skills that will help you protect your clients against risk and at the same time create Multiple Streams of Income for you. There is still time to REGISTER for next week’s continuing education and sales training meetings. CLICK HERE for more information.