Consumers have serious, long-term financial needs that your protection products could help them meet

Questions that have stumped the world’s greatest thinkers include: What is the meaning of life? Why do we exist? Another pressing, though less philosophical, question is, “How do you get property and casualty producers to consistently write life insurance on new and existing customers?”

Interestingly, many P-C producers are already doing most of the hard work: They market, prospect and take the time to build rapport and develop relationships. With these efforts they earn the opportunity to quote and perhaps write auto and homeowners applications to protect their clients’ larger assets. Yet for some reason, many producers don’t go the extra step to ensure that their clients’ most important asset, their income, is protected.

It’s a bit of a Catch-22—some producers don’t sell life insurance because they don’t feel comfortable with the products or the underwriting process. They believe they may be compromising their credibility as insurance professionals and risk losing the P-C sale, so they don’t bring it up. As a result, they never develop an understanding of how the products work, how to explain them, and the costs or benefits.

Another reason some producers don’t cross-sell life insurance is that they’re simply too busy. They want to provide the best service possible, so they spend much of their time keeping exisiting clients satisfied to reduce rate shopping at policy renewal. Consequently, they may not be doing the best job for their clients and families.

Read the full article, written by Jack Calabrese, Senior Vice President of SIAA Life & Benefits, published on roughnotes.com.