This is an ideal time for insurance brokers and financial planners to contact their clients for an end of the year/2016 benefit planning session. You can help your client see the whole picture—combining their employee benefits with individual benefits to insure maximum income protection. Only 15 percent of employees ask their Human Resources departments for more information about their benefits.This is your opportunity to step in and educate your clients about their current employee benefits and ways they can supplement them with individual benefits.
Overcome the Disability Disconnect
Understand the difference between what your clients say is important and what they actually choose.
In a study conducted by the Council on Disability Awareness (CDA), 67 percent of respondents indicated that income is among their top three most important assets to protect, but only 28 percent believe it’s crucial to have insurance to protect it.
Knowledge is Power
The most common reason millennials give for not protecting their incomes from a disabling injury or sickness is “I never thought about it.” This is your chance to reach clients who are at the ideal age to purchase income protection and educate them about the need and the value of protecting their ability to earn a pay check. In fact, the CDA study indicated that one-third of working adults indicated they would consider income protection if they knew more about it, and the number rises to a whopping 40 percent for millennials.
ABC’s of DI
Sell the need. Choose a few relevant statistics to share with your client. Go to the CDA website to find a life story of someone who was too sick or injured to work for a period of time or share a story of your own if you have one.
When discussing disability income, use the term “income protection.” Your clients are more likely to relate better to the idea of protecting their incomes. For many, the idea of being disabled does not seem likely, even though the odds are very real. However, they can relate to protecting an asset, much like a car, home, health, etc.
Make DI Affordable.
This is your chance to shine! You can make disability income affordable for your clients…especially if you work with disability income specialists at Source Brokerage Inc. We can help you tailor the plans to fit in your clients’ budgets.
Age is a big factor in the cost of disability income. The 20s and 30s are an ideal time to purchase income protection. Millennials are still healthy; their incomes are on the rise; and so are their financial obligations.
However, for older individuals income protection plans can be designed to be less expensive with longer elimination periods, shorter benefit periods or lesser benefits.
The More You Sell the Lower the Premium for Your Clients
Producers can take advantage of discounts available with DI carriers for selling multiple policies in a given year. And, if you work with employers you may want to talk with us about guaranteed issue individual disability income protection for professional groups such as attorneys, CPAs, banking executives, etc. whose incomes may be higher than the group LTD benefit covers. Significant discounts, especially for women, are available for groups of five or more.
Cease the year-end opportunity to grow your DI business while your clients are thinking about their benefit packages. Source Brokerage Inc’s disability specialists are here to help you—take advantage of our expertise.
For more DI tips and sales ideas, contact Steve Crowe at ext. 222, Ellen Crowe at ext. 223 or Brian Hettmansberger at ext. 230 Chris Bussey at ext. 220.
