Ideas to Accelerate Your DI Sales
Although income protection has historically been an often overlooked, undervalued component of the life and health insurance industry, the disability insurance marketplace is where we find fresher and greater opportunities than in most other industry sectors. Recent increases in industry-wide competition, a general stabilizing of the greater marketplace as well as advances in underwriting automation, digital marketing and online sales have allowed for the strongest, most progressive DI market the U.S. has seen in decades. Now is the time to step outside your comfort zone and hone your disability insurance sales skillset.
So, what is important when it comes to selling disability insurance? The first thing to remember is that DI doesn’t sell itself. The insurance producer is the most important part of the sales equation. Your wholehearted belief in the product is key in relating to your clientele that DI is the cornerstone of a healthy and comprehensive financial portfolio. Without the protection of one’s income, one’s paycheck, nothing else will fall into place economically, and one risks financial ruin. As an advisor you must actively sell DI to your clients, illustrating how the risks are real and potentially devastating.
Providing a product brochure or a sales link on your website just won’t cut it. The average American must be guided early and often to disability insurance because most of us have somewhat of a “Superman” complex. The average American holds the instinct that he or she isn’t fallible, and the risk of becoming totally disabled and not being able to work is slim to none. I can assure you that is a complete fallacy.
Next, be sure to diversify your marketing. One brochure, one newsletter, one email blast, one mailer is not going to bring you the results you want. Hit your prospects over the head with many ideas, coming at them from different angles among differing media. Industry magazine articles, mailers and print ads are institutional and they work. But also, don’t hesitate to jump into the 21st century by exploiting social and digital media options. A blog or Facebook post may seem informal and not polished in a traditional sense, but you are trying to reach younger prospects who never put down their cellphones or laptops. And reaching out on social media just might hit all the right buttons.
Lastly, don’t let your comfort level pigeonhole you into obscurity. I am quite aware of many colleagues who aren’t willing to look outside that little box in which they do most of their business. They end up making a comfortable living, but they tend to pass on new ideas and products that come their way, allowing for mediocrity. Don’t be afraid of blurring lines and crossing over at times. If you are in individual DI sales, don’t pass-up group cases or employee benefits opportunities that cross your radar just because of a lack of familiarity. Turn that single attorney excess DI sale into a multi-million-dollar, multi-life guaranteed issue sale on the entire law firm.
There are so many new ideas and avenues in the DI world at this time. It is an exciting market to be in, and if you heed these ideas in full or in part and make some new ones of your own, you can absolutely make a significant difference in your bottom line selling disability insurance.