I see trouble on the horizon for life insurance agents. It is not a news that they are marketing a product that many prospects would describe as complicated and dark. But their already challenging business will become more because the political and economic environment in which they are marketing is becoming at a more uncertain speed. And the more uncertain the environment is, the more their prospects tend to keep their money. Does not mean that they will not buy life insurance. But more than ever, they will have to hear a clear and convincing occasion that the policy they buy will pay more than to pay themselves today and tomorrow.
To the extent that agents are trading through social media, they will have to do these things that go ahead to do the case. I will focus on the middle market now, but I will come to the advanced market.
Identify the target audience
Every day, I see posts intended for the middle market that count the reason to buy life insurance. Posts are often associated with an article that appeared in a personal finance magazine or in a part written by an insurance company or another third party. The agent simply adds a presentation or any note, often acquired by emojis. With visible exceptions, the articles themselves are in large target for a particular market, well written and technically accurate as they go. But items are not the problem. It is the presentations or notes of agents, often neither well intended, well written, technically accurate or even evidence. They distort and deceive messages to the point that the reader cannot tell who it is written or whether they have to worry about reading it.
Shine a spotlight, not a flood light
With this as a background, the point is that agents need to sharpen the focus of their posts in order to be clear to whom they are posting and why they have to read them in that market segment. Not to be surprised, most posts on “buy life insurance” cannot pass this greed test. They are bromides, so general as to be meaningless and not worthy of a reader, which means attention of a perspective. So if an agent posts for the accumulators, talk to them directly. Tell them why buying life insurance at this stage of their lives will not only address today's concerns about family safety, but also give them a savings, investment tool and, yes, future family security that will give them much more flexibility to deal with issues and expenses related to storage entry. see “Life insurance planning for just good-to do.”
If they are posting for conservatives, or more likely, those who are on the verge of that phase, tell them with some specifics how life insurance in the country will give them much more flexibility with the main financial decisions they will face in conservation than they will have without the security of life for their spouse. After all is that the post should enable the reader to say, “Hey, they are talking about me! I need to read this.”
Posting to Conservatives
As I have written earlier, the middle market consists of individuals and couples who are in one of the three sequential phases of the financial life cycle: the accumulation of assets, the preservation of those assets for the rest of their lives or distribution in the next generation. Agents apparently agree with their prospects for the definition of accumulation and when it stops and the conservation begins. But they disagree on the definition of “conservation” and, especially for couples, when the conservation stops and the distribution begins. As stated in their marketing, agents determine preservation as end and distribution starting with the death of the first spouse to die, leaving planning for the spouse who survives as part of the distribution for the next generation. But “real people” don't see it that way. For them, the conservation extends to the life of the surviving spouse. This is a great detachment that impedes effective messages and product sales. Why? Because instead of focusing on what people are interested in and are willing to pay, which is protecting each other for their lives, it suddenly and arbitrarily moves, ensuring that survivors in distribution means asset planning, which unnecessarily complicates the planning process and makes it much more expensive. It also ensures that conservatives will not complete the posting of the post. I have suggested how agents can reassess their message to align with how prospects think of the “financial time time”. See ”Isnapper Your marketing message missing in the sign?“
Talk directly to tax perspectives
At least under current law, securities providing money offers a constellation of tax advantages that one will be printed too much to repeat in any other form of the vehicle. These benefits include postponing income recognition, converting taxable income to tax -free revenue through loans and withdrawals, diversification of how other typical investment and retirement vehicles are taxed, flexibility to exchange policies for new policies or other insurance vehicles, but no income, See ”Life providing as a retirement investment“And”A bomer at the intersection of a vintage policy”
Agents often write or link articles regarding these advantages. However, they often list them only without giving the reader the context for their personal application. Instead of simply gathering all the advantages in a post run in any kind of perspective in particular, agents must speak directly with each of the respective perspectives and give them both tax context and investment contexts, because a particular set of advantages could make a real difference for them for a long term.
Addressing the product
This will receive a quick reaction, but I will mention it anyway. With world writing in such a state of flow, a flexible premium policy that does not necessarily offer (or require a higher premium for) guarantee can be much more attractive for many perspectives than what requires or allows only a fixed premium. There is simply a lot of uncertainty there to close in a policy that cuts the owner without pressure in the premium when this flexibility is needed and does not even allow the owner to decide smoothly when it is available to increase the value of long -term money or enable them to shorten the premium but maintain the benefit of death when they are older. At least, write about both! Of course, the business models of some agents or risk tolerance may not allow them to do so. They will only write about fixed premium products or guarantees. In that case, a perspective that follows with such an agent must wait to hear a wall of words about the risks of flexible premium products or lack of guarantees. On the other hand, those agents should expect well -informed perspective to consult with other agents that are not so limited.
And we have to call you because…?
Occasionally, I see the posts of agents that give people a number of reasons to buy life insurance without giving them a reason to call that agent to continue the conversation. Agents should be able to deliver the message “You need to call me because …” in no more than three sentences. In the absence of personalized messages, posting agents are simply doing a favor for their competitors.