WHAT made you a believer in this business?

NewHealthStrategies

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For many of us that have been in the business for awhile, we can usually peg down one client/prospect or event that transformed us from working in insurance as a J.O.B. to making it a "career".

Mine occurred when I wrote a life policy on a lower-income family with 4 kids... the husband laid on the couch watching "Wonder-Woman" while the wife and I conducted business. They had an old whole life policy and these were the early days of Universal Life... so we got rid of the $5,000 whole life policy and wrote a $50,000 UL policy and they cashed in their CV, which was a whopping $800 dollars.

When they got their CV check they went to see the husbands brother in Ohio on their first family vacation in 9 years.... and on the way back.......

.......a semi-truck driven by a drunk driver veered across lanes and hit them head-on... the husband died instantly and all the rest were in the hospital for several days.

I got the call from the wife and she was crying, saying "I know that policy that you wrote is probably not any good."

SHE WAS WRONG... the policy had been issued and was in my desk, awaiting their return from vacation.

One week later, I delivered a $50,000 check to her.... she literally hugged me and offered to write me a check for $5,000 (of course, I was new in the business and refused) (yes.... I'd still refuse today)...... BUT..........

THAT was the moment that I realized that what I did impacted people's lives.


WHAT WAS YOUR MOMENT?

I realize that some of you are in this for the money, to which there is nothing wrong.... but I think you'll find that there is MORE to this business.... as I hope you will see from some of the stories that you'll see in response to this post........

Then again..... knowing some of the folks on this post..... perhaps not.





"I'm not a vegetarian because I hate meat!
I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants!"
 
Good story NHS. I have not had any claims experiences as quickly or dramatic as that so I'll share from the business side.

One of my first sales in this business was a small final expense sale. I was appointed under a GA, he paid my commission to me. I received a decent advance, and then renewals. My renewal on that policy was 1.09 per month, I got out of the business for a while but that 1.09 kept coming, month after month, year after year. All I could think was, what if I had a couple thousand of those?
 
OK, that was really bad, but then, what did you expect from me?

Unlike you, I cannot point to a defining moment. There have been several throughout my career but one does come to mind.

I was helping a buddy out a few years ago. He had some school systems as clients for WSM. He asked me to help doing enrollments.

The money was OK. He needed help. I said OK so I packed my bags and went to SC for 5 weeks.

In one of the schools a lady came by at the insistence of a fellow teacher. She told me she did not want to buy anything, money was tight, but she wanted some advice on her benefits.

She was almost in tears as she told me her husband was terminal and had only a few months to live. She wanted to know about her benefits, and particularly what kind of benefits were on him.

Specifically, life insurance.

I looked it up and told her he had $40,000 of coverage. This was open enrollment so she could double his coverage to $80,000 if she increased her own coverage.

The coverage on her husband was guaranteed issue but only one qualifier. He had to be alive on January 1 of the following year for the increased benefit to go into effect.

It was mid October.

She increased her life coverage so she could increase his as well. I could tell she was skeptical, but I assured her I had no financial interest in her base benefits. I only got paid when she purchased ancillary products via PRD.

I also showed her how she should be taking advantage of the FSA to minimize her taxes and put more money in her take home check. I don't recall the exact figures but even with the increased premiums for life insurance she still would take home around $150 MORE than she did now.

The next day she came back to see me. I could tell she was even more emotional than the day before.

She told me her husband had been to the pharmacy to get a new med. The pharmacist asked if he really wanted it filled, so he asked why.

The new Rx was going to cost $800 without health insurance.

With health insurance his copay was $40.

She told me it was at that point that she really understood what health insurance was all about.

She also told me she had called HR to validate what I had told her about the FSA and the increased life insurance.

I thought she was going to hug me . . . but she didn't.

Needless to say, she was pleased she had stopped by.

Her story touched me so much I kept in contact with her over the next few months. Her husband lived until March. She collected the additional life insurance.

No, her life is not the same, but she is better off financially than she would have been had she not stopped by to see me.

That $80k was the only life insurance he had.
 
For me, it's what I didn't do...

My college roommate referred me to his father, a city counselman of a local town. He heard him mention his inadequate life insurance at dinner once and told me to call him. So I did...3 times. Every time he was too busy to speak to me and was short on the phone. I left a few messages and just gave up.

18 months later he unexpectedly passed away from hemochromatosis. I felt like ****....like I didn't try hard enough.

I attended his funeral and his wife (my friends mother) asked me if I ever had the conversation with him since she heard a few messages from me on the answering machine...I said no...we never got together. She gave me a hug and asked me to never stop doing what I'm doing.

That's when life insurance became an emotional sale for me, not a transactional one.
 
Easy. I started in October of 1980. I was on "salary" my first three months. I didn't do too well. My "salary" dropped 10% the next quarter beacuse of low production. I still wasn't doing well.

I needed to write a big policy. I did. $290 quarterly. $100,000 Whole Life policy. I made about $600 bucks in commission and that was enough to keep me around and get me going.

I'll never forget the gentleman that bought that policy. That gentleman was me. True story. And no...the policy is not in force any longer. And no death claim was ever filed. At least, I don't think so.
 
Shortly after beginning my first actuarial job (1970s), the company moved into a new building. I had wondered if this business was just a fancy way of making money from the misfortunes of others. A board member (& LDS Church leader), who had come to dedicate the building, said in his speech, "Insurance is the free enterprise method of preserving the dignity of man."

That ennobling phrase made me feel I was using my math in the best possible way to help others. It has inspired me ever since. Insurance is a righteous road to relieve and rescue others. :)
 
. so we got rid of the $5,000 whole life policy and wrote a $50,000 UL policy and they cashed in their CV, which was a whopping $800 dollars....



she literally hugged me and offered to write me a check for $5,000 (of course, I was new in the business and refused) (yes.... I'd still refuse today)...... BUT..........

THAT was the moment that I realized that what I did impacted people's lives.

how come you did not write a term plan with a higher face amount....and how come you did not do a 1035 exchange on the $800 into the new policy....
 
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