Whole Life Customer Wants Replacement, Help Please?
- Thread starter AOKING
- Start date
- 18,987
He probably was offered a term policy at that rate. You might beat that? But you won't blow it up if he wants term.
Give him what he wants or someone else will.
- 11,275
JD is right and wrong at the same time. He's right that if you don't offer him what he wants, someone else will.
The question I have for you is why are you 'afraid'? This guy sounds like a pain in the neck and doesn't value you or your advice. That, or you haven't clearly articulated the benefits of having the policy other than from a cost perspective.
In my opinion, you need to reaffirm the value of what he has one last time. If he wants to dump it - then you dump him. Don't have HIM direct the relationship and your "advice". You're the advisor, not him. If he can't see how what he has is good for him, let him go (and work on your own skills). You can't afford to ever be 'afraid' of what a policyholder wants to do.
There is a difference between a policyholder and a client. A person might initially be a client who values your advice, but once they reject your advice... they become a policyholder and you need to categorize them appropriately - no matter how large the policy is. As soon as the 'client' is directing the relationship and terms, they are no longer a 'client'. They fire themselves from your clientele and until the policy is terminated, just treat them like a policyholder instead of a client.
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I would HIGHLY recommend that you watch Ben Feldman in the Anatomy of a Sale with his client. (I think this is the client he insured for $50 million of whole life.) You will notice that he uses whole life to solve problems, and he uses particular visual illustrations to make it 'brain dead obvious' that his solution is the best solution.
The question I have for you is why are you 'afraid'? This guy sounds like a pain in the neck and doesn't value you or your advice. That, or you haven't clearly articulated the benefits of having the policy other than from a cost perspective.
In my opinion, you need to reaffirm the value of what he has one last time. If he wants to dump it - then you dump him. Don't have HIM direct the relationship and your "advice". You're the advisor, not him. If he can't see how what he has is good for him, let him go (and work on your own skills). You can't afford to ever be 'afraid' of what a policyholder wants to do.
There is a difference between a policyholder and a client. A person might initially be a client who values your advice, but once they reject your advice... they become a policyholder and you need to categorize them appropriately - no matter how large the policy is. As soon as the 'client' is directing the relationship and terms, they are no longer a 'client'. They fire themselves from your clientele and until the policy is terminated, just treat them like a policyholder instead of a client.
----------
I would HIGHLY recommend that you watch Ben Feldman in the Anatomy of a Sale with his client. (I think this is the client he insured for $50 million of whole life.) You will notice that he uses whole life to solve problems, and he uses particular visual illustrations to make it 'brain dead obvious' that his solution is the best solution.
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- 18,987
- 11,275
I simply disagree with trying to sell the guy what he says he wants when he clearly isn't valuing his original advice & recommendation. That's all.
- 18,987
OK, that's just opinion then. I disagree with not selling the person you are in front of when you have what they want.
People buy what they want. Or, I should say they will keep what they want. People do get sold things all the time that they do not want.
I understand what you're saying about maybe not wanting this person as a client. But If I don't him to continue as a client then I'm not meeting with him anyway.
This debate between DHK and JDEasy is quite interiguing .. I"ve wrestled with this on how I should position myself..
It seems like JDEasy rather position himself as just an Insurance agent who brokers deal between customer and carrier.. The customer comes to him knowing what he wants and he matches him up with the best product for what he wants ..
DHK plays the role of the advisor whose value is the advice and he accumulates client because they have developed a trust in him and his advice.. therefore the way DHK and JDEasy approaches your situation is quite different.. but they are BOTH right ... ( .and that's not a copout stance)
..that is as long as JD presents himself as an insurance agent and DHK presents himself as an advisor.
It seems like JDEasy rather position himself as just an Insurance agent who brokers deal between customer and carrier.. The customer comes to him knowing what he wants and he matches him up with the best product for what he wants ..
DHK plays the role of the advisor whose value is the advice and he accumulates client because they have developed a trust in him and his advice.. therefore the way DHK and JDEasy approaches your situation is quite different.. but they are BOTH right ... ( .and that's not a copout stance)
..that is as long as JD presents himself as an insurance agent and DHK presents himself as an advisor.
- 4,132
For the third G damn time, find out exactly what the guy can get classification wise. Otherwise this entire thread is a waste of time.
There is no point talking about what you "think" he can get until he is underwritten (in advance preferably). He is a type II and under the best control, maybe a standard, but we are probably talking a table rating.
Did he purchase the original policy as a type II? If not, then he hasn't really been a diabetic all that long and that is marked against underwriting wise.
To the OP take a prescreen and see what happens. If he comes back in great shape, then you have some options, if he comes back in bad shape, you know and then he knows and this look elsewhere every year will stop. But until you do that, this is just a giant circle jerk. Do the prescreen and then come back.
There is no point talking about what you "think" he can get until he is underwritten (in advance preferably). He is a type II and under the best control, maybe a standard, but we are probably talking a table rating.
Did he purchase the original policy as a type II? If not, then he hasn't really been a diabetic all that long and that is marked against underwriting wise.
To the OP take a prescreen and see what happens. If he comes back in great shape, then you have some options, if he comes back in bad shape, you know and then he knows and this look elsewhere every year will stop. But until you do that, this is just a giant circle jerk. Do the prescreen and then come back.
- 11,275
Which also shows the inherent weakness of positioning yourself as an "advisor". As soon as a client begins to 'dictate' what they want, they are not a 'client', but a 'policyholder'.
Wayne Cotton has said that there are many advisors who have clients that shouldn't be clients or are wrong clients for that advisor. I disagree with him slightly. We don't have wrong clients. We simply have miscategorized policyholders.
If you're just selling a product, do as JD says (and keep your own ego out of it) and just sell what the client says they want.
If you're an advisor and looking for clients to take your advice and recommendations (even if they change it a bit from your original recommendation), then when someone has to be "re-sold" over and over again about why they bought what they bought... you need to see what to improve on so this situation doesn't come up again. There is a problem in the process that needs to be addressed.
Ben Feldman said (and I know he stole it from someone else): "If you have a problem, turn it into a procedure and it won't be a problem anymore."
Wayne Cotton has said that there are many advisors who have clients that shouldn't be clients or are wrong clients for that advisor. I disagree with him slightly. We don't have wrong clients. We simply have miscategorized policyholders.
If you're just selling a product, do as JD says (and keep your own ego out of it) and just sell what the client says they want.
If you're an advisor and looking for clients to take your advice and recommendations (even if they change it a bit from your original recommendation), then when someone has to be "re-sold" over and over again about why they bought what they bought... you need to see what to improve on so this situation doesn't come up again. There is a problem in the process that needs to be addressed.
Ben Feldman said (and I know he stole it from someone else): "If you have a problem, turn it into a procedure and it won't be a problem anymore."
- 18,987
It's not really a debate and you are over simplifying what I would do or how.
I am very hands on with my business and my clients. I'm going to find our their WHY from the beginning. What is their need? Why do are they meeting with me?
Then I'm going to present the solution. Then the sales process turns to want. Do they want the solution as presented or do they want something else. Is the price for their need more than they are willing to pay?
If so then I'm presenting other options. The process is not, OK, here's what you need and if you don't agree then goodbye. Nor do I believe that's how DHK would operate either.
You have a situation here where the person is not satisfied with what he has and is shopping. It reads to me like he is going to do something. Is he going to do something with you or with another agent?
And I agree with DHK that there are some clients you don't want. If he is one of them then don't spend anymore time on it.
As for advisor vs agent. I am not a financial advisor. I am an agent. I've written over 4000 life applications in my 13+ years in this business. That's what I do. I get paid for selling policies. I do not get paid for advising people on what to do with someone else.
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