That's a really good question and I hope someone has an answer or two.
I've tried a number of mailers and always sold enough to cover the costs, but I've never made a profit.
I tried near my home just outside of Los Angeles, and in a somewhat more rural location. I've used a reasonably high income, and a relatively low income. The results have been the same.
Many people buy this stuff from Colonial Penn based upon the T.V. ads. Overpriced crap! Lincoln Heritage is the same garbage.
Any ideas? (I'd love my 19 yr. old son to sell this stuff).
Rick
------------------------------------ ILIAA
Training, Community, Support, and Success Independent Life Insurance Agents Assn rick@iliaa.org
I'm not huge in the Senior market, but my instincts tell me if you are targeting the senior market with final expense as the "door opener"...I think you're gonna get nowhere. I believe the last thing seniors want to think about is their own funeral.
What I think most of the succesful senior marketers are doing is helping seniors with their Medicare solutions and then introduce final expense as an "oh by the way..." kinda deal.
Thats the only way I sold it. Oh yeah one time I called a lead and the lady said" hey my husband died a couple months back and he didnt have life insurance, can I get some through you?" I love it when that happens. I didnt do good with direct mail for it.
Ditto to aufan. Final expense to seniors is not going to be a huge market to lead with. Lead with life and DI for your younger to middle age prospects, LTC and Medicare for the older and senior prospects.
Don't forget, younger people (under 50) like Final Expense type of plans! Something to do about those low premiums I suppose but easy to sell and stay on the books.
Final expense can be an exceptional market but you have to be willing to work lots of leads and door knock when you can't set an appointment. That's hard to do consistently. A few years ago I worked FE direct mail leads and found the people who responded genuinely had interest, but it was challenging getting in front of them. Plus, I think its much easier to cross sell from FE to Med Supp than the other way around. And now with Med Advantage I think FE could be a good door opener to those sales too.
That's a really good question and I hope someone has an answer or two.
I've tried a number of mailers and always sold enough to cover the costs, but I've never made a profit.
I tried near my home just outside of Los Angeles, and in a somewhat more rural location. I've used a reasonably high income, and a relatively low income. The results have been the same.
Many people buy this stuff from Colonial Penn based upon the T.V. ads. Overpriced crap! Lincoln Heritage is the same garbage.
Any ideas? (I'd love my 19 yr. old son to sell this stuff).
Rick
I have several clients with Lincoln Heritage's med. supps ( including my 86 yr. old mother) and I have yet to get one complaint. The people that have called them; including myself; loves the fact that a real human being answers instead of a computer. Also I love the fact that they have a great lead program ,they pay daily on submission( make sure you write good biz and this won't be a problem) and they have a group health plan for agents, the only co. that I am aware of that has that, even though since I now write more for other companies, I can,t seem to get to the level I need to get their group. But they are getting a bit pricey.
I am just getting started in the FE business. I am doing the "Just so you know, we do offer FE..."
So far I have had some interest but no sales yet, but then again it has only been about 1 week.
What about teaming up with funeral homes? I have called on a few, but they are doing their own pre-needs plan, and not wanting to offer any other type of insurance. Anyone else have any luck with this?
------------------------------------
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan
[COLOR=blue] [COLOR=red][COLOR=royalblue]www.mymidwestbroker.com[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[/COLOR]
From what I've discovered, is that most decent sized funeral homes have someone on staff who is liscenced and they are selling the final expense plans in house.
In PA, a few years ago, agents could sell pre-need as opposed to final expense;i.e., discuss and plan the funeral with the client. I did that through Stewart Corp. (the second largest owner of funeral homes and cemeteries in the USA). Of course, that required training in all the FTC rules and regulations as well as the paperwork required by the state. Well, along came the funeral directors lobby and the law was changed in PA. One had to be a licensed funeral directorin addition to having an insurance license to sell pre-need. So I went to work as an Agency Manager for a friend of mine who did hold both licenses. He was a GA for Forethought Life Insurance Co. which is owned by Batesville Casket Co. Our agency had "captive" agents that held both licenses but we did a lot of sales through owners of funeral homes who were dual licensed. Insurance agents, however, could contine to sell final expense which does not entail the discussion of funeral procedures, processes, and material. Unfortunately, my friend met an untimely death while jogging a week after his 52nd birthday. Forethought closed the agency about 3 months later.
They have their own mailers and newspaper inserts and will do all the mailing or will send you the inserts for your local paper. You can also get call lists of say people turning 65 or everyone in a certain locale age 65-85 and they just charge this against your future biz. Of course you have to have a little sumthin sumthin on th books to get started.
Regarding Lincoln Heritage Funeral Advantage (Final Expense), they do mailers, TV ads, inserts, etc. In my experience in NC, they target $15-50,000 income range 'ethnic' seniors (of course, w/ TV ads you can't contol that as well).
I got my "feet wet" in insurance by going on some calls with a fellow from church who was 17 years captive and recently independent. I will tell you, we were in the "hoods and the outskirts" as someone else on this forum described it, but the homes we went into contained some of the nicest folks I have ever met. And we (he) made some sales. However, he is high pressure, which I don't like, and I agree with others here that, at least for me, this is not a product to lead with.
Now what they do is, they have teamed up with the Funeral Consumer Guardian Society, a non-profit organization with an address in Washington, DC. However, the family in charge of that organization lives in the midwest. They are from a 5-generation funeral home family. The husband also used to work for Lincoln Heritage, so they know insurance and the funeral business pretty well.
They teach you to open with the Funeral Consumer Guardian Society. It is a Funeral Plan NOT tied to any funeral home. You fill out the paperwork about your funeral plan, including up to 3 funeral homes. This information is stored away on secure servers (actually the same servers at Lincoln Heritage, I understand). When the loved one passes away, ONE phone call is made by the family (beneficiary) to FCGS to put the plan into action. FCGS helps get the details done like location of the body, death cert., and most importantly they shop prices at the funeral homes. They know the pricing and so they generally get anywhere from a $1200-1800 discount on a funeral plan (I've heard 50% off the casket) - instead of the family having to deal with that and paying who knows what kind of price (esp. for those who have no plan and are ill-prepared). Then FCGS gets back to the family for the okay. When all is agreed, FCGS contacts Lincoln Heritage to check on the coverage for the deceased. These funds can be overnighted to the funeral home, and gives FCGS bargaining power, since they have access to the funds and the funeral homes know that. Also, in NC, if the funeral home will not budge on casket price, FCGS can obtain one wholesale, have it shipped in overnight (an identical Batesville nonetheless, or whatever), and according to NC law the funeral home HAS to use that one. (I have mentioned this to several folks and no one knew that -- I'm sure it would not be in the best interest of the funeral home if it "got out".)
So, the appointment is begun based on FCGS and a funeral plan. The FCGS membership is normally 300 or 400 hundred dollars, but if you fund it with a Lincoln Heritage policy it is FREE! It's a nice segue. It apparently is designed this way to increase persistency, since, as others have pointed out, LH is a little pricey. However, it seems the advantages one might be paying for could be quick access to the funds, co-ordination of the funeral plan activation and funding from third parties, taking that burden off the family, and as someone has mentioned, quick, friendly customer service all the way around, and for the agent, advance on submission (no comission on the FCGS plan though).
I see it more as a nice, quality add-on product to a medsupp esp. if replacing a higher priced medsupp with a lesser cost one, and fitting the found money to this product if there is a need.
However, I am a rank beginner in insurance; I am glad to be here; I am learning alot; I am glad to be able to give back a little; and I hope Somarco stays around and Moonlight comes back!
P.S. Would love to know others' take on a good final expense company without the FCGS (since LH is kinda pricey). Who are you using? What policy? Is there a good alternative for those who don't need the FCGS that would be cheaper but still w/ a good co.? I think this request somewhat mirrors the original poster's request (I hope). Thanks!
P.S. Would love to know others' take on a good final expense company without the FCGS (since LH is kinda pricey). Who are you using? What policy? Is there a good alternative for those who don't need the FCGS that would be cheaper but still w/ a good co.? I think this request somewhat mirrors the original poster's request (I hope). Thanks!
Starting in Final Expense
In PA, a few years ago, agents could sell pre-need as opposed to final expense;i.e., discuss and plan the funeral with the client. I did that through Stewart Corp. (the second largest owner of funeral homes and cemeteries in the USA). Of course, that required training in all the FTC rules and regulations as well as the paperwork required by the state. Well, along came the funeral directors lobby and the law was changed in PA. One had to be a licensed funeral director in addition to having an insurance license to sell pre-need. So I went to work as an Agency Manager for a friend of mine who did hold both licenses. He was a GA for Forethought Life Insurance Co. which is owned by Batesville Casket Co. Our agency had "captive" agents that held both licenses but we did a lot of sales through owners of funeral homes who were dual licensed. Insurance agents, however, could contine to sell final expense which does not entail the discussion of funeral procedures, processes, and material. Unfortunately, my friend met an untimely death while jogging a week after his 52nd birthday. Forethought closed the agency about 3 months later. 
Linear Mode
