100 Lives Per Year

[scagnt83]

When I was at NYL we had a guy in the office who would sell 100 term policies per year. His average case was $100/m, so he made a decent living doing it. He averaged about 3 policies per week.

But at NYL Term pays some renewals. So it is more profitable long term than indy term sales.

After a year or two of doing this, he realized the value in converting a portion of the Term to WL. So then his big thing was converting a portion of the policy to WL within the first 5 years.
He wouldnt even mention WL in the initial sale; the yearly review is when he would pitch it.

And no, initially its not the most profitable, but you also have a big book of business to cross-sell to and get referrals from. He started cross-selling DI to his client base and did very well from it. And we all know that DI pays the best renewals.

He also would always recommend either 15 or 10 year policies. He felt it caused more urgency in needing to review and keep up with their coverage.


This guy was just a real likable guy. And very active in his local community. He mostly would walk & talk for business owners. But usually would end up selling the front desk lady & her husband before he ever even sat down with the owner.

 

[VolAgent]

That isn't too dissimilar to what Rick Blane preaches. Walk and talk and get the term sale now. You can convert it later. Also he preached 10 year term for the same reason, more urgency to convert.

 

[Dragline]

I'm no superstar, but if I wrote 100 policies per year, I'd starve.

 

[scagnt83]

I'm no superstar, but if I wrote 100 policies per year, I'd starve.

It all depends on the line of business your in.

The guy I mentioned had an average premium of $1200. That means he netted around $800 -$900 (he was captive) per policy.

That put him around $80k+ per year. That is a good living in most areas of the US.

 

[VolAgent]

It all depends on the line of business your in.

The guy I mentioned had an average premium of $1200. That means he netted around $800 -$900 (he was captive) per policy.

That put him around $80k+ per year. That is a good living in most areas of the US.

Plus his benefits, retirement and renewals. He was doing alright I'm sure.

 

[wln417]

$100 month 10-15 year TERM rates? That's some pretty high death benefits, a lot of unhealthy people, or NYL is the most expensive company out there.

 

[scagnt83]

$100 month 10-15 year TERM rates? That's some pretty high death benefits, a lot of unhealthy people, or NYL is the most expensive company out there.

Not sure what you call a pretty high DB.... but he probably averaged a $500k DB per policy if I had to guess.... which is nothing real special for term insurance....

A quick look at LFG's 15y Term, 45yo male, standard, $500k = $1k/y ($83/m)

And yes, NYL is slightly higher on term rates than others such as LFG/Banner/Met/Pru/etc. But NYL is not the most expensive by far.

 

[wln417]

According to America Council of Life Insurers, the average size of an individual life insurance policy purchased in 2010 was $165,291.

$500,000 might not be nothing real special for a term policy, to average that would seem to be pretty special.

Understand, he was able to do that, and that's great. And I am not arguing the theory of getting them to buy term and convert them later.

I was just saying $100 per month is a high average premium for term policies.

 

[CFP83]

According to America Council of Life Insurers, the average size of an individual life insurance policy purchased in 2010 was $165,291.

$500,000 might not be nothing real special for a term policy, to average that would seem to be pretty special.

Understand, he was able to do that, and that's great. And I am not arguing the theory of getting them to buy term and convert them later.

I was just saying $100 per month is a high average premium for term policies.

As one has said already here, this all depends on your frame of reference in discussing what face amount is high. This board is one of the most diverse gathering of life agents you could assemble in the industry.

Remember there are tens of thousands of P&C agents out there who at the end of a coverage review meeting, say "for $40 per month we can get you enough life insurance to payoff the mortgage we're insuring in the event of your death." (think state farm).
In addition to this p&c crowd there are probably 15,000 or so funeral homes, selling small 5-10k burial plans.....then you have the army of final expense agents. So the average policy size is really a diluted number.

I know several Mass and NML agents who work exclusively in the medical markets who won't let a doctor even consider less than a 1,000,000 of coverage.

During 9/11 our government paid the survivors of the victims a multiple of 18x the victims annual income. $50,000 income earner survivors received $900,000.

For younger couples making $50,000 each, 500k should be what they are looking at as a minimum level of coverage.

All in the perspective.

 

[scagnt83]

According to America Council of Life Insurers, the average size of an individual life insurance policy purchased in 2010 was $165,291.

$500,000 might not be nothing real special for a term policy, to average that would seem to be pretty special.

Understand, he was able to do that, and that's great. And I am not arguing the theory of getting them to buy term and convert them later.

I was just saying $100 per month is a high average premium for term policies.

Yes but you need to understand the math behind the "averages".....

Using stats from LIMRA:

Around 39% of all Individual Life policies sold per year are Term.

But that 39% accounts for 69% of the total DB sold per year.

Which shows that the average Term policy DB, is MUCH higher than the average Permanent Policy.


In fact, LIMRAs stats show that the average Term DB is right around $300k.
(i rounded my math)
Which is almost double the "average".


Also, you have to realize that when you look at averages, that is including FE policies. Which average very very small face amounts. So when you throw in a bunch of $20k FE policies, the "average" becomes useless to base your assessments on.


Also, you have to look at target markets and demographics.
NYL's target market is white collar. Who as a group earn more, and need higher amounts of life insurance vs. a blue collar crowd.
So NYL as a whole will have higher DBs vs. many other carriers.


When I sell Term, I often dont even show less than $500k unless there are serious cash flow issues, or the client is over 55. (or if it is supplementing a permanent policy I am selling them.)

If they want less I will sell it. But I very very rarely recommend it, and usually strongly advise against lower amounts. (since $500k really isnt that much)