Had One Call to Cancel

[ianbroker31]

You did everything you could to further assist them. Heres the truth, in the past 50+years he has not purchased a life insurance/ funeral plan. Alot of people can be stubborn & stuck in their own ways.

I've been in this situation numerous times and learned that a lot prospects who never purchased any form of life insurance over 70 for instance normally don't.

Ian
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You cannot win them all and seniors are the most stubborn people (outside of Californians) in the world. Once they make up their mind and dig their heels in, there is often no turning them back.
Just let it roll right off your back and move on to the next on. Lots of prospects in the world.

I just wanted to say you are absolutely correct in this regards. A lot of Seniors do not want to pay for the insurance, especially the ones that are very unhealthy. They expect almost free insurance.

 

[Toranaga]

Gotta have the $10,700 first. I would take with a grain of salt any 80 year old who told me he had 10k sitting in the bank for funeral expenses and was suddenly thinking about buying insurance.

Normally I'd agree. This guy I believe.

 

[rousemark]

Gotta have the $10,700 first. I would take with a grain of salt any 80 year old who told me he had 10k sitting in the bank for funeral expenses and was suddenly thinking about buying insurance.

I may be wrong but what I am reading is that he didn't suddenly start thinking about buying life insurance.. His wife did.

 

[VolAgent]

I may be wrong but what I am reading is that he didn't suddenly start thinking about buying life insurance.. His wife did.

Anything is possible. As I said in my first post, it is all Monday Morning quarterbacking without the benefit of having seen the game at this point.

 

[houcoogster]

I may be wrong but what I am reading is that he didn't suddenly start thinking about buying life insurance.. His wife did.

Your right, her sister bought a pre-need and therefore he should give the lead to Newby

 

[deadhead]

Also since you already faxed in the app you could just tell them that it has already been processed and they will have to cancel during the 20 day free look. Gives you another chance to close and sometimes once a policy is issued customers decide to keep it

 

[Rearden]

Another good thread.

You talked a lot about what he thought.

What about the wife? Was she drawn in to the conversation? What were her thoughts?

He probably couldn't get over possibly paying more into the policy than what it's worth.

You'll get that a lot with older, non-believers.

They either get the point of having it or not. Time to talk to someone else.

 

[Newby]

What you have there is really a preneed buyer. Sometimes you can convert him to FE but he really wants preneed.

Here is how he would be handled at the funeral home if I was selling him:

Me: The funeral you selected is $9,500. Prices go up an average of 4% per year so since you still living, let's figure you live 10-more years. That means you are projected to need $14,000 for each funeral.

Him: So if I write you a check today for $9,500 it's all covered isn't it? I'm deciding between that and just putting it in the bank.

Me: Well if you put it in the bank at 1% you would be about $3,500 short that you kids would have to pay when you died.

How about if I make it more attractive to you? Let's give you a discount of $500 each ($1,000 total on couple) just for paying in advance. The bank isn't going to match that.

Then I'll just have you pay 1/3 of it today, so $3,166 each. You pay the same amount next year and the year after that. So it's basically 3-annual payments same as cash.

Him: That sounds pretty good! But wait, what happens if I die before I make the next payment?

Me: Your family doesn't owe anything. Your plan is fully insured from the first day (no cancer, heart attacks, strokes, AIDS, etc in past 3-years). Dieing early will actually save you more money...but try not to.

Him: Wow, that's pretty nice. But what if you guys go out of business or if I move and want to use a different funeral home?

Me: No problem. Your money is never paid to us until after you die. If you want to use a different funeral home for any reason, you just pick a new funeral home and transfer it.

Him: That's nice! But what if the prices go up to $14,000 or more before I die? I'm just paying you $9,000! ($9,500 minus the $500 discount)

Me: You are fully price guaranteed. Your death benefit grows each year to keep up with inflation. If you use our funeral home you are completely price guaranteed. If you use a different funeral home you have the $9,500 PLUS 3.5% more added to it each year for inflation protection.

Him: Where do I sign? Do I make the check out to you or to the funeral home?

Me: Neither. You make it out to the life insurance company. Sign here.

When you get YOUR kind of customer like the one you just told about, a good funeral preneed agent will sell him every time. He's not an FE buyer. They aren't looking for monthly payments.

 

[SportsNut]

He probably couldn't get over possibly paying more into the policy than what it's worth.

Based upon his philosophy he should immediately cancel his homeowners and auto ins.... TONIGHT!
No sense in spending money you may not get back.

 

[jdeasy]

It sounds like you went into a presentation without establishing the need/want up front. But, with us getting it second hand it's hard to say what happened or if a different outcome could have been had.

Personally I do not talk down preneed. In fact I tell them it's a great move if they can pay for it all now. I will even help them make that move by referring them to Newby so they can get it done right.

I only tell them that preneed is a bad move is they can't pay it in full in 2 or 3 years.

I will tell them I prefer to tie my money up at the funeral home but that it's personal preference on whetehr to do that or not. I will even add that if paying it all off now gives them peace of mind then they should do it.

Most, after having that conversation, will go with life insurance.

Usually after having that conversation and they are in agreement that preneed is the way to go I will just ask why they haven't already done it. That is when you find the real objection.

I'm working on replacing a preneed right now. The people are making payments but just can't adfford them. The preneed they have may even be a good deal but it doesn't matter if they can't keep up the payments.

No matter what you have to get to the real want/need/problem/issue before you can solve anything.

Last night I stopped in on a couple who had sent in a lead card. He's 80, she's 76. They are in pretty good shape financially. I asked them why they sent the card in.
"Because we don't have any insurance."
The lady tells me that her sister just bough a pre-paid funeral and that's what she'd like to do. So I asked them a few questions and led them down the road of killing the prepaid objection. In the end, they agreed that a pre-paid funeral was less economical than life insurance.

With this couple I took the angle of freedom and options. That that's the one thing life insurance provides that no other plan could. They husband was big on the idea that he could just set some money aside to pay for their final expenses. Again, I took the same approach.

Toranaga: "Sir, I'm so glad that you feel you're in a financial situation where you can put money aside to cover those expenses. Many of my clients have felt the same way, However, once they examined the fact that once that money's earmarked for final expenses, they found that their options became limited and they no longer had the freedom to use their money as they wished which they would have with a life insurance program. Does that make sense?"

Him: "Yep sure does. But I'm not the kind of guy who makes snap decisions. I'm gonna need some time to think about this."

T: "Yessir, you do need to think about this and I'm glad to have the opportunity to be a part of that. Let me suggest that we get the ball rolling on the insurance, I'll deliver the program to you so we can go over it in detail and make sure it's exactly what you want, and does exactly what you need it to do for you."

Him:" OK"

So I tooks apps on him and his wife.

Faxed them in this morning. Ten minutes later, he calls and says

Him: After thinking about this overnight, I really think I'd rather just set the money aside for my final expenses.
T: OK, remember last night how we talked about options?
Him: Yep
T: Well, right now you have the option of setting aside $14000 dollars, that will never be able to serve you again. Or you could aside an offordable insurance program that will turn $150 into $14000 overnight. It will shift the burden of your final expenses from you and your wife, to the insurance company. You will still have your $14,000 tomorrow. You will have the freedom to use that money if you need it. Doesn't that make sense?
Him: Yes, it sure does.
T: So why not go ahead and let's take a look at that program at length and then you can decide. There is no risk to you.
Him: No, just cancel it. CLICK

Obviously, the presentation last night was much longer than what I have detailed here. Just giving you all the wavetops.

Advice?