How Do I Choose a Specialty?

[DHK]

I've often wondered something about this. If you get your life and health license, should you be a generalist, or should you really specialize?

Tom,

I'm very much like you. I also was securities licensed as well as life/health, etc. My securities licenses are no longer with a firm and I'm going into just life insurance-based products.

For me: Life, Disability, Fixed & Index Annuities, Long Term Care, critical illness and (if it comes up) group insurance - including health and insurance-based company sponsored retirement plans (non-registered), and Pre-paid legal.

Now, that may not sound like a "specialist" way to do business. My specialty is people, not products.

My job is to help people solve problems within their financial situation.

My strategy: Help them find the money TODAY to live a better life for the future.

My goal is to focus on the person in front of me and help them build a better life. I can do that through various products and strategies, but that is my focus.

I keep to a simplified process with each client and then begin to work with that client to help them solve the problems or gaps they said they had in their financial affairs.

If investments came up, I have an old business partner I would refer them to and have absolutely no worries or concerns about his recommendations.

I don't know if that helps or not, but that's the way I think about my practice.

(My main products are life & annuities though.)

 

[eric rose]

scwisher,
The specialty question is one I struggle with as well. I do a little bit of everything life, health, investments, and even p&c. I'll give a plug to John and IHIAA as I am a member and have found membership to be worth considerably more than the price of admission.
If you are just starting out, there are a couple of captive life companies that will let you write health with your own contract. They will train you (life only) and pay you a salary in the beginning, and you can learn the health from John or Rob on your own time. Learn the business and then you can decide where to specialize. It's too early in the game to make an educated decision.
I'm in Jersey so feel free to email me if you need help. It's an amazing business to be in but there are a lot of potholes to look out for.
Eric
[email protected]

 

[DHK]

NJ has 8.5 million residents so I figured size of market would not be a concern.

How many can you approach in a favorable way?

Even the best leads can become worthless if not handled well.

You will need to narrow this number down.

I know you'll be purchasing leads. You'll need to know how those leads were generated and who else they are distributed to. You will need to know your cost for the LIST of leads compared to the results that you get from the list. It's too easy to say that a lead cost $1 and you made $400. But if the list cost you $500 and you made $2,000, it cost you $.25 for each $1 you earned.

Just some additional thoughts for you.

 

[Amber Scherloz]

I think it is difficult to get involved with more than 1 kind of insurance. I find selling various kind of insurance difficult than focusing first on one kind.

 

[scwisher]

Thanks for your input so far everyone.

Would you recommend for a newbie like me to take and pass each exam and then apply for the license with all endorsements in one shot (time permitting)? Or should I just start off with one, say health, and work that for a while before taking on additional areas of licensure?

 

[DHK]

I would get your Life, Health & Accident licenses all at one time. It's not that big of a deal - well, at least here in California.

I wouldn't add any securities licenses for a while (if ever).

 

[mousidd]

I've really noticed that people are more comfortable if you specialize in one thing. Build your network while you're keeping your day time job. You'll soon start getting more work than you can handle and finally have to give up that day time job. All the best!

 

[Frank Stastny]

I've often wondered something about this. If you get your life and health license, should you be a generalist, or should you really specialize?

Let me explain a little further. Right out of the gate, I was a financial advisor, and I have my series 7, series 66, and my life and health license. I did it all, but mainly focused on investments and bonds. That did not work.

Lately, I've been focusing on MA/Med Supps (hopefully a LOT more med supps than MA as I get through AEP) and final expense. I have the opportunity to do both of these, in addition to cancer insurance and long term care insurance to individuals and to businesses.

I think this is getting too spread out, and won't let me really focus on one thing.

So, is it better to take a couple of things, like the med supps and FE, and focus on those two and become proficient at all aspects of it, or is it better to diversify into all these differents things to sell, and spread your risk?

You know that I now only work the senior market. In past years I have worked the underage market also but my main focus was always the senior market.

There are two products that go together and fit like a glove, Med Supps and FE. Final Expense is much easier to sell using the money the agent saves his/her new client on the Med Supp and then use that money to pay for the premium for the FE. The new client isn't using any "new" money to pay for the FE insurance. It makes the FE sale very smooth.

LTCi and annuities also are a natural in the senior market but in my opinion only for cross selling, not as products to prospect to sell. I tried to prospect for LTCi and although I sold a lot, in the long run it was too time consuming and dramatically reduced my Med Supp sales and my long term income. Med Supps are an extremely good "bread and butter" product.

I would suggest that an agent concentrate on Med Supps and look for opportunities to cross sell everything else.

 

[Full Throttle]

One piece of advice I heard that makes a lot of sense to me, if specialize in a market, not a product. It sounds like that's exactly what Frank does, but there are many options besides the senior market. If you specialize in working with a certain demographic that you can get in front of consistently on a favorable basis, you'll get good at meeting their needs. If you are working many differnet groups of people, odds are you will leave a lot of money on the table and spin your wheels constantly needing to learn new information to serve each market effectively. Many different markets to pursue, the key is consistently getting in front of them of a favorable basis.

 

[maksim]

Take them all at the same time.