KSKJ info needed

[VolAgent]

Have to give JD credit on this one..He has stated his low price leader is also his go to company..

Yep, I think that is the way to go. The lowest price company that you feel good about should be the company you lead with. Now, you do need to feel good about the company, the way it handles new business, customer service, claims and interacts with agents. I want value, and too many people confuse value and cheap.

 

[WinoBlues]

I'm not up on the fraternal debate so let me just ask a simple question. Is there any REAL difference in payout percentages or problems with claims between policies and certificates? I mean in the experience of real people who die and their families are entitled to the money, do companies who write certificates see any real hold up in the payout process?

I don't mean what's in the fine print. I mean what actually happens.

What Louis said.

The last KSKJ app I wrote was maybe 2 years ago. I think I have been cancelled for non production. Just did not find a need for them and did not like the PHI being done after I left. They seemed very friendly on the phone.

I still write a Fraternal if I have to due to underwriting.

The argument that "well xyz fraternal has never raided the cash values" reminds me of when I wrote UL in the late 80s. We were taught we downplay the guarantee minimum. "I would not worry about that, it has never happened". The UL illustrations actually showed the worst case scenario. Which wound up happening. Even though it had never happened, until it did.

Here is what guys like me say, so you can combat it. >>
I use the same argument I used when Primerica did not guarantee their term rates though their level period. "if it has never happened, Guarantee it!" or "if it has never happened why are they making you take the risk that they won't decide to take a loan against your life insurance face amount?" "if they take a loan on your certificate and you want your full face amount restored, who has to pay back the loan?"

I am a Life Insurance agent not an FE agent so my perspective is different. But I do sell Life Insurance for Final Expenses. I do very little FE replacement unless it is on a standard or better health prospect. And I am very rarely replaced.

 

[rousemark]

What Louis said.


The argument that "well xyz fraternal has never raided the cash values" reminds me of when I wrote UL in the late 80s. We were taught we downplay the guarantee minimum. "I would not worry about that, it has never happened". The UL illustrations actually showed the worst case scenario. Which wound up happening. Even though it had never happened, until it did.

I am thankful tht I never wrote a UL for less than target... In fact, most were in excess of target. They haven't done what they were projected to do but at least I have not had any blow up.. The same thing can be said about the mutuals, large and small.. They always bragged hey have never failed to pay the anticipated dividend... A lot of plans were written with was effectively was a decreasing term portion with the dividends buying term to keep it level. Wrote one on by daughter.. Instead of performing as projected, it now has $38K DB instead of the original $50K... All, the dividend companies cut dividend rates.. Now, they just advertise, they ahve never failed to pay a dividend, which is true, instead of saying they always paid the anticipated rate. In the days of 15% interest rates, we never thought we would ever see 5% rates again.. We were wrong.

 

[WinoBlues]

I am thankful tht I never wrote a UL for less than target... In fact, most were in excess of target. They haven't done what they were projected to do but at least I have not had any blow up.. The same thing can be said about the mutuals, large and small.. They always bragged hey have never failed to pay the anticipated dividend... A lot of plans were written with was effectively was a decreasing term portion with the dividends buying term to keep it level. Wrote one on by daughter.. Instead of performing as projected, it now has $38K DB instead of the original $50K... All, the dividend companies cut dividend rates.. Now, they just advertise, they ahve never failed to pay a dividend, which is true, instead of saying they always paid the anticipated rate. In the days of 15% interest rates, we never thought we would ever see 5% rates again.. We were wrong.

Yup!

In my first year and a half I did as I was told and taught. Learned some great things, some really crappy things.

Dividends - yup, going through some issues with a company that has all but eliminated dividends. And you are correct, as long as they pay a dollar a year they can say they have always paid.

If something is not guaranteed, it is not.

 

[NAF1138]

Why I write KSKJ:

I write a lot of kskj. I'm not exactly sure where I finished on their leader board this year but the last time I checked before it wsd taken down I was #10 with about 75k of business with them.

I write them and Family Benefit as my primary companies and if KSKJ took DE cards I would rarely write anyone other than those guys.

I like kskj because of their underwriting and price, sure, but more because of how they operate as a company. They provide value to me beyond my commission percentage. I like that I have personal relationships with the underwriters and so when things are weird I have a real human that I can talk to and get things issued. I just had someone with a drug on their (small) knockout list approved standard because they were able to explain the reason for the drug was not due to a knockout condition but due to off liable use. Moo and Americo won't do that.

I like that they genuinely care about agent satisfaction and are constantly tweaking things to improve it. I like that, currently, there is no PHI needed and no follow up phone calls for FE and that their underwriting is very predictable with few grey areas.

I like that they work with my clients if something goes wrong. I had a guy who got laid off after 14 months with a kskj policy. He got a new job but had to miss 2 months of payments. They kept his policy from lapsing and allowed him to make up the back payments in installments of $5 a month for a year rather than forcing him to double pay which he couldn't afford. Transamerica would not do that for me.

Their first year comp is low but the renewals are relatively high and because of practices like the above my book with them is really solidly intact.

I'm not crazy about the Christian thing. I don't care much about the fraternal thing, I don't see it as any more of a risk than a non fraternal going into reciecvership is a risk. They do some stuff that drives me absolutely nuts. But I will probably write around 80k with them again next year. I could get paid more elsewhere, but it's unlikely I would make as much money.

 

[Mattschmidt]

Wouldn't the company automatically rate it down if you submitted an app where the customer qualified for better rate than you wrote? I thought most companies did this automatically.

No. With senior life you choose plan to place the client with.so with my example people could qualify for super preferred but Greg and other senior life managers would say sell standard plan because it used to pay more

 

[NSRH]

No. With senior life you choose plan to place the client with.so with my example people could qualify for super preferred but Greg and other senior life managers would say sell standard plan because it used to pay more

I know this might be an unpopular perspective, but I see nothing wrong by leading with a product that pays me more.

If more agents understood that everyone needs to win in the transaction, our turnover rate would be less, agents could buy more leads, and less brokers would be broker than their client.

There's a difference between being in sales and running a business. Sales agents should learn to run a business.

 

[Abrasax]

I know this might be an unpopular perspective, but I see nothing wrong by leading with a product that pays me more.

If more agents understood that everyone needs to win in the transaction, our turnover rate would be less, agents could buy more leads, and less brokers would be broker than their client.

There's a difference between being in sales and running a business. Sales agents should learn to run a business.

Agreed, but I tend to think that when we're doing the right thing, we wouldn't mind if the customer knew all the details. Of course, a customer would feel ripped off if he knew you could be getting him the same coverage for $20 a month less but choose not to because "I gotta get paid too". That's not a win/win and the customer would rightly feel cheated if he found out.

I understand what you're saying and I'm sure many customers would understand if you plainly told them you're putting them with carrier X as opposed to Y because even though they're $5 higher, they're much easier to deal with for the client and the agent. Agents explain things like this all the time.

But that's not the same as placing a client with standard pricing when he qualifies for preferred. That's shiesty.

 

[theinsuranceman]

I know this might be an unpopular perspective, but I see nothing wrong by leading with a product that pays me more.

If more agents understood that everyone needs to win in the transaction, our turnover rate would be less, agents could buy more leads, and less brokers would be broker than their client.

There's a difference between being in sales and running a business. Sales agents should learn to run a business.

I agree! My job, my career, my business is to make money.....no, it's to make a profit. My job is not to show the cheapest premium. My job is to show them a plan, how this plan will benefit their loved ones, answer questions, and get them enrolled. I don't force anyone to buy this, they buy it because they like what my presentation shows them.

Ex.: You have grocery store A and grocery store B. A gallon of milk at grocery store A is $1 more than grocery store B. Is grocery store A ripping off the customer? Heck no! No one forces the customer to go to grocery store A rather than B. This is capitalism at work! Remember, we live in a capitalistic society.

For a lot of these people, if I don't show them a plan they'll probably never get a plan unless another agent visits them in the future.

 

[HoosierLife]

I agree! My job, my career, my business is to make money.....no, it's to make a profit. My job is not to show the cheapest premium. My job is to show them a plan, how this plan will benefit their loved ones, answer questions, and get them enrolled. I don't force anyone to buy this, they buy it because they like what my presentation shows them.

Ex.: You have grocery store A and grocery store B. A gallon of milk at grocery store A is $1 more than grocery store B. Is grocery store A ripping off the customer? Heck no! No one forces the customer to go to grocery store A rather than B. This is capitalism at work! Remember, we live in a capitalistic society.

For a lot of these people, if I don't show them a plan they'll probably never get a plan unless another agent visits them in the future.

I hate to say it, but I agree with this as well. If 92% of agents really do fail out, I would think cash flowing their business has a lot to do with it. And I know this Forum's quasi-hatred for team building, but did you know that the carriers say less than 5% of their business come from contracts at street level or higher?

That means 95% of the business is coming from agents at lower comp. Like it or lump it. It is what it is. That means these low price/low comp products will NEVER be sold by 95% of the agents out there.

When you can start an Agency Builder at 120%+ and they can start start another builder at 120% and then 110% and so on, how would that work for for a product that starts at 100%?