Settlers is Gone!

[shonceman]

It is amazing how they don't consider the effect adverse selection will have on product'

I think that right there might be some of Settlers' problem. I used to really like them years ago. Back when they were only in 11 states, they were still well known in Virginia from their Huff-Cook days. They were my go to company for FE clear up to the Marty Frankel debacle.

After NGL took over, they kept Eddie Grills around, who seemed to be a positive influence. So I still wrote quite a bit of business with them. But lately, the only reason I kept them in my portfolio was because of the Bronze product. Oh, they tried to insist that Bronze be only 20% of your apps, but I found myself hard pressed to keep it below 40%! I'll bet I wasn't the only agent with that issue, which had to have a negative impact on profitability. Shame. One time great company with tremendous potential, unfortunately never realized.

 

[Newby]

I think that right there might be some of Settlers' problem. I used to really like them years ago. Back when they were only in 11 states, they were still well known in Virginia from their Huff-Cook days. They were my go to company for FE clear up to the Marty Frankel debacle. But after NGL took over, they kept Eddie Grills around, who seemed to be a positive influence. So I still wrote quite a bit of business with them. But lately, the only reason I kept them in my portfolio was because of the Bronze product. Oh, they tried to insist that Bronze be only 20% of your apps, but I found myself hard pressed to keep it below 40%! I'll bet I wasn't the only agent with that issue, which had to have a negative impact on profitability. Shame. One time great company with tremendous potential, unfortunately never realized.

They told me that their Bronze business was actually profitable. I don't know how it couldn't be. It was way higher than Gerber and screened out several things that Gerber accepted.

One of Settlers biggest mistakes that they would just never change is that they put 100% of their faith in an actuary that seemed to be really bad at his job. They had total faith in this guy.

Even though their own records showed that Bronze was profitable he said to limit the sales of it.

Even though every company in the business says ALS is a flat decline, he said it can go Gold level (Prefered).

Even though most companies accepted insulin diabetics at prefered or standard he said NO! Insulin diabetics go bronze! All the other companies are wrong! His words.

Even though young really unhealthy people are declined by most companies, Settlers guy was fine with them as long as no insulin diabetes.

He was fine with mini-strokes which most companies don't seem to agree with.

Settlers had quite a few little niches if you studied them enough to find them. But the healthier cases that most companies fight for they didn't consistently make it easy to get approved. And that is a recipe for agents only putting their worst cases that fit in those niches with them. No agent is going to fight a company to take their prefered cases.

If anyone ever buys Settlers to make another go of it the first thing they better do is not just fire that actuary but do a public burning him at the stake on Facebook Live to make the bold statement that he is OUT.

 

[FinalExpenseDojo.com]

It's amazing how clueless some companies are. I've said if they'd just pay one of us 150k we'd solve a lotta problems.

It is amazing.

Shoot, they can save their 150k. All they gotta do is start a thread on the forums and take a poll!

Or send out an email to all their contracted agents with a survey.

I think most agents would love to give carriers their input. All they gotta do is ask!

If there was a carrier that wanted to enter the market that decided to build their product around what agents want, & allow agents to personally interact throughout the product development process, they would be HUGE very quickly. Agents would eat that up.

 

[SPUR CITY]

It is amazing.

Shoot, they can save their 150k. All they gotta do is start a thread on the forums and take a poll!

Or send out an email to all their contracted agents with a survey.

I think most agents would love to give carriers their input. All they gotta do is ask!

If there was a carrier that wanted to enter the market that decided to build their product around what agents want, & allow agents to personally interact throughout the product development process, they would be HUGE very quickly. Agents would eat that up.

There are some carriers out there that listen to agents input. But if they listened & implemented everything an agent wanted they'd run themselves right outta the business

I am currently helping a Carrier develop their FE product. I put in all of my recommendations & then the actuaries and others get to work & tweak it to make sense for the company as well since my recommendations heavily favor the agents. Finding that middle ground to where everyone is happy is not easy to do. Especially when most carriers don't profit in FE until many years out.

 

[FinalExpenseDojo.com]

There are some carriers out there that listen to agents input. But if they listened & implemented everything an agent wanted they'd run themselves right outta the business

I am currently helping a Carrier develop their FE product. I put in all of my recommendations & then the actuaries and others get to work & tweak it to make sense for the company as well since my recommendations heavily favor the agents. Finding that middle ground to where everyone is happy is not easy to do. Especially when most carriers don't profit in FE until many years out.

In regards to underwriting I understand!

That's awesome they're looking to you to help them develop a product. There's nobody better in my opinion! It'll be interesting to check it out once it's released.

My comment was mainly in regards to technology & stuff like that... like "which of these 3 agent portals are the easiest to use?"

"How can we improve our online support so you don't have to call in?"

"Which would you prefer... 15 minute long eapp through iGo, 7 minute eapp through docusign, or 20 minute telephone interview?"

"How would you rate these product brochures on a scale of 1-10? How would you change them?"

My point is a lot of the little annoying stuff that agents hate about certain carriers can be fixed VERY easily if they just asked before they did something! (I understand not everything is that easy, but stuff that some Carriers do makes agents feel like they don't care what we think ).

 

[theinsuranceman]

In regards to underwriting I understand!

That's awesome they're looking to you to help them develop a product. There's nobody better in my opinion! It'll be interesting to check it out once it's released.

My comment was mainly in regards to technology & stuff like that... like "which of these 3 agent portals are the easiest to use?"

"How can we improve our online support so you don't have to call in?"

"Which would you prefer... 15 minute long eapp through iGo, 7 minute eapp through docusign, or 20 minute telephone interview?"

"How would you rate these product brochures on a scale of 1-10? How would you change them?"

My point is a lot of the little annoying stuff that agents hate about certain carriers can be fixed VERY easily if they just asked before they did something! (I understand not everything is that easy, but stuff that some Carriers do makes agents feel like they don't care what we think ).

I agree. SL just sent out a survey to all their agents and managers for the same reason. Thought that was a great idea.

 

[FinalExpenseDojo.com]

I agree. SL just sent out a survey to all their agents and managers for the same reason. Thought that was a great idea.

That's a good step in the right direction!

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Advancing in technology definitely shows that a carrier cares!

 

[theinsuranceman]

They told me that their Bronze business was actually profitable. I don't know how it couldn't be. It was way higher than Gerber and screened out several things that Gerber accepted.

One of Settlers biggest mistakes that they would just never change is that they put 100% of their faith in an actuary that seemed to be really bad at his job. They had total faith in this guy.

Even though their own records showed that Bronze was profitable he said to limit the sales of it.

Even though every company in the business says ALS is a flat decline, he said it can go Gold level (Prefered).

Even though most companies accepted insulin diabetics at prefered or standard he said NO! Insulin diabetics go bronze! All the other companies are wrong! His words.

Even though young really unhealthy people are declined by most companies, Settlers guy was fine with them as long as no insulin diabetes.

He was fine with mini-strokes which most companies don't seem to agree with.

Settlers had quite a few little niches if you studied them enough to find them. But the healthier cases that most companies fight for they didn't consistently make it easy to get approved. And that is a recipe for agents only putting their worst cases that fit in those niches with them. No agent is going to fight a company to take their prefered cases.

If anyone ever buys Settlers to make another go of it the first thing they better do is not just fire that actuary but do a public burning him at the stake on Facebook Live to make the bold statement that he is OUT.

So Newby, you knew that Settlers had a wacko for their actuary and you continued to promote Settlers to your agents? Why would you promote this carrier to your agents these last few years knowing about this? Wouldn't you say you were hurting your agents doing this? Oh yea.....recruiter talk.

 

[rousemark]

Tomorrow, I will begin the process of calling on each of my Settlers policy-owners in person to explain what this means to them just in case an agent comes by and tries to convince them Settlers is out of business and they should change their insurance. Who knows? Might write some additional coverage or at the worst get a referral or two. It is a good time to be a Settlers agent

 

[rousemark]

So Newby, you knew that Settlers had a wacko for their actuary and you continued to promote Settlers to your agents? Why would you promote this carrier to your agents these last few years knowing about this? Wouldn't you say you were hurting your agents doing this? Oh yea.....recruiter talk.

Easy Greg.. You are beginning to sound more and more like a certain KY agent...