Went to the SL meeting

[theinsuranceman]

Triple H, You writing over $250k in one year is truly remarkable. Even though you don't see things the way I do, my hat is off to you for that kind of production.

When you turn 40 you're not going to want to retire. FE will be like an addictive drug that you will continue enjoying.

Have a great day!

 

[theinsuranceman]

I have seen other plans but they do not lock in the price of the funeral merchandise..

Perhaps Todd could name a few places that lock in the price of funeral merchandise at about half the price at the local funeral home.

 

[shonceman]

Todd, why would I invest my time trying to calculate the % of policy holders who take advantage of legacy savings? That's what bean counters do. My mission is to sell and recruit and do things that bring in income.

That's like me asking you "what % of your Foresters policies did not pay the claim because the family never filed a claim"? Who knows? Would you let that keep you from selling Foresters?

I don't think it's quite the same. There's no way to know how many lapsed policies should have paid a claim. But I don't think it would be super difficult to find out how many claims were paid by SL last year that also used Legacy, vs claims paid where Legacy was not used. If I was a SL manager, I would expect to be able to get the answer with no more than two quick phone calls.

At the same time, which is more to your point, just because someone doesn't avail themselves of a benefit doesn't mean the benefit doesn't have value. Another comparison might be the percentage of Foresters clients that avail themselves of the value added benefits provided by their fraternal membership. I'm guessing that actual participation isn't that high. Lack of participation says absolutely nothing about the actual value of those benefits. But it does speak to the perception of value by the clients.

So, my impression of Legacy's value is that it's not perceived by the average client as highly as it is by the company and their agents. While I have yet to replace a SL policy (because I rarely replace a good inforce policy), I have encountered clients who tell me they're paying, for example, $50 per month for a $10,000 SL policy. I'm aware that the total they're telling me includes their Legacy membership, but the client doesn't always remember that. In their mind, it's $50 for $10k.

I'm confident, Greg, that's not as true for your clients. You're sold on the program yourself, so I imagine you communicate the value of it well and more memorably than most of the SL agents I run into.

 

[shonceman]

Perhaps Todd could name a few places that lock in the price of funeral merchandise at about half the price at the local funeral home.

One thing I kind of wonder about is whether Legacy and other plans really have much impact on the end price of the total funeral package. What I mean is, many funeral homes offer discounted package pricing, especially for at need clients. If the funeral merchandise is locked down by another entity, the price of everything else will necessarily come from the funeral home's undiscounted retail price list. Of course, the funeral director can still negotiate. But if Legacy has taken a major profit item away from him, will the other prices become less negotiable to make up the difference? (Maybe @Newby could comment?)

 

[Todd King]

Todd, don't you remember 5 years ago when I was sharing the positives about FE tele-sales? YOU, and others, said it was a failed model, would never work, would have bad persistency, etc.

Now we see other FE carriers starting to embrace FE tele-sales. You were wrong then. And even though I don't have a crystal ball I think you'll be proved to be wrong again.

Have a great day! You seem to need it.

Nope, I never said it was a failed model. You lie. Therefore, there is nothing to be proven....unless you want to go back and try to prove I said anything like that. You won't find it, but search away!

 

[Todd King]

LOL....sounds like something a 3rd grader would say. Why are you always so negative up here?

Oh, that was negative to you? Sorry Twinkle Toes! I didn't mean to hurt your little feelings!

 

[theinsuranceman]

Good question. Funera

One thing I kind of wonder about is whether Legacy and other plans really have much impact on the end price of the total funeral package. What I mean is, many funeral homes offer discounted package pricing, especially for at need clients. If the funeral merchandise is locked down by another entity, the price of everything else will necessarily come from the funeral home's undiscounted retail price list. Of course, the funeral director can still negotiate. But if Legacy has taken a major profit item away from him, will the other prices become less negotiable to make up the difference? (Maybe @Newby could comment?)

Good question. Funeral homes MUST accept caskets from a 3rd party source (such as Legacy) without charging any additional fees for doing so. It's am FTC rule. Legacy also has a team of negotiators that make sure the family is not paying extra for the other things such as embalming, etc.

When a member passes and the family calls legacy, then legacy will get prices from funeral homes in about a 25-50 mile radius, usually within a couple of hours. Then the family can see the price of each funeral home's funeral or cremation charges.

If the deceased had specified a particular funeral home in her Final Wishes Planner and that funeral home is not the cheapest, then legacy will let that funeral home know that xyz funeral home is cheaper by ....for example....$1124.50. Then the preferred funeral home of the deceased will lower their price so they can keep the business, and the family just got the funeral price lowered by the $1124.50.

Families of the deceased always win with this service.

 

[theinsuranceman]

I don't think it's quite the same. There's no way to know how many lapsed policies should have paid a claim. But I don't think it would be super difficult to find out how many claims were paid by SL last year that also used Legacy, vs claims paid where Legacy was not used. If I was a SL manager, I would expect to be able to get the answer with no more than two quick phone calls.

At the same time, which is more to your point, just because someone doesn't avail themselves of a benefit doesn't mean the benefit doesn't have value. Another comparison might be the percentage of Foresters clients that avail themselves of the value added benefits provided by their fraternal membership. I'm guessing that actual participation isn't that high. Lack of participation says absolutely nothing about the actual value of those benefits. But it does speak to the perception of value by the clients.

So, my impression of Legacy's value is that it's not perceived by the average client as highly as it is by the company and their agents. While I have yet to replace a SL policy (because I rarely replace a good inforce policy), I have encountered clients who tell me they're paying, for example, $50 per month for a $10,000 SL policy. I'm aware that the total they're telling me includes their Legacy membership, but the client doesn't always remember that. In their mind, it's $50 for $10k.

I'm confident, Greg, that's not as true for your clients. You're sold on the program yourself, so I imagine you communicate the value of it well and more memorably than most of the SL agents I run into.

Please see "lapsed" in bold above. It's not the # of lapsed policies that should have paid a claim. It's the active at death policies that don't pay a claim because the family did not know to contact that insurance carrier.

 

[theinsuranceman]

Nope, I never said it was a failed model. You lie. Therefore, there is nothing to be proven....unless you want to go back and try to prove I said anything like that. You won't find it, but search away!

Todd I'm just too busy and successful to go back and check old forum posts. What don't you do it for me?

 

[theinsuranceman]

I don't think it's quite the same. There's no way to know how many lapsed policies should have paid a claim. But I don't think it would be super difficult to find out how many claims were paid by SL last year that also used Legacy, vs claims paid where Legacy was not used. If I was a SL manager, I would expect to be able to get the answer with no more than two quick phone calls.

At the same time, which is more to your point, just because someone doesn't avail themselves of a benefit doesn't mean the benefit doesn't have value. Another comparison might be the percentage of Foresters clients that avail themselves of the value added benefits provided by their fraternal membership. I'm guessing that actual participation isn't that high. Lack of participation says absolutely nothing about the actual value of those benefits. But it does speak to the perception of value by the clients.

So, my impression of Legacy's value is that it's not perceived by the average client as highly as it is by the company and their agents. While I have yet to replace a SL policy (because I rarely replace a good inforce policy), I have encountered clients who tell me they're paying, for example, $50 per month for a $10,000 SL policy. I'm aware that the total they're telling me includes their Legacy membership, but the client doesn't always remember that. In their mind, it's $50 for $10k.

I'm confident, Greg, that's not as true for your clients. You're sold on the program yourself, so I imagine you communicate the value of it well and more memorably than most of the SL agents I run into.

What you should do is call me sometime and let me give you the sales presentation for legacy over the phone. Record it. Then play it up here for everyone to listen to.

Then you can see how powerful legacy is when it's carefully explained to Ms. Jones. I'd like to show off a little...lol.