Will Technology Kill the Agent?

[SKQuinn]

I was reading this article and it made me think about the life insurance industry and the new tech generation. As people get more and more tech savvy at some point life insurance could become a true commodity that can be shopped and applied for just from an app.

Yes I know there are different underwriting criteria with different carriers but I'm sure those issues can be worked around. Then again carriers can generate their own leads and then send the lead to a local contracted agent to make the sale.

I may be out to lunch but this article just had me thinking about technology and the insurance industry years down the road.

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Well this has certainly become a pet peeve of mine. I worked for Gerber Life as an inside agent. What I saw all day long was customers that had filled out an application that was mailed to them, or the ability to buy the insurance at the website. Then when they would call, I would explain to them what they bought. 9 times out of 10, they had no clue as to what they had purchased, and they'd get mad at ME!!

It infuriated me as an agent who is required to have a license to sell this stuff, and CE's, but they can just sign an application and its done! I'd ask my manager why they were allowed to do that, and all she'd say is, because Gerber makes money from it. Half the time people would get the "Grow up Plan" thinking they were buying some kind of college funding. For $3 per month? C'mon, get real!! So the cancellations were HIGH, but Gerber doesn't care. But when I would sell, I had to do a needs analysis with them to determine what exactly they needed, and would talk to them about the difference between WL and Term...etc. And read the app VERBATIM!! When Gerber branched out to their high face policies (1 mil), and allowed people to fill out an app for that online, I'd had enough!

THAT kind of technology is ridiculous! It's just a bottom line for the company, and they don't care. UGH! Now, doing apps for the customer online, and being able to explain to them what they're buying and why.... that's technology that isn't going away. I personally feel the f2f will go away...and being an agent in my "50's", I CAN and WILL embrace that!!

 

[Orbitron1]

Will technology kill the agent? ...... Not as fast as the looming crash of the dollar. Since the initial crash in 2007 the whole US population has lost over 16.7 trillion dollars according to CNN Money. Though we've had some rebound since then; l am persuaded much of it is superficial and promoted by political motives.

 

[WCMason]

Kill "the" agent? No. Kill many agents? Yes. Those who adapt survive. See Darwin.

 

[andrewraymondmarcu]

To be honest with you I agree with most people it will not help you I would see it just as an ad. Most people do not understand insurance products of any kind. If you took a look at legal shield my product if the customer understood that right off we give them a will and set up a children's trust to keep them from going into probate and help the family keep their money. That is a 6000 dollar value or more. We charge a minimum of 17 dollars per month. Our identity theft program the first thing that happens is all the old data comes off the credit report. Krol removes any bad or old information from the report that raises the clients credit rating for under 10 dollar a month. What we offer the client is thousands of dollars in value for 39 dollars a month. If the client understood that they would all run to our web site and sign up

 

[DHK]

We already have a "resident" legal shield rep.

 

[Cornelius]

If people really understood life insurance they would get a policy at 18 and take some of the the bite out of FICO scores. There's a reason the final expense market is growing.

For many people it's about price. So if a radio guru says buy term that's what the pepopleople want. No concerm about family health history or future family planning.

Andrew as far as your LS comparison that's a different animal because people can get a good deal of information along with sample contracts from an associate website. Not many insurance carriers or agents have sample policies on their website at least I don't know of any.

If your post was to target agents the biggest hurdles are getting past the MLM idea of compensation and recruiting. Be it agents or whomever I have found that not many people have or do read the contracts to understand them be it insurance contracts or the LS sample contracts and success guide.

From you bringing up the LS and insurance comparison I do now see both services are sold and not bought. Both products can be applied for online. I guess it all comes down to how much the companies want to spend on advertisements but there will always be those that will only consider or buy face to face.

Mention LegalShield (Pre-Paid Legal) and some agents/people and all they think is MLM no matter what you say or what documentation you show the mindset stays the same.

Mention Life Insurance to some and no matter what you say all they see is death. I guess it all comes down to keep on selling and adapt to use technology to our advantage as best we can.

The generations going forward are all about technology and the family as we used to know it is changing. I have nothing to back this up but I think the role of the individual agent is going to change and it's going to be due to the internet.

As for LS and technology I don't know if you use it but the succeed CRM app is impressive along with the back office capability. I can see the same concept being used to sell insurance products.

For the insurance agents consider this. You talk to a prospect. If it's a simple term sale you use a cell phone app to enter name, phone number and email address. The system sends an email to get an ok from the prospect to get email updates. After the prospect gives the ok system drips them some videos or other information about the use of life insurance with a link for the option to apply for coverage included in each email. Fully automated.

I'm just saying consider when something like that becomes available. Times are changing. I'm not sure but I think Primerica allows their agents to use an app to submit life applications. Maybe a PFS rep will verify.

 

[MikeRobinson]

I think hi technology in the financial services is definitely here, present today and will be an evermore force to join in or lose market share. If fact, utilizing go to meeting, performing a FNA with a family 1000 miles away from my home office is really make the life end fun again. Virtual business is making a big wave. My days of evening physical appointments and expensive luncheons are done. 2015 should provide out to be stellar year. Focus on referrals and spending time marketing should make goal a reality. Focus=Key.

 

[Bevo]

Technology will likely only kill the agents who are asking questions such as this.

Successful agents will ask, and have already asked, "How can I use technology to multiply my business times 10?" Then they take action.

 

[Cornelius]

The question isn't a I question. It's a we question. I don't think anyone expects technology to do away with 100% of agents. That being said I do think as technology grows if possible carriers will rely less on agents if they can. It's business.

The real test will be when health records go 100% digital.

 

[sbkarren]

Thank you so much - I really appreciate your thoughts and comments on the question. We are working hard to build an in-the-cloud solution that will make it SIMPLE for agents to conduct business virtually and capture/retain more business.

Any other thoughts?

-Boyd