A question posed on a new thread this week asked whether final expense agents deliver policies they sell to clients, or have them mailed to the client.
The original post said it’s hard to believe that an agent who writes heavy volume and sees a lot of people every week would have the time to also personally deliver the policies they sell.
Here is a sampling of the responses so far from the community, providing a wide range of opinions and best-practices ideas.
• “I think it is really good to deliver the policy, but I usually don’t have the time to do it. I just get them mailed to the client.”
• “I used to deliver them but then stopped [because it] seemed many times they would be a no-show for delivery and just say to ‘leave it on the front porch!’ I do mail out thank-you cards with reminder dates of their effective dates, death benefit and premiums and I call them when [the] app is approved and to remind them when they should expect their policy in the mail.”
• “I now have them sent directly to the client and offer to come out and go over it if they wish and call regardless to make sure they received it, etc. Kind of a compromise in that although I am not personally delivering it, I am still offering service… I believe persistency suffers if you do nothing at all after the sale.”
• “I have them sent to me by most of my companies. I usually do drop by policy deliveries when it is convenient for me. Some I mail but I want my business card stapled on the policy. I do make additional sales at policy deliveries fairly often. I also save cases that got cold feet (buyer’s remorse) fairly often, too.”
• “Whether FE or FU I have all policies sent to me. Whether I deliver it in person depends on the client more so than the plan. My biggest deals this last year I have never met and they wanted the policies mailed. Some of my smallest I delivered. Everything goes out Priority or overnight. Two reasons: tracking and the perception of importance.”
• “My wife delivers all of hers and her persistency is through the [roof]… I mail most of mine and my persistence is hanging by a thread, around 76%… It’s extremely important to deliver ALL of your policies in the first year of selling FE. When we’re new, we make lots of stupid mistakes and delivering can be a game changer!”
• “I started delivering, but it became a real [pain in the behind] to find people at home. Plus I figured I made a good impression the first time I saw them and going back a second time could only mess that up… So now I just send a thank-you card and move on.”
• “[I] have been delivering policies for 34 years I like it and I think it’s a good service. I have written business every week for 34 years and got other members of the family insured when I deliver the policy. As a debit agent for 28 years this is what I had to do.”
• “I use to mail them out but I’ve found that by taking them by and spending 10 minutes with the clients has really helped me keep more business from lapsing… By the way, that’s the perfect time to ask for referrals. I never really pushed referrals hard but the last year I probably wrote 20+ policies on pushing referrals delivering policies. Not a ton… but it adds up.”
• “I deliver all my policies, it’s a promise I make to the client when I first meet them and I even have it on my website. I figure if I’m making 3 to 4 hundred bucks it’s the least I can do…and it’s a great way to cement the relationship and, yes, to get referrals.”
To read more and add your views on the pros and cons of personal final expense policy delivery, visit the thread on the Forum here.
