• Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted to Insurance Forums by Douglas Massi (screen name: Agentguy5), a General Agent specializing in Final Expense and co-founder of Florida-based United Final Expense Services.
Today, final expense life insurance is sold in many ways across the U.S. Agents are selling it by phone and face to face. Over the past 4 years, we have noticed some definitive market changes. The simple fact is that final expense sales are getting more popular every year.
The housing market is not what it used to be 10 years ago. Today, many real estate agents have crossed over to sell life and health insurance. Many life insurance agents who were selling mortgage protection as a primary product have crossed over to final expense. With the recent changes that have been going on in the health insurance markets, more agents are crossing over to final expense life insurance sales. Let us face it: competitors pound our market from every direction. Thus, we have to come up with more advanced ways of acquiring leads and finding prospects.
The good news is that, not only are thousands of people turning 50 years old every day, but we also know that our market has many turnovers. It seems like a lot of prospects buy final expense life insurance and end up either adding to their coverage or dropping it. It’s only a matter of time before another life insurance agent ends up in front of the same prospect only to sell them another policy or to convince them that it is in their best interest to make a replacement purchase. These types of turnovers are simply a small part of what makes our market unique.
When it comes to marketing and selling final expense, there are different types of lead sources. With different lead sources, we end up in front of different prospects. Some people that would not fill out a lead card will fill out a form on the computer. Folks that won’t fill out a form on a computer will take a call from a telemarketer, and so on.
So, what is in store for the future of final expense? With more people using computers and smart phones, it is only a matter of time before our typical prospect has these resources in their home. I am 48 years old and consider myself computer-savvy; as most people my age are. Today, pretty much everyone in their 30s and 40s has a computer and/or smart phone. It is clear that our future seniors are going to be a lot better with social media and technology than our typical prospects are today.
This change is not going to happen overnight, but gradually it is happening. I truly believe that if we want to stay in the final expense industry, we have to be willing to try different and unique marketing methods. (UFES co-founder) Mariana Tirante and I have been able to make a solid living off selling to prospects from leads, but this is changing.
We have realized that it’s just getting harder and harder to sell final expense with our methods. Because of this, cross selling is an important step towards the future for us. We have also come to the conclusion that by building a website to acquire leads, we will have more ways to sell and more prospects to see. Face-to-face sales will always be an effective way of selling final expense but by adding in telephone sales, we will be able to spread out a wider marketing umbrella.
I am not saying that telephone sales will be the future for our industry. However, I believe that Internet marketing will be more viable as time goes on. With this said, telephone sales will be the main way to sell final expense if we use the Internet to market our products.If you are a final expense agent, and you plan to stick around for the next 10, 20, or 30 years, I suggest that you be open to change. Start thinking outside the box but keep doing the things that you know have been working for years. Being resourceful will help you increase sales and change with the market. If you are not computer savvy, force yourself to spend extra time learning the do’s and don’ts of Internet marketing. If you think you are good on the computer, push yourself to increase your knowledge, as this will pay off in the long run.
Work your book of business, get referrals, cross sell as much as possible, and start to expand your current marketing methods. Build a website designed with the sole purpose of gathering leads. There are several videos on YouTube that will teach you how to make a website from scratch. Learn about Internet marketing and how to use it effectively. I keep bringing this up because of its importance, not only in our industry, but also for any other industry.
Several website builders specialize in targeting our market. With a little research, you can find people who will help and teach you to do this yourself. You can find some basic help on the cheap by going to Fiverr. Learn as much as your brain can handle because the better you are on the computer, the better you will be at marketing our product in the future. By increasing your knowledge on marketing, you can assure your viability in the future for final expense life insurance sales.
• Comments or thoughts? Please share on this thread: Present and future of FE sales
Douglas Massi (screen name: Agentguy5) is a General Agent specializing in Final Expense sales, and co-founder of United Final Expense Services. For more information visit www.unitedfinalexpenseservices.com orhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kcfLLJJ2cZwIx0n8qaf6w
