Using Disability Insurance to Grow Your Practice

Top DI producers are using blogs, search engine optimization and social media to stay in front of their target audience.

By Thomas Wong, RHU

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched all of us in one way or another. Businesses have been impacted, and many people are suffering from lost wages or reduction in earnings. Others have died prematurely or gotten sick and recovered. But through all of this, many producers have grown their practices.

For the last several months, the one question I have received frequently from producers is: “How are sales?” While 2020 has been a tough year for many, quite a few producers are also having a great year.

Best Practices For Growing Your Practice

Here are some best practices I have noticed among those advisors who have been having a strong year:

Touch base with existing clients and prospects during the pandemic. Clients and prospects will remember you for checking in on them. As Greg Balogh, a Guardian Life agent in Hartford, Connecticut, notes: “More than ever, it is important to reach out to existing clients just to check in and be a sounding board. It has been inspiring to me to see how clients and friends have shared the struggles and opportunities they have had. For many, COVID-19 has created a sense of urgency to address planning needs that seem to always be put on the back burner. This has created a tremendous opportunity to assist clients with their current and future needs.”

Start introducing disability income (DI) insurance to your clients Most agents whom I come across with do very little in this area, and many still have a linear mindset. They tend to favor one product such as life insurance or investments. Once the product is implemented, they look for a new client who can benefit from the same product line.

How many of us have ever bought protection agreements on electronics, autos, appliances or sporting equipment? The reason we said yes to these agreements is because someone asked us to buy them.

We need to ask our prospects and clients to buy DI insurance and apply this simple procedure to our practices. If we don’t, we will miss an opportunity to help clients protect their greatest asset, which is their ability to earn an income. Your health is your wealth.

Selling additional lines of business to existing clients can increase your profitability exponentially. Most producers underestimate the potential earnings derived from selling DI insurance. They tend to look only at firstyear commissions and don’t realize that renewals can be quite substantial and persistent. So, examine your book of business to see if you have the right product mix for your clients (including both personal and business product opportunities).

Lastly, remember that many buyers today prefer to meet with agents virtually, purchase products online and want the process of acquiring products to be simple and easy. Embrace and utilize technology; you may be rewarded with enhanced productivity, greater efficiency and more profit.

Many of the producers I know who are thriving during this period utilize blogs, search engine optimization, social media and other techniques to stay in front of their target audience. Others have strategic alliances that refer new business on a regular basis to them. The situation has gone from us “hunting” for new clients to us being found. This is the new “normal” of doing business.

In summary, Americans are worried about having enough money to pay their bills. We know we will get through this; hopefully, it will come sooner rather than later. But the mental malaise can take a toll.

Introduce and implement individual DI insurance to your clients. The financial and emotional impact of a permanent disability will be worse than what is happening today if your client is given a life sentence of no income due to a sickness or an injury.

Stay safe and healthy, and continue to make an impact on your clients’ lives.

Thomas Wong, RHU, works closely with Guardian Life’s distribution system to promote the sale of individual and business DI products. Prior to this, he was the Marketing Services Specialist for five years. You can contact him at 646-235-8439 or at thomas_c_wong@glic.com.