Agent’s Sales Journal August 2007
Front Page Stories
Certainly no item in a salespersons kit is subject to more neglect - or perhaps disdain - than the ...
For more than a century and a half, life insurance companies have supported exclusive state regulati...
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Short Takes
You have a successful financial services practice. Maybe youve been in the business for 20 or 30 years. But now what?
Think new challenge, one that provides ongoing revenue and higher profits, and consider making the move...
For years, annuities have proven to be excellent accumulation vehicles; unfortunately, they have also had to suffer totally unrealistic comparisons to products against which they were never designed to compete. Making decisions on what products...
Ever wonder why clients buy from one person but not another? If you were to ask your clients why they bought from you, the answers you would likely receive would focus less on cost and product issues and more on your shared interpersonal...
Too many people in the insurance business think that selling requires them to be pushy and aggressive. They think they have to talk and talk, wearing their clients down until they buy. Or, they think if they just tell clients enough information...
My Web site isnt working for me. I hear a lot of insurance agents saying this. Its no wonder theyre disappointed with their online results. They often have purchased a Web site expecting it to do all the selling for...
Prospecting is about your attitude, confidence level, work ethic, product knowledge, practice management skills, and ability to listen to a prospects needs, communicate potential solutions to those needs, and build and maintain a long-term...
The vast majority (75 percent) of American workers view their health plans as the most important benefit provided by their employers, according to a 2007 survey conducted by the National Business Group on Health. Additionally, 2 in 3 respondents (67...
LIMRA Internationals recent Voluntary Benefits Score Card evaluated companies progress in the voluntary benefits arena. Here, the Agents Sales Journal speaks with Ronald R. Neyer Jr., senior analyst of LIMRAs Distribution...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that insurance payrolls are down by 400 in May to 2.337 million after April saw a gain of 3,500 industry jobs.
The April data was re-released and showed an annual gain of 1.5 percent in insurance...
Researchers at Mintel International Group Ltd. have published survey results showing high-income consumers and low-income consumers are interested in different features of health savings accounts.
The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults in the...
The first quarter of 2007 saw a 1.2 percent increase in total deferred annuity assets, reaching almost $1.97 trillion. Index annuities grew 5.9 percent to $109.1 billion. Variable annuities increased 2 percent, reaching $1.4 trillion.
Fixed...
According to a study done by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, the cost of providing group benefits to employees has continued to increase sharply over the past six months. Businesses of all sizes are reporting that they are paying...
New data have led the Urban Institute to say that fewer children than was originally believed are currently uninsured. According to the Urban Institute, 4.9 million children under the age of 19 went without health coverage over the past year, a...
Sales Review
A review of Jonathan Cohns Sick
It seems that everywhere we turn, were bombarded with disturbing statistics and piercing criticisms of Americas health care system. For example, a study recently released by The...
Perspectives
Some of you readers may have already gotten a phone call from us. Others can expect one soon. Its part of our ongoing effort to better understand what you and your colleagues think of the Agents Sales Journal.
Were not...
Selling Guides
From 2002 through 2005, industry voluntary sales increased an average of 2.7 percent a year. While better than many segments of the insurance industry, that pace was well off the pre-2002, double-digit growth rates....
Executive protection, a suite of insurance products that help shield an executive's personal finances from potential exposure due to disability, serious illness, or sudden death, is an important area of understated need among organizations....
When you approach an executive with your provider plans and other services, four simple rules can help you sell more effectively and successfully.
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Whether you're an old hand or new to group sales, you know that in an increasingly competitive business world, corporations can't survive and thrive without top-notch employees. ...
This year, Agent Media (publisher of the Agent's Sales Journal) and the organization MI2 teamed up to survey benefits producers on their experiences and needs in the market....
Between April 9 and May 8, 2007 the following benefits-related bills were introduced in Congress....
Products
When Cyndi Martins 76-year-old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, she knew a nursing home was an eventuality. She began to read through the Social Security Administrations Web site and was shocked to learn that Medicare...
Prospecting Corner
What good is a Web site if no one sees it? Web sites are no better than a traditional print brochure in this way: They only get you leads if the right person sees them.
If youre like most agents, prospects either see your site address...
Objection of the Month
How would you respond to a prospect who says
"Our employees dont need all that coverage."
Yes, that may be true for now, but what happens when one or more of your employees have to take off because of an accident...
Other Stories
TO: Christina Pellett, Managing Editor, Agents Sales Journal
RE: The Best New Publishing Idea of the Year!!
Dear Ms. Pellett:
Your troubles are over!
Well, that is, if your troubles mostly include wanting the...