At Larson Educational Services, we are gearing up for a very busy first quarter of 2018 and we are taking many calls and online registrations for our upcoming courses. Whether you need to renew your real estate license or are interested in obtaining a new license as a Community Association Manager, Insurance Agent or Mortgage Loan Originator, LarsonEd has the solution for you in 2018. Call us at (239) 344-7510 with any questions or visit us at www.LarsonEd.com
REMEMBER to get registered early if you plan on taking Post-Licensing or Continuing Education courses in 2018. These courses typically sell-out and we recommend getting registered right away to hold your seat.
Many people who are uninsured do not realize the tax benefits that come with a life insurance policy.
The importance of these benefits cannot be overstated.
They can help alleviate the tax burden your clients and their family will feel in retirement.
Understanding your clients’ fears can help you understand their perspective, especially if their fears keep them (or have kept them) from buying a life insurance policy.
For example, most people are afraid of running out of money during retirement.
In fact, they often list this as their top retirement concern.
You can put their fears at ease by informing them about the possibility to access life insurance money on a tax-free basis in retirement.
This benefit is especially important for high net worth clients, they may be getting taxed at high rates to access other money, such as traditional IRAs.
Death benefits
Death benefits are often paid to beneficiaries tax-free, decreasing the tax burden on loved ones.
However, if those benefits are received as an annuity they may be taxable. Likewise, the interest accrued on a policy is potentially taxable.
Let your apprehensive clients know that some types of life insurance (for example, whole life policies) may pay dividends, yet they are not taxed like regular capital gains.
Instead, those dividends are considered a return on part of a premium paid. Therefore, they’re not taxed unless the amount of the dividend exceeds the premiums paid.
If you succeed in highlighting these tax benefits for apprehensive clients (or prospects), you’ll be more likely to assuage their fears about one of the most stress-inducing prospects of someone’s life: their passing.
For more information or to sign up for health and life insurance education, visit our website, LarsonEd.com, or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
To learn more about LarsonEd’s Florida real estate and Florida insurance courses, visit LarsonEd.com or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Understanding the needs of your clients is the first step to better serving them.
The next step is understanding their fears.
Why did your client choose now to obtain life insurance?
What obstacles stand in the way of them making the decision to get coverage?
What are their desired outcomes from their plan?
The answers to these questions could put you on the road to providing the best service possible for your clients.
Income Replacement
In general, when a client is obtaining a new life insurance policy or trying to change their current coverage, you’ll use their current income as the starting point to decide the right amount of coverage for them.
However, there is often a serious disconnect between reality and perception when it comes to client benefits.
For example, according to LIMRA’s 2016 Insurance Barometer Study about 60 percent of life insurance clients see their policy as a potential replacement for lost income when they pass away (see page 20 of the study).
These consumers are often under the impression that their benefits will be paid out in a lump sum upon death.
Thus, they may see a lump sum payment as a deterrent, especially if they have a family that will need payments in regular intervals.
Let these consumers know that most policies can be arranged to pay out at regular intervals, thus quelling your clients’ fears about lost income.
Given the prevalence of the assumption that policies only pay in lump sums, you can attract and keep more clients if you offer options that pay at regular intervals after they’ve passed.
Flexibility Over Time
Another deterrent for consumers acquiring a policy is the fear that they will be locked in to the same policy for years, even if their needs change.
Flexibility will win.
A younger family getting coverage might be better served by being over-covered rather than being under-covered, given the possibility that their net worth and income might increase before they reach retirement age. (Plus, they might prefer this option as opposed to coming into your office every 5 years to change their coverage.)
Over-coverage is not a problem as long as you are flexible with your clients and communicate openly.
According to that same LIMRA study, about 30 percent of consumers are interested in changing their policies over time.
By being open about your flexibility, and by offering products that have many possibilities, you are more likely to retain clients.
Remember: you’re trying to provide for these people for the long term—you want clients for life. The more willing you are to meet them in the middle and be open and honest with them, the better served they will be and the more business you’ll attract.
To sign up for LarsonEd insurance courses, visit our website, LarsonEd.com, or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Slowly but surely, certain sectors of the economy are moving their business onto the internet. Likewise, education is making the transition online.
That means we’re entering a time when we have the potential to live out our 12-year-old self’s greatest dream:
we can stay in our pajamas and go to school in bed.
This freedom can be especially useful for adults looking to enter an industry like real estate and can’t make it to live classes.
However, before you jump right into online education assuming it’s right for you, you may want to familiarize yourself with how it works and how it’s different from live education.
1. Convenience
Online
There’s no doubt that the convenience of online education is one of its most alluring qualities; it’s difficult to incorporate school of any kind into your already jam-packed schedule.
Online classes can allow you to more easily shoehorn an education into your life.
Or maybe you simply don’t want to spend gas money and travel time commuting to a classroom.
If that’s the case, then online education might be right for you.
Consider this: although online classes seem like a time-saver in the short term, theycan be more expensive in the long run if you’re unable to pass the state exam due to the less interactive nature of online education.
Live
If you live close to a real estate education provider, then time and gas money spent traveling might be a non-factor for you.
Perhaps your schedule is more flexible, allowing you to enjoy live education without feeling overwhelmed, in which case it might be better to go to live classes.
2. Individual Attention
Online
Although some online classes at a university, for example, will allow video interaction between students and instructors, most real estate schools will not offer such comprehensive online education packages.
Online courses generally consist of videos, images, texts, and quizzes.
Live
Live classes, on the other hand, allow you to interact face-to-face with an instructor and fellow students.
Not only is this a more conducive environment for learning, but it also provides an excellent opportunity to network in your new industry.
3. Comfort
Online
If you want to, you can take online classes out by the pool.
Please don’t leave your computer this close to the pool…
That freedom is a great benefit, for sure. Just keep in mind that without the social pressure of fellow classmates, you may be inclined to succumb to distraction.
Live
Depending on how extraverted you are, being surrounded by people may be more comfortable for you.
As a real estate agent, you’ll need to thrive on social interactions, as you’ll be meeting and connecting with people all the time.
Meeting people at class is as good a time to start as any.
If you’re considering taking online real estate courses because you prefer not to be in a classroom full of people, then perhaps the social nature of real estate doesn’t jibe with your personality.
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Many people don’t realize that life insurance can be one of the best financial purchases they make.
Life insurance offers a level financial and emotional security that many other investments can’t touch.
Yet many people still don’t get life insurance. If you have a better understanding of why your clients hesitate to make this important purchase, you’ll be better equipped to help quell their objections.
The death benefits that life insurance pays out can be one of the most important tools a family has to cover funeral and other end of life expenses.
Although these one-time expenses may be one of the smaller benefits of life insurance, yet covering funeral and burial costs is one of the main reasons Americans purchase life insurance.
Even clients who see life insurance as a means to leave inheritance for their children or as a way to supplement income in retirement may not appreciate the potential of life insurance.
Clients might be deterred by what they view as relatively low yields for life insurance compared to other potential investments.
One of the most commonly cited reasons why people don’t buy life insurance is that they have other investment priorities.
Therefore, it’s important for you to adequately educate your clients about your life insurance products’ benefits. For example, that life insurance can help take care of their family in the future by compensating for the lost income after passing.
It may be that clients simply don’t want to impact their monthly expenses.
If you let them know about potential premium financing, they may be able to finance their life insurance premiums without taking a significant hit on their liquid capital.
This is an especially important option for clients who may want invest their money in other asset classes.
With a better understanding of your clients’ thought process, you may be able to better assuage their nerves when considering an investment in life insurance.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
When was the last time you had an amazing mailman?
How about custodial crews–do you look at the spotless floors of a supermarket or restaurant and think, “Wow, the cleaning crew here is amazing”?
Not likely.
Odds are, you notice when a place is dirty and pay no mind when it’s clean.
Same goes for mailmen: we don’t thank the mailman for giving us all of our mail on time, we only curse him when he fails to do so.
These are often thankless jobs that are being accomplished to their utmost potential when the people carrying them out are unnoticed.
Is it possible that real estate agents are in this category?
The Super Star agents are the ones who can anticipate problems and, as a result, have a solution at the ready.
When people (in any industry) do this successfully, their work often goes unnoticed in the short term.
But over time, if you are consistent, your ability to smooth out transactions and make life generally easier for your clients will yield more business.
The key is to put in work that may be invisible to the world for a while.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you’ve already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.
And acquiring new clients is not cheap.
Here is part 2 for our tips on how to choose clients who will stick around:
People respond to stories. You can demonstrate the value of a certain policy or package by telling a story about how the policy has worked for an unnamed client in the past and the benefits it provided them.
Insurance consultant Keith Leech likes to use a 4-question process to further drive the point home in a prospects mind. You can use these questions yourself:
“Who do you know who has suffered a heart attack, cancer, or stroke?”
“Were they expecting it to happen?”
“Did they suffer financially or emotionally?”
“Would cash have helped?”
Everyone has been affected by heart attack, cancer, or stroke in one way or another. By relating your products to a personal experience of your client’s, they will better understand the immediacy of their health insurance needs.
4. Maintain Communication
To keep your clients on board with you, it’s important that they not only hear from you at renewal time or when a premium is late, but other times as well.
Show your clients appreciation and they will stick around.
Remember: you and your client are business partners.
The best way to maintain contact is to create a repeatable communication schedule that you replicate for every client.
No, you don’t want to send any “Dear, client” emails. But when your client signs on with you, you may want to send yourself some Google alerts to remind you to ask them questions to head off common conversations you may have in the first 30 days of partnership.
“Did you receive your insurance cards?”
“Do you have any questions or concerns with your coverage so far?”
Make sure some of these are phone calls as well.
Don’t inundate them with phone calls and emails. However, you can use special insurance events as a good reason to contact them. For example, May is national disability insurance awareness month, September is national life insurance awareness month, and June 28 is national insurance awareness day.
Also, around the new year they may need to renew their policy. Your best practice is to see if they’ve had any life-changing events in the past year such as a wedding or a child. Find this out from your client and suggest some options to better suit their new needs.
5. Assume You’ll Be Their Agent for Life
Building a long-lasting relationship with your clients isn’t about selling products, per se; it’s about selling your services. It’s about being there when they need you.
A truly great health insurance agent will get referrals from parent to child.
As your relationship extends over the years, consider offering life insurance. Many people are under the misapprehension that life insurance is expensive. Like most people, they may simple have whatever plan they were offered through their job and have left it at that.
If you are always looking out for your clients needs in their interest, you’re sure to continue these long-lasting relationships.
When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you’ve already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.
And acquiring new clients is not cheap.
Here are 5 tips to make sure you choose clients who will stick around:
1. Pre-Qualify
The road to client retention starts before your relationship with a client even begins. First, you want to discover if you and a particular prospect are a good fit for each other.
In all industries, the best salespeople ask the right questions.
You may also benefit from a shift in thinking: rather than focusing on acquiring clients, think about it in terms of finding out if a prospect is a good business partner. Ask yourself, “Is she a good fit for the services I offer?”
You must be willing to say no to certain clients if you think you cannot provide them with the services they need. Or you may say no if you foresee this prospective client requires a larger investment of time than you can afford.
The same insurance product won’t fit every potential client. Determine their budget.
If, for example, you run into a prospect who qualifies for high subsidies, it will be important for them to know the value of supplemental products, though they may not have the budget for these voluntary products.
Work together with them to find the best potential options to fill in the gaps created by high-deductible ACA plans, for example.
2. Find Your Niche
You will need to project professionalism and trustability to potential clients. If they have any qualms whatsoever about your ability to serve their health insurance needs, assure them that you specialize in this field—you are the content expert.
Oftentimes, you can put an apprehensive prospect’s worries to rest by letting them know what others in their situation are purchasing. Decisions of any kind are difficult, let alone when healthcare is involved.
Make the decision easier by providing them with a road map of previous clients’ experiences.
The language you use may sound like this:
“This is our most common package.”
“Many of our clients are happy with this package, and here’s why.”
“This is our most popular package.”
Again, you don’t want to sell them something they can’t afford—sure, you won’t be able to retain them as a client, but more importantly their needs won’t be met.
Naples Real Estate School 