Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

How Can You Tell If They Are Really In The Life Insurance Business?

October 12th, 2007

There are life insurance agents and there are people who also sell life insurance. What does that small difference mean to you?

I talk with my Farmers agent every so often about my auto or homeowners and he inevitably asks how business is going. It really leaves him scratching his head when he tries to rap his mind around the fact that I sell life insurance and nothing else. He just can’t get over the fact that I can place reasonably priced insurance for people with diabetes and heart disease. It slays him that I can write good coverage for cancer survivors.

His confusion comes from the fact that he is in the “insurance business” and a captive agent with Farmers and actually knows very little about life insurance, even though he is a licensed life insurance agent.

You will find this same phenomenon with any of the major property/casualty (auto and homeowners) agencies. State Farm, Farm Bureau, Allstate, Farmers, etc. What they specialize in, they’re very good at. What they don’t specialize in, but hang a sign out saying they can sell, they really don’t do their customers any good service with.

My office manager had a term life insurance policy with State Farm (prior to working with me), and she had asked her State Farm agent to provide quotes to convert the policy to whole life. For those not in the business, conversion is the closest thing we get to easy. No exam. No underwriting. Just quote it, sign here and put a new policy in force. The State Farm agent still hasn’t provided her any quotes.

Bottom line. Go where the knowledge is. If you need life insurance, go to an independent life insurance agent. The excuse that you have all of your other insurance there is just that, an excuse. If they don’t know how to sell it, they don’t know if they are doing a good job and they won’t know how to service it in the future.

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Entry Filed under: Independent agent, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, insurance, life insurance, whole life